Not Quite Lovecraft

[JayTar]

Whatever time invested would have direct payoff. With coordination with Jackson himself instead of approaching the places blindly.

I don't think leaving Jackson to experiment on his own is safe either. He's being opened up to the occult with no supervision. Emily involvement would mitigate that, and we'd have him on the regular for the next three or four missions. A significantly long time.

Instead of him recovering and then heading off to do his own thing, disappearing until the next phone call or letter. We explored dream magic and summoned Phileas. But instead of just resting on our laurels we could use it unconventionally to do so much more - in a direction that majorly affects the story.

I just don't want to give up this chance and sideline Jackson again, as a mere plot device.

Click to shrink...

Well, it is not like Jackson will remain in the hospital indefinitely. Especially since we have options like booking a ship going to London or Egypt, which would be a travel time of weeks. We might well get there, do the initial setup work, and then use our painting door to hop back and fetch Jackson to join us.

I don't like that he is sidelined right now, but that hopefully shouldn't last long. We don't need a long term connection to his dreams to involve him.

So I consider the time better spent actually getting ahead on the investigation. Maybe disrupting the local cult so they can't attack Jackson while he recovers.

 

[Blacksheep]

Yeah, I was gonna point out there is a local cult hunting Jackson. This is also a big investigation that will take much longer than Jackson healing, so while he may not be available at the start I wouldn't count him as down and out

 

[_brightwing]

Could we.. just spirit him away directly into the Red realm then? Keeps him safe from the cults, and gets him started on arcane safely under Emily's watchful eye. Lets Oliver keep him updated on the cults happenings, while he pieces the clues together in the Red realm with Emily.
If he wants a change of pace, he can just go to the real world version of the Red house and crash in Oliver's home.

Human company like that would be great for grounding Emily too. @JayTar How do you feel about..
I'd like you to sanity check it. Or improve it in any way you deem fit.

[X] Spirited Away
-[X] Bring over Jackson to Red realm, so he'd be safe from further assassination attempts while you're away.
-[X] Bribe the hospital staff, to keep his disappearance under wraps. Make arrangements in your home in the Red House too for Jackson to rest and recover there should he wish. A private doctor to visit, checking on his dressings.
-[X] Bring up the idea of how Emily feels about helping Jackson understand the occult. Talk about the aptitude you noticed in him during the dream. A seeker and scriber of Truth.
-[X] You want to plan on how to deal with the Bloody Tongue and the manifestations of the Outer god. To keep Jackson and Emily updated while you travel to places.

 

[Blacksheep]

Ok, I don't think you guys are likely to use this information, but I did realize that I probably should let you know in case it was smoothed over.

You can sacrifice others for magic if you don't want to sacrifice parts of yourself

 

[JayTar]

Could we.. just spirit him away directly into the Red realm then? Keeps him safe from the cults, and gets him started on arcane safely under Emily's watchful eye. Lets Oliver keep him updated on the cults happenings, while he pieces the clues together in the Red realm with Emily.
If he wants a change of pace, he can just go to the real world version of the Red house and crash in Oliver's home.

Human company like that would be great for grounding Emily too. @JayTar How do you feel about..
I'd like you to sanity check it. Or improve it in any way you deem fit.

[X] Spirited Away
-[X] Bring over Jackson to Red realm, so he'd be safe from further assassination attempts while you're away.
-[X] Bribe the hospital staff, to keep his disappearance under wraps. Make arrangements in your home in the Red House too for Jackson to rest and recover there should he wish. A private doctor to visit, checking on his dressings.
-[X] Bring up the idea of how Emily feels about helping Jackson understand the occult. Talk about the aptitude you noticed in him during the dream. A seeker and scriber of Truth.
-[X] You want to plan on how to deal with the Bloody Tongue and the manifestations of the Outer god. To keep Jackson and Emily updated while you travel to places.

Click to shrink...

I like it, but would prefer to let him recover a bit more. I assume if he is staying in the hospital for a month, it is for a reason. The red house is not equipped for conventional medical care.

Hm, how about instead of bringing him directly to the red house, we get him transferred to another hospital closer to the red house? Hospital to hospital transfers via ambulance are very common. Different hospitals is specialized in different things.
Transfiguring him to a different hospital should make it harder for the cult to get to him, especially if we bribe people to fudge the records.

