Waking Nightmares (IC)

[brandnewb]

Jeri groggily takes in Joe's questions. She directs one of her own at Mr. Colville, though, when she finally speaks: "So, is this some kind of a coup, then?"

"Maybe I should just have a bit more of that tea..."

Joe looks at Jeri, then at the tea. "No, no more tea. My head is swimming." Farmer Joe shakes his head and taps his temple with the palm of his hand.

[Aeryk]

Mr. Colville answers Jeri, "Just a precautionary measure. And that's a 'no' for the tea. The more you take, the worse it will be for you, trust me."

Joe searches the hogtied men under the disdainful glare of Mr. Colville, but his search turns up nothing. It would seem that the men were stripped of their weapons before being allowed into the salon, just like everyone else. Joe almost misses Madame Argoth's silent reply while he is preoccupied, "J-U-S-T A-N-O-T-H-E-R D-R-E-A-M-E-R". She inclines her head and utters a strained noise, and an outlandish figure appears floating above her. The creature defies facile description, but has some mashed up resemblance to a number of earthly creatures.

The thing floats effortlessly, but gracefully around Argoth, watching the party with seemingly tired eyes. Once everyone gets over the shock of seeing yet another bizarre thing, it begins to speak in a slow, deep, bass voice, though pleasantly. "I am Dai'Lon, servant of Desna. When my connection to Mother Moon was recently severed I traversed the Dimension of Dreams aimlessly until I came upon one who could truly see. Madame Argoth possesses a vision only few mortals have ever had, and it was this which drew me to her. Long has she given true interpretations of dreams, and now since the events of the Chaos War, she stands out as a beacon of light in a realm which descends into darkness. What is happening in the dream realm is being unleashed in the waking world. The self-proclaimed 'King in Yellow' speaks true, the Dreamstone must be retrieved and stabilized. But his stain is dark and deep, and even now I sense it on you. I know not who or what he is, nor what his intentions be, but I do not trust him. Should you go to him, I believe you will be in grave peril."

[brandnewb]

Joe turns from his searching and sees the strange creature. He watches it skeptically while it tells it’s tale. He mumbles a conversation with himself then says “You say that Desna has been defeated, and we don’t know who this ‘King in Yellow’ is. We’ll go to him and find answers, if we don’t return than you’ll know he is an enemy.” Farmer Joe then looks at his other companions, “You don’t need to come if you fear death. We’ll go alone.”

He turns to Madame Argoth, “Do you have a scythe? Or some simple weapon. If we are walking into a trap we would like to be armed. Will I ever get my scythe back now?”

[H. Von Studley]

Quinn glances over at Joe. Oh good, I seem to agree with the crazy guy. That's a great sign.

He stares up at the bizarre creature, clearing his throat nervously. "That may be true Mr ...Dai'lon, but the yellow guy made promises I can't ignore. And if we really do need to find this Dreamstone, then it doesn't matter if we can trust him or not. I'm going with Joe."

[Archemist]

Jeri's relief is palpable when Dai'lon mentions Desna. "I knew it! Finally, a way to help that doesn't make me feel entirely creeped out. I mean, don't get me wrong, lion-giraffe-elephants are still pretty trippy, but at least you're just dreamy and not nightmare-y."

She starts frowning again as the others start talking, though. "The King in Yellow promised power, sure... but can't you already feel it? I can. I think he must've been lying."

[H. Von Studley]

Quinn ponders Jeri's words for a moment. "I do feel different, yes, and I saw the two of you pull out some interesting parlour tricks, but I don't particularly feel like this is power enough to defy gods and shape the course of fate. Besides, the priest implied to me that he had given the three of us these powers to begin with. I think I believed him."

[Archemist]

Jeri asks Dai'Lon, "Well, if the problem is bigger than both you or the Guy In Yellow can handle... what do you suggest we do, if not go to him to find out where the dreamstone is?

"We're kinda all on the same side, like it or not. He'll probably turn on us, or have some ulterior motive, but getting the stone one way or another seems to be key, if I'm understanding this right."

