A boy encounters an life-line unlike anything else in the world. Andrew's concept of the future and reality itself will be tested and refined by the arcane force of the Dream.
Perhaps the trails shall shatter him, or perhaps he shall be reborn anew.
Alternate Title: The 5e Bestiary gets isekai'd into a slave boys dreams, and starts spilling over into the real world.
After my long break dealing will all manner of wonderful health problems. I need to get back into the swing of writing before I feel I can do It's a Girls World Justice, so welcome to this nugget of a story idea. Perhaps it will grow it something a lot more, that's what happened with my first quest.
Andy fell asleep much like he usually did after a full day in the mines. The uncomfortable bedding and the soreness of his muscles trying to hold him awake a poor competition when faced against crushing fatigue. Andrew seldom dreamed, and when he did, they were hardly remembered.
Yet Andrew would remember this dream. Andrew would remember every dream for every night for the rest of his life. Be it the deliberate machinations of unknowable powers or perhaps sheer astronomical luck, it made little difference. Andrew had just connected to something vast, alien and world shaking in its ramifications.
So naturally, it all started with a bunny…
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Andrew snapped to awareness within the Dream, standing in a lightly shrubbed clearing below a sparkling starry night, moon-lit patches tracing beams up to holes in a thick canopy of lush dark green. To another this may have seemed an ordinary sight, yet for Andrew who had never seen a night sky or indeed anything outside Alcair's slave district deep beneath the ground, it was the most fascinating sight imaginable. The electric excitement of smelling fresh chilled air rustling through the foliage amidst the calls of nocturnal birds left Andrew wholly enraptured and thus completely unprepared for the rabbit that chomped down on his left toe.
"Ahh! Hey!" the boy cried, trying and failing to stomp on the nimble creature which darted back out of reach.
'What on Apera is happening?' he thought, carefully eyeing the little pest while pondering how he felt so awake and could even feel actual pain in a dream; the vague awareness of his sleeping body resting in the back of his mind. Any further thought was cut off as the hare darted back in for another bite at his foot. Feeling entirely over the stupid creature's antics, Andrew simply fell upon it with his body as it raced in, seizing the surprised hare and wringing it with his hands in one quick motion. A lifetime spent catching rats for extra food proving its use. With a simple twist, a final crack sounded from the hare's neck, and it fell limp.
The world lost its colour, fading away.
Defeated Entities:
Congratulations. A victory is attained. To the Winner, the spoils.
Armor Class +3 | Burrow Speed 5ft | Dexterity +7 | Wisdom +1 | Perception +2 | Stealth +5 | Passive Perception +2 | Ability [Escape] Come next midnight's toll, perhaps you triumph again…
- - -
Name: Andrew (Andy) XP: -190
Armour Class: 13 Hit points: 4 Speed: 30ft. Burrow 5ft.
Str: 10 Dex: 17 Con: 10 Int: 10 Wis: 11 Cha: 10 Perception +2, Stealth +5
Passive Perception: 12 Languages: Common Proficiency Bonus: +2 [Escape]: May Dash, Disengage or Hide as a bonus action
- - -
And Andrew awoke, seizing stiff on his straw bed as wracking pains flowed down his body. The Words burned into him as he felt himself become more in some ineffable way. As quick as they had come, the words and their promise of his next dream were gone. Andrew lay still, covered in sweat, breathing heavy.
Magic was terrifying. Only the elves were allowed to use True magic unsupervised. If they knew, he'd be taken away. He'd seen the celebrations when someone in their community unlocked some aspect of the vast Arcane and turned themselves in. Their masters would give all the humans triple meat rations and fruits for a month on those rare occasions it happened.
'But', Andrew thought, rolling over to look at his two siblings. Samuel wasn't snoring tonight, his breath just a light wheeze as he lay pressed against the stone wall of their room. His younger brother Laire was tucked against Samuel, unaware and peaceful. Laire always picked one of them to snuggle for warmth at night. 'I don't want to go…'
There was a guilt there. Life was hard for the humans in the subterranean portion of Alcair. He heard rumours things were better on the surface of the city, but Andrew had his doubts.
Careful not to rustle the straw floor, he rose and quietly slipped out of the room he and his brothers slept in. Walking through their doorless threshold and out into Moonstone lit street. For all that the slums cramped the slaves together into tight accommodations. Their construction literally dug into and expanded a cavern that had naturally existed, providing very sturdy and permanent housing.
Andrew didn't know how long he spent standing in the quiet of the street staring up at the dimly lit ceiling of impure Moonstone that cast a pale blue glow over all beneath it. It really didn't compare to a true night's sky. He thought of his brothers, his mother and father, his community. He thought of his simple life and how the known offered a comfort that opportunity and risk did not.
Lastly, he dared to entertain that thought in the back of his head. That little seed that try as he might to ignore, could not. A dangerous thought. A terrifying one.
