Referring to Redshirt's compilation:
We have 0 Auras right now, and Trumps are probably important to have eventually (but I don't want to drown in them next turn or spend a Supernal now); and a Page potentially gives us a new Supernal for a Willpower so therefore:
[X][ARRANGEMENT] 5 of Wands go to the Bottom and Page of Cups go to the Top of the Deck
[X][ASCENT] Keep exploring
Okay, nice, this is useful. Page is a good draw, like the other face cards. However, based on the previous face cards we've seen, it'll offer a same-suit Supernal if we claim it via Willpower and effectively just refund our Supernal without changing its suit if we burn one of those (even assuming one of them is the correct type, which honestly I'd bet against). So there's no way we'd be able to pay for the Five, and we'd probably want to wake up before we could even use the Aura skipping it would give us. So:
[X][ARRANGEMENT] 5 of Wands go to the Bottom and Page of Cups go to the Top of the Deck
[X][ASCENT] Keep exploring.
Five of Wands: Fives require the resource associated with their suit to interact with. For Wands, that's Supernal Insight. We don't have that, and we also don't have an Aura of Wands. So we want to send this to the bottom of the deck.
Page of Cups: From what we've seen face cards offer two ways to be taken into the Penuma: by expanding Willpower, or by expanding an aura or resource. Expanding Willpower gets us the resource associated with the suit (Supernal Connection for cups) and expanding an aura or resource gets back that same resource (meaning no net change in Supernal resources if we had one to begin with, or turning an aura into a permanent resource if we had an aura). For the Knight of Cups the resource it needed was Insight, for the Page of Wands it was Force. Assuming that the pattern holds the Page of Cups will likely require something other than Connection, which means we will only be able to pay it if it's Force. Not great odds, but even if we can't afford to pay for that the other option is spending Willpower to get Supernal Connection, which is still a better deal than most cards offer.
I also think we should look at the Page of Cups this night and then wake up, so I vote we keep exploring.
[X][ARRANGEMENT] 5 of Wands go to the Bottom and Page of Cups go to the Top of the Deck
[X][ASCENT] Keep exploring.
Agreed, we are spending Willpower at a horrifyingly fast rate without having had meaningful progress - may need to wake up sooner in the future so we get a greater selection of high level cards to draw from to avoid running out of Willpower early.
[X][ARRANGEMENT] 5 of Wands go to the Bottom and Page of Cups go to the Top of the Deck
[X][ASCENT] Keep exploring
And so we spent a willpower to draw the exact same card we would have anyways
In the future, I suggest we not scry unless we have at least two aura - one to spend on the scry and the other to pay for whatever we choose to draw next.
[*] Spend 1 Willpower and one Supernal resource or Aura of any suit: Add this card to your Pneuma. Look at the top two cards of the Ascent Deck; you may put either or both of them on the top or bottom of the deck in the order of your choice.
-[*] Swords Aura
[*][ARRANGEMENT] 5 of Wands go to the Bottom and Page of Cups go to the Top of the Deck
Right, then. There might be hints to your Ascent here, but they're not going to be easy to piece together. Time to get to work.
You metaphorically roll up your metaphorical sleeves (though it's not like the clothing you're wearing here is the clothing you went to bed in, so even your literal clothing is probably metaphorical clothing... another for the list of questions about the nature of this place) and start trying to figure out, according to the maps, where you currently are. This is a much trickier endeavor than it is back in mundane reality: no friendly little "You are here!" diamond like on a map kiosk at a shopping mall. When distance is relative and location inconsistent, how the hell do you determine where you are or where you're going?
Well, it turns out the answer, just like your sleeve-rolling-up, is "metaphorically." The maps, you determine, don't express things in terms of topography and scale like the maps you're used to, but in terms of symbolic correspondences. Whatever genius or geniuses made this place (assuming it's not just a reflection of the dreaming-realm's own nature, which is another question for the ever-growing list) recognized that the dream's nature as abstracted required a similarly abstract guidebook and that concrete details would only lead you astray. This takes some getting used to -- you've always been one for the concrete, it's part of why you did so well in your past career -- but you've been reading esoterica for months now, and so you're primed to follow the implicit reasoning on the maps that chart out the ranges of human sentiment and the compasses that take their bearing from something other than north.