[brandnewb]

Joe listens to the conversation of the others than starts talking to himself. Finally he says, "You all stay here, we will go to him. If we do not return you will know it was not safe. We have nothing to lose

[H. Von Studley]

Quinn shakes his head. "Hold on - whatever we do I don't think we should split up. For better or worse, it sounds like the three of us are tied up in this together."

[Aeryk]

Dai’Lon floats lazily overhead, rolling onto his back so that he looks at them upside down, then speaks slowly and thoughtfully, “I have no doubt about his power, but beware the nature of his gifts. I fear they may take more than they give, though I confess I do not see a better alternative.” He gives a long sigh, or perhaps it is a yawn, “You should know that Caelus’ ill-conceived plan involves ambushing these servants of the Yellow King to find the source of their wealth.” Dai’Lon and Argoth share a brief look before he continues, “We shall remain neutral in these matters until such a time comes when we feel we must act, but we shall be monitoring them closely.” Argoth nods in agreement.

[Archemist]

"I'm still feeling a bit addled from all these dreams. If it's Caelus vs. the Yellow Guy, I dunno what we'll do - they deserve each other, I guess. Won't hurt to go together, at least."

[H. Von Studley]

Quinn stands up a little straighter and puts on a brave face. "I for one am not particularly interested in siding with Caelus. We don't owe that bastard anything." Bastard? Easy there tough guy, I'm not sure anyone is buying it.

"If we can warn the Yellow servants, maybe they can take out Caelus for us. Ambush the ambushers. Once we're free of him, we can seek out the King and the Dreamstone uninhibited.

"Dai'lon, Madame Argoth, do you know of any way we could contact the servants? Could we speak to them through the dream world somehow?"

Quinn turns to Jeri and Joe. "What do you both think?"

[Archemist]

Quinn turns to Jeri and Joe. "What do you both think?"

Jeri nods. "I agree that we should stick together. I suppose we need to find Caelus, then, and try to dissuade him from this ambush."

[H. Von Studley]

Spoiler: OOC

Show

What do you think of helping the Yellow guys take out Caelus, Archy? Then we'd be free to do our own thing. I was thinking we could warn them that he was planning to attack and let them set up a counter-ambush.

Caelus seems to pretty much think he owns us at this point, and I don't know why Quinn would continue to trust/help him.

[brandnewb]

"No, that bastard slaver deserves to die. Lets warn these servants, and we will help them kill him. Why do we care what happens to him? Joe is getting visibly angry again. "He took everything from us, and many others. The sooner he is stopped the better."

[Aeryk]

"Dai'lon, Madame Argoth, do you know of any way we could contact the servants? Could we speak to them through the dream world somehow?

Argoth nods her head slowly in confirmation, and Dai'Lon speaks for her, "Madame Argoth does have a way to reach out to them, but it is dangerous to do so, and unreliable. She cannot target specific individuals, only send an open invitation to eldritch entities within the range of her ability. How many answer the call and what their disposition may be is anyone's guess, and there is no guarantee that any will answer at all. Additionally, there is a costly material component required to cast the spell. You would probably be better off to wait for them to contact you. As for myself, much of my power was stripped when I lost my connection to Mother Moon."

Spoiler: OOC

Show

So Argoth does have an occult spell for contacting various planar entities, with particular material components depending on the type of entity. The material component for these guys costs 1000gp, which obviously you don't have yet, unless you want to try and acquire what is needed another way, ie theft.

Also, sorry for the tardiness of my response.

[brandnewb]

"Did anyone tell the dream lord where we are? How will they find us? And what will you do if the Captain comes for revenge." Joe looks at the group, then at the tied up prisoners. "We can just kill them, then you claim we left after they were done here. These are slavers, the punishment for that is death. Or should be..." Joe looks off into space and replies to some unseen person in a mumbling voice. Finally he looks up and asks."Do you have some sort of simple weapon we can take?"

[Aeryk]

Dai'Lon seems unconcerned as he continues to lounge in the air. "The Yellow Priest likely has already learned where you are. As for Caelus, we can take care of ourselves as far as he is concerned. How you personally would like to handle yourselves with regard to him is your prerogative. Zarga does not punish slavery, but they do punish murder and you would have to deal with the ramifications of those actions, should you choose to take them. Before you decide on what action you will take, you should keep in mind that Caelus has not yet made payment for your addiction treatment, which is fairly costly. And he has your scythe."