He danced along the ground, testing his balance. So much greater now. He reached into the thin layer of dirt beneath him, finding it parted like less than air before his hands until he hit the hard rock a short way beneath. He briefly dashed along the narrow passage between the homes, moving faster than he ever had before.
Andrew had seen the magics humans awoke. They seemed mild, limited in scope, small. One could call forth a fist sized ball of fire, another could tell when rains would fall on the surface above. The Dream was not small, what it promised was not small.
'Freedom,' Andrew barely whispered, holding down his fear. When no shadow assassin or other master leapt out to punish the insurrectionist thought, Andrew said it again.
"Freedom."
He liked the word. Liked the way it rolled off his tongue.
Freedom. Not just for himself, but for everywhere. All the young miners, all the foragers, all the cullers that fought each day below. All the slaves. The Dream's promise was audacious, was Andrew willing to be audacious too.
He thought for a while, then made his decision.
Planning for the Future
[ ] PftF: The night was still young, he lay down and waited impatiently for sleep to come. Decisions could wait for tomorrow, and Midnight still awaited…
[ ] PftF: He would wake his mother and father, tell them of this impossible thing that had happened. He trusted them. Together, they could plan.
[ ] PftF: He would confide in his brothers. Unlike his parents who might insist on telling others, Andrew knew he could swear his brothers to secrecy.
[ ] PftF: He would turn himself in to the Elven masters. It was wrong to deprive his community of extra food and better treatment for some naïve dream.
[ ] PftF: He had another idea (Write in). [X] PftF: Try to find a dagger and go to bed wearing boots since you didn't notice a lack of clothes last time you went into the dream implying you take what you're wearing
The Dream Approached
Decide what trial awaits Andrew when he next sleeps and faces Midnight's toll.
[ ] TDA: Write In. [X] TDA: Cranium Rat, Paper Bird
/ / / / / / / / / / / /
Dream Disposition
0 : Neutral
Quest Mechanics
Each midnight, the Dream shall refresh and await Andrew entering the realm of sleep. You may send any combination of 5e DnD entities at Andrew, if he prevails against them within the Dream, he shall gain all of their beneficial attributes and features. If he fails, he shall be punished. Andrew must defeat all contenders in a Dream to succeed, these creatures will work and coordinate together regardless of prior affiliation though their precise behaviour will vary.
Easy reference for 5e creatures here https://5e.tools/bestiary.html.
(Tentatively, I will allow creatures from other sources, as long as they are easily accessible and not too weird to get working.)
An example Dream vote may appear like
[X] TDA: Boneless x2, Barovian Witch x1.
Andrew does not have experience fighting or using weapons, but does have a grit and determination forged through a life of hardship.
You are more than welcome and in fact encouraged to cheese things, if Andrew picks up Fire Immunity somewhere along the way, feel free to load him up with a ton of creatures who specialise in Fire Damage for some easy wins. Andrew's going to need it to survive what's coming for him in the Waking World. Beware though, the complete absence of a challenge will anger the Dream and cause it to severely raise the difficulty of an encounter.
In general, easy challenges will lower your Dream disposition, causing it to subtly tilt encounters against your favour through terrain, creature behaviour and alertness, etc. Harder challenges will raise your Dream disposition, perhaps eventually earning additional rewards. Failing a Trial does not anger the dream, the punishment when you fail settles the issue.
The world doesn't run on DnD mechanics, so these abilities are slightly deabstracted when granted. For example, Hit Points don't literally exist, but are used as a guideline for the amount of punishment a creature can endure. Things like Multiattack roughly double his attack rate, but the 6-second Round Rule doesn't exist. Abilities that a very similar will be consolidated into simpler wholes (without making them worse, sometimes even making them better).
If Andrew outgrows or outright obsoletes an ability, it will be converted into some XP and removed. (Fire Resistance would be converted to XP for example if he gained Fire Immunity).
(Side note: To prevent XP farming abuse as eventually Andrew will be able to scythe through lesser lives like butter, Only the 10 most powerful (by CR) creatures grant their XP when defeated.)
[X] PftF: Try to find a dagger and go to bed wearing boots since you didn't notice a lack of clothes last time you went into the dream implying you take what you're wearing
[X] TDA: Cranium Rat, Paper Bird
The Dream is satisfied by the presence of a mild but still genuine danger. Increasing the contenders from 1 to 2 impresses the Dream. Disposition +1.
'Magic…' Andrew whispered to himself, tiptoeing through the other room of the family's humble house. His parents slept on the only proper bed made from something softer than straw. Nearby was his current goal. In the corner of the room was a simple table and wooden chairs and a space carved out of the rock to form a raised inset bench where meals were prepared. Careful not to make a sound, Andrew took the knife the family used on those rare occasions the cullings delivered uncorrupted meat or the Sprite Roots had been harvested too early.
He lay himself back down beside his brothers with his leather sandals on and knife in hand. His clothes had come with him last time and Andrew hoped the Dream would allow him the extra protection the items afforded.
