Think of your greatest dream and deepest nightmare. Think of flashes of gold in a shimmering...
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One- The beginning
Think of your greatest dream and deepest nightmare. Think of flashes of gold in a shimmering whirlpool sky of clouds. Look at buildings made of black and twisted steel with maws that wept mist. See the stars and moonlight shine down and turn everything black and white. Then add eight massive spider legs stretching down from the clouds and settling on the ground.
That was where the eight had gathered. Each by a leg, perched in some cases. Lounging in others. All of them clearly inhuman and waiting for the words to start.
First was a dragon stitched together from children's dreams and nightmares. Not the largest nor was it the smallest of the group. Cute and catlike, but fearsome when it cared to be. It lounged at the moment, tail flicking like the cat-dreams it was made of. It's wings shimmered with stars, and it's eyes glimmered like bright coals.
Second was a large moth perched above them all on one of the massive black buildings. It's wings shimmered like dreams of rainbows. Dust drifted down from it's perch and was swept away by an unseen whim. It fluttered but did not move.
Third was a figure in the shape of a man. It's body was a triangle-like block, it's arms not quite attached. The feet were made of running dreams, and the hands blocky boxing gloves. Those were made of a dream of boxing, and flickered with light. The figure shifted anxiously as it waited.
Forth was a dream of science. An atom picture brought to life. It's central body was solid as a mother's love, and around it spun spheres made of whimsy and joy. The thing floated in in mid air and seemed almost serene.
Fifth was a thing. Larger than a man and without defining features. A blank thing stitched together without a care. The only thing that defined it was teeth in a featureless head. They gleamed and glistened. A nightmare of hunger and need.
Sixth was worse in a way. Where the fifth had no care for it's form, this one cared too much. It was a nightmare of burning in fire. Nothing more, nothing less. Fire and agony. And inside it figures dwelt lurking and ready for more.
Seventh was a figure made of taffy. It was made of whimsy and careless joy. It had a shape and a purpose, but it shifted and bounced as it waited, as if staying still made it anxious. There was no consistent shape or form it took. Just endless moving and altering.
The eighth and final figure was perhaps the most human of the lot. A man in a mask with a gun. Devices adorned his body and the gun was long and formidable. More perplexing though were the devices on his belt. What purpose did they have in the realm of dreams?
For that was where they all were. The realm of dreams. The place where dreams and nightmares were. A place as ephemeral as the morning fog. It was a place outside of reality, and yet a place where things existed. Coming here was beyond the reach of the normal man or woman. It was simply impossible.
"There are eight of you. As you can see." A voice that sounded like a dying scream spoke. "You have each learned my lessons, supped on my power. I have given you all the dreams you can manage."
The eight figures looked up at the sky as the voice continued.
"Now, it is time to repay my hospitality." The voice hissed and the massive spider legs moved just a bit. "Go, fight, hunt. Bring me gossamer on the next full moon. I care not from who or what. This is a test of your fitness. The most successful ones will gather my favor. The least?"
All eight flinched as the dream realm rippled and shifted into something horrifying. Fear flooded their minds, and they trembled in terror.
"You will survive." The nightmare stopped and the terrible voice laughed. "You will even keep my gifts. You will not be pleased."
"Now, wake up."
John woke up. The bed sheets were tangled in his body and he was panting as if he had run a mile. He shook off the last dregs of sleep and pushed himself out of his bed. For a moment he wished that his patron wouldn't wake him up like that, but then he let the irritation go. Whatever had given him the dream powers wasn't really big on comfort.
The man got up and moved through his apartment. It was a barren three room thing. A living room / kitchen, a bedroom, and a bathroom. His living room didn't have a couch or tv. Just hard wooden floors. His kitchen had a few lonely dishes that needed to be washed. His bathroom was clean and seemed almost coldly sterile. John didn't notice all these things really.
The man brushed his teeth and ruffled his short brown hair. Body looked good, he needed to shave later, but everything else looked solid. He spat into the sink and then grabbed his uniform. Then a sketch pad.
Down the stairs John went. Then to his bike. Thirty minutes of commute later and he was opening up the door to campus security for the local college.
The room inside was a mess. A pigsty really. Donut boxes and paper littered the tables and in a seat was a massive man who snored as John entered. Several monitors showed various places on the campus. Students came and went on them without care or worry.
"Morning Harold." John muttered as he pulled out his chair. It was the only clean thing in the room.
The fat man yawned and opened an eye. "Morning John." Then he went back to sleep.
John sighed and pulled out his sketchpad. He flipped to a new page and started to sketch visions of dragons. The days passed like dreams, and the dreams passed like reality. That was what his life was like now.
---
AN: Welcome to another quest by Lost Star! Hope you enjoy it!
Actions will be weekly plans with interruptions allowing further input.
28 days until next tribute.
You have 50 gossamer
Daytime Action
[] Patrol the campus. (You're a security guard for the local college. Your contract doesn't really need you to patrol, but it gets you out of the place.0
[] Nap and use Dream of Wonder
[] Watch the Monitors (Talk with Harold)
Evening Action
[] Hit the local library
[] Hit the local cafe
[] Hit the local bar
[] Go home (Use night action twice)
Night Action
[] Hunt for Gossamer (Specify a number from 1-7. 1 easy, 7 hardest)
[] Hunt for your rivals
[] Look for something new
*You may use graft dream form on any slot you'd sleep.)
That was where the eight had gathered. Each by a leg, perched in some cases. Lounging in others. All of them clearly inhuman and waiting for the words to start.
First was a dragon stitched together from children's dreams and nightmares. Not the largest nor was it the smallest of the group. Cute and catlike, but fearsome when it cared to be. It lounged at the moment, tail flicking like the cat-dreams it was made of. It's wings shimmered with stars, and it's eyes glimmered like bright coals.
Second was a large moth perched above them all on one of the massive black buildings. It's wings shimmered like dreams of rainbows. Dust drifted down from it's perch and was swept away by an unseen whim. It fluttered but did not move.
Third was a figure in the shape of a man. It's body was a triangle-like block, it's arms not quite attached. The feet were made of running dreams, and the hands blocky boxing gloves. Those were made of a dream of boxing, and flickered with light. The figure shifted anxiously as it waited.
Forth was a dream of science. An atom picture brought to life. It's central body was solid as a mother's love, and around it spun spheres made of whimsy and joy. The thing floated in in mid air and seemed almost serene.
Fifth was a thing. Larger than a man and without defining features. A blank thing stitched together without a care. The only thing that defined it was teeth in a featureless head. They gleamed and glistened. A nightmare of hunger and need.
Sixth was worse in a way. Where the fifth had no care for it's form, this one cared too much. It was a nightmare of burning in fire. Nothing more, nothing less. Fire and agony. And inside it figures dwelt lurking and ready for more.
Seventh was a figure made of taffy. It was made of whimsy and careless joy. It had a shape and a purpose, but it shifted and bounced as it waited, as if staying still made it anxious. There was no consistent shape or form it took. Just endless moving and altering.
The eighth and final figure was perhaps the most human of the lot. A man in a mask with a gun. Devices adorned his body and the gun was long and formidable. More perplexing though were the devices on his belt. What purpose did they have in the realm of dreams?
For that was where they all were. The realm of dreams. The place where dreams and nightmares were. A place as ephemeral as the morning fog. It was a place outside of reality, and yet a place where things existed. Coming here was beyond the reach of the normal man or woman. It was simply impossible.
"There are eight of you. As you can see." A voice that sounded like a dying scream spoke. "You have each learned my lessons, supped on my power. I have given you all the dreams you can manage."
The eight figures looked up at the sky as the voice continued.
"Now, it is time to repay my hospitality." The voice hissed and the massive spider legs moved just a bit. "Go, fight, hunt. Bring me gossamer on the next full moon. I care not from who or what. This is a test of your fitness. The most successful ones will gather my favor. The least?"
All eight flinched as the dream realm rippled and shifted into something horrifying. Fear flooded their minds, and they trembled in terror.
"You will survive." The nightmare stopped and the terrible voice laughed. "You will even keep my gifts. You will not be pleased."
"Now, wake up."
John woke up. The bed sheets were tangled in his body and he was panting as if he had run a mile. He shook off the last dregs of sleep and pushed himself out of his bed. For a moment he wished that his patron wouldn't wake him up like that, but then he let the irritation go. Whatever had given him the dream powers wasn't really big on comfort.
The man got up and moved through his apartment. It was a barren three room thing. A living room / kitchen, a bedroom, and a bathroom. His living room didn't have a couch or tv. Just hard wooden floors. His kitchen had a few lonely dishes that needed to be washed. His bathroom was clean and seemed almost coldly sterile. John didn't notice all these things really.
The man brushed his teeth and ruffled his short brown hair. Body looked good, he needed to shave later, but everything else looked solid. He spat into the sink and then grabbed his uniform. Then a sketch pad.
Down the stairs John went. Then to his bike. Thirty minutes of commute later and he was opening up the door to campus security for the local college.
The room inside was a mess. A pigsty really. Donut boxes and paper littered the tables and in a seat was a massive man who snored as John entered. Several monitors showed various places on the campus. Students came and went on them without care or worry.
"Morning Harold." John muttered as he pulled out his chair. It was the only clean thing in the room.
The fat man yawned and opened an eye. "Morning John." Then he went back to sleep.
John sighed and pulled out his sketchpad. He flipped to a new page and started to sketch visions of dragons. The days passed like dreams, and the dreams passed like reality. That was what his life was like now.
---
AN: Welcome to another quest by Lost Star! Hope you enjoy it!
Actions will be weekly plans with interruptions allowing further input.
28 days until next tribute.
You have 50 gossamer
Daytime Action
[] Patrol the campus. (You're a security guard for the local college. Your contract doesn't really need you to patrol, but it gets you out of the place.0
[] Nap and use Dream of Wonder
[] Watch the Monitors (Talk with Harold)
Evening Action
[] Hit the local library
[] Hit the local cafe
[] Hit the local bar
[] Go home (Use night action twice)
Night Action
[] Hunt for Gossamer (Specify a number from 1-7. 1 easy, 7 hardest)
[] Hunt for your rivals
[] Look for something new
*You may use graft dream form on any slot you'd sleep.)
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Stats
You:
John Smith - Campus Security Guard
Wonder: 11
Dream Dragon (100 to remake.)
Phantasm: 10
Speed: 9
Cohesion: 20
Shadow Man (Free to remake)
Phantasm: 1
Speed: 1
Cohesion: 4
John Smith - Campus Security Guard
Wonder: 11
Core Abilities
Manifesting on Reality - You can have your dream form manifest into reality for a night. Daylight burns away the gossamer used, and can eventually destroy the dream form. The cost is 25+Cohesion, but half is refunded when returning. (Damage counts.)
Dream of Wonder - Spend a night dreaming of special things. Gain Gossamer equal to your Wonder and create a special dream specifically attuned to you.
Night Night - Can go to sleep instantly. Absurdly useful for such a simple power.
Sense Reality - The world of dreams lingers just a bit at the edges of reality. You can sense this if you see someone in real life. If they've had happy dreams, you can see it. Sad dreams, that too.
Wondrous Item Creation - Something you can do to create specialized abilities. You can make items out of unique dreams and gossamer. Unfortunately it's rather variable, so while you know it can be done, it's not easy to estimate the costs. These items can boost any dream form that wears the item.
Gifted Abilities
Gifting a World - You may grant another person abilities you possess of your choice. This action itself is free. They will not start with gossamer though. You may revoke these powers at will as well, though this requires you finding and destroying their dream form first if they have one.
Lucid Dreams - A simple power. Allows someone to dream lucidly. Costs one gossamer a year.
Dream Sequence - Takes 'control' of a sleeping person's dream. You can make them play a memory or a scenario and observe what happens. Has it's uses, but it's still a dream, and the dreamer has as much control as they would have in normal dreams. Free to cast. When used on someone with Lucid Dreams, it initiates a narrative battle. Victory gives you temporary control of their thoughts.
Area Abilities
Warded Room - Prevents any dream denizens from entering a warded room. This has to be done in reality.
-Hidden Ward - Conceals a room as well.
Sleeping Sanctuary: Sleepers in a particular 'warded' area are safe from harm. While there is a sleeper there, the area is extremely durable as well.
Waking Dream - Creates a mist around the user in real life. Inside this mist, dream constructs and denizens can exist. This includes any dream forms for the user. These dream forms can be manipulated without falling asleep. The range is 100 meters times Wonder.
Windows Between - Creates a picture that is a window to a place in the real world. You can travel through this window in real form. Requires you draw the picture first of course.
Form Construction and Alteration
Creating a Dream Form - Probably the most complex action one can do. Requires special dreams to be found, and a large amount of gossamer to be used. Once done though, it's free to manifest a dream form in the dream realm when the user's asleep if it hasn't been destroyed previously. If it has been, it costs 100 gossamer to remake it. Dream forms are repaired at the rate of 1 per month, or by paying 1 gossamer per cohesion.
Costs are as follows:
Phantasm: 15 Gossamer X Stat
Speed: 20 Gossamer X Stat
Cohesion: 5 Gossamer X Stat
Abilities: 10 Gossamer per
Note, abilities require special dreams upon creation.
Graft Dream Form - It's fully possible to adjust dream forms. It's actually cheaper to do so. It's just time extremely consuming.
Costs are as follows:
Phantasm: 12 Gossamer X Stat
Speed: 16 Gossamer X Stat
Cohesion: 4 Gossamer X Stat
Abilities: 10 Gossamer per
Note, abilities require special dreams upon creation.
