I Walk in Dreams -- An Esoteric Journey Quest

You open your eyes in a world where the colors are finally right and the landscapes reassuringly normal. Or, wait, no, that's not it, that was the waking world, and the dreaming-realm is the strange one. Right? You stagger a bit, disoriented by how disoriented you aren't. It's like the previous night's dreamwalk never really ended: like your day spent awake was the ephemeral dream. Certainly you can feel the untapped power of the Shrine of the Word Unveiled thrumming within you, as though you had just been there and chosen to walk away.

You had felt part of this while you were awake, and now that you're back in the dreaming-realm, you feel the other half of the Ancient Mother's blessing. You fell asleep in her arms, and now you have woken up.

Not that you're in her arms anymore, or anywhere you recognize, but you're used to that by now. You're in a rockier, more rugged region of foothills, abutting one of the great peaks that had been so distant for so long. Your breath catches as you stare up at it, drinking in the sight of the winding paths, the mysterious structures, the clouds obscuring everything past a certain height. You're getting closer. You've seen a great deal of what the lower areas of the dreaming-realm have to offer; last night, you finally met one of the greater powers and felt the mark she left on you. You're actually doing this.

(You wonder, briefly, what is it that makes you special. Not everyone seeks out the Ascent. Not everyone who seeks it out gets this far. You're not done yet, not even close -- you still haven't even touched the deeper mysteries -- but still, you have done much and confronted a lot and are still climbing. Not everyone gets struck down by perils: some simply give up. Why you, and not them?)

Well. You aren't going to get answers to those questions, or to any other, by staying here. The key to the mysteries is further up and further in. (You hope.) You look around, figure out a likely-seeming route that takes you in approximately the right direction, and get going.

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EIGHT OF SWORDS

You're not lost. You're not. You are exploring.

After picking your way carefully across the scree and around various boulders, you found yourself led to a... palace, or manor, or something, at the foot of a slope. You have been lost inside exploring it for some time. The hallways twist back and forth in ways that should intersect with themselves or each other but don't, the rooms have windows and balconies that look out onto vistas that are not where you were, and you've climbed enough staircases to be, by your rough estimate, about twice as high as the roof. The Escherian nightmare aesthetic was neat at first, but it's honestly grown a little boring by this point, especially given how completely deserted the place is. If you have no ability to make a mental map, you're forced to simply open doors and see what happens.

Granted, the actual contents of the rooms has been very neat. There have been all sorts of strange objects and treasures within them: orreries of strange and beautiful metals, clockwork automata, musical instruments that play themselves when you draw near... it's a shame they were all too large to be moved, or else affixed to the floor or furniture, or else you would have quickly made yourself a stash of amazing objects like Frank's. Every room is different, so while the process of... exploring... is tedious, the results have at least been engaging. At the moment, you're working your way down a long hallway; you're opening all the doors on one side, then the door at the end, then you'll open all the doors on the other side and work your way back.

However, your algorithm is interrupted by the door at the end of the hallway. It leads you to a peculiar chamber, wrought from white stone. At first glance, it's hardly worth the effort: there's barely anything in it, apart from a silver mirror hanging on the far wall.

Still, you walk in and look around. As you do, you catch sight of your reflection in the glass, then swing back to look more closely when you realize something: it isn't a true reflection. That isn't you. Not the you that you know. It doesn't quite move in sync with you, and -- little details are wrong. But it's a you that you can imagine being you. A you that might have been, had circumstances been different.

It's profoundly fascinating: it would be very hard to pull yourself away. But you can look intently into the mirror, and perhaps learn something about paths not taken.

[] Spend one of any Supernal resource or Lose two cards from your Pneuma: Gain this card as an Aura.
-[] Write-in what Supernal resource you will spend or what cards you will Lose
[] Spend one Willpower: Add this card to your Pneuma. Gain one Supernal Experience. Search the Ascent Deck and the Unseen for XI Justice and put it on top of the Ascent Deck. You must immediately Explore again; you may not end the Night.

[][ASCENT] Keep exploring.
[][ASCENT] Wake up, ending the Night.

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Decks and Resources: Character Sheet
Night-specific information: 1/max 6 Explorations, Wands Aura

As with Mother Ancient, the card's effect trumps the [ASCENT] vote; if the second option is chosen, the results of the [ASCENT] vote will be ignored.