So you put together the maps and the compasses and the references, scurrying around the lodge from one mosaic to another to consult particular ones that may hold what you need. You list out your journey so far and compare it to the charts and tables, trying to identify commonalities that might help you plot a course. Your encounter with the Fotian Oracle helps too: you're no seer, but you could feel the outline of what the Oracle saw in the flames, the shape of the meaning the figures contained. Like relaxing your eyes and mind to see an optical illusion. Several times, when you think you're stuck, you reach for that feeling, and you realize something that gets you moving again. Finally, you have an answer: you think you know where you are, and you think you know what, according to the strange subjective not-rules that govern the dreaming-realm, is currently nearby for you.
There's a lake, and there's another shrine. The lake is called on the maps "Lake Maranatha" and is apparently a common gathering spot for wise-dreamers. The signs are auspicious at present: if you go there, you're likely to meet someone. Your encounters with other occultists on the previous night were positive, so that seems like an obvious thing to do. The other is the Shrine of the Word Unveiled... but you don't think you have any offerings appropriate for the entities venerated there, and you'd rather not visit without being able to make an offering if you can avoid it. You're approaching the more dangerous reaches of the dream, and it would be nice to have more helpful powers on your side. So you'll route around it for now, in the hopes that, if it does cross your path later, you'll be better-prepared.
You leave the cartographers' hall, holding your notes in your hand, and set off for what should be a lake, unless you've gotten everything very wrong.
PAGE OF CUPS
You have not gotten everything very wrong, and Lake Maranatha is absurdly beautiful. The light glimmers on the water, which is somehow both a deep and striking color and crystal-clear. It's the sort of impossibly picturesque place that cannot exist in mere reality: you need the idealized perfection of dreams to hold it. You spend some time wandering along the banks, just admiring it all: the water, the plants, the sky, the animals.
After a while of this, you spot something new but not wholly unexpected, given the signs and portents the cartographers' hall had indicated. There is a vast swarm of blue-and-violet butterflies, fluttering around in a susurrating swarm, and standing below them a young woman. She's immediately very different from Idra: where Idra was tense and on-guard, this girl's body language is open and carefree. She's not vigilant in the least -- you've approached to within a dozen yards and she hasn't noticed you. She's just staring up at the butterflies, utterly enraptured.
This is as close as you want to come without making yourself known. "Hello there," you call, loud enough to be heard but hopefully not so loud as to frighten her. Nonetheless, she visibly startles, straightening up before looking around for you. "Oh, um, hi," she says, more quietly than your greeting. You step a little closer. "I'm Ash, an aspirant on my Ascent. I was walking around the lake and saw you here. Mind if I join you?"
"Not at all!" she says. "The butterflies are beautiful, aren't they?"
"This whole place is beautiful," you say, walking closer. She didn't introduce herself, but that's not too surprising. Names are important, and not everyone is comfortable giving theirs out upon meeting.
...or, judging by the way her gaze drifts back to the butterflies, maybe she just forgot. She seems very taken with them. You quickly check with your magic, but you detect no sign of ensorcelment or other unnatural mental influence. Just the normal sort of enchantment, the spell that falls when your senses overwhelm you. You've been this girl at museums before; you have no grounds to criticize. You stand there for a moment, admiring them together, before she speaks again.
"I wish I could express how lovely the dreaming-realm is," she says. "There's so much beauty here, but when I get out... my stories just sound like regular dreams, or fairy-tales. And maybe they are, sometimes -- I'm not always sure, when I wake up, whether I've had a wise-dream or the regular kind." She ducks her head self-consciously. "I've always had a big imagination."