Laire was still tucked right next to Samuel. The fact Laire had not yet had a growth spurt like Samuel and Andrew made his small sleeping form seem strangely innocent. Laire was still a harvester, he would not leave the womenfolk and enter the mines until he was 15 and had put on some bulk.
And that was how Andrew drifted into a restless slumber, thinking of his family's place within their tight community, and if he was making the right decision. He did not ponder if he could succeed in the Dream, it was a question he dared not ask. A hope once ignited, is a terrible thing to lose.
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And Andrew entered the Dream into a scene once again alien to what he'd ever known. His feet rested on hard wood floors. He was sat in a plushly cushioned chair with a single Desk facing him. A small lantern burned upon the desk, casting the small room in long golden streaks and shadows playing off the many letters, papers and unknown trinkets adorning what must be some kind of noble's office and desk.
Andrew was tempted to marvel at the golden trimmings inlaid in the furniture, but quickly focused. A gift from the hare, Andrew was able to exit the chair into a low stealthy crouch preternaturally quickly for a human. Eyes open and listening carefully, Andrew waited with bated breath, clutching his small sharp implement tight in hand.
…
…
Nothing seemed to happen. Andrew still waited, his heartbeat thumping in his chest so hard it almost seemed the only noise in the room.
He nearly missed it. Out of the corner of his eye Andrew noted a piece of paper slowly twisting atop the desk. The unliving head of some small animated animal-esque form scanning the room with silent intensity.
Andrew crept closer, freezing any time the little thing craned its head anywhere close to his direction. He got closer, and closer. The intensity grew as Andrew slowly shifted his feet without trying to creak the boards of wood beneath him. Twice he thought he'd been spotted, and twice the animated paper creature atop the desk glanced its scanning over and past him.
When he was but two paces from the desk, Andrew dashed.
In a single swinging motion, he brought his knife down with all the force he could muster. The blade pierced through his target with ease, punching a short way into the desk beneath before the handle snapped a wooden splinter stabbed into Andrew's hand.
He hissed in pain but didn't take his focus off his target. Ready to strike again with his bare fists if need be.
He needn't bother, whatever magic animated the paper was long gone. Andrew breathed a sigh of relief, he'd done it, he'd won again.
Any second the Dream would disperse, and he'd be made anew once more. It had been silly of him to stab so hard, he thought as he held the cut on his hand. He hadn't seen paper often, but he should of known it was soft compared to metal.
'Shouldn't the Dream already be' "Arhhhg!!! Andrew cried as something landed on his neck and bit deep into it. Andrew flailed to the ground resisting the urge to further scream, instead he reached behind and grasped fur between his fingers. With a great heave he ripped the thing off, taking a small bit of his own flesh as teeth were tore from soft tissue.
Blood spurted from the opening running freely onto the floor boards as Andrew seized a large rat in his hands and in one motion brought it down smashing it against the hard wood floors, dazing the aggressive rodent. Andrew felt dizzy…. tired. He raised the now weakly writhing rat up and smashed it against the ground again. With a satisfying squelch, something broke inside it.
'There can be more than one,' Andrew's thoughts slurred.
He watched the light go out in the rat's eyes. Then he lay there, unmoving. Andrew couldn't resist the growing need to droop and close his eyes start to take hold of hi-
Defeated Entities
Congratulations. A victory is attained. To the Winner, the spoils.
Fly Speed 60ft | Wisdom +3 | Perception +2 | [Damage Immunity] Poison | [Damage Immunity] Psychic | [Condition Immunity] Charmed | [Condition Immunity] Exhaustion | [Condition Immunity] Frightened | [Condition Immunity] Poisoned | Passive Perception +2 | [Ability] Keen Sight | Darkvision 30ft | Telepathy 30ft | [Ability] Telepathic Shroud | [Morphic] Bite | [Morphic] Sharp Edges | [Ability] Illumination Come next midnight's toll, perhaps you triumph again…
- - -
Name: Andrew (Andy) XP: -160 Proficiency Bonus: +2
Armour Class: 13 Hit points: 4
Speed: 30ft. Fly 60ft. Burrow 5ft.
Str: 10 Dex: 17 Con: 10 Int: 10 Wis: 14 Cha: 10
Perception +2, Stealth +5 Damage Immunities:Poison, Psychic Condition Immunities:Exhaustion, Charmed, Frightened, Poisoned Senses: Darkvision 30ft, Passive Perception: 14
Morphics: Sharp Edges, Rat Bite
Languages: Common, Telepathy 30ft
[Escape]: May Dash, Disengage or Hide as a bonus action. [Keen Sight] Advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight.
[Telepathic Shroud] Immune to all divination and magics that can read minds.
[Illumination] May shed light in a 5ft radius as a Bonus Action
- - -
And Andrew was awake. The pain of his body changing was somehow more muted this time, merely a deep throbbing ache. Andrew sat up, holding a hand to his neck, intact. He looked down at his blood soaked shirt, clean. His broken knife on the floor, whole. The enormity of what nearly happened struck him.
I… nearly died.