What do you think of this:

[X] Hospital Transfer:
-[X] Discuss with Jackson transferring him to a different hospital. To make it harder for the cult to find him, and so you can portal back to him more easily.
--[X] If he agrees, arrange for Jackson to be transferred to a hospital closer to the Red House. Use bribes or other means to make it difficult for the cult to track.
--[X] Do what you can to make sure the transfer goes smoothly.
--[X] Also see Jackson he can give you something like a note to make sure his publisher lets you see his notes.
--[X] Reference the dream and remind him to take things slow and not strain himself. Especially when practicing his magic!
-[X] After Jackson is safely away from the city, contact Jackson's publisher Jonah Kensington to ask about more of Jackson's research notes

Ok, I don't think you guys are likely to use this information, but I did realize that I probably should let you know in case it was smoothed over.

You can sacrifice others for magic if you don't want to sacrifice parts of yourself

Click to shrink...

I kinda assumed something like that, but it is good to have it confirmed.
Usually not something we would do, but there are perhaps ways to use it ethically. Like a volunteer in sufficiently desperate circumstances. Or an enemy we are already killing. Would be ironic to turn that back around on the evil cultists.
Or hm, does that apply to slow magic too? If we got a bunch of people to work with us could we cut down the amount of time to do slow/safe magic? Have them pay some of the time/effort cost on our behalf.

 

[Blacksheep]

The more people who work together in casting magic the more powerful and quicker it is. That's part of why people form cults!

 

[JayTar]

The more people who work together in casting magic the more powerful and quicker it is. That's part of why people form cults!

Click to shrink...

Well, as I said earlier:

Yay lets start a cult!

Click to shrink...

 

[Ternasta]

Hmm, I wonder if Jackson could create something like the original golem to protect himself and the hospital he's in. Delving into Names would seem to suit his personality more, and the Golem of Prague was a protector originally, so it would likely be a stronger guardian than most other wards would create.

 

[_brightwing]

[X] Hospital Transfer:
-[X] Discuss with Jackson transferring him to a different hospital. To make it harder for the cult to find him, and so you can portal back to him more easily.
--[X] If he agrees, arrange for Jackson to be transferred to a hospital closer to the Red House. Use bribes or other means to make it difficult for the cult to track.
--[X] Do what you can to make sure the transfer goes smoothly.
--[X] Also see Jackson he can give you something like a note to make sure his publisher lets you see his notes.
--[X] Reference the dream and remind him to take things slow and not strain himself. Especially when practicing his magic!
-[X] After Jackson is safely away from the city, contact Jackson's publisher Jonah Kensington to ask about more of Jackson's research notes

Click to shrink...

I'm game, anything that lets us have Jackson closer is a win, in my book. I'm still concerned about him learning magic entirely on his own though, could we add a line about asking Emily to visiting him? It would do her good to have a reason to occasionally come to the human world. And this gets them talking with each other again, letting things organically flow where they will.


[X] Hospital Transfer:

 

[Solarstream]

[X] Hospital Transfer:

 

[Blacksheep]

Scheduled vote count started by Blacksheep on May 1, 2024 at 9:10 PM, finished with 18 posts and 5 votes.

• ---

  2 people have voted

  [X]Contact Jackson's publisher Jonah Kensington to ask about more of Jackson's research notes
  -[X] Ask Jackson how to get access to his notes, maybe write a note or make a call on your behalf?
  -[X] Remind him to take things slow and not strain himself. Especially when practicing his magic!

  • Ternasta
  • Mystic Pentagram

  2 people have voted

  [X] Hospital Transfer:

  • _brightwing
  • Solarstream

  1 people have voted

  [X] Hospital Transfer:
  -[X] Discuss with Jackson transferring him to a different hospital. To make it harder for the cult to find him, and so you can portal back to him more easily.
  --[X] If he agrees, arrange for Jackson to be transferred to a hospital closer to the Red House. Use bribes or other means to make it difficult for the cult to track.
  --[X] Do what you can to make sure the transfer goes smoothly.
  --[X] Also see Jackson he can give you something like a note to make sure his publisher lets you see his notes.
  --[X] Reference the dream and remind him to take things slow and not strain himself. Especially when practicing his magic!
  -[X] After Jackson is safely away from the city, contact Jackson's publisher Jonah Kensington to ask about more of Jackson's research notes

  • JayTar

 

[Blacksheep]

"I think you should move out of New York for a bit," you told Jackson. "Get transferred to a place the cult won't think to look of you."