How will you interact with her?
[] Move on, saying only a few words in passing, or nothing at all: Gain this card as an Aura.
[] Spend one Willpower, listening to her stories and offering an educated perspective: Add this card to your Pneuma. Gain one Supernal Connection. [] Spend one Supernal Experience or Aura of the suit of Pentacles, performing a minor arcane wonder and inspiring her: Add this card to your Pneuma. Gain one Supernal Experience.You cannot pay the costs associated with this option!
[][ASCENT] Keep exploring.
[][ASCENT] Wake up, ending the Night.
Decks and Resources: Character Sheet Night-specific information: 5/max 6 Explorations, 5 of Wands at the bottom of the deck
[X] Spend one Willpower, listening to her stories and offering an educated perspective: Add this card to your Pneuma. Gain one Supernal Connection.
[X][ASCENT] Wake up, ending the Night.
I want to keep exploring, but mechanically it's probably better to start a new night. We only have one more event, and if we pick up an Aura then we won't get the chance to use it.
[X] Spend one Willpower, listening to her stories and offering an educated perspective: Add this card to your Pneuma. Gain one Supernal Connection.
[X][ASCENT] Wake up, ending the Night.
Had we passed on the Six of Pentacles we would've still drawn this card and then we could've used our Aura of Pentacles. Alas.
On the bright side, now that we've seen three face cards we can now guess which resource each page and knight requires with 100%* confidence. The Knight of Wands and the Page of Swords will require Connection, the Knight of Swords will require Experience, the Page of Pentacles will require Insight and the Knight of Pentacles will require Force.
[X] Spend one Willpower, listening to her stories and offering an educated perspective: Add this card to your Pneuma. Gain one Supernal Connection.
[X][ASCENT] Keep exploring.
[X] Spend one Willpower, listening to her stories and offering an educated perspective: Add this card to your Pneuma. Gain one Supernal Connection.
[X][ASCENT] Wake up, ending the Night.
[X] Spend one Willpower, listening to her stories and offering an educated perspective: Add this card to your Pneuma. Gain one Supernal Connection.
We're out of aura and near our limit. Time to
[X][ASCENT] Wake up, ending the Night.
Ash should check out the Exploratorium in San Francisco. Great place to rediscover a sense of fun and wonder if you like museums and/or haunted houses.
Where Idra had reminded you somewhat painfully of yourself, this girl is totally different: dreamy and unfocused instead of practical and ambitious. But that doesn't mean that you should scorn her. You've invested a lot of your energy tonight, but you can spare some more for this before you wake up.
"I'm not that experienced," you offer after a moment, "and my Ascent has only just started, but I've done a lot of reading. If you're wondering about things, I might be able to help. Bringing what this realm is like into the real world-"
"The waking world," she interrupts, turning to you.
"...yeah, you're right. Good point." You're not sure she's right -- it depends on how you define real -- but you don't think it's worth getting into a semantic discussion and besides which she's right in the sense that you shouldn't prejudice your investigations by assuming a conclusion in your language. "Bringing what this realm is like into the waking world is something I think is great, and I'm happy to give any assistance I can. Just one question."
Her expression, which had brightened while you spoke, goes cautious. "Oh?"
"What's your name?"
"So that was just a regular dream?" Jagoda asks.
"Yeah, I think so."
"But it felt so real!"
"The nightmare about having to drive a car from the backseat is weirdly common," you patiently explain. "I've had it too, ever since I learned how to drive. And I haven't seen anything like an internal combustion engine anywhere in the dreaming-realm, or read about it from occultists."
"-and I've searched all through my Spotify history and I can't find anything like it and it's driving me bonkers!"
"Yeah, that's a real thing, you're not just making it up," you say. "It's called a Tragoudion. It's an invisible spirit of pure music; a living song, one of my books called it. One found me too, it's," you wave a hand vaguely at the way you came, "probably around there, somewhere. They follow people around until they get bored and wander off."