[brandnewb]

Joe shrugs, "Spent life in a field and on the farm, never been here before. If they don't punish slavery but do punish murder lets just sell them to slavers. Let them learn first hand. How do they determine if someone is a valid person for the market? I mean they were just abducting us, so why can't we abduct them?"

[H. Von Studley]

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Oh man, I didn't think about the addiction treatment and getting our stuff back. Maybe we will have to go along with Caelus for the time being.

Quinn considers for a moment. "I don't know... while I certainly like the idea of selling the bastard into slavery, I don't think it's realistic. He's got a lot more connections and resources in this town than we do. And even if slavery is legal, I doubt that kidnapping is."

He turns back to Dai'lon. "Could you tell us more about the addiction treatment? Where would we get it, and what would it cost?"

[Aeryk]

Mr. Colville steps forward at this point to answer Quinn's question. "We keep a stock of two different types of potions for addictions. Healing is not a service we are capable of providing ourselves, so the potions come at a premium. The first option is far cheaper, between 50 to 400 gold each depending on the length of time the dose lasts, but it is less effective. It will alleviate the negative symptoms and allow your body and mind to recover naturally while it is active. The second option costs 750 gold per dose, but will heal the addiction immediately. Alternatively, I would suggest trying the temple of Besmara, down on the docks. There is a cleric there who could do it significantly cheaper, or you might try offering some services in exchange for hers if you are short on cash."

[H. Von Studley]

Quinn balks at the cost, but works to regain his composure. He pulls Jeri and Jo aside, speaking in hushed tones.

"So here's where I think we stand. We need to make nice with Caelus for now, until we can get our gear back. We can try to convince him to pay for our treatment right now, but if he refuses then we can get some help down at the temple of Basmara.

"As for Caelus' ambush of the Yellow Priests: we can't contact them ourselves, so if they contact us we can warn them about the ambush. If they don't, we'll just have to wing it and try to sabotage the ambush as it happens.

"Does that sound alright to everyone?"

[brandnewb]

Joe shakes his head, in his unstable flipflop between anger and sorrow he is clearly angry at the moment. “We don’t like it. What’s saying he won’t withhold the cure just to keep you dependent on him? Or sell us without ever giving us the cure.” Farmer Joe stares off into the distance mumbling to himself and nodding his head for a moment. Then he strangely replies to the unheard contribution by a invisible third party. “That’s a good point. If we are so valuable to him that he is actually willing to pay for the cure, obviously he plans to make more than the value of the cure. Only question is who is paying, and why? We are the goods and he does not have us.”

He turns to their hosts “Do you have somewhere we can go?”

[H. Von Studley]

Quinn steps closer to Joe, his voice quiet, trying to calm the angry farmer. "But don't you want your scythe back? It's all you've been talking about. And that cloak of yours? I know I want mine back. It was a gift from De- ...my wife."

[brandnewb]

"My cloak? My Scythe? Wife?" Farmer Joe seems to experience a moment of confusion. Then his eyes begin to tear up. He rocks back on the heals of his feet, like he is attempting to control his emotions. "We do want them back." His attempt at control fails and in a few moments he is back in a corner sobbing once more, mumbling to himself.

[Archemist]

"You guys are getting nutso, both of you. Fine, let's play nice with the guy who kept us locked in the hold of his ship, at least until the folks we dreamed about have time to show up in real life. No different than what we were up to before, I suppose." Jeri shrugs. "I guess eventually we should get 'cured' of this 'addiction' thing but really, I don't have a problem. But yeah, we can help out the cleric if we need to, that sounds like a nice thing to do. Maybe while you guys are getting cured I'll spend my share on trying to have some nicer dreams." She laughs nervously.

[Aeryk]

Madame Argoth, Dai'Lon, and Mr. Colville wait patiently while the group sorts through the possibilities. Once it seems that they have agreed to go back with Caelus, Dai’Lon says, “Caelus’ men will wake up soon. If you are going back with him, I will put you back to sleep until the morning when he comes to retrieve you. I will feed on your bad dreams so that you may sleep restfully. We wish you luck in your endeavours.” Without further ado, each of you in turn feels Dai’Lon lulling you into the first peaceful sleep you have had in weeks.