What did death in the Dream mean? And why was he not terrified? It took Andrew a moment to remember the words, there had been many, but one was definitely an immunity to fright. How did he feel right now? Cautious, concerned, worried… but it seemed he would never know terror again, not even of death.
That was concerning in its own way. The Dream was unavoidable, and so its possible consequences were easy to accept since Andrew could only plan was to win either way. But the idea that winning might strip him of parts of what made Andrew Andrew, well, he supposed he really had no choice there either.
The cost of magic, it seemed, was to become more and less in equal measure.
It was the early morning, very early actually. He must have slept but a scant few hours, yet somehow Andrew was filled with energy. Again, he remembered. Immunity to Exhaustion.
Oh. That changes a lot.
The dark room was somehow seen in sharp and unoccluded detail like never before. He could feel the ability of his body to mimic the sharp teeth of the rat and something more esoteric from the bird.
It took Andrew an embarrassing amount of time to remember he could fly. No wings sprouted, there was no muscle required, Andrew simply willed himself into the air applying a not insubstantial amount of self-control to not shout with glee. His flight wasn't entirely steady, waving and dipping when he tried to hold himself in one place, but flight.
Andrew landed. He let out a brief of relief, whatever doubt he had that the Dream wouldn't change everything had been thoroughly quashed.
What will I become? I don't know, but I'll do right by my people, wherever this road takes me.
/ / / /
Voting Time
(Vote will open in like 12 hours or so)
(Vote by Plan allowed)
To reveal, or lurk in shadow
You have gained a lot of power in a short time including a shroud that may hopefully hide you from whatever strange magics the Elves use to discover hiding human magi. You put off the decision last night, but now you need to decide who, if any, can know at this stage.
[ ] Secrets: Tell no one. This is a secret too huge to risk discovery. Your thoughts are shrouded from intrusion, but no one elses. [X] Secrets: A family united against the odds. If there anyone you can trust, it is your family. You are categorically certain they wouldn't turn you in if you revealed to them the potential of the Dream. And your parents in particular (beside the fact that you don't particularly like hiding secrets from them) could use the family's meagre assets to better equip you for the Dream's trials as they escalate.
[ ] Secrets: One Community, One Goal. A risk to be sure, but if you and your family were to approach the Elders with this audacious plan, there is a genuine chance they may throw the entire community's resources behind you. The yoke of masters is heavy, and there is not much sympathy for them to be found amongst anyone. Given a chance to rise, the humans of Alcair would seize it.
[ ] Secrets: Write in.
A Free Morning
Your need for sleep greatly reduced and filled with inexhaustible energy, you have a few free hours before the responsibilities of the day come. [X] Morning: Training. The street in front of your house is barely lit by the Moonstone fragments in the ceiling above. It is the perfect place to practice the many new abilities you've gained while the slum's occupant's slumber. You won't have time in evening to practice unobserved unless you want to try faking going to sleep and getting up after.
[ ] Morning: Go visit Chawel. He is the only awakened not claimed by the Elves, with a responsibility to ensure any person-of-age knows how to try attaining magic. You've seen him train for hours on end lifting weights that would crush an ordinary man. You doubt the man sleeps like everyone else either and although the official lessons only commence for adults, you've seen him always entertaining children's questions.
[ ] Morning: Go suss out the quatermaster's compound. The weapons and armours stored for the culling are not particularly well guarded, (especially against someone that can fly over walls). Crime is rare in the slums and the community stands as one against external pressures, there might be as little as a single guard at the main entrance. If the way to gaining a culling weapon unnoticed lays bare, you could swoop in and claim one.
[ ] Morning: Go for a stroll through the slums, visiting the growth fields and mine entrance before the workers arrive. No stress, no plans for the future for now. Just a time to reflect.
[ ] Morning: Try to get close to some Elven guards near the boundary of the slums and the upper layers, gather intelligence.
[ ] Morning: Write in.
The Daily Grind
8am to 8pm, mine duty is harsh and long, and its huge winding caverns of slick slate and sharp protruding edges isn't that safe to even walk through. But everyone old enough to contribute and not proficient enough to venture below for the cullings goes willingly. The masters demand a high quota, and the community barely scraps by to avoid sanctions. You know that the quota is dangerously close to not being met this month in five days.
[ ] Grind: Go, and work as you always have. Maintain the secret, it is too soon to show any difference. [X] Grind: Go, but work with the unending vigour you now possess whenever others are not nearby. By timing your drop-offs, no other individual miner will be able to notice you tripling or quadrupling your usual contributions of high purity moonstone.
[ ] Grind: With darkvision and flight, you could venture deeper into the uncharted sections of the mines, to untouched caverns. Try and find some exceptionally pure moonstone. You know it is magic somehow, perhaps you can figure out a use for it?
[ ] Grind: Stay home. Regardless of the guilt, you have more important things to focus on for now (???)
[ ] Grind: Write in.
A larger weapon?
If you go to the mines and there is opportunity to smuggle a pickaxe home (somehow?), will you take it?