"Oh wow! I'd really like to hear it, if that's possible!"
That gives you pause. It had not occurred to you to deliberately seek it out, and you're not sure how. But an obvious idea suggests itself, so you gesture for quiet and close your eyes to better concentrate, invoking the air to enhance your hearing. Then you turn back and forth until you think you can perceive a slight increase in the background music, walk a little in that direction, and then repeat this process. Finally, you are confident in a bearing, and you motion for Jagoda to follow.
The two of you walk away from the lake for a little while, the music beating louder in your ears, until she freezes in her steps. "Oh! I can hear it too!" You wait, patiently, while she closes her eyes and traces out the rhythm, nodding her head and moving her hands, apparently totally un-self-consciously. This goes on for some time, and just before you reach the point of being self-conscious enough for the two of you combined, she reopens her eyes and smiles. "Thanks, Ash! That was really cool." Then, out of nowhere, she starts dissolving into a fit of giggles.
You take a worried step forward. Had the influence of two Tragoudia hurt her mind somehow? Had you been reckless and caused her harm? "Jagoda, are you okay? What's going on?"
She straightens up and mostly gets control over herself. "Oh, Ash! I'm fine, don't worry. It's just... if our Tragoudia ran into each other, and then they mated to create a bunch of new little Tragoudia, would that be... a mashup?"
"Oh, watercolors one hundred percent. I can't imagine trying to paint this place with anything else. It wouldn't do nearly as good a job of capturing the feeling of the dream, you know? Why, what do you use?"
You shake your head. "Oh, I don't paint. I'm no good at art."
She looks at you with incredulity. "That's no reason not to do things! 'Sucking at something is the first step towards being sorta good at something.'" It has the cadence of a quotation, but you don't recognize it. Regardless, you shrug in response.
"Don't get me wrong, I love art, but I prefer to follow my native talents and see where they lead. So far it's managed to keep me pretty busy." It does make you think, though, about how your response to finding something you're good at and passionate about doing is to do it as hard as you can: to try to conquer it, in some sense. You weren't just working long hours at McKinsey because it was the cultural expectation, you were giving your all because you wanted to see how you fared in such a difficult environment. And isn't that kind of what you're doing with the Ascent? You found your way to the dreaming-realm and just a few short months later you're tackling the most difficult challenge it possesses? Sure, you're not trying to literally conquer the dream, but you want to understand its deepest secrets, and isn't that in some sense a more thorough sort of conquest than merely establishing some sort of temporal dominion over it?
"Hello? Dream to Ash!"
You blink, your reverie interrupted. "Sorry, Jagoda. Just lost in thought for a second there. Thinking about my Ascent. How is yours going, by the way?"
She laughs. "Oh, I'm not Ascending! I heard about that and was like nnnnnnnnnnnope, not for me. I'm just enjoying the safe bits. It's not like I've run out of things to see, even if it does turn out I was making up the thing with the cactus-person and the big green bat." You're not actually certain she was, but you do hope you were right. "But I guess I'm doing something that's kind of like an Ascent -- I've got this website going where I post the art I made and the stories about things I found here, and I'm learning web programming so I can make it interactive in places. Just trying to really capture the feel of the dreaming-realm, you know?"
That is nothing at all like an Ascent as you understand it, but you see no reason not to be supportive. "Cool. Tell me the address? I'll check it out when I wake up and shoot you a message so we can keep in touch."
She rattles off a URL -- thank heavens that domain names are so cheap these days and it's not something complicated from being hosted on another domain -- and smiles. "Thanks again! You've been really nice. It'll be cool to have someone else's take, especially another wise-dreamer. So far most of my traffic just comes from my family -- my twin is really into it, even if he thinks it's all stuff I made up, and my parents have always encouraged me with my art, and my cousins comment sometimes. What about you, did you get into this stuff because it's a family thing, or do they just think you're into witch stuff, or are-"
"I'd rather not talk about my family," you cut her off curtly. She shuts her mouth, cringing back a little, and you immediately feel like history's greatest monster for speaking so to her. "Sorry, that came off sounding harsher than I meant it," you say, deliberately gentling your voice. "Just... sore subject."