Jackson grinned wryly and shook his head. "I'm not leaving you here on this case alone. And I'm not running scared."

"I have a painting I can use as a door, you wouldn't be leaving me alone," you persuaded. "And you're not running, you're taking the time to heal before coming back to the fight."

Jackson shook his head again. "You mean well, but I've never left a story before, and I'm not starting now. It'll be safe enough. The police are watching."

Well, you knew what going up against Jackson was like now. You'd admired that when it had helped you in Peru, but it was a nuisance now. You took a deep breath. "Fine, but try and focus on the defensive magic we went over in your dream."

Jackson nodded before doing a double take. "Ah, that actually happened?"

"Yeah. It's a trick I picked up pretty recently. It's useful isn't it?"

"We'll see." Jackson was more relaxed now that he had something to work on, trapped healing or not.

"I'm going to see your publisher for the notes you made," you informed Jackson.

Jackson nodded. "He should have more detail than what I can recall off the top of my head. The biggest clue I can give you without worrying about missing details is the cult here has connections with Emerson Imports. A man named Silas N'Kwane picks up things I suspect are related to the cult. I didn't find the man there, but they should have a location for him on the books for the imports."

You thanked Jackson and headed down to the publishing house. The publishing house is smaller than you expected for the one that sold Jackson's books. Perhaps that was simply you thinking highly of your friend, as you thought his books were well worth reading, but you had thought he would have a larger company behind him. You asked for Jonah Kensington, and was introduced to a short slightly balding man with square glasses and a large smile. He eagerly greeted you and welcomed you in.

As soon as you revealed you were here to talk about Jackson the publisher's smile fell into something a little more pained. "Ah, Jackson Elias. One of my best writers. And a friend. A dear one, I like to think. He's had so many close calls on his harrowing adventures over the years. It's hard to think this one nearly ended him. But he is getting better in the hospital now, isn't he?" He stared at you intently.

"It will take a while, but the doctors did say he would be back on his feet," you told him.

"Good, good. And those vile murderers will be caught!" Kensington thumped his fist into his hand.

"I'm planning to help with that. Jackson implied that he had left research notes with you that had to do with the cultists who came after him."

"So it was cultists." Kensington nodded as if he'd suspected it all along. "Not the first time people from the cults Jackson looks into have tried to remove him. But he's not a man who goes down easy, is he?" He grinned ferociously and started to dig through his office for the notes given to him. "Jackson was onto quite the big thing this time. You remember the Carlyle expedition? A wealthy group of well to dos that went out to Africa and were all horribly murdered? Jackson found out they weren't killed at all. He even suspects they're all still alive. Aha!" He pulled out the notes and pushed them over to you.

The first was a brief note that Jackson had sent to his publisher stating his suspicions of cult involvement in the Carlyle Expedition and that the murder may have been a sham. After that was a careful record of evidence and witness testimony in Africa where the expedition was supposedly killed. It stated the area of the supposed murders was in fact considered cursed by the Black Wind and avoided by all the locals. One of the witnesses, a Johnstone Kenyatta, insists that the murders were done by the cult of the Bloody Tongue, the god of which is not from Africa. Jackson has a list of local tales going back years telling of children spirited away by the cult of the Bloody Tongue, and the fear of the unknown god's name.

Jackson noted down here that he believed something found in Africa prompted the Carlyle Expedition's trip to Egypt, and could be found by the Nile. Another interview followed with Lieutenant Mark Selkirk, the leader of the men who found the bodies. He spoke of how the bodies hadn't decayed, as if even rot refused to enter those grounds, and mentioned how there was not a single Caucasian among the dead, despite the records mentioning such. It ended with a short note from a witness claiming to have met Jack Brady alive in Hong Kong.