Manifesting on Reality - You can have your dream form manifest into reality for a night. Daylight burns away the gossamer used, and can eventually destroy the dream form. The cost is 25+Cohesion, but half is refunded when returning. (Damage counts.)
Dream of Wonder - Spend a night dreaming of special things. Gain Gossamer equal to your Wonder and create a special dream specifically attuned to you.
Night Night - Can go to sleep instantly. Absurdly useful for such a simple power.
Sense Reality - The world of dreams lingers just a bit at the edges of reality. You can sense this if you see someone in real life. If they've had happy dreams, you can see it. Sad dreams, that too.
Wondrous Item Creation - Something you can do to create specialized abilities. You can make items out of unique dreams and gossamer. Unfortunately it's rather variable, so while you know it can be done, it's not easy to estimate the costs. These items can boost any dream form that wears the item.
Gifted Abilities
Gifting a World - You may grant another person abilities you possess of your choice. This action itself is free. They will not start with gossamer though. You may revoke these powers at will as well, though this requires you finding and destroying their dream form first if they have one.
Lucid Dreams - A simple power. Allows someone to dream lucidly. Costs one gossamer a year.
Dream Sequence - Takes 'control' of a sleeping person's dream. You can make them play a memory or a scenario and observe what happens. Has it's uses, but it's still a dream, and the dreamer has as much control as they would have in normal dreams. Free to cast. When used on someone with Lucid Dreams, it initiates a narrative battle. Victory gives you temporary control of their thoughts.
Area Abilities
Warded Room - Prevents any dream denizens from entering a warded room. This has to be done in reality.
-Hidden Ward - Conceals a room as well.
Sleeping Sanctuary: Sleepers in a particular 'warded' area are safe from harm. While there is a sleeper there, the area is extremely durable as well.
Waking Dream - Creates a mist around the user in real life. Inside this mist, dream constructs and denizens can exist. This includes any dream forms for the user. These dream forms can be manipulated without falling asleep. The range is 100 meters times Wonder.
Windows Between - Creates a picture that is a window to a place in the real world. You can travel through this window in real form. Requires you draw the picture first of course.
Form Construction and Alteration
Creating a Dream Form - Probably the most complex action one can do. Requires special dreams to be found, and a large amount of gossamer to be used. Once done though, it's free to manifest a dream form in the dream realm when the user's asleep if it hasn't been destroyed previously. If it has been, it costs 100 gossamer to remake it. Dream forms are repaired at the rate of 1 per month, or by paying 1 gossamer per cohesion.
Costs are as follows:
Phantasm: 15 Gossamer X Stat
Speed: 20 Gossamer X Stat
Cohesion: 5 Gossamer X Stat
Abilities: 10 Gossamer per
Note, abilities require special dreams upon creation.
Graft Dream Form - It's fully possible to adjust dream forms. It's actually cheaper to do so. It's just time extremely consuming.
Costs are as follows:
Phantasm: 12 Gossamer X Stat
Speed: 16 Gossamer X Stat
Cohesion: 4 Gossamer X Stat
Abilities: 10 Gossamer per
Note, abilities require special dreams upon creation.
Dream Dragon (100 to remake.)
Phantasm: 10
Speed: 9
Cohesion: 20
Breath of Eternity: Deals Damage equal to wonder to all combatants. If in the real world it causes people to fall asleep. Usable once per combat. Will be used at the beginning of battle.
Dream Breath- A blessing or curse that can be done to any sleeping person who's dream you encounter. It changes the dream to something of your choice.
Cruel Claw: Damage you deal with physical attacks takes twice as much to heal.
Devouring Teeth -Instantly kill an enemy if they have less current cohesion then your wonder as a free action. Usable once per round.
Dragon Scales: Take -1 Damage from all sources until you're at 1/2 HP or less.
Wings of Wonder: +2 Speed out of combat and fleeing or chasing fleeing enemies.
-Stardust Wings: Removes all possible malevolent effects on yourself as a free action once per battle.
Dragon's Horde: For every 10 gossamer you have, gain +1 Cohesion, to a max of your wonder.
-Dream of Gemstones: Upgrade to Dragon's Horde: For every 20 gossamer you have stored, gain +1 Phantasm, to a max of your wonder.
Internal Flames - When reduced to 1/4 HP or less, regain 1/2 HP as a free action. May only happen once per day.
Sheriff's Star - Adds a sheriff's star to the dragon's form. When an enemy is reduced to 0 or would otherwise be killed, the dragon can cause chains to form around them instead of slay them. At which point they're restored to half HP, captured, and cannot die so long as they're captured.
Dream Breath- A blessing or curse that can be done to any sleeping person who's dream you encounter. It changes the dream to something of your choice.
Cruel Claw: Damage you deal with physical attacks takes twice as much to heal.
Devouring Teeth -Instantly kill an enemy if they have less current cohesion then your wonder as a free action. Usable once per round.
Dragon Scales: Take -1 Damage from all sources until you're at 1/2 HP or less.
Wings of Wonder: +2 Speed out of combat and fleeing or chasing fleeing enemies.
-Stardust Wings: Removes all possible malevolent effects on yourself as a free action once per battle.
Dragon's Horde: For every 10 gossamer you have, gain +1 Cohesion, to a max of your wonder.
-Dream of Gemstones: Upgrade to Dragon's Horde: For every 20 gossamer you have stored, gain +1 Phantasm, to a max of your wonder.
Internal Flames - When reduced to 1/4 HP or less, regain 1/2 HP as a free action. May only happen once per day.
Sheriff's Star - Adds a sheriff's star to the dragon's form. When an enemy is reduced to 0 or would otherwise be killed, the dragon can cause chains to form around them instead of slay them. At which point they're restored to half HP, captured, and cannot die so long as they're captured.
Golden Ring: Placed on the dragon's tail, this ring gives additional gossamer each gathering action equal to the depth you've gone to. If a bounty is collected from the city, that bounty is increased by 50%.
Shadow Man (Free to remake)
Phantasm: 1
Speed: 1
Cohesion: 4
Backup form - Can be remade for free.
Dream Dragon
Breath
A dream of dragon fire. (Breath upgrade: Disables abilities until the start of your next turn.)
-A nightmare of formless terror. (Breath upgrade: Breath lingers and reduces all stats by 1 for the rest of the week.)
-Breath of Eternity (A glimpse of the true eternity. Dragon Breath cannot be avoided, mitigated, or negated. The damage it causes is permanent until the dragon wills it isn't.)
Hoard
Eyes
A nightmare of glowing eyes. (Freezes enemies in terror for a round. May cause social effects.)
Claws
A nightmare of cruel spite. (Upgrade to dragon's claws. Wounds bleed out at 1 cohesion a round. Stacks to a maximum of phantasm.)
Teeth
-Nightmares of the Eaten (Regain HP equal to your phantasm if Devouring Teeth triggers.)
Wings
-Nightmares of Wind (You may flee regardless of speed or prevent escape once per battle.)
Tail
Mighty Tail (Deals phantasm damage to a second target if one is available whenever you deal damage with Phantasm.)
Scale
Dark Scales (Scales upgrade: Sunlight no longer burns away the dragon in the real world.)
-Elder's Scales ( Scales upgrade: Replaces -1 with -2.)
-Impenetrable Scales (Scales upgrade: Damage above 5 or more is reduced by 1.)
Miscellaneous
Dragon Awe (Enemies with a max cohesion of half your max cohesion will either attempt to flee or surrender on sight. Requires 40 Cohesion.)
Miscellaneous
Path of Wisdom (Look deeper and in strange places)
Kings Crown (Inherit it, from Dream-catcher. If you can.)
Breath
A dream of dragon fire. (Breath upgrade: Disables abilities until the start of your next turn.)
-A nightmare of formless terror. (Breath upgrade: Breath lingers and reduces all stats by 1 for the rest of the week.)
-Breath of Eternity (A glimpse of the true eternity. Dragon Breath cannot be avoided, mitigated, or negated. The damage it causes is permanent until the dragon wills it isn't.)
Hoard
Eyes
A nightmare of glowing eyes. (Freezes enemies in terror for a round. May cause social effects.)
Claws
A nightmare of cruel spite. (Upgrade to dragon's claws. Wounds bleed out at 1 cohesion a round. Stacks to a maximum of phantasm.)
Teeth
-Nightmares of the Eaten (Regain HP equal to your phantasm if Devouring Teeth triggers.)
Wings
-Nightmares of Wind (You may flee regardless of speed or prevent escape once per battle.)
Tail
Mighty Tail (Deals phantasm damage to a second target if one is available whenever you deal damage with Phantasm.)
Scale
Dark Scales (Scales upgrade: Sunlight no longer burns away the dragon in the real world.)
-Elder's Scales ( Scales upgrade: Replaces -1 with -2.)
-Impenetrable Scales (Scales upgrade: Damage above 5 or more is reduced by 1.)
Miscellaneous
Dragon Awe (Enemies with a max cohesion of half your max cohesion will either attempt to flee or surrender on sight. Requires 40 Cohesion.)
Miscellaneous
Path of Wisdom (Look deeper and in strange places)
Kings Crown (Inherit it, from Dream-catcher. If you can.)
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People, Places, & Things
Notable Terms:
Stats:
Phantasm - Strength and power in the dream
Speed - How quick you are.
Cohesion - How much damage you can take before waking up.
Wonder - The ability to manipulate dream stuff
Gossamer - The remnants of a dream. Creatures in the dream realm use this residue as a currency and a tasty treat. Each type of dream leaves a different flavor.
Dream Denizens - The dream has things inside it. Wondrous things and terrifying things. Most aren't intelligent. Some have become so due to some strange method of time and effort. All of them can be eaten for gossamer since they're made of the stuff basically. In fact, they're some of the best sources of it.
Stats:
Phantasm - Strength and power in the dream
Speed - How quick you are.
Cohesion - How much damage you can take before waking up.
Wonder - The ability to manipulate dream stuff
Gossamer - The remnants of a dream. Creatures in the dream realm use this residue as a currency and a tasty treat. Each type of dream leaves a different flavor.
Dream Denizens - The dream has things inside it. Wondrous things and terrifying things. Most aren't intelligent. Some have become so due to some strange method of time and effort. All of them can be eaten for gossamer since they're made of the stuff basically. In fact, they're some of the best sources of it.
Dreamcatcher - Your patron. An old spirit of the dreams that has existed for centuries at least. You could best describe it as a creature with a billion spider legs leading into a point of light. It dwells deep in the dream realm and has dominated the realm for ages. Recently it's hold on the realm has started to slip as it grows still further. It's given you power so that it can be fed on gossamer still. Over time it will likely sink deeper into the dream realm and become untouchable, but for now it still reaches far throughout the dream realm.
Living Nightmares - Deadly, intelligent, vindictive, cunning. These things are one of the most dangerous things in the dream. They hunt to cause pain and fear. They're formed when a sleeping person dies terrified. They're one of the very, very few things that can kill in the dream. Even boogeymen need to get into reality to cause trouble, and they're not intelligent enough to become serious trouble. These things can. Fortunately the Dreamcatcher will hunt them actively if they're noticed. This has suppressed them for now.
Living Nightmares - Deadly, intelligent, vindictive, cunning. These things are one of the most dangerous things in the dream. They hunt to cause pain and fear. They're formed when a sleeping person dies terrified. They're one of the very, very few things that can kill in the dream. Even boogeymen need to get into reality to cause trouble, and they're not intelligent enough to become serious trouble. These things can. Fortunately the Dreamcatcher will hunt them actively if they're noticed. This has suppressed them for now.
Boogeyman - Dream denizens that like the taste of nightmares. Monsters under the bed, in the closet, and more. They linger on the edges of reality and fade in and out to cause more fear before diving deep into dream to hid. As they grow, they cause more vivid and terrifying nightmares. Your patron tells tales of monsters large enough to manifest fully in reality and eat people as well, but they are extremely rare nowadays thanks to it finding them tasty. Boogeymen are about as smart as dogs or other animals.
Cupids - As muses, but focused on dreams of love and more erotic aspects. You're going to be honest. You lost your desire to go into a girl's dream and 'play' after your first try. Dreams are fuzzy, and if you make them lucid enough to play right it gets rather awkward. The first try turned you off so bad that you don't bother anymore. Cupids don't get as big as the other ones thanks to reasons best left unsaid, so you can safely ignore them or nom them.
Drains - Probably one of the most deadly denizens that one can encounter. Well, deadly to other people. These like thoughts of loss and depression. Suicides are definitely influenced by them. The others are only problematic big. These aren't. Even just eliminating small ones can help the people around it almost instantly. Large ones are hellish. It's important to note that slaying drains cures nothing. All it does is ease the symptoms.
Guppies - They're best described as fish big enough to eat people. Fortunately they're in the dream so you're not hearing about people being eaten. Guppies will chase down anything that moves. Stupid yes, but surprisingly dangerous just because they're so big. If you can bring them down then you've got a very good bounty.
Muses - Basically the opposite of Boogeymen. Muses like the taste of happy dreams, or wondrous dreams. They're not as harmful as Boogeymen, but they still need to be controlled as their 'happy dreams' sometimes cause the people to burn out or develop mental issues. Your patron ate them too, but has taught you to 'prune' them if you prefer as they're not particularly harmful small. They're not smart enough to care either way.
Night-lights - Spectacularly annoying creatures formed of violent or exhilarating dreams. Aside from encouraging more energetic dreams, they'll deliberately seek out and attack other things. Including you. The other ones you can typically handle. These ones always get a good hit in once thanks to how twitchy and fast they can get. Thankfully they never get that big.