Jagoda nods. "I get it," she says softly. "Family's hard even when things are good."
You're pretty sure she doesn't get it, actually, but you are going to accept the peace offering and not argue the point with her. And you have an out, anyway. "Well, this is an awkward place to leave off, but I'm reaching the point where I need to either go further into the dream or wake up, and I don't think I should walk more tonight. It's been pretty busy for me." You shrug, trying to lighten the mood. "Ascent stuff."
She smiles at you. "Ascent stuff. Thank you again for talking to me, and introducing me to your Tragoudion, and saying you're going to visit my website! Don't forget!"
You can't help but laugh. "I won't forget. Nice meeting you, Jagoda, and I'll talk to you sometime. Sweet dreams."
And with that, you wake up.
HERE ENDS
YOUR SECOND NIGHT
No vote this time; just the Page of Cups followup already got pretty chonky by the standards of this quest and I wanted to get something out to keep up momentum while I work on the Day. Speaking of which, I have a few ideas for things the next Day should include, but if you have things you'd like to see the narrative focus on, let me know. Consider this an unofficial take-the-thread-temperature poll, rather than a full vote. I'm also interested in thoughts on how the last Night went, voting and pacing wise, with the new approach of more fine-grained control. Is that something you liked and would like to see continue going forward?
ETA: Since I have access to the game that the quest is based on, I don't get to participate in the speculation and the piecing-together of the Ascent structure, so I genuinely enjoy the Day segments the most since they're completely new territory to me.
It's not like I've run out of things to see, even if it does turn out I was making up the thing with the cactus-person and the big green bat." You're not actually certain she was, but you do hope you were right.
If she wasn't sure if she was wise-dreaming or regular-dreaming she should've asked them to factor a large number, that would've solved it.
That was neat. Jagoda's comment about doing stuff you suck at and Ash's comments about how their current ambition is still kind of ambitious have nearly pushed me to the point of wanting to change our aspiration. Not quite yet, but between this and the other occultists we met and the Shrine of Celestial Winds and the Gallery of Hearts I'm pretty much just looking for a reason to change our aspiration to "the real nature of the dreaming-realm is the friends we've made along the way".
I'm also interested in thoughts on how the last Night went, voting and pacing wise, with the new approach of more fine-grained control. Is that something you liked and would like to see continue going forward?
I think it did make the night feel "slower" than our first night, but on the other hand there wasn't a single card when I thought that it would've been better to not have control. So there is a tradeoff here, but I think giving us choices is the better option.
She straightens up and mostly gets control over herself. "Oh, Ash! I'm fine, don't worry. It's just... if our Tragoudia ran into each other, and then they mated to create a bunch of new little Tragoudia, would that be... a mashup?"
How are new songs born? Well, you see, when two bands perform on the same stage together...
She laughs. "Oh, I'm not Ascending! I heard about that and was like nnnnnnnnnnnope, not for me. I'm just enjoying the safe bits. It's not like I've run out of things to see, even if it does turn out I was making up the thing with the cactus-person and the big green bat." You're not actually certain she was, but you do hope you were right. "But I guess I'm doing something that's kind of like an Ascent -- I've got this website going where I post the art I made and the stories about things I found here, and I'm learning web programming so I can make it interactive in places. Just trying to really capture the feel of the dreaming-realm, you know?"
She's totally Ascending and just doesn't realize it yet, isn't she?
I'm also interested in thoughts on how the last Night went, voting and pacing wise, with the new approach of more fine-grained control. Is that something you liked and would like to see continue going forward?
I think it's worked out really well. Given just how engaging each encounter is, I don't mind at all taking a bit of a slower pace through them. It's been a really fun quest so far.