The final notes Jackson wrote are more deteriorated and rushed. It talks about a world wide network, and multiple names. It mentions dreams, and needing to contact you for your expertise. Jackson wrote all the Carlyle Expedition members had survived, but had not noted down any evidence of such. He mentioned hope the ocean would protect, and books of some sort being in Carlyle's safe.

"It doesn't make much sense to me, but I figured Jackson could sort it out himself as usual," Kensington told you.

[ ]Review what you know about the Carlyle Expedition
[ ]Ask Jackson about the Carlyle Expedition
[ ]Visit Emerson Imports
[ ]Write-in

 

[_brightwing]

Oceans.. hmm

"Yachts are great for the rich to hide secrets on. They can't be touched on international waters. They used the Dark Mistress as their base for that. There's things hidden there. The entire place is soaked in blood and despair."

I believe the biggest clue that is relevant to the happenings now might lie with this Yacht. Also the most dangerous. And to egypt we'd go for the origins.

 

[_brightwing]

[X] A Guide
-[X] Before you part ways, offer Jackson a third option. Something that would let him be actively involved in the case and stay.
-[X] Each night you shall send Phileas, the serpent in the dream to guide him the Bridge to the Red World.
-[X] And there in his dreams he will plan the war with you and Emily. Learn about the other world under her watchful eyes, as he makes his own forays into the occult.
-[X] Jackson about the Carlyle Expedition
--[X] Ask him about the surviving members, and the possibility of discovering more in the Dark Mistress - is that what he meant by the oceans?
--[X] Ask him what he found out about the connection between the Entity in Peru and how it relates to the other places.
-[X] Visit Emerson Imports

 

[Tascion]

[X] A Guide

This is comprehensive enough for me.

 

[Altom]

[X] A Guide

 

[Solarstream]

oh yeah I should vote

[X] A Guide

 

[Blacksheep]

Scheduled vote count started by Blacksheep on May 3, 2024 at 10:11 PM, finished with 5 posts and 4 votes.

• ---

  3 people have voted

  [X] A Guide

  • Tascion
  • Altom
  • Solarstream

  1 people have voted

  [X] A Guide
  -[X] Before you part ways, offer Jackson a third option. Something that would let him be actively involved in the case and stay.
  -[X] Each night you shall send Phileas, the serpent in the dream to guide him the Bridge to the Red World.
  -[X] And there in his dreams he will plan the war with you and Emily. Learn about the other world under her watchful eyes, as he makes his own forays into the occult.
  -[X] Jackson about the Carlyle Expedition
  --[X] Ask him about the surviving members, and the possibility of discovering more in the Dark Mistress - is that what he meant by the oceans?
  --[X] Ask him what he found out about the connection between the Entity in Peru and how it relates to the other places.
  -[X] Visit Emerson Imports

  • _brightwing

 

[Blacksheep]

"Jackson, how would you feel about meeting in dreams to discuss what I find? It would be safer than discussing such things here in the hospital, and you could help me," you suggested.

Jackson grinned. "It's a fine idea. Do you need to be here to work it?"

"I believe I can have Phileas, my winged serpent, bridge between us and join our dreams together."

He nodded firmly. "Then we'll do that."

>>>

The more you looked into things the more you became aware that you needed to know more about the Carlyle Expedition. It had been a rather public disaster at the time when it happened. Similar to what happened with Larkin, Roger Carlyle had had a sudden change of interest, from being a simple playboy that was big at parties to an intense interest in archeological expeditions. The core expedition members were one Sir Aubrey Penhew, a noted egyptologist, Hypatia Masters, a beautiful high society lady with a skill for language and photography, Jack Brady, a hired bodyguard for Carlyle, and Doctor Robert Houston, a psychoanalyst and famed dream interpreter.

They had set out for Egypt almost a decade ago. They started by heading to London to consult with Sir Aubrey Penhew, where he joined the expedition, before reaching Egypt. News at the time claimed an important find was heralded, but the expedition had refused to comment on what they had discovered. A couple weeks later they headed down to Africa and headed inland towards Nairobi. At the beginning of August they hired twenty bearers and headed into the wilderness, only to utterly vanish. It was only in March the following year that reports of the expedition were heard once more, from a tribesman reporting a party of whites near the mountain of the Black Wind.