Cupids - As muses, but focused on dreams of love and more erotic aspects. You're going to be honest. You lost your desire to go into a girl's dream and 'play' after your first try. Dreams are fuzzy, and if you make them lucid enough to play right it gets rather awkward. The first try turned you off so bad that you don't bother anymore. Cupids don't get as big as the other ones thanks to reasons best left unsaid, so you can safely ignore them or nom them.
Drains - Probably one of the most deadly denizens that one can encounter. Well, deadly to other people. These like thoughts of loss and depression. Suicides are definitely influenced by them. The others are only problematic big. These aren't. Even just eliminating small ones can help the people around it almost instantly. Large ones are hellish. It's important to note that slaying drains cures nothing. All it does is ease the symptoms.
Guppies - They're best described as fish big enough to eat people. Fortunately they're in the dream so you're not hearing about people being eaten. Guppies will chase down anything that moves. Stupid yes, but surprisingly dangerous just because they're so big. If you can bring them down then you've got a very good bounty.
Muses - Basically the opposite of Boogeymen. Muses like the taste of happy dreams, or wondrous dreams. They're not as harmful as Boogeymen, but they still need to be controlled as their 'happy dreams' sometimes cause the people to burn out or develop mental issues. Your patron ate them too, but has taught you to 'prune' them if you prefer as they're not particularly harmful small. They're not smart enough to care either way.
Night-lights - Spectacularly annoying creatures formed of violent or exhilarating dreams. Aside from encouraging more energetic dreams, they'll deliberately seek out and attack other things. Including you. The other ones you can typically handle. These ones always get a good hit in once thanks to how twitchy and fast they can get. Thankfully they never get that big.
People From College
John Smith - You. Your a young man who landed a security job at a local college campus. Frankly it's a boring job, but you can literally sleep on it and not worry about being fired. The pay's just enough for you to live off.
Harold Man - Really fat man. Your coworker. Bit of a slob and needs to shave. Just divorced his third wife.
Meria Willow - Black woman with very long hair. Moderately Pretty. Also seems to suffer from depression. You've mitigated it for now.
Jean Pacifica - White woman with died blond hair very pretty, and flaunts it with her clothing choices.
Scott Ryan - Athletic man, invited John to play a few friendly games.
Margret Maxwell - College TA. Shoulder length hair that she keeps neat and died purple.
Lola Peterson - Nurse in training. Spends a lot of time in the library.
People From The Dream
Moth Woman: A blind woman who habitually goes to the Theater in the dream city. Has been amiable toward you, thus far.
Burning Boogeyman: Wants to win. Perfectly fine with establishing totems made of nightmares that attract boogeymen who prey upon innocents to do so. Already killed your dream form once.
Living Atom: Somewhat friendly. Interested in the potential real-world applications of the Dream, and in applying scientific principles to the Dream.
John Smith - You. Your a young man who landed a security job at a local college campus. Frankly it's a boring job, but you can literally sleep on it and not worry about being fired. The pay's just enough for you to live off.
Harold Man - Really fat man. Your coworker. Bit of a slob and needs to shave. Just divorced his third wife.
Meria Willow - Black woman with very long hair. Moderately Pretty. Also seems to suffer from depression. You've mitigated it for now.
Jean Pacifica - White woman with died blond hair very pretty, and flaunts it with her clothing choices.
Scott Ryan - Athletic man, invited John to play a few friendly games.
Margret Maxwell - College TA. Shoulder length hair that she keeps neat and died purple.
Lola Peterson - Nurse in training. Spends a lot of time in the library.
People From The Dream
Moth Woman: A blind woman who habitually goes to the Theater in the dream city. Has been amiable toward you, thus far.
Burning Boogeyman: Wants to win. Perfectly fine with establishing totems made of nightmares that attract boogeymen who prey upon innocents to do so. Already killed your dream form once.
Living Atom: Somewhat friendly. Interested in the potential real-world applications of the Dream, and in applying scientific principles to the Dream.
Reality
Campus - The place that you work as a security guard at. It's fairly chill, but can get rowdy like most colleges. The place where you work with Harold and play ball with Scott.
The Library - A place where you go to check out books. You met Lola Peterson here. You like to look at art books and watch the traces of dreams that the people who patronize the library wear around them.
The Local Cafe - A place where you drink coffee, watch people, and meet girls. Most recently, you met Jean Pacifica - now Scott's girlfriend - here. Meria Willow works here, and thus can be found here dependably.
The Local Bar - You've never been here.
Dreams
The Dream Realm - This isn't a world so much as a layer atop it. Like a mist or a sea that we all swim through. When someone dreams their mind touches it just a bit and then sinks some. When someone wakes up, they leave the realm and leave behind churned up and fused parts of the realm. That is what Gossamer is made out of.
The surface of the dream realm is like reality but with a misty coating over it making it very hard to tell where you are. The deeper you go, the darker and more fantastic it is. Deep in the dream lurks terrors and wonders that people dream in their most secret fantasies and nightmares.
Your patron lurks at the deeper realms, and as deep as you can go at the moment. There are more layers below that though, and you're not sure that there's a bottom, or what it is. Your patron likely knows, but they aren't telling you.
The Dream City - A strange city that seems to be several thousand dreams mashed together. It's become an actual ecology that has an actual population, with everything you'd expect in a realm world city. Admittedly everything in it is outlandish and twisted from reality.
The Angel's Box - A box guarded by an angel. Defeat it if you want to go inside.
Campus - The place that you work as a security guard at. It's fairly chill, but can get rowdy like most colleges. The place where you work with Harold and play ball with Scott.
The Library - A place where you go to check out books. You met Lola Peterson here. You like to look at art books and watch the traces of dreams that the people who patronize the library wear around them.
The Local Cafe - A place where you drink coffee, watch people, and meet girls. Most recently, you met Jean Pacifica - now Scott's girlfriend - here. Meria Willow works here, and thus can be found here dependably.
The Local Bar - You've never been here.
Dreams
The Dream Realm - This isn't a world so much as a layer atop it. Like a mist or a sea that we all swim through. When someone dreams their mind touches it just a bit and then sinks some. When someone wakes up, they leave the realm and leave behind churned up and fused parts of the realm. That is what Gossamer is made out of.
The surface of the dream realm is like reality but with a misty coating over it making it very hard to tell where you are. The deeper you go, the darker and more fantastic it is. Deep in the dream lurks terrors and wonders that people dream in their most secret fantasies and nightmares.
Your patron lurks at the deeper realms, and as deep as you can go at the moment. There are more layers below that though, and you're not sure that there's a bottom, or what it is. Your patron likely knows, but they aren't telling you.
The Dream City - A strange city that seems to be several thousand dreams mashed together. It's become an actual ecology that has an actual population, with everything you'd expect in a realm world city. Admittedly everything in it is outlandish and twisted from reality.
The Angel's Box - A box guarded by an angel. Defeat it if you want to go inside.
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Mechanics
Fastest go first. Deal Phantasm damage to Cohesion. Repeat. Fastest people can leave if they're losing. Reaching 0 cohesion has you waking up. Skills can change things. With multiple people it goes the same way, but there's a -1 phantasm penalty for each additional attack. IE, 3 people attack one person, the first deals max, the second gets -1, the third gets -2. To a minimum of 1.
Fleeing and coming back to fight is still considered one 'combat'.
Fleeing and coming back to fight is still considered one 'combat'.
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Two - Talking, Library, Guppy
[X] Watch the Monitors (Talk with Harold)
John was a security guard for the local college campus. As far as campuses went, it wasn't too large or too small. Dotted by large buildings and long winding paths, the hardest part about the entire job wasn't securing it, it was handling the boredom. John could expect to intervene maybe once a month if that. There was a reason Harold slept on the job. At the very least it was a secure job. Harold had been there for twenty years and he was still there.
Despite this John liked to at least try to do his job. He watched the monitors occasionally, sketched when he was bored, and generally did what the job was supposed to be.
"Ya know." Harold liked to talk when he was awake. "You should see about selling a few o' dose pictures. Lord knows you keep doing it. Or see 'bout taking those classes."
John grinned just a bit at the other man. "That's what, like the fifth time you've said that? These are for fun." He did pencil sketches of dragons and things he had seen in dreams. He wasn't very good, but it was something easy to waste time on.
"Wastin talent I say. Like my first wife, gold digger settling for me." Harold chortled and fumbled for a donut nearby. "'Course I was a catch back then! Women will drain the life from you, remember that!" The man bit into the jelly donut and John tried not to watch how some of the jelly squeezed out to land on his shirt.
"And that's ten for that one." John said to the monitors.
"Hah! I like you kid." Harold chuckled. "Keep it up and you'll take my job when I get kick the bucket. You lasted longer than the other kids already." The man nodded to the monitors. "It's a boring job, but it's a job. Some people out there don't even get that with the fancy education."
John snorted as he looked at the monitors. "Protesting the destruction of the north African bluegill's habitat? Really?" Stuff like this made him even less inspired to look into a college education.
"I kinda miss the burn the bra protest." Harold replied back whistfully and then sighed as he spotted something. "Oh, get the spare keys again. We're likely going to get another call in about thirty for building ten."
John groaned and rooted through the drawers. Building ten had a faulty lock that still hadn't been repaired. It locked when the door shut, and some idiot always shut it even with the signs and the props. Every day they had to do this. Sometimes twice.
[X] Hit the local library
The local library was a place just nearby the college, and was actually part of the reason the college existed. Built a good few decades before the college, the thing was actually a minor tourist attraction. Four stories high and filled with books, it's prime claim to fame was a basement filled with manuscripts. Apparently the place was one of the better places for preservation and interpretation. A lot of students did their internship there.
This made it a bustling place that was busy even when John got off his work. The size of the crowd made it rather noisy for a library as well. At least on the first floor where a lot of people studied. Higher up it was typically better.
John made his way up there. This week he was looking up various art history books. It was a hobby really. He mostly skimmed the major books as he looked for information.
Crowds tended to be interesting with his new 'sight'. He could see the lingering dreams of people mixing around in the dream realm. Most were formless things. Dreams without meaning or memory. Most people really didn't dream particularly vividly really. The worst the students on the first floor typically were lingering dreams of horror and test scores.
It was actually pretty amusing. Sometimes John took his time and just people watched here. Trying to find out what a person was like based on their dreams was amusing.
That wasn't on the agenda today. Today he had finally tracked down a good watercolor history. The pictures were vivid and reminiscent of some children's dreams. He was likely going to go through that today.
He paused briefly when he encountered a particularly potent lingering dream. A dark-skinned woman with very long hair in a purple dress was reading in the corner on floor two. The remnants stank of despair. Vivid dreams like that tended to attract dream denizens.
John made a note of the girl and then moved onto his task. What was he going to say? You look down? The girl looked perfectly happy reading at the moment.
She wasn't there for the rest of the week either, so John put the incident into the back of his mind.
[X] Hunt for Gossamer 3
The dream realm didn't like to be defined. It was a sea that wasn't a sea. A wash of colors pressed against reality. It twisted and changed on a whim. The dragon had been made to fly and navigate it though. He was at home here in a way all natives were.
While the dream realm wasn't a sea, it was probably easiest to visualize it as one. It had a surface and depths. This week he had decided to hunt deeper below the surface. Not so deep he'd have trouble, but it was a good way of really stretching his wings.
The surface of the dream realm resembled reality mostly. This deep, it was warped by feelings and what people had dreamed at various areas. A veteran dream walker like the dragon could even see ripples where recent dreams had been. This helped quite a bit in identifying things to hunt and gather.
For the most part the dragon just flew around and ate motes of gossamer. Little sparks of dreams left really. Nothing substantial, but a good snack as he hunted for something larger. There was a trick of hunting in general really. You had to follow the 'food.' Or in this case the lack of it. There were often paths and trails from something moving through the realm.
In this case on the third day of hunting the Dragon found his prey. A massive swimming shape pulling in remnants of gossamer. Closer the dragon could see it fully.
It resembled nothing so much as a fish with wins trailing shining colors. No gills or eyes though. A mouth opening and closing to mindlessly eat. It swam almost serenely through the dream without a care or thought in the world. As the dragon neared, that mindless purpose focused on it. The dragon called these things guppies and he didn't like these things. There was always that fear of finding one too big and fast to avoid. This one was small enough for him to slay though, so he tucked his wings tight and dove through the dream to meet his opponent.
Here was where reality and dream diverged. The guppy came nowhere near him, but when it's mouth opened the world sucked in towards it, and the dragon felt a bit of his essence pulled in. He ignored the feeling to inhale and blast out with his 'fire.' Glittering stars raced across the battlefield and shredded the guppy's skin.
This didn't do much more than cause the guppy to twitch. It gulped again, and again the dragon was pulled forward. He continued to dive though, and soon his claws were close enough. They lashed out, never quite hitting, but leaving lines of pain and spite across the guppy's body.
That was enough damage to trigger the primitive instincts of the guppy in defense. It twisted far faster than it had been moving in an attempted to meet the dragon's flying form. This close, the dragon couldn't move his body quick enough to avoid the mouth fully. His tail disappeared into the mouth, and then there was a bite.
The dragon's claws lashed out again in reply, and he did enough damage to the guppy's form to cause it to lose cohesion. The form of the fish shimmered into glittering fog, and the dragon opened his toothy maw to eat.
21 days until next tribute.
You have 90 gossamer.
11 damage has been taken to your dragon form. You recover 1 a day naturally.