[ ] Steal: Yes, it is worth the risk. [X] Steal: No, you think with your new abilities, you can handle the next challenge.
The Dreams Call
The next Dream always awaits. Sleep might be delayed, but the Dream will always come calling.
[ ] Dream: Soldier. Sacred Stone Monk. The Dream is displeased by contenders with no counter to your flight, but is mollified by the danger of entering melee. No Disposition change.
[ ] Dream: Dolphin. The Dream is impressed by a dangerous contender in a terrain you are disadvantaged by. Disposition +2 [X] Dream: Pixie. The Dream applauds a truly dangerous encounter with both great stakes and great rewards. Disposition +4
[ ] Dream: Write in. (Encouraged, I don't optimise the sample trials for Feature Gain, they might be great, they might not.)
Dream Disposition: 1
Note: Morphics are physical features that cannot easily be applied to the human form that Andrew gains. Instead of gaining a copy of such features, they are modified as optional morphic expressions. Andrew for instance can now at-will bite someone with the sharpened teeth of a Rat but his teeth are normal at all other times. Likewise, Andrew can now selectively sharpen any 'edge' on his body. It won't be much harder than a nail, but I imagine that will make the first person that ever tries to grapple him very unhappy.
Notable Rolls:
* You succeeded on your three stealth rolls against the bird (d100) by 5, 6 and 2 respectively. Passing one or two was supposed to make the fight easier. But passing all three after also first noticing it with Perception, if that isn't deserving of a free ambush Massive Critical, I don't know what is.
* Somewhat expectedly, you failed to notice the smart rat taking advantage of the assumption there would only be one creature to fight. As yes, you nearly died but the Rat was just too small to really capitalise on its ambush meaning you won by sheer bulk.
Some interesting theories. The Dream has no opinion on any punching bags with cool attributes you add to an encounter, as long as theres an active threat.
There are some benefits to reaching a high Dream disposition, the setup of challenge scenarios will become less neutral and start to favour you in slightly increasing ways. Fairly mild though.
Likewise, negative Disposition is a slight tuning of encounters against you. As long as you stay within +- 10 you likely won't notice a great difference.
Notably, Disposition only indirectly affects rolls by changing the circumstances of a challenge, it does not directly increase the difficulty of any roll DC d100.
[X] Secrets: A family united against the odds. If there anyone you can trust, it is your family. You are categorically certain they wouldn't turn you in if you revealed to them the potential of the Dream. And your parents in particular (beside the fact that you don't particularly like hiding secrets from them) could use the family's meagre assets to better equip you for the Dream's trials as they escalate.
[X] Morning: Training. The street in front of your house is barely lit by the Moonstone fragments in the ceiling above. It is the perfect place to practice the many new abilities you've gained while the slum's occupant's slumber. You won't have time in evening to practice unobserved unless you want to try faking going to sleep and getting up after.
[X] Grind: Go, but work with the unending vigour you now possess whenever others are not nearby. By timing your drop-offs, no other individual miner will be able to notice you tripling or quadrupling your usual contributions of high purity moonstone.
[X] Steal: No, you think with your new abilities, you can handle the next challenge.
[X] Dream: Pixie. The Dream applauds a truly dangerous encounter with both great stakes and great rewards. Disposition +4
"Hey. Andy!" The loud voice startled Andrew out of his idle musing.
So lost in his daydream of soaring up into that vast magnificent sky he'd stood under in the first Dream, it took him a moment to recognise Samuel. Even with darkvision, the lack of any colour besides the pale blue glow of their lantern washed away many of the details from objects around him.
Samuel sighed, resting his own pickaxe on his shoulders. "Something on your mind? You've had a far off look since this morning."
I have a lot on my mind. I wish I could tell you, but… it's not safe. Not yet.
"Ah, no. I mean, yes, I'm fine. Just tired is all," Andrew replied somewhat lamely, the secret still put a sour taste in his mouth.
"Hmm, well as long as you say so. That's a good haul, your second load I'm assuming?" Samuel said, looking at the generously stocked wheelbarrow Andrew was assigned today. In truth, it was his nineth. Part of why Andrew had become distracted by his daydream was that he'd slowed down considerably when Samuel joined him to mine a particular section halfway through the day. It wasn't just the newfound unending stamina. Andrew's enhanced reflexes allowed him to strike the rock just so to free up visible chunks of the glowing material more efficiently. The power of the Dream still awed him.
"Yeah," Andrew mumbled.
With a strong overhead strike, Samuel detached the piece he'd been hacking at for the past little while, a satisfying clack clack clack as it fell to the ground. Stowing it away in his own wheelbarrow, Samuel gave a silent wave and began walking off in search of a new source.
"Hey, Samuel," Andrew said, not quite sure of what he was feeling. Samuel paused, turning to face Andrew. "I love you."
A hint of confusion played across Samuel's face. After a shared moment of staring, he headed off, grunting "You too brother, safe mining."
Andrew waited until he was out of sight before slumping and letting out a melancholy sigh.