You wake in the morning feeling relatively rested, but still weak and in a fog from the Dreamtime Tea.

Spoiler: Addiction

Show

Currently I have Joe as the only one who passed the addiction save. He took -1 Wis from the tea, but recovers it over night. Jeri and Quinn do not naturally recover the -3 and -2 to Wis they took respectively, as an effect of failing the addiction save. They can temporarily negate this damage by taking more tea. Additionally, while they remain addicted, they also suffer -2 to Str and Con.

The group is awakened in the morning by Mr. Colville, who informs you that Caelus has returned. At some point in the night, Caelus' men were rotated for fresh ones, who remain in the room looking bored. Mr. Colville leaves and returns shortly, escorting Caelus. "Well, spit it out, what did we learn for all my expense?" He looks between Argoth and Colville expectantly. Mr. Colville answers for Madame Argoth, "First of all, you must know that knowledge learned in dreams is not usually what it seems. Interpreting the meanings is difficult, sometimes impossible, even for one of Madame Argoth's skill. You may not find whatever it is you're looking for.
That said, what we have determined is that a being of extra-planar origin and immense power has taken an interest in these three for reasons we cannot fathom. In the process, he has granted them some limited occult power. This kind of power is rare, and misunderstood by most. It can be a useful power if applied carefully, but an extremely dangerous one if misused. I would caution you," he pauses and looks at the three captives as well, "ALL of you, to be very careful with it. The sensation of newfound power is intoxicating, and is easy to become lost in. Speaking of which, these two," he points at Jeri and Quinn, "are going to need treatment. The tea was harsh on them." Mr. Colville looks at Joe with a curious glint in his eyes, "This one seems to be alright... in a manner of speaking. We have the remedy, but it will cost you, or you can see the cleric of Besmara at the docks. Now then, should you have further need of our services, you know where to find us."

Mr. Colville gestures in the direction of the exit. Caelus stands there for several moments, hands on hips, scrutinizing the man. Eventually he turns his gaze on Madame Argoth, but she appears to be sleeping. Caelus shrugs, then motions for everyone to follow him out of the parlour without saying another word. Once they are out in the alley and out of earshot of the shop, Caelus rounds on the three of them. His men fan out behind them, hands on their weapons. "Alright. Show me this power then. And don't try anything funny, or we'll skewer you where you stand."

[Archemist]

Once they are out in the alley and out of earshot of the shop, Caelus rounds on the three of them. His men fan out behind them, hands on their weapons. "Alright. Show me this power then. And don't try anything funny, or we'll skewer you where you stand."

"You sure about this, after that gent's warning in there? Fine." Jeri gathers her power and all the trash in the alley swirls around. Then she aims a blast near Caelus' feet. The cobblestones jiggle like jello and then one of them implodes in a shower of small shards. Jeri taps her staff on the ground and all the swirling stops. "There. Hire me for your kid's next birthday. I do love children."

[Aeryk]

Caelus watches, and his eyes light up with excitement, "Amazing!" His men don't seem so keen on the idea, two of them look a little nervous, and one looks positively afraid and pale as a ghost. "Alright, let's see what you've got!" he exclaims, looking at Joe and Quinn.

[H. Von Studley]

Quinn looks impressed at Jerri's display. "I don't think I can do anything quite as flashy as that, but here goes." He draws his battered old bow from his back and holds it out in front of the group. He concentrates a moment and the bow begins to shine with a magical light. He turns away, drawing an arrow and nocking it to to the glowing string.

He pulls the string taut and rests it for a moment against his cheek. How long has it been since I last fired this old thing? a distant corner of his mind wondered.

He looses the arrow against the wall of the alley, but instead of bouncing away in splinters the shining arrow embeds itself in the stone with a CRACK!, leaving a foot long scorch mark on either side of the impact point. The bow continues to glow for a minute before returning to it's regular old battered state.

Quinn breathes out heavily, trying to hide his own surprise. He had not been exactly sure what would happen, but it wasn't that. A wave of fatigue washes over him, and he sways in place, unsteady on his feet.

"There. But you need to get us that cure that Colville mentioned, Captain. I'm not going to be of any use to anyone like this."