Daytime Action
[] Patrol the campus. (You're a security guard for the local college. Your contract doesn't really need you to patrol, but it gets you out of the place.0
[] Nap and use Dream of Wonder
[] Watch the Monitors (Talk with Harold)
Evening Action
[] Hit the local library
[] Hit the local cafe
[] Hit the local bar
[] Go home (Use night action twice)
Night Action
[] Hunt for Gossamer (Specify a number from 1-7. 1 easy, 7 hardest)
[] Hunt for your rivals
[] Look for something new
-You may use graft dream form on any slot you'd sleep.
-You may repair as an additional, free action.
-Write ins are acceptable.
John was a security guard for the local college campus. As far as campuses went, it wasn't too large or too small. Dotted by large buildings and long winding paths, the hardest part about the entire job wasn't securing it, it was handling the boredom. John could expect to intervene maybe once a month if that. There was a reason Harold slept on the job. At the very least it was a secure job. Harold had been there for twenty years and he was still there.
Despite this John liked to at least try to do his job. He watched the monitors occasionally, sketched when he was bored, and generally did what the job was supposed to be.
"Ya know." Harold liked to talk when he was awake. "You should see about selling a few o' dose pictures. Lord knows you keep doing it. Or see 'bout taking those classes."
John grinned just a bit at the other man. "That's what, like the fifth time you've said that? These are for fun." He did pencil sketches of dragons and things he had seen in dreams. He wasn't very good, but it was something easy to waste time on.
"Wastin talent I say. Like my first wife, gold digger settling for me." Harold chortled and fumbled for a donut nearby. "'Course I was a catch back then! Women will drain the life from you, remember that!" The man bit into the jelly donut and John tried not to watch how some of the jelly squeezed out to land on his shirt.
"And that's ten for that one." John said to the monitors.
"Hah! I like you kid." Harold chuckled. "Keep it up and you'll take my job when I get kick the bucket. You lasted longer than the other kids already." The man nodded to the monitors. "It's a boring job, but it's a job. Some people out there don't even get that with the fancy education."
John snorted as he looked at the monitors. "Protesting the destruction of the north African bluegill's habitat? Really?" Stuff like this made him even less inspired to look into a college education.
"I kinda miss the burn the bra protest." Harold replied back whistfully and then sighed as he spotted something. "Oh, get the spare keys again. We're likely going to get another call in about thirty for building ten."
John groaned and rooted through the drawers. Building ten had a faulty lock that still hadn't been repaired. It locked when the door shut, and some idiot always shut it even with the signs and the props. Every day they had to do this. Sometimes twice.
[X] Hit the local library
The local library was a place just nearby the college, and was actually part of the reason the college existed. Built a good few decades before the college, the thing was actually a minor tourist attraction. Four stories high and filled with books, it's prime claim to fame was a basement filled with manuscripts. Apparently the place was one of the better places for preservation and interpretation. A lot of students did their internship there.
This made it a bustling place that was busy even when John got off his work. The size of the crowd made it rather noisy for a library as well. At least on the first floor where a lot of people studied. Higher up it was typically better.
John made his way up there. This week he was looking up various art history books. It was a hobby really. He mostly skimmed the major books as he looked for information.
Crowds tended to be interesting with his new 'sight'. He could see the lingering dreams of people mixing around in the dream realm. Most were formless things. Dreams without meaning or memory. Most people really didn't dream particularly vividly really. The worst the students on the first floor typically were lingering dreams of horror and test scores.
It was actually pretty amusing. Sometimes John took his time and just people watched here. Trying to find out what a person was like based on their dreams was amusing.
That wasn't on the agenda today. Today he had finally tracked down a good watercolor history. The pictures were vivid and reminiscent of some children's dreams. He was likely going to go through that today.
He paused briefly when he encountered a particularly potent lingering dream. A dark-skinned woman with very long hair in a purple dress was reading in the corner on floor two. The remnants stank of despair. Vivid dreams like that tended to attract dream denizens.
John made a note of the girl and then moved onto his task. What was he going to say? You look down? The girl looked perfectly happy reading at the moment.
She wasn't there for the rest of the week either, so John put the incident into the back of his mind.
[X] Hunt for Gossamer 3
The dream realm didn't like to be defined. It was a sea that wasn't a sea. A wash of colors pressed against reality. It twisted and changed on a whim. The dragon had been made to fly and navigate it though. He was at home here in a way all natives were.
While the dream realm wasn't a sea, it was probably easiest to visualize it as one. It had a surface and depths. This week he had decided to hunt deeper below the surface. Not so deep he'd have trouble, but it was a good way of really stretching his wings.
The surface of the dream realm resembled reality mostly. This deep, it was warped by feelings and what people had dreamed at various areas. A veteran dream walker like the dragon could even see ripples where recent dreams had been. This helped quite a bit in identifying things to hunt and gather.
For the most part the dragon just flew around and ate motes of gossamer. Little sparks of dreams left really. Nothing substantial, but a good snack as he hunted for something larger. There was a trick of hunting in general really. You had to follow the 'food.' Or in this case the lack of it. There were often paths and trails from something moving through the realm.
In this case on the third day of hunting the Dragon found his prey. A massive swimming shape pulling in remnants of gossamer. Closer the dragon could see it fully.
It resembled nothing so much as a fish with wins trailing shining colors. No gills or eyes though. A mouth opening and closing to mindlessly eat. It swam almost serenely through the dream without a care or thought in the world. As the dragon neared, that mindless purpose focused on it. The dragon called these things guppies and he didn't like these things. There was always that fear of finding one too big and fast to avoid. This one was small enough for him to slay though, so he tucked his wings tight and dove through the dream to meet his opponent.
Here was where reality and dream diverged. The guppy came nowhere near him, but when it's mouth opened the world sucked in towards it, and the dragon felt a bit of his essence pulled in. He ignored the feeling to inhale and blast out with his 'fire.' Glittering stars raced across the battlefield and shredded the guppy's skin.
This didn't do much more than cause the guppy to twitch. It gulped again, and again the dragon was pulled forward. He continued to dive though, and soon his claws were close enough. They lashed out, never quite hitting, but leaving lines of pain and spite across the guppy's body.
That was enough damage to trigger the primitive instincts of the guppy in defense. It twisted far faster than it had been moving in an attempted to meet the dragon's flying form. This close, the dragon couldn't move his body quick enough to avoid the mouth fully. His tail disappeared into the mouth, and then there was a bite.
The dragon's claws lashed out again in reply, and he did enough damage to the guppy's form to cause it to lose cohesion. The form of the fish shimmered into glittering fog, and the dragon opened his toothy maw to eat.
They're best described as fish big enough to eat people. Fortunately they're in the dream so you're not hearing about people being eaten. Guppies will chase down anything that moves. Stupid yes, but surprisingly dangerous just because they're so big. If you can bring them down then you've got a very good bounty.
Lv 3 Guppy
Phantasm: 5
Speed: 2
Cohesion: 15
Ability: Gulp - Swallows enemy and prevents escape if their max cohesion is less than the guppies.
Lv 3 Guppy
Phantasm: 5
Speed: 2
Cohesion: 15
Ability: Gulp - Swallows enemy and prevents escape if their max cohesion is less than the guppies.
Speed + Level +Encounter victory (Lv 3 Guppy) = 39 Gossemer, rounded up to 40.
Took 15 damage on day 3.
11 damage end of the week
Took 15 damage on day 3.
11 damage end of the week
21 days until next tribute.
You have 90 gossamer.
11 damage has been taken to your dragon form. You recover 1 a day naturally.
Daytime Action
[] Patrol the campus. (You're a security guard for the local college. Your contract doesn't really need you to patrol, but it gets you out of the place.0
[] Nap and use Dream of Wonder
[] Watch the Monitors (Talk with Harold)
Evening Action
[] Hit the local library
[] Hit the local cafe
[] Hit the local bar
[] Go home (Use night action twice)
Night Action
[] Hunt for Gossamer (Specify a number from 1-7. 1 easy, 7 hardest)
[] Hunt for your rivals
[] Look for something new
-You may use graft dream form on any slot you'd sleep.
-You may repair as an additional, free action.
-Write ins are acceptable.
Three - Monitor, Cafe, Hunt
[X] Watch the Monitors (Talk with Harold)
If you could ignore the way Harold made a mess and his sleeping on the job, he was actually a fairly nice guy to deal with. He did do his job even if he heaved and wheezed when he pulled himself out of his chair. John was fairly sure the man was exaggerating the effect since he had seen the other man practically run up and down four flights of stairs once when really pissed. Probably the biggest thing John had to keep reminding himself about was the fact that Harold had been there twenty years. That was a lot of experience.
"Switch monitor five to the second feed and freeze it." Harold ordered about mid week of monitor duty.
John blinked at the uncharacteristic behavior, but did as ordered. That particular feed was a feed of the field. No one was on it at the moment.
"Now, that particular camera has a zoom. Turn it up and keep it at that." The fat man leaned back in his chair and gave a grunt of satisfaction. "Ahh yes. Perfect."
The other guard watched the feed for a moment and then gave an internal groan as he saw what was on it. Cheerleaders were coming out into the field and this particular camera had a near perfect angle to it.
Harold of course had his eyes glued to the camera. "Did I ever tell you about my second wife?"
"Let me guess, cheerleader?" John asked.
"Ohhh yeah. Flexible like ya wouldn't believe. Real sweetie too. Not the brightest bulb, but hell I could have grown old with her." Harold sighed in pleasure as he watched the cheerleaders start their routine.
Harold had divorced a third wife semi-recently last John knew. "Why didn't you then?"
"Well, now that's a bit of a story. Short answer, she fractured her spine doin' something like that." The security guard nodded at the camera as one of the girls was thrown into the air. "Long answer? She got dropped mid-routine, and had to go into surgery. Now I'm no scumbag, I supported her that entire time. Thing was she blew up like a blimp eatin' and piggin' out." Harold chuckled and slapped his belly as he continued. "Ain't like I care much 'bout that.
Thing 'bout it was that she started gettin' mean and depressed." Harold snorted. "She couldn't do her stuff and was feeling ugly. I didn't care much, but she did. Things went bad when she found out she was pregnant."
John winced. "You were still fighting then right?"
"Her parents convinced her ta move out and stay with them. One thing after another and we get a divorce after the kid's born." Harold shrugged at this point. "Last I checked she cleaned up her act fer her kid. Honestly it's prob best that we never made up. Kid's in high school now and really doing well."
"That's good I suppose?" John didn't know what he could say about that.
"Eh, water under the bridge. She ain't want anything to do with me, and didn't even press for child support. Not like my third wife. Now she was a stone cold bitch." Harold nodded decisively and continued watching the cheerleaders. "Now, onto better things."
[X] Hit the local cafe
The local cafe was a nice place really. Just on the edge of the college campus, it was mostly a hot date and study area. The coffee was expensive, the food cheap, but it had a lot a booths and typically hired from the local college as well. John would occasionally go there to unwind and people watch. He also used it when he didn't feel like cooking either, which was what he was doing this week. The food was just cheap enough to make it economically feasible. Well, so long as he didn't order desert or the coffee.
There were two main things of note for John. One was that the dark skinned girl with long hair and depressing dreams was here. The other was that there was that a girl with dyed blonde hair was a frequent customer. She and her friends had made eyes at John occasionally, and that accumulated to her sliding into his booth mid-week.
"Hi!" The girl chirped and grinned at John.
"Um, hi?" John blinked at the other girl.
"You're the security guard on campus right? I've seen you wandering around in that cute uniform." The girl's grin widened and her friends giggled in the background.
John nodded at the other girl. He wasn't in uniform now, but it wasn't like it was a secret.
"Awesome. I'm Jean! I just wanted to say that I'd love to hear a call from you when you're available." Jean fluttered her eyelashes and pushed her number written on a piece of paper forward. "I think uniforms are sexy."
John had mixed feelings about this honestly, but accepted the number. Jean was honestly rather hot, and her dress showed just enough cleavage to let people know she was stacked as well. He had a very simple cell phone that he could call her on if he wanted to.
Jean slipped out as soon as she saw him take it, and then ran back to her friends. John heard them giggling loudly and the friends basically gasping 'I can't believe you did that.'
John went back to his meal. At the very least they didn't have interesting dreams. He would have been more worried if they had dreams of ambition or something else.
[X] Hunt for Gossamer (Specify a number from 1-7. 1 easy, 7 hardest)
-[X] 1
[X] Repair
The surface of the dream realm was basically almost exactly like reality. Here you could even sometimes follow people through reality and figure out what they were doing. It was sort of like looking through a fuzzy lens combined with snap motion photography. The dragon had once taken a day to follow someone throughout their day just to see what happened. Basically people dipped in and out of the dream routinely and that caused a 'snapshot' to form when they did. It was interesting, but mostly academic for the dragon's needs.
Not many things lingered on the surface. Gossamer was sparse the higher you went ultimately. It was a great place to take it easy if you wanted to though. Typically there wasn't anything that could cause the dragon issues in his hunt.
Luck was with the dragon too. A small guppy had started to feed on the very first day of hunting. Not even large enough to defend itself yet, the thing was large enough to eat in one bite. The dragon swooped down to eat, and then the next few second were a blur of almost pain that indicated it had taken damage.
In the place of the guppy was now the taffy man. It flexed and wiggled as the spikes that adorned it's skin popped back and smoothed out.
You have 79 gossamer.
You have taken 8 Damage
[] Flight
[]Flee
[] Talk
If you could ignore the way Harold made a mess and his sleeping on the job, he was actually a fairly nice guy to deal with. He did do his job even if he heaved and wheezed when he pulled himself out of his chair. John was fairly sure the man was exaggerating the effect since he had seen the other man practically run up and down four flights of stairs once when really pissed. Probably the biggest thing John had to keep reminding himself about was the fact that Harold had been there twenty years. That was a lot of experience.