The whole day since his morning training session it had felt like a great weight was pressing on his shoulders, slowly crushing him down. As he'd pushed his mobility and reflexes to the limit, it had been all the more obvious to Andrew that the Dream had already fundamentally changed him. And that thought, it made him feel… he couldn't feel true fear anymore, but still something close to it. Every person he walked past as they rose to begin the work day; his family, all the gatherers in the fields where Laire and mother split off from them, the men greeting each other and collecting equipment on their way into the infinite mine, others absent as they made their way to conduct the culling; one thought kept playing through his head.
I'll either save all of us, or get caught and change nothing.
Andrew had hope now, a dream born of the Dream. And that meant he didn't want to lose it, couldn't bare to fail when even the thought of triumph tasted so sweet. Just a boy, carrying the greatest secret he could imagine, alone.
Andrew resumed mining, untiring despite heaving with all his strength with every swing. As his mind wandered, he thought of soaring through open skies. He thought of learning to craft magic from moonstone like the masters could. He thought of his family living on the surface outside the elven kingdom, free to do as they liked.
Swing after swing, he thoughts played over again and again. Concern for the future, strategies from his training to do better in the next trail. Swing after swing. Thinking. Planning.
Hoping.
< >
"Do you know what it means? It's not newyear for another month, why would they do this?"
"I know as little as you, but it's a bad omen. The elders and the heads of families, that's never a cause for optimism."
"It couldn't be another quota increase could it? They wouldn't do that. We're barely holding on as is."
"I don't know okay! It can't be that though. It has to be something else. It has to be."
Andrew's keen ears picked up conversations like this all the way home. His father and all the other men had suddenly gained a subdued demeanour a few hours before the work day finished. This meant the meme-locus had been updated, and by the Elves.
It didn't sound good. The Elders and heads of families were to gather at 6am before the work day tomorrow at the Monument of Humility for an announcement. While not unprecedented, such announcements were rarely good news.
While perhaps a few dozen 15 year olds had attained a basic connection to the locus, Andrew was not one of them. Without basic memetics, only passive reception was possible. No one was expected to even seriously try before 18. From his earlier training and testing, Andrew knew the meme channel itself was not related to telepathy either, as he only felt the potential for connection to the people around him and nothing else.
He played chase with Laire half-heartedly when they joined up on the way home, still thinking in circles as to what a meeting could mean as the moonstones overhead grew weaker and paler in their glow, signalling the setting of an unseen sun above.
Not long after reaching home, the family shared a simple meal of sprite-root and water. Andrew's mother Celia, clearing noticing something weighing on her son, offered to trade some work credits at the shrine for some fruits for the family later in the week. It was somewhat successful at putting a smile on Andrew's face. These small moments, time with family around a table, he cherished them.
Whatever ill tidings the meeting would surely bring, Andrew decided it could wait until after the Dream. He needed to be focused. He must not fail a trial and miss out on an essential magic from the monsters it conjured. Andrew might not be able to forgive himself if it cost him something precious as a consequence.
The family drifted off to sleep quickly after dinner, the days in Alcair wore on the body regardless of whether one worked the fields, struck rock in the mines or maintained the cullings at the frontier to the abyss. Once he was sure his family slept, Andrew retrieved the small knife once-more that had served him well, hovering silently in the air. Though his strange abilities such as the inhuman bite could serve just as well as the implement, the knife felt a more natural option. Besides, should he leave the mines to assist in the culling at 16, he could hardly slip up and use such obviously magical alternatives in combat.
So knife in hand, Andrew willed away consciousness. The Dream thus beckoned, rose easily to surround him.
< >
< >
< >
He stood once again in the forest before a small wooden cabin.
Wasting no time on distraction, Andrew immediately rose into the air, spinning on the spot to identify dangers. Though all that greeted his eyes were the rich greens of the forest floor below a now brightly lit canopy.
Somehow ignoring the deep red sky splashed with long golden beams peaking over a distant mountain, Andrew remained alert. With his added height, he peered in through the cabin's window, spying a very familiar desk complete with the broken paper remnants and dead rat of the previous night. Resisting the urge to focus on the incongruous office in the middle of a forest, Andrew scanned his surrounds once more.
His diligence was rewarded when a short distance away through the trees he spotted a glittering sparkle of green unlike its surrounds. Drawing silently closer with not a foot touching the ground, Andrew peeked around a large trunk, readying his weapon in hand. Luminescent emerald flecks spiralled off the wings of a tiny thing.
Readying to start a soaring charge at the monster, Andrew froze when he heard a girl's light squeaky giggle. A pit dropped in his stomach as the creature turned around to reveal an all too human face. Andrew nearly fumbled the knife, his mind stuttering as instincts screamed wait and fight in equal measure.
It was a delay that cost him, for now unknowingly partly revealed from his shelter, the flying green girl-creature immediately spotted him. Showing none of the hesitation that Andrew had for his quarry, it quickly spoke and spun an unknown magic into being. Before Andrew knew what was happening, he was surrounded by fire, wailing in pain as it burned his clothes and skin to ash.