Roger's sister Erica headed to Africa once this news was received, arriving ten weeks later. She hired a search party, only to discover the remains of the expedition's corpses. The encampment was destroyed, yet the corpses oddly preserved. Rumors of a local cult sacrificing the expedition spread, but the local authorities denied such a claim and instead claimed it as the work of a local tribe, angry at the trespass in their lands.

Clearly this is far from the truth of what happened, with Jackson's discovery of an active wide spread cult and the members of the expedition still alive. You don't know where they are, but you will find out.

That night you follow Phileas through your dreams to where Jackson waits for you. Emily was meant to be there, but while you can feel a trace of her presence you cannot see her. You decide to leave it be for now, focusing on the more important parts. "I found your notes. You spoke about protection on the ocean. The cult has the yacht the Dark Mistress, are they using the ocean to protect from retaliation?"

"They're more powerful than that," Jackson told you gravely. "They don't need to hide. No, I was the one hiding in the seas. Hiding from their sight." He shivered.

"How is this connected to what happened in Peru?" you asked.

"It's a different name, a different face. Many faces, many names, but what is the truth?" Jackson frowned. "Don't speak it here, don't draw attention. But Larkin was the same. Another facet of the same, simply a piece of the whole yet appearing apart. Each stands alone and together, an awful orchestra. Don't let them play together!" Jackson's words grew wild as he spoke gesturing sharply. You pulled the gatherings of the dream closer around you both as you contemplated what he said.

[ ]Write-in

 

[_brightwing]

[X] Finding the dreamer
-[X] Turn to Emily's presence, working the dream colours of shape and your memory of her form to anchor her so she might speak. What did she think about all this?
-[X] After the dream, look for information about Silas N'Kwane in Emmerson Imports. Hire private investigators to learn about his dealings.
-[X] Stay and look into records of Doctor Robert Houston. You want to see if you can acquire his personal affects. And then to use them to invade his dream. The cult might hide in the waking world, but the dreamworld is for everyone.

[X] Hunt for the interpretor
-[X] Ask for Emily's take on the conspiracy. Ground her with dream magic so she might become corporeal.
-[X] First course of actions would be gather information on Silas N'Kwane to deduce about on the current dealings of the cult. Get private investigators to find out about him in Emmerson Imports.
-[X] Meanwhile, book a ticket to Africa. You want to start at the heart of the matter and meet Carlyle's sister Erica. And find out what you can about Hypatia Masters.

 

[Tascion]

Well, that's complicated.

Sounds like our opponent for this round suffers from the left hand not knowing what the right is doing. They're all working towards the same goals, but the overall control is so inhuman and vast that each point of contact can't understand enough of the whole to recognize allies in other parts.

Several questions come to mind.

• If Jackson is right, that the cult doesn't need to hide, then why are the on the Dark Mistress?
• Where is Erica? She went to Africa, found (some of) the bodies, and then what? @_brightwing I think you're jumping to conclusions that Erica is still there. Perhaps she is, but perhaps not. Personally, I think if she's still there, she's not on their side. If she's returned, I expect she's either innocent or an agent.
• Information on Silas, with Emerson Imports, suggests but does not confirm that they're bringing stuff here. Why bring stuff here? Storage? Seems unlikely but maybe. Setting something up seems more like it. However, they have the Dark Mistress, and are implied to not be limited by resources. Why set up something here, instead of closer? Why isn't their base in Africa? Something prompted a move across continents. If Carlyle is simply making use of his estate, local gossip would likely note the failure to open the estate back up for parties. The management of the estate over time, crossed with the indications of occult with Carlyle's travel might be illuminating

We're hunting a spider, so... Let's get a view from the air before diving into a particular target.
[x]spider wasp
-[X] Turn to Emily's presence, working the dream colours of shape and your memory of her form to anchor her so she might speak. What did she think about all this?
-[X] Hire investigators
--[X] to look through old gossip rags, interview local reporters, and that sort of thing around the Carlyle estate. Get the behavior of the estate on a timeline
--[X] to look into records of Doctor Robert Houston
--[X] to look for information about Silas N'Kwane in Emmerson Imports.
-[X] Personally find out what's happened with Erica. If she's not here, try to find out who her friends are that are here.

 

[_brightwing]

Well, that's complicated.