"Switch monitor five to the second feed and freeze it." Harold ordered about mid week of monitor duty.
John blinked at the uncharacteristic behavior, but did as ordered. That particular feed was a feed of the field. No one was on it at the moment.
"Now, that particular camera has a zoom. Turn it up and keep it at that." The fat man leaned back in his chair and gave a grunt of satisfaction. "Ahh yes. Perfect."
The other guard watched the feed for a moment and then gave an internal groan as he saw what was on it. Cheerleaders were coming out into the field and this particular camera had a near perfect angle to it.
Harold of course had his eyes glued to the camera. "Did I ever tell you about my second wife?"
"Let me guess, cheerleader?" John asked.
"Ohhh yeah. Flexible like ya wouldn't believe. Real sweetie too. Not the brightest bulb, but hell I could have grown old with her." Harold sighed in pleasure as he watched the cheerleaders start their routine.
Harold had divorced a third wife semi-recently last John knew. "Why didn't you then?"
"Well, now that's a bit of a story. Short answer, she fractured her spine doin' something like that." The security guard nodded at the camera as one of the girls was thrown into the air. "Long answer? She got dropped mid-routine, and had to go into surgery. Now I'm no scumbag, I supported her that entire time. Thing was she blew up like a blimp eatin' and piggin' out." Harold chuckled and slapped his belly as he continued. "Ain't like I care much 'bout that.
Thing 'bout it was that she started gettin' mean and depressed." Harold snorted. "She couldn't do her stuff and was feeling ugly. I didn't care much, but she did. Things went bad when she found out she was pregnant."
John winced. "You were still fighting then right?"
"Her parents convinced her ta move out and stay with them. One thing after another and we get a divorce after the kid's born." Harold shrugged at this point. "Last I checked she cleaned up her act fer her kid. Honestly it's prob best that we never made up. Kid's in high school now and really doing well."
"That's good I suppose?" John didn't know what he could say about that.
"Eh, water under the bridge. She ain't want anything to do with me, and didn't even press for child support. Not like my third wife. Now she was a stone cold bitch." Harold nodded decisively and continued watching the cheerleaders. "Now, onto better things."
[X] Hit the local cafe
The local cafe was a nice place really. Just on the edge of the college campus, it was mostly a hot date and study area. The coffee was expensive, the food cheap, but it had a lot a booths and typically hired from the local college as well. John would occasionally go there to unwind and people watch. He also used it when he didn't feel like cooking either, which was what he was doing this week. The food was just cheap enough to make it economically feasible. Well, so long as he didn't order desert or the coffee.
There were two main things of note for John. One was that the dark skinned girl with long hair and depressing dreams was here. The other was that there was that a girl with dyed blonde hair was a frequent customer. She and her friends had made eyes at John occasionally, and that accumulated to her sliding into his booth mid-week.
"Hi!" The girl chirped and grinned at John.
"Um, hi?" John blinked at the other girl.
"You're the security guard on campus right? I've seen you wandering around in that cute uniform." The girl's grin widened and her friends giggled in the background.
John nodded at the other girl. He wasn't in uniform now, but it wasn't like it was a secret.
"Awesome. I'm Jean! I just wanted to say that I'd love to hear a call from you when you're available." Jean fluttered her eyelashes and pushed her number written on a piece of paper forward. "I think uniforms are sexy."
John had mixed feelings about this honestly, but accepted the number. Jean was honestly rather hot, and her dress showed just enough cleavage to let people know she was stacked as well. He had a very simple cell phone that he could call her on if he wanted to.
Jean slipped out as soon as she saw him take it, and then ran back to her friends. John heard them giggling loudly and the friends basically gasping 'I can't believe you did that.'
John went back to his meal. At the very least they didn't have interesting dreams. He would have been more worried if they had dreams of ambition or something else.
[X] Hunt for Gossamer (Specify a number from 1-7. 1 easy, 7 hardest)
-[X] 1
[X] Repair
The surface of the dream realm was basically almost exactly like reality. Here you could even sometimes follow people through reality and figure out what they were doing. It was sort of like looking through a fuzzy lens combined with snap motion photography. The dragon had once taken a day to follow someone throughout their day just to see what happened. Basically people dipped in and out of the dream routinely and that caused a 'snapshot' to form when they did. It was interesting, but mostly academic for the dragon's needs.
Not many things lingered on the surface. Gossamer was sparse the higher you went ultimately. It was a great place to take it easy if you wanted to though. Typically there wasn't anything that could cause the dragon issues in his hunt.
Luck was with the dragon too. A small guppy had started to feed on the very first day of hunting. Not even large enough to defend itself yet, the thing was large enough to eat in one bite. The dragon swooped down to eat, and then the next few second were a blur of almost pain that indicated it had taken damage.
In the place of the guppy was now the taffy man. It flexed and wiggled as the spikes that adorned it's skin popped back and smoothed out.
Taffy Man (300+?)
Phantasm:?
Speed: 4
Cohesion: ? (Taken 6)
Shape-shift- Can look like anyone. Deals wonder damage after being hit and revealing the disguise.
?
*Note, each of your rivals started with 300 point dream forms.
Phantasm:?
Speed: 4
Cohesion: ? (Taken 6)
Shape-shift- Can look like anyone. Deals wonder damage after being hit and revealing the disguise.
?
*Note, each of your rivals started with 300 point dream forms.
You have 79 gossamer.
You have taken 8 Damage
[] Flight
[]Flee
[] Talk
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Four - Talking with Taffy
[] Talk
----
Surprise had the dragon backing up with a flap of his wings. You'd think shapeshifters would be common in the dream realm, but this was far from the truth. Most denizens didn't have the intelligence to create proper facsimiles. Dream forms were based on the wonder and imagination of the being making them after all. Proper, convincing shapeshifting took both wonder and imagination beyond the norm of even most dream walkers.
Midair the dragon flapped his wings again and spoke with a flashing of his eyes. "Peace! I have no interest in battle at this moment!"
The taffy man paused at his words and then spoke with a rippling of his body. "WE are TRYING to GET the FAVOR of DREAM-catcher. WHY not FIGHT?"
The voice of the thing bounced up and down with distressing regularity and sounded like several people talking at once. It was enough to make the dragon wince just a bit. His voice had been carefully crafted and smoothed out to sound just the way he wanted. This taffy man's voice was like someone had thrown together a few sounds.
"I personally have no reason to fight here." The dragon settled on the surface of a faded lamppost. This level of the dream had actual terrain that made sense to conventional reality instead of random features mashed together.
"YOU are GATHERING gossamer." The taffy man pointed as his body twitched and spasmed disturbingly. "I am GATHERING as WELL. But I will NOT object IF we GO our own ways."
"This is acceptable." The dragons tail flicked through the air and he nodded serenely. "I'm assuming you're trying to ambush as a hunting method? Does that work well?"
The thing paused unnaturally and then the taffy that made up it's head rippled. "I have HAD no PROBLEMS with IT."
"None of the other candidates attacked you like I have? Curious." The dragon shrugged his wings and then stood on the lamppost he was lounging on. He yawned widely to reveal a maw of teeth akin to a shark's.
"NOT yet." The taffy man sunk into the ground like it was water flooding into a puddle.
"One last question if you don't mind?" The dragon asked curiously. "Did you base your dream form off Gumby? You are striking me hard with the nostalgia."
"Gumby?" The taffy man puddle twitched and rippled.
"Very old cartoon about something like your dream form." The dragon stated.
"I DO not WATCH tv." The taffy man inched off with those words.
With another shrug of his wings the dragon let him. He might have been inclined to press the matter, but really there was no need to push that hard. He was inclined to continue to hunt for gossamer.
Unfortunately picking were rather slim in this area. Either the taffy man had managed to hunt down the larger prey, or he had missed something, it was hard to tell. Briefly he regretted not attacking the other dream walker, but only briefly. Hitting the other walkers might place him significantly ahead, but it might also result in a loss. Better to be cautious over reckless.
By the end of the week he had managed to find little more than dregs of gossamer. Unfortunate that, but this did happen occasionally. He wasn't the only predator in the dream realms. It still was irritating in the extreme.
-----
14 days until next tribute.
You have 97 gossamer.
2 damage has been taken to your dragon form. You recover 1 a day naturally.
Daytime Action
[] Patrol the campus. (You're a security guard for the local college. Your contract doesn't really need you to patrol, but it gets you out of the place.0
[] Nap and use Dream of Wonder
[] Watch the Monitors (Talk with Harold)
Evening Action
[] Hit the local library
[] Hit the local cafe
[] Hit the local bar
[] Go home (Use night action twice)
Night Action
[] Hunt for Gossamer (Specify a number from 1-7. 1 easy, 7 hardest)
[] Hunt for your rivals
[] Look for something new
-You may use graft dream form on any slot you'd sleep.
-You may repair as an additional, free action.
-Write ins are acceptable.
----
Surprise had the dragon backing up with a flap of his wings. You'd think shapeshifters would be common in the dream realm, but this was far from the truth. Most denizens didn't have the intelligence to create proper facsimiles. Dream forms were based on the wonder and imagination of the being making them after all. Proper, convincing shapeshifting took both wonder and imagination beyond the norm of even most dream walkers.
Midair the dragon flapped his wings again and spoke with a flashing of his eyes. "Peace! I have no interest in battle at this moment!"
The taffy man paused at his words and then spoke with a rippling of his body. "WE are TRYING to GET the FAVOR of DREAM-catcher. WHY not FIGHT?"
The voice of the thing bounced up and down with distressing regularity and sounded like several people talking at once. It was enough to make the dragon wince just a bit. His voice had been carefully crafted and smoothed out to sound just the way he wanted. This taffy man's voice was like someone had thrown together a few sounds.
"I personally have no reason to fight here." The dragon settled on the surface of a faded lamppost. This level of the dream had actual terrain that made sense to conventional reality instead of random features mashed together.
"YOU are GATHERING gossamer." The taffy man pointed as his body twitched and spasmed disturbingly. "I am GATHERING as WELL. But I will NOT object IF we GO our own ways."
"This is acceptable." The dragons tail flicked through the air and he nodded serenely. "I'm assuming you're trying to ambush as a hunting method? Does that work well?"
The thing paused unnaturally and then the taffy that made up it's head rippled. "I have HAD no PROBLEMS with IT."
"None of the other candidates attacked you like I have? Curious." The dragon shrugged his wings and then stood on the lamppost he was lounging on. He yawned widely to reveal a maw of teeth akin to a shark's.
"NOT yet." The taffy man sunk into the ground like it was water flooding into a puddle.
"One last question if you don't mind?" The dragon asked curiously. "Did you base your dream form off Gumby? You are striking me hard with the nostalgia."
"Gumby?" The taffy man puddle twitched and rippled.
"Very old cartoon about something like your dream form." The dragon stated.
"I DO not WATCH tv." The taffy man inched off with those words.
With another shrug of his wings the dragon let him. He might have been inclined to press the matter, but really there was no need to push that hard. He was inclined to continue to hunt for gossamer.
Unfortunately picking were rather slim in this area. Either the taffy man had managed to hunt down the larger prey, or he had missed something, it was hard to tell. Briefly he regretted not attacking the other dream walker, but only briefly. Hitting the other walkers might place him significantly ahead, but it might also result in a loss. Better to be cautious over reckless.
By the end of the week he had managed to find little more than dregs of gossamer. Unfortunate that, but this did happen occasionally. He wasn't the only predator in the dream realms. It still was irritating in the extreme.
-----
14 days until next tribute.
You have 97 gossamer.
2 damage has been taken to your dragon form. You recover 1 a day naturally.
Speed + Level = 7
Daytime Action
[] Patrol the campus. (You're a security guard for the local college. Your contract doesn't really need you to patrol, but it gets you out of the place.0
[] Nap and use Dream of Wonder
[] Watch the Monitors (Talk with Harold)
Evening Action
[] Hit the local library
[] Hit the local cafe
[] Hit the local bar
[] Go home (Use night action twice)
Night Action
[] Hunt for Gossamer (Specify a number from 1-7. 1 easy, 7 hardest)
[] Hunt for your rivals
[] Look for something new
-You may use graft dream form on any slot you'd sleep.
-You may repair as an additional, free action.
-Write ins are acceptable.
Five -Patrol, Cafe, Hunt
[] Patrol the campus. (You're a security guard for the local college. Your contract doesn't really need you to patrol, but it gets you out of the place.
As a security guard, John was supposed to provide assistance for basically anything disruptive that happened in the campus. That was the job description at least. Practically he was mostly involved in unlocking doors, occasionally calling the police, and watching for fighting or theft. The campus was a remarkably quiet place in general. The weekends were usually the worst, and that was mostly due to idiot students getting drunk on campus.
What this meant for John was rather simple. He just needed to respond if there was a problem. He could technically spend his entire day in the security room and do nothing. It was an extremely boring option, but it was a possible one.
John would occasionally change things just to get out. He would take one of the walky-talkies and start to walk around campus. It was best when the weather was good like this week.
He liked to imagine that other colleges had frat parties and outrageous pranks, and more. This little place had perhaps a few protests from students with strange ideas and not much else. It was primarily known for old languages and preservation after all. The party people tended to move elsewhere.
Midway through the week, John got a bit more of a change. A muscled man with a tan ran up to him midway through his walk.
"Sup dude!" The man offered his hand. "John right?"
John looked down at his nametag. "Yeah." He took the hand anyway. "What do you need?"