The pain just kept coming, an unending assault as skin burned and burned and burned. He screamed and flailed for relief yet found none as his body conflagrated under an all-encompassing heat.
It must have gone on for less than a minute yet felt like an hour before the thought occurred to Andrew.
I should be dead by now.
In that precise moment, the flames licking at his body lost all heat, becoming faint and ethereal. Andrew floated in the air, whole and unburnt. Gaping in shock from the harrowing experience as he numbly clasped and opened his unmarred hands. Only taking in his surrounds as the false flames guttered out.
Somehow, through luck or reflex, Andrew darted out of the way of reaching vine-like tendrils that manifested grasping for him from the ground. A hot streak of anger rose in his chest. Andrew had hesitated when faced with the creature's human-like appearance, perhaps he would not have even attacked.
His reward for mercy had been torture.
I should have known better. There are no friends to be found in this place. Only things to kill.
Searching, he spotted the green monster now up above the canopy, looking at him with a scrunched brow. It zipped further up into the air and Andrew gave chase. He took no small satisfaction from the open shock in its eyes when he rapidly gained 'ground' through the air as they rose up and up beyond the canopy and out into a gloriously lit sky.
As Andrew closed the last few metres, the little girl-thing turned and wove a new spell. For the briefest moment Andrew felt a hint of drowsiness, yet an unyielding bedrock within him rose to meet it, splashing off him like rain. In the next second, he was upon her.
Luck was not on Andrew's side as he swung wide, narrowly missing its dodging dive. In the next moment another spell was upon Andrew, pressing onto his mind. His resisted with confidence, yet bravado proved insufficient against the arcane working. A brief struggle, and then submission. The foreign magic seeped inside, warping mind and body.
- - -
It was a floating hare. It didn't understand much more than that. It was meant to be fighting something, but how could a hare fight? Shouldn't it hide underground? But there was no ground up here. There was a giggle from a nearby green predator, yet the hare did not panic. It wondered if the green thing was grass? With a sudden shock, it reacted to the predator soaring toward it with raking long sharp nails that extended from its hands. An instinct both familiar and yet incongruous with its current body arose, and it bit back at the green thing as they collided.
Long sharp claws punctured a hare's side. Longer rats teeth ripped into and out of a pixie's stomach, the contents previously therein now spilling out into open air.
- - -
And Andrew was himself again. The disconnect of trying to reconcile the memories of his last few moments together rendered him temporarily a roiling mess. Finally, forming a coherent sequence that made some deal of sense, Andrew floated in the air. Slowly stilling his rapid adrenaline filled breaths.
Andrew spent his last few moments in the Dream like this. Hovering, lost in thought. Taking in the brilliant golden vista of the open sky as the first hints of day-blue began to appear. He replayed the horrific torment of the phantasmal flames, the discombobulation of being forced into another form and then snapping back. He breathed in, he breathed out.
This is what I was prepared to face. If I wish to possess power, I must face terrors and prove myself the greater match. I can do this.
…
…I must.
Congratulations. A victory is attained. To the Winner, the spoils.
Armour Class +2 | Dexterity +3 | Perception +2 | Stealth +2 | Charisma +5 | [Language] Slyvan | [Spellcasting (CHA)] | [Spell] druidcraft | [Spell] confusion | [Spell] dancing Lights | [Spell] detect evil and good | [Spell] detect thoughts | [Spell] dispel magic | [Spell] entangle | [Spell] fly | [Spell] phantasmal force | [Spell] polymorph | [Spell] sleep | [Ability] Magic Resistance | [Ability] Superior Invisibility | 1st Spell Level Slots +2 | 2nd Spell Level Slots +2 | 3rd Spell Level Slots +2 | 4th Spell Level Slots +2 | {{Redundancy}} [Ability] Illumination +20 XP | Dream Disposition Perk Unlocked Come next midnight's toll, perhaps you triumph again…
- - -
Name: Andrew (Andy) XP: -90 Proficiency Bonus: +2
Armour Class: 15 Hit points: 4
Speed: 30ft. Fly 60ft. Burrow 5ft.
Str: 10 Dex: 20 Con: 10 Int: 10 Wis: 14 Cha: 15
Perception +4, Stealth +7 Damage Immunities: Poison, Psychic Condition Immunities: Exhaustion, Charmed, Frightened, Poisoned Senses: Darkvision 30ft, Passive Perception: 14
Morphics: Sharp Edges, Rat Bite
Languages: Common, Sylvan, Telepathy 30ft
Spellcasting (Cha):
- Cantrips: druidcraft, dancing lights'C',
- 1st Lvl (2): detect evil and good'C', entangle'C', sleep
- 2nd Lvl (2): detect thoughts'C', phantasmal force'C',
- 3rd Lvl (2): dispel magic, fly'C',
- 4th Lvl (2): confusion'C', polymorph'C',
[Escape]: May Dash, Disengage or Hide as a bonus action.