"Not much dude. Just saw you walking around. The name's Scott." The man grinned and shook John's hand hard and then let it go.
The security guard rolled his eyes. "Pull the other one."
"Well, we don't need anything right now. The sports cage's locked at the moment." Scott shrugged casually. "Figured I'd grab you if we don't find the numbnut who has the key. Practicing for the next game!"
"Oh yeah, the Bears versus the Snakes." John didn't follow sports much.
"Hah! You know it! The vipers are going to get thrashed!" Scott pumped one of his hands. "If you're off soon though you're free to join in. We're just going to pass the ball around after we do a few drills. Always nice having a few extras."
John's eyebrows rose. "You sure?"
"Ain't got an issue with it, and if the other dudes do, then I'll smack em around a few times." Scott grinned jokingly. "Sides, I don't want to see you turn out like the other guard we got."
John winced theatrically. "Ouch, low blow. I'm going to be on for awhile though."
"Maybe some other time then." Scott nodded and looked back. "And looks like they got it open. Nice to meet you!" Scott nodded and ran off.
John chuckled. That had been unusual. Scott had bright dreams as well as a bright attitude. It was nice.
[] Hit the local cafe
John liked the cafe. It was a nice place, and less cooking was always good for him. Even the students that frequented it didn't bother him. Taken together it was quite a nice place to spend the time.
Jean came by and flirted every now and again while he was there, but didn't seem inclined to repeat the conversation she had with him last week. John was of mixed feelings about her to be honest. She was stunning physically, but she was a giggly girl in general. The interest was flattering at least.
The big thing that happened during the week was that John finally managed to get a conversation going with the black girl. Well, something like a conversation. It happened during one of the frequent lulls.
"Afternoon Meria." John grinned as he stood at the counter. It was the first time he had seen her actually manning the register. Nametags were handy things in this instance.
"'Lo." Meria mumbled tiredly and nodded. "What can I get you?"
"Just the special." John's grin faded and he looked forward. "You ok? You look tired."
"Just not sleeping well." Meria yawned widely and then pasted a fake looking smile on her face. "I'm fine otherwise."
John didn't say that he saw otherwise. She looked tired and rumpled. Her makeup was sloppily done, and he wasn't sure when she had last washed her uniform. About the only thing that looked right on her were the skull shaped earrings. It was impolite to say that though.
"Your special." Meria yawned and practically dropped the plate next to the register.
"Thank you very much." John nodded at the other girl but wasn't sure she heard him.
Away and out of sight John frowned to himself. If the girl hadn't attracted a Drain type dream denizen it was sheer luck. Well, at the very least he could check it later. It'd be a good thing to do in addition to getting him gossamer.
[] Hunt for Gossamer (Specify a number from 1-7. 1 easy, 7 hardest)
-[] 4
Deeper into the dream realm the dragon flew. This deep it was a wash of muted colors. Almost black at times, but sometimes bright as a summer day. Here and there clouds lingered, but they were always in the distance. The ground was more a suggestion than a certainty, and up and down were just a matter of perspective.
Here things were maddening to a mortal mind typically. The dream stuff the dragon was made out of, and his empowerment not only made him immune, it allowed him to roam it all at will. The deeper you went into the dream the more physics and time ceased to have meaning. You could theoretically traverse the entire world in the blink of an eye if you were deep enough.
Of course, as you went deeper, the things became more deadly. Things lurked and swam deeper through the dream.
The dragon got lucky though. Another guppy had been feeding and diving through the dream realm. This one was fat and almost lethargic. It almost deserved to be because it was nearly the dragon's size this time. Just a bit larger and the dragon wouldn't have been able to take it down.
Instead it tucked it's wings and dove. The realm of dreams was formless and shapeless nothing around this area, so it was much like the dragon was diving through the sea.
The guppy shook off it's previous slowness to meet him, but couldn't turn in time. The dragon's glimmering starlight breath flayed it's flesh, and then the battle was joined.
It was brutal thing. This fat thing was larger and slightly faster than the last one. Worse was it's capability to withstand the dragon's claws better. The thing ate a wing and a limb before the dragon finally did enough damage to put it down.
Tattered though he was at the end, the dragon was victorious, and that was all that mattered.
7 Days until tribute
You have 147 gossamer.
16 damage has been taken to your dragon form. You recover 1 a day naturally.
SPECIAL! You may forgo the following vote to do a special event!
[] Hunt the Drain that's likely feeding off of Meria
Daytime Action
[] Patrol the campus. (You're a security guard for the local college. Your contract doesn't really need you to patrol, but it gets you out of the place.0
[] Nap and use Dream of Wonder
[] Watch the Monitors (Talk with Harold)
[] Play Ball with Scott
Evening Action
[] Hit the local library
[] Hit the local cafe
[] Hit the local bar
[] Go home (Use night action twice)
[] Socialize with someone
Night Action
[] Hunt for Gossamer (Specify a number from 1-7. 1 easy, 7 hardest)
[] Hunt for your rivals
[] Look for something new
-You may use graft dream form on any slot you'd sleep.
-You may repair as an additional, free action.
-Write ins are acceptable.
AN: Friggen 1/12 chance to get guppies and you get it twice >_< they give the best gossamer too.
As a security guard, John was supposed to provide assistance for basically anything disruptive that happened in the campus. That was the job description at least. Practically he was mostly involved in unlocking doors, occasionally calling the police, and watching for fighting or theft. The campus was a remarkably quiet place in general. The weekends were usually the worst, and that was mostly due to idiot students getting drunk on campus.
What this meant for John was rather simple. He just needed to respond if there was a problem. He could technically spend his entire day in the security room and do nothing. It was an extremely boring option, but it was a possible one.
John would occasionally change things just to get out. He would take one of the walky-talkies and start to walk around campus. It was best when the weather was good like this week.
He liked to imagine that other colleges had frat parties and outrageous pranks, and more. This little place had perhaps a few protests from students with strange ideas and not much else. It was primarily known for old languages and preservation after all. The party people tended to move elsewhere.
Midway through the week, John got a bit more of a change. A muscled man with a tan ran up to him midway through his walk.
"Sup dude!" The man offered his hand. "John right?"
John looked down at his nametag. "Yeah." He took the hand anyway. "What do you need?"
"Not much dude. Just saw you walking around. The name's Scott." The man grinned and shook John's hand hard and then let it go.
The security guard rolled his eyes. "Pull the other one."
"Well, we don't need anything right now. The sports cage's locked at the moment." Scott shrugged casually. "Figured I'd grab you if we don't find the numbnut who has the key. Practicing for the next game!"
"Oh yeah, the Bears versus the Snakes." John didn't follow sports much.
"Hah! You know it! The vipers are going to get thrashed!" Scott pumped one of his hands. "If you're off soon though you're free to join in. We're just going to pass the ball around after we do a few drills. Always nice having a few extras."
John's eyebrows rose. "You sure?"
"Ain't got an issue with it, and if the other dudes do, then I'll smack em around a few times." Scott grinned jokingly. "Sides, I don't want to see you turn out like the other guard we got."
John winced theatrically. "Ouch, low blow. I'm going to be on for awhile though."
"Maybe some other time then." Scott nodded and looked back. "And looks like they got it open. Nice to meet you!" Scott nodded and ran off.
John chuckled. That had been unusual. Scott had bright dreams as well as a bright attitude. It was nice.
[] Hit the local cafe
John liked the cafe. It was a nice place, and less cooking was always good for him. Even the students that frequented it didn't bother him. Taken together it was quite a nice place to spend the time.
Jean came by and flirted every now and again while he was there, but didn't seem inclined to repeat the conversation she had with him last week. John was of mixed feelings about her to be honest. She was stunning physically, but she was a giggly girl in general. The interest was flattering at least.
The big thing that happened during the week was that John finally managed to get a conversation going with the black girl. Well, something like a conversation. It happened during one of the frequent lulls.
"Afternoon Meria." John grinned as he stood at the counter. It was the first time he had seen her actually manning the register. Nametags were handy things in this instance.
"'Lo." Meria mumbled tiredly and nodded. "What can I get you?"
"Just the special." John's grin faded and he looked forward. "You ok? You look tired."
"Just not sleeping well." Meria yawned widely and then pasted a fake looking smile on her face. "I'm fine otherwise."
John didn't say that he saw otherwise. She looked tired and rumpled. Her makeup was sloppily done, and he wasn't sure when she had last washed her uniform. About the only thing that looked right on her were the skull shaped earrings. It was impolite to say that though.
"Your special." Meria yawned and practically dropped the plate next to the register.
"Thank you very much." John nodded at the other girl but wasn't sure she heard him.
Away and out of sight John frowned to himself. If the girl hadn't attracted a Drain type dream denizen it was sheer luck. Well, at the very least he could check it later. It'd be a good thing to do in addition to getting him gossamer.
[] Hunt for Gossamer (Specify a number from 1-7. 1 easy, 7 hardest)
-[] 4
Deeper into the dream realm the dragon flew. This deep it was a wash of muted colors. Almost black at times, but sometimes bright as a summer day. Here and there clouds lingered, but they were always in the distance. The ground was more a suggestion than a certainty, and up and down were just a matter of perspective.
Here things were maddening to a mortal mind typically. The dream stuff the dragon was made out of, and his empowerment not only made him immune, it allowed him to roam it all at will. The deeper you went into the dream the more physics and time ceased to have meaning. You could theoretically traverse the entire world in the blink of an eye if you were deep enough.
Of course, as you went deeper, the things became more deadly. Things lurked and swam deeper through the dream.
The dragon got lucky though. Another guppy had been feeding and diving through the dream realm. This one was fat and almost lethargic. It almost deserved to be because it was nearly the dragon's size this time. Just a bit larger and the dragon wouldn't have been able to take it down.
Instead it tucked it's wings and dove. The realm of dreams was formless and shapeless nothing around this area, so it was much like the dragon was diving through the sea.
The guppy shook off it's previous slowness to meet him, but couldn't turn in time. The dragon's glimmering starlight breath flayed it's flesh, and then the battle was joined.
It was brutal thing. This fat thing was larger and slightly faster than the last one. Worse was it's capability to withstand the dragon's claws better. The thing ate a wing and a limb before the dragon finally did enough damage to put it down.
Tattered though he was at the end, the dragon was victorious, and that was all that mattered.
Phantasm = 6
Speed = 3
Cohesion = 20
Ability: Gulp - Swallows enemy and prevents escape if their max cohesion is less the guppies.
Speed = 3
Cohesion = 20
Ability: Gulp - Swallows enemy and prevents escape if their max cohesion is less the guppies.
Taken 18 damage day 5
speed+Level+Guppy lv 4 = 50 Gossamer
speed+Level+Guppy lv 4 = 50 Gossamer
Boogeyman - Dream denizens that like the taste of nightmares. Monsters under the bed, in the closet, and more. They linger on the edges of reality and fade in and out to cause more fear before diving deep into dream to hid. As they grow, they cause more vivid and terrifying nightmares. Your patron tells tales of monsters large enough to manifest fully in reality and eat people as well, but they are extremely rare nowadays thanks to it finding them tasty. Boogeymen are about as smart as dogs or other animals.
Muses - Basically the opposite of Boogeymen. Muses like the taste of happy dreams, or wondrous dreams. They're not as harmful as Boogeymen, but they still need to be controlled as their 'happy dreams' sometimes cause the people to burn out or develop mental issues. Your patron ate them too, but has taught you to 'prune' them if you prefer as they're not particularly harmful small. They're not smart enough to care either way.
Cupids - As muses, but focused on dreams of love and more erotic aspects. You're going to be honest. You lost your desire to go into a girl's dream and 'play' after your first try. Dreams are fuzzy, and if you make them lucid enough to play right it gets rather awkward. The first try turned you off so bad that you don't bother anymore. Cupids don't get as big as the other ones thanks to reasons best left unsaid, so you can safely ignore them or nom them.
Night-lights - Spectacularly annoying creatures formed of violent or exhilarating dreams. Aside from encouraging more energetic dreams, they'll deliberately seek out and attack other things. Including you. The other ones you can typically handle. These ones always get a good hit in once thanks to how twitchy and fast they can get. Thankfully they never get that big.
Drains - Probably one of the most deadly denizens that one can encounter. Well, deadly to other people. These like thoughts of loss and depression. Suicides are definitely influenced by them. The others are only problematic big. These aren't. Even just eliminating small ones can help the people around it almost instantly. Large ones are hellish. It's important to note that slaying drains cures nothing. All it does is ease the symptoms.
Muses - Basically the opposite of Boogeymen. Muses like the taste of happy dreams, or wondrous dreams. They're not as harmful as Boogeymen, but they still need to be controlled as their 'happy dreams' sometimes cause the people to burn out or develop mental issues. Your patron ate them too, but has taught you to 'prune' them if you prefer as they're not particularly harmful small. They're not smart enough to care either way.
Cupids - As muses, but focused on dreams of love and more erotic aspects. You're going to be honest. You lost your desire to go into a girl's dream and 'play' after your first try. Dreams are fuzzy, and if you make them lucid enough to play right it gets rather awkward. The first try turned you off so bad that you don't bother anymore. Cupids don't get as big as the other ones thanks to reasons best left unsaid, so you can safely ignore them or nom them.
Night-lights - Spectacularly annoying creatures formed of violent or exhilarating dreams. Aside from encouraging more energetic dreams, they'll deliberately seek out and attack other things. Including you. The other ones you can typically handle. These ones always get a good hit in once thanks to how twitchy and fast they can get. Thankfully they never get that big.
Drains - Probably one of the most deadly denizens that one can encounter. Well, deadly to other people. These like thoughts of loss and depression. Suicides are definitely influenced by them. The others are only problematic big. These aren't. Even just eliminating small ones can help the people around it almost instantly. Large ones are hellish. It's important to note that slaying drains cures nothing. All it does is ease the symptoms.
You have 147 gossamer.
16 damage has been taken to your dragon form. You recover 1 a day naturally.
SPECIAL! You may forgo the following vote to do a special event!
[] Hunt the Drain that's likely feeding off of Meria
Daytime Action
[] Patrol the campus. (You're a security guard for the local college. Your contract doesn't really need you to patrol, but it gets you out of the place.0
[] Nap and use Dream of Wonder
[] Watch the Monitors (Talk with Harold)
[] Play Ball with Scott
Evening Action
[] Hit the local library
[] Hit the local cafe
[] Hit the local bar
[] Go home (Use night action twice)
[] Socialize with someone
Night Action
[] Hunt for Gossamer (Specify a number from 1-7. 1 easy, 7 hardest)
[] Hunt for your rivals
[] Look for something new
-You may use graft dream form on any slot you'd sleep.
-You may repair as an additional, free action.
-Write ins are acceptable.
AN: Friggen 1/12 chance to get guppies and you get it twice >_< they give the best gossamer too.
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Dreams of Despair
[X] Hunt the Drain that's likely feeding off of Meria
[X] Repair
The dragon actually hadn't hunted a denizen specifically feeding off people before. Well, more accurately he hadn't done it for anyone he had met. His patron had patiently guided him through his first hunts and showed off several notable denizens. In particular it actually liked seeing people depressed or emotional. This wasn't through any cruelty on it's part really. The Dream-catcher was an old, old spirit that had dwelt in the dream realm for all it's life. It didn't relate to reality that well. It noticed patterns, and had hit upon it's current scheme somehow, but it didn't really care much about reality.
A lot of the lessons the dragon had been taught had had to be filtered through the knowledge that he was learning from something old and detached from reality. It was an honest wonder that he was able to do as many things in reality as he could. Sometimes the lessons had been just weird.
Regardless, the process wasn't that hard. John simply had to go home and sleep. The dragon was formed out of gossamer and will in the dream realm. Then the dragon moved as close as he could to the surface of the dream without manifesting. After that point it was simply a matter of looking for sleeping minds around the area he had encountered Meria. The girl had looked like a student, so all he had to do was slowly circle around the campus in ever increasing circles.
Things were so much easier when you could fly and ignore obstacles. Minds rippled in the dream realm as their bodies let go. Here and there gossamer formed as they sank or woke. The dragon ignored that. He was moving too fast to gather really. There was a particular frequency he was looking for. That taint of despair. It wasn't hard to find.
Meria was in an apartment. A tiny bedroom kitchen combo that showed solidly in the dream. Occult symbols painted in blood were brightly illuminated on the walls and floors. The ceiling was a mass of smoke, and the bed nothing more than formless pillows. Outside the room was nothing but darkness. The woman's impressions of the world had shaped the room in the dream, but nothing else. Which was pretty normal really. There was no sign of the drain, but that was expected. Meria slept deeply at the moment and a beacon of light illuminated the dream realm from where her body was in the real world.
Sure of the location, the dragon delved deeper. And then deeper still. The world become more indistinct. The symbols of blood became brighter, and outside the room laughter and jeers resounded.
There, deeper in the dream was the drain. A mass of colors in the shape of a whirlpool and a maw of teeth. Already the dragon could see it tainting the dreams around it. Dragging it deeper and devouring it in the same motion.
He led without fanfare. His breath spat out shining stars and glittering dream. It disrupted the drain's progress and it turned towards him. The whirlpool parts lashed out at him and started to drag at him.
Immediately the dragon realized the danger. It was seeking to drag him deeper, in pieces if needed. He could feel his form being torn off in chunks. Abandoning all pretense of defense he immediately began to rend with tooth and claw.
Parts of him came off as the dragon was pulled still deeper. He could feel himself weakening, but he could also feel the drain weakening as well. Soon parts of the drain were coming off instead of parts of the dragon, and as he drew closer her was able to slam his tail into the center of the teeth.
The drain shattered, and it's influence started to wane. Proud of his accomplishments, the dragon ate quickly, and then lingered just a moment nearby the woman's dream.
Without the Drain the woman's dream was no longer worsening supernaturally. Unfortunately the damage appeared to be done. Already the dragon could see the feeling of despair and shame spiraling out of control. The dragon had never been trained on how to deal with this. On one hand, he could just let it continue. A drain would find the woman eventually, and he would have another easy chance at gossamer. That didn't feel right though.
He looked like a dragon at this point, but he was not one. He was a mortal man with a bit of power. There was no responsibility towards the woman and her dreams of despair. He owed her nothing at all. Her depression would pass or it wouldn't without his input from this side. He was helping her by eating the drain anyway.
The dragon reached out to the dream of Meria and pushed himself in for just a moment. Inside were dark voices and whispers. Taunts and jeers. Things meant to bite and thoughts of death.
The dragon inhaled deeply, and breathed out in a torrent of stars and dreamstuff. The dream shimmered under his power, and then started to shift at his command.
The dragon flew out of the dream and onto other things. Behind him, the woman's dream shifted to dreams of happier times. Of joy and triumph.
Let the woman have a moment of peace from pain and sorrow. It was nothing in the grand scheme of things to the dragon.
7 Days until tribute
You have 131 gossamer.
12 damage has been taken to your dragon form. You recover 1 a day naturally.
Daytime Action
[] Patrol the campus. (You're a security guard for the local college. Your contract doesn't really need you to patrol, but it gets you out of the place.0
[] Nap and use Dream of Wonder
[] Watch the Monitors (Talk with Harold)
[] Play Ball with Scott
Evening Action
[] Hit the local library
[] Hit the local cafe
[] Hit the local bar
[] Go home (Use night action twice)
[] Socialize with someone
Night Action
[] Hunt for Gossamer (Specify a number from 1-7. 1 easy, 7 hardest)
[] Hunt for your rivals
[] Look for something new
-You may use graft dream form on any slot you'd sleep.
-You may repair as an additional, free action.
-Write ins are acceptable.
New Ability: Dream Breath- A blessing or curse that can be done to any sleeping person who's dream you encounter. It changes the dream to something of your choice. Requires Dream Dragon form.
[X] Repair
The dragon actually hadn't hunted a denizen specifically feeding off people before. Well, more accurately he hadn't done it for anyone he had met. His patron had patiently guided him through his first hunts and showed off several notable denizens. In particular it actually liked seeing people depressed or emotional. This wasn't through any cruelty on it's part really. The Dream-catcher was an old, old spirit that had dwelt in the dream realm for all it's life. It didn't relate to reality that well. It noticed patterns, and had hit upon it's current scheme somehow, but it didn't really care much about reality.
A lot of the lessons the dragon had been taught had had to be filtered through the knowledge that he was learning from something old and detached from reality. It was an honest wonder that he was able to do as many things in reality as he could. Sometimes the lessons had been just weird.
Regardless, the process wasn't that hard. John simply had to go home and sleep. The dragon was formed out of gossamer and will in the dream realm. Then the dragon moved as close as he could to the surface of the dream without manifesting. After that point it was simply a matter of looking for sleeping minds around the area he had encountered Meria. The girl had looked like a student, so all he had to do was slowly circle around the campus in ever increasing circles.
Things were so much easier when you could fly and ignore obstacles. Minds rippled in the dream realm as their bodies let go. Here and there gossamer formed as they sank or woke. The dragon ignored that. He was moving too fast to gather really. There was a particular frequency he was looking for. That taint of despair. It wasn't hard to find.
Meria was in an apartment. A tiny bedroom kitchen combo that showed solidly in the dream. Occult symbols painted in blood were brightly illuminated on the walls and floors. The ceiling was a mass of smoke, and the bed nothing more than formless pillows. Outside the room was nothing but darkness. The woman's impressions of the world had shaped the room in the dream, but nothing else. Which was pretty normal really. There was no sign of the drain, but that was expected. Meria slept deeply at the moment and a beacon of light illuminated the dream realm from where her body was in the real world.
Sure of the location, the dragon delved deeper. And then deeper still. The world become more indistinct. The symbols of blood became brighter, and outside the room laughter and jeers resounded.
There, deeper in the dream was the drain. A mass of colors in the shape of a whirlpool and a maw of teeth. Already the dragon could see it tainting the dreams around it. Dragging it deeper and devouring it in the same motion.
He led without fanfare. His breath spat out shining stars and glittering dream. It disrupted the drain's progress and it turned towards him. The whirlpool parts lashed out at him and started to drag at him.
Immediately the dragon realized the danger. It was seeking to drag him deeper, in pieces if needed. He could feel his form being torn off in chunks. Abandoning all pretense of defense he immediately began to rend with tooth and claw.
Parts of him came off as the dragon was pulled still deeper. He could feel himself weakening, but he could also feel the drain weakening as well. Soon parts of the drain were coming off instead of parts of the dragon, and as he drew closer her was able to slam his tail into the center of the teeth.
The drain shattered, and it's influence started to wane. Proud of his accomplishments, the dragon ate quickly, and then lingered just a moment nearby the woman's dream.
Without the Drain the woman's dream was no longer worsening supernaturally. Unfortunately the damage appeared to be done. Already the dragon could see the feeling of despair and shame spiraling out of control. The dragon had never been trained on how to deal with this. On one hand, he could just let it continue. A drain would find the woman eventually, and he would have another easy chance at gossamer. That didn't feel right though.
He looked like a dragon at this point, but he was not one. He was a mortal man with a bit of power. There was no responsibility towards the woman and her dreams of despair. He owed her nothing at all. Her depression would pass or it wouldn't without his input from this side. He was helping her by eating the drain anyway.
The dragon reached out to the dream of Meria and pushed himself in for just a moment. Inside were dark voices and whispers. Taunts and jeers. Things meant to bite and thoughts of death.
The dragon inhaled deeply, and breathed out in a torrent of stars and dreamstuff. The dream shimmered under his power, and then started to shift at his command.
The dragon flew out of the dream and onto other things. Behind him, the woman's dream shifted to dreams of happier times. Of joy and triumph.
Let the woman have a moment of peace from pain and sorrow. It was nothing in the grand scheme of things to the dragon.
Drain lv 4 special. The Unanswered Prayer
Phantasm: 3
Speed: 2
Cohesion: 16
Ability:
Lethargy - enemy has half speed while in battle with the drain.
Despair - Each round, reduce speed by 1 when attacking. If speed is 0, reduce Phantasm.
Glutted - The denizen will strengthen over time.
Cause and effect- Should the denizen be destroyed and the source of food remain, the denizen will reincarnate when another denizen feeds again.
Phantasm: 3
Speed: 2
Cohesion: 16
Ability:
Lethargy - enemy has half speed while in battle with the drain.
Despair - Each round, reduce speed by 1 when attacking. If speed is 0, reduce Phantasm.
Glutted - The denizen will strengthen over time.
Cause and effect- Should the denizen be destroyed and the source of food remain, the denizen will reincarnate when another denizen feeds again.
7 Days until tribute
You have 131 gossamer.
12 damage has been taken to your dragon form. You recover 1 a day naturally.
Daytime Action
[] Patrol the campus. (You're a security guard for the local college. Your contract doesn't really need you to patrol, but it gets you out of the place.0
[] Nap and use Dream of Wonder
[] Watch the Monitors (Talk with Harold)
[] Play Ball with Scott
Evening Action
[] Hit the local library
[] Hit the local cafe
[] Hit the local bar
[] Go home (Use night action twice)
[] Socialize with someone
Night Action
[] Hunt for Gossamer (Specify a number from 1-7. 1 easy, 7 hardest)
[] Hunt for your rivals
[] Look for something new
-You may use graft dream form on any slot you'd sleep.
-You may repair as an additional, free action.
-Write ins are acceptable.
New Ability: Dream Breath- A blessing or curse that can be done to any sleeping person who's dream you encounter. It changes the dream to something of your choice. Requires Dream Dragon form.
Seven - Money and Belief
[X] Patrol the campus. (You're a security guard for the local college. Your contract doesn't really need you to patrol, but it gets you out of the place.)
Up and down the sidewalk. Step, step, step. Through a few buildings and down the stairs that defined the halfway point of the campus. That was the path John took. It was the path he always took when he did this. About a mile's walk round trip, maybe more if he took a detour. It was actually a fairly nice and scenic route.
"Umm, could you help me?" A woman's voice made John pause and he looked towards it.
The person speaking was a white woman with shoulder length purple hair and dreams of flight and fancy. She grinned nervously and brushed her hair back behind her ear. "Do you think you could help me?"
"Sure, what do you need?" John grinned at the other woman.
"I'm supposed to get my professor's class open and the door is locked." The woman pointed towards one of the squat buildings nearby.
John nodded and began to move that way. "Sure, I got the keys on me right now. Which room?"
"Two-Oh-Two." The woman grinned and began to follow, practically skipping. "Thank you so much, I need to get it prepared. I'm a TA for professor Gordo, and there's a big demo today."
"Demo for what?" John raised an eyebrow as they entered the building and began to walk up the stairs.
"It's going to be for Egyptian History. We have a few scans of the older hieroglyphics from the early pyramids. It's really pretty facinating." The girl sounded quite enthusiastic about that.
"Sounds intersting." John replied back quietly and began to shuffle through his keys. "Ah here we are."
"Oh thank god." The girl watched with a grin. "Gordo would have bit my head off if we had to wait on that. I'm Margret by the way." The girl offered a hand to shake.