[Keen Sight] Advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight.
[Telepathic Shroud] Immune to all divination and magics that can read minds. [Illumination] May shed light in a 5ft radius as a Bonus Action
[Magic Resistance] Advantage against all magical effects
[Superior Invisibility] At-will Invisibility (concentration)
- - -
Andrew's eyes opened. It was early again, as it would be each morning for the rest of his life. His family would sleep peacefully for many hours still.
He rose into the air as the new magics flowed into his body, bearing the slight pain until it passed. Though it was not the discomfort that nearly made Andrew gasp moments later, but the gifts given. Wonderful and horrible at the same time.
Spells. I should have known from that Pixie! No. I can't have these, the Elves will immediately kno… Unless the Shroud protects me? Does it? …I have no way to know.
Andrew's mind roiled as he inspected that inexpressible knowledge resting in the back of his mind, the Shroud that obscured searching magics from finding him. Was such a thing enough? Dare he risk it? The Elves would be nearby on the human tiers tomorrow.
That was not the end of his troubles though. Andrew considered yet another issue with some urgency as he tucked the blanket that had come partly off his younger brother in his sleep back in. Something incredible in its own right.
A whole new language. I cannot even imagine what this means, are these monsters real in some way?
But more importantly, without active control over memetics, Andrew's knowledge would slowly leak into the meme-locus for others to passively or actively glean. A single secret was a tiny specific thing, he hadn't even worried for a moment about that. But a whole never before seen language of thousands, hundreds of thousands of words? That would bleed out like a sieve, it might not even take a week for someone to notice.
'What am I going to do now,' he lamented, rubbing his brow.
Voting Time
(Vote by Plan allowed)
Vulgar Magics
Horrid as the thought may be, you feel that there is an untreaded option. You can reject the powers of the Dream, sealing them away for a day at a time. You can, if you deem it a necessary burden, completely seal away your potential for spellcasting and more each and every morning until you have some way of confirming you are safe from the master's spying senses.
[ ] Magic: No! No. You have come this far, the only way is blazing forward. You even might already be safe under the shroud. Stack power unto power, grow quickly before you are found. You shall fly close to the proverbial sun hoping to gain immunity to flame before you get burned. (No sealing) [X] Magic: Without active memetic control, knowing this Slyvan language is dangerous as your knowledge will slowly leak into the meme-locus. Despite the possibilities in contains, it must be placed aside for now. Seal the Sylvan Language and any others you gain until you gain active control. (Seal Languages)
[ ] Magic: Though it pains you, this is a risk you simply cannot take. Your newfound spells, your newfound languages, and anything more you should gain that might reveal you, you must contain it all for now. (Seal Spellcasting and Languages)
An Unwelcome Meeting
The Elves will address the leaders of the human community tomorrow, likely to declare some new burden you all must carry. Though you would likely hear its contents second-hand if you just stayed away, can you contain curiosity.
[ ] Meeting: Simplest of all would be to ask your father to take you. There is no particular reason you could not come save that until now you would have taken every opportunity to sleep you had.
[ ] Meeting: The grounds of the Monument are loose sand running deeper underground than elsewhere. You could burrow beneath the meeting, surfacing within.
[ ] Meeting: Invisibility opens many doors. You could walk as all else do through the entrance and take an unoccupied seat within the circular arena. [X] Meeting: No one would expect a flying invisible eavesdropping floating over the walls to listen from the air above.
[ ] Meeting: Keen hearing from nearby could suffice, simply loiter in the street by the Monument.
[ ] Meeting: The foolproof way to not be noticed is to not be there. Remain home.
A Morning Routine
You're going to have free hours every morning after you awake. How will you use your time?
[ ] Early: Investigate one of the options you considered last time (?????)
[ ] Early: Training, training and then more training. [X] Early: Memetic meditation pronto! You've never had the patience or concentration for it before, but the danger of the meme-locus revealing you to a diligent inspector has become more pressing. This isn't something that can be put off for long.
[ ] Early: Sneak out to the boundary, check if the creatures of the abyss can see through your invisibility.
[ ] Early: See if you can sneak and sleuth above into a higher tier, to where the master's dwell [Risky].
[ ] Early: Something else?
The Next Dream?
There is always another Dream. Always another trial.
[ ] Dream: ????? [X] Write In. Dream: Sacred Stone Monk + F'yorl + Chimeric Cat + owl + Tressym
Dream Disposition: 5
+5 Perk: Andrew will know the names of the creatures he is facing in the Dream.
Dream Disposition: 5
+5 Perk: Andrew will know the names of the creatures he is facing in the Dream.
Spell Saves make it pretty obvious where your rolls went well or poorly. Pixie probably would have done better if it chose to Polymorph itself, but it had gotten pretty frazzled when you no-selled some of its best spells with sheer immunity. Your roll against phantasmal force was so bad I probably would have awarded critical damage… if you weren't immune. Very lucky the spell is always psychic damage regardless of manifestation.