John nodded and took it. "Glad to help. You know the security number right?"
"You have a number?" Margret blinked.
"Yes, yes we have a number." John muttered.
"Oh, that would be so much easier than running after you then!" Margret grinned happily and clapped her hands together. "Now I need to get the projector started up, the files loaded, the seats moved..." She continued on as John backed away slowly.
[X] Socialize with someone
-[X] Meria
Meria was looking better when John finally saw her again. Her clothing was clean, and she looked rested at least. John smiled as he saw her, and since it wasn't busy tried to strike up a conversation.
"Hi Meria, you're looking better!" John began.
The black woman paused and frowned at him. "John, was it?"
"Yep. Sorry if I'm coming across bad, but you looked really tired last time I saw you." John nodded seriously.
"I've been sleeping better." The girl stated solemnly. "What would you like?"
"I can't just want to talk?" John raised an eyebrow and looked around the cafe. It wasn't empty, but it was pretty quiet at the moment.
"I suppose." Meria stated and frowned deeper. "I'm not looking for a boyfriend." She warned.
John rolled his eyes. "You're a gorgeous woman, but I'm not hitting on you either. Can't I just want to strike up a friendship."
"If you say so." The woman replied back placidly and continued. "What would you want to talk about?"
"Well, you're a student right?" John asked curiously.
"Yes. Third year, majoring in arts." Meria replied back, almost warmly. "I'm working on sculptures and designs based on old occult pictures. My grandma had a very high belief in vodoo, and I quite a few examples from her that I've been using. I also sell home-made candles based off a few things she did."
"Wow. Cool." John's eyebrows rose up. This was as animated as he had seen the woman. "Better than what I do. I just draw pictures and work in security on campus." John chuckled and showed off a few pictures in his sketch pad. None of them were like his dragon form, so he had no trouble showing them off.
"Dragons?" Meria's eyes lingered on the pictures.
"Personal favorite." John admitted. "I'm a big fantasy buff to be honest."
"I'm into occult stuff myself." Meria paused tentatively and then shook her head as if dismissing something.
John spoke before the pause could become awkward. "So like ouija boards and things like that?"
"I have one of them." Meria admitted with something like embarrassment. "You need a few people for it so I've not used it. It's a toy in the end anyway."
"Really? You don't believe in ghosts?" John actually did sort of himself, though he thought they were likely dream beings.
"Oh, I believe in spirits. Just those boards are sort of tricks. What about you?" The black haired woman raised an eyebrow at him.
"Absolutely. Though I think most spirits wouldn't care much about humans, and could care even less about most of the funny rituals we do." John chuckled slightly.
That caused the girl to pause and lean forward onto the counter separating them. "That's an unusual belief."
John shrugged and leaned onto a nearby seat. "I mean think about it. They're supposed to be this big and all knowing thing in a lot of beliefs. Why would they care about what we did?"
"I suppose..." Meria trailed off and almost sagged.
"Did I say something wrong?" John asked with worry.
"No, no, I can agree with that. Why would they care much about us?" Meria pasted a fake smile on her face and pushed off the counter. "I need to work again." She walked off.
Meria managed to be busy or absent every other time John saw her again. She always said hi, but John could almost see her spiraling down again.
[X] Hunt for Gossamer (Specify a number from 1-7. 1 easy, 7 hardest)
-[X] 2
[X] Repair
The dragon was bold. He was powerful. And he was soaring through the dream looking for things to kill. The time for the tribute was rapidly approaching. He had little idea of what the other rivals were doing, but he assumed they were preparing just as much as him, or perhaps more.
Luck, or perhaps unluck was with him this week. There was gossamer to be sure, but there was something else traveling through the area he was hunting in.
He looked like a giant of a man. Massive and dressed in a tuxedo. He had a top hat and a monocle. He also carried a massive bag with a dollar sign on it. The dragon called him the Fat Man, and her resembled nothing so much as the monopoly man set into almost reality. He was one of the rare intelligent dream denizens. His purpose was something the dragon had never been told.
"Oh, Hoho!" The man laughed as the dragon flew into sight. "Ahh, there's a sight! Are you willing to trade young one?" The man tilted his hat.
"It would depend on what you had to trade." The dragon replied back, and found a perch to land on.
They had found each other in a candy-cane dream area. A place where the the normal real streets and roads had become candy cane and surgar. The streets were slick and bright, and it looked bright and cheery. Not the worst place to talk.
"Hoho! Let me see, let me see." The fat man shifted his massive sack onto the ground effortlessly and opened it.
The dragon had to close his eyes before he caught a glimpse of the inside. Not from fear really. It was just the inside of the sack was disorientating in the extreme. Imagine a universe stuffed into a small area, and that was a paltry way of stating what you would see.
"Ahhh. You would like this." The fat man pulled out a dream. It looked like a compact snow-globe in this state, but could become anything. This one was contained fire and ambition. "A dream of a conqueror. The thing that set the man on his path towards death and destruction. And triumph. This dream drove him forward until his death."
Stitched onto his dream form, it would be a powerful healing tool, the dragon thought. He could use it to revitalize himself when he was flagging.
"If that isn't to your liking, we have this one as well." The fat man released the dream of the conqueror and it floated midair. The next one he pulled out was something dark. "A cowards dream. This one drove the man to flee his comrades on the eve of war."
A dream of fear. That was actually useful properly done. It could cause opponents to flee.
"Just so I don't overwhelm you, one more." The fat man pulled out another one. "A dream of gnashing teeth. This is a nightmare of a victim who was permenatly crippled by a tiger. It is of blood and death." The teeth flashed in the dream.
This one was actually good for the dragon's teeth in particular. A nasty finishing technique.
"And the cost for them?" The dragon asked as his tail thrashed.
"One hundred gossamer. No bargaining. These are a steal at the moment." The fat man chuckled.
Here came the problematic part of this entire transaction. Finding the fat man was a pain in the ass. So far as the dragon knew, this being loved to wander. If he didn't accept it now, he'd have to wait until he could find the man again, and that could take weeks or months.
-----
Hunting =+8 Gossamer
You have 139 gossamer.
[] Buy something?
Tribute is coming! How much will you offer?
[] ?
Up and down the sidewalk. Step, step, step. Through a few buildings and down the stairs that defined the halfway point of the campus. That was the path John took. It was the path he always took when he did this. About a mile's walk round trip, maybe more if he took a detour. It was actually a fairly nice and scenic route.
"Umm, could you help me?" A woman's voice made John pause and he looked towards it.
The person speaking was a white woman with shoulder length purple hair and dreams of flight and fancy. She grinned nervously and brushed her hair back behind her ear. "Do you think you could help me?"
"Sure, what do you need?" John grinned at the other woman.
"I'm supposed to get my professor's class open and the door is locked." The woman pointed towards one of the squat buildings nearby.
John nodded and began to move that way. "Sure, I got the keys on me right now. Which room?"
"Two-Oh-Two." The woman grinned and began to follow, practically skipping. "Thank you so much, I need to get it prepared. I'm a TA for professor Gordo, and there's a big demo today."
"Demo for what?" John raised an eyebrow as they entered the building and began to walk up the stairs.
"It's going to be for Egyptian History. We have a few scans of the older hieroglyphics from the early pyramids. It's really pretty facinating." The girl sounded quite enthusiastic about that.
"Sounds intersting." John replied back quietly and began to shuffle through his keys. "Ah here we are."
"Oh thank god." The girl watched with a grin. "Gordo would have bit my head off if we had to wait on that. I'm Margret by the way." The girl offered a hand to shake.
John nodded and took it. "Glad to help. You know the security number right?"
"You have a number?" Margret blinked.
"Yes, yes we have a number." John muttered.
"Oh, that would be so much easier than running after you then!" Margret grinned happily and clapped her hands together. "Now I need to get the projector started up, the files loaded, the seats moved..." She continued on as John backed away slowly.
[X] Socialize with someone
-[X] Meria
Meria was looking better when John finally saw her again. Her clothing was clean, and she looked rested at least. John smiled as he saw her, and since it wasn't busy tried to strike up a conversation.
"Hi Meria, you're looking better!" John began.
The black woman paused and frowned at him. "John, was it?"
"Yep. Sorry if I'm coming across bad, but you looked really tired last time I saw you." John nodded seriously.
"I've been sleeping better." The girl stated solemnly. "What would you like?"
"I can't just want to talk?" John raised an eyebrow and looked around the cafe. It wasn't empty, but it was pretty quiet at the moment.
"I suppose." Meria stated and frowned deeper. "I'm not looking for a boyfriend." She warned.
John rolled his eyes. "You're a gorgeous woman, but I'm not hitting on you either. Can't I just want to strike up a friendship."
"If you say so." The woman replied back placidly and continued. "What would you want to talk about?"
"Well, you're a student right?" John asked curiously.
"Yes. Third year, majoring in arts." Meria replied back, almost warmly. "I'm working on sculptures and designs based on old occult pictures. My grandma had a very high belief in vodoo, and I quite a few examples from her that I've been using. I also sell home-made candles based off a few things she did."
"Wow. Cool." John's eyebrows rose up. This was as animated as he had seen the woman. "Better than what I do. I just draw pictures and work in security on campus." John chuckled and showed off a few pictures in his sketch pad. None of them were like his dragon form, so he had no trouble showing them off.
"Dragons?" Meria's eyes lingered on the pictures.
"Personal favorite." John admitted. "I'm a big fantasy buff to be honest."
"I'm into occult stuff myself." Meria paused tentatively and then shook her head as if dismissing something.
John spoke before the pause could become awkward. "So like ouija boards and things like that?"
"I have one of them." Meria admitted with something like embarrassment. "You need a few people for it so I've not used it. It's a toy in the end anyway."
"Really? You don't believe in ghosts?" John actually did sort of himself, though he thought they were likely dream beings.
"Oh, I believe in spirits. Just those boards are sort of tricks. What about you?" The black haired woman raised an eyebrow at him.
"Absolutely. Though I think most spirits wouldn't care much about humans, and could care even less about most of the funny rituals we do." John chuckled slightly.
That caused the girl to pause and lean forward onto the counter separating them. "That's an unusual belief."
John shrugged and leaned onto a nearby seat. "I mean think about it. They're supposed to be this big and all knowing thing in a lot of beliefs. Why would they care about what we did?"
"I suppose..." Meria trailed off and almost sagged.
"Did I say something wrong?" John asked with worry.
"No, no, I can agree with that. Why would they care much about us?" Meria pasted a fake smile on her face and pushed off the counter. "I need to work again." She walked off.
Meria managed to be busy or absent every other time John saw her again. She always said hi, but John could almost see her spiraling down again.
[X] Hunt for Gossamer (Specify a number from 1-7. 1 easy, 7 hardest)
-[X] 2
[X] Repair
The dragon was bold. He was powerful. And he was soaring through the dream looking for things to kill. The time for the tribute was rapidly approaching. He had little idea of what the other rivals were doing, but he assumed they were preparing just as much as him, or perhaps more.
Luck, or perhaps unluck was with him this week. There was gossamer to be sure, but there was something else traveling through the area he was hunting in.
He looked like a giant of a man. Massive and dressed in a tuxedo. He had a top hat and a monocle. He also carried a massive bag with a dollar sign on it. The dragon called him the Fat Man, and her resembled nothing so much as the monopoly man set into almost reality. He was one of the rare intelligent dream denizens. His purpose was something the dragon had never been told.
"Oh, Hoho!" The man laughed as the dragon flew into sight. "Ahh, there's a sight! Are you willing to trade young one?" The man tilted his hat.
"It would depend on what you had to trade." The dragon replied back, and found a perch to land on.
They had found each other in a candy-cane dream area. A place where the the normal real streets and roads had become candy cane and surgar. The streets were slick and bright, and it looked bright and cheery. Not the worst place to talk.
"Hoho! Let me see, let me see." The fat man shifted his massive sack onto the ground effortlessly and opened it.
The dragon had to close his eyes before he caught a glimpse of the inside. Not from fear really. It was just the inside of the sack was disorientating in the extreme. Imagine a universe stuffed into a small area, and that was a paltry way of stating what you would see.
"Ahhh. You would like this." The fat man pulled out a dream. It looked like a compact snow-globe in this state, but could become anything. This one was contained fire and ambition. "A dream of a conqueror. The thing that set the man on his path towards death and destruction. And triumph. This dream drove him forward until his death."
Stitched onto his dream form, it would be a powerful healing tool, the dragon thought. He could use it to revitalize himself when he was flagging.
"If that isn't to your liking, we have this one as well." The fat man released the dream of the conqueror and it floated midair. The next one he pulled out was something dark. "A cowards dream. This one drove the man to flee his comrades on the eve of war."
A dream of fear. That was actually useful properly done. It could cause opponents to flee.
"Just so I don't overwhelm you, one more." The fat man pulled out another one. "A dream of gnashing teeth. This is a nightmare of a victim who was permenatly crippled by a tiger. It is of blood and death." The teeth flashed in the dream.
This one was actually good for the dragon's teeth in particular. A nasty finishing technique.
"And the cost for them?" The dragon asked as his tail thrashed.
"One hundred gossamer. No bargaining. These are a steal at the moment." The fat man chuckled.
Here came the problematic part of this entire transaction. Finding the fat man was a pain in the ass. So far as the dragon knew, this being loved to wander. If he didn't accept it now, he'd have to wait until he could find the man again, and that could take weeks or months.
-----
Hunting =+8 Gossamer
You have 139 gossamer.
[] Buy something?
Tribute is coming! How much will you offer?
[] ?