Sounds like our opponent for this round suffers from the left hand not knowing what the right is doing. They're all working towards the same goals, but the overall control is so inhuman and vast that each point of contact can't understand enough of the whole to recognize allies in other parts.

Several questions come to mind.

• If Jackson is right, that the cult doesn't need to hide, then why are the on the Dark Mistress?
• Where is Erica? She went to Africa, found (some of) the bodies, and then what? @_brightwing I think you're jumping to conclusions that Erica is still there. Perhaps she is, but perhaps not. Personally, I think if she's still there, she's not on their side. If she's returned, I expect she's either innocent or an agent.
• Information on Silas, with Emerson Imports, suggests but does not confirm that they're bringing stuff here. Why bring stuff here? Storage? Seems unlikely but maybe. Setting something up seems more like it. However, they have the Dark Mistress, and are implied to not be limited by resources. Why set up something here, instead of closer? Why isn't their base in Africa? Something prompted a move across continents. If Carlyle is simply making use of his estate, local gossip would likely note the failure to open the estate back up for parties. The management of the estate over time, crossed with the indications of occult with Carlyle's travel might be illuminating

We're hunting a spider, so... Let's get a view from the air before diving into a particular target.
[x]spider wasp
-[X] Hire investigators
--[X] to look through old gossip rags, interview local reporters, and that sort of thing around the Carlyle estate. Get the behavior of the estate on a timeline
--[X] to look into records of Doctor Robert Houston
--[X] to look for information about Silas N'Kwane in Emmerson Imports.
-[X] Personally find out what's happened with Erica. If she's not here, try to find out who her friends are that are here.

Click to shrink...

I wasn't sure either, and no one was getting the vote rolling so I just went with my first understanding of the situation - and to kickstart discussion. Something ended up happening in Egypt so it might be worthwhile to start there, but while we spend time uncovering that the cult does go unchecked. We should indeed focus less on the past and more on the present, and what Oliver can do now. With Oliver's dream abilities, Doctor Houston might be our best lead right now if we wanted to strike directly at the cult.

I like spider wasp - it's so much more directed, but do you mind if we still take Emily's feedback though? I wanted her to feel involved and take on a more active role.

[X]spider wasp

 

[Tascion]

Something ended up happening in Egypt so it might be worthwhile to start there, but while we spend time uncovering that the cult does go unchecked. We should indeed focus less on the past and more on the present, and what Oliver can do now. With Oliver's dream abilities, Doctor Houston might be our best lead right now if we wanted to strike directly at the cult.

Click to shrink...

We have one direct action, and many actions by using people unfamiliar with the occult.

If we investigate Erica, Dr Houston runs around unchecked. If we investigate Dr Houston, Erica runs around unchecked. Furthermore, each investigation by normals likely runs a higher risk of detection and missing key information; they're normals.

Of all the leads, I think only Erica might be an ally. I figure an extra ally would be useful, and the sooner the better. Potential allies for us are likely known or potential enemies for the cult, and therefore targets. I think pursuing potential allies is more useful than picking a lead nearly at random to start chasing the cult.

I don't think we know enough to ask Emily anything at this point. Is she aware of cults? Yes. Is this aware of this particular cult? What are its identifying marks, actions, or goals? Speaking is not a free action. Let's save that action until we have a better base of information than "Do you know the people that attacked our friend, likely picked up their cult in Egypt or Africa, and is likely connected to hunger in such a tangential way that a human mind can't recognize the connection?"

Lastly, I strongly disagree with Dr Houston being a good target for dream vectors. He's the character on the cult side specifically called out for being good at dreams. He's the most likely to notice, and the most likely to have counters for us.

I think after assessing the carlyle estate, I want to raid it for the books in the safe and to find out why the cult is using the estate at all.

 

[_brightwing]

If we investigate Erica, Dr Houston runs around unchecked. If we investigate Dr Houston, Erica runs around unchecked. Furthermore, each investigation by normals likely runs a higher risk of detection and missing key information; they're normals.

Of all the leads, I think only Erica might be an ally. I figure an extra ally would be useful, and the sooner the better. Potential allies for us are likely known or potential enemies for the cult, and therefore targets. I think pursuing potential allies is more useful than picking a lead nearly at random to start chasing the cult.

Click to shrink...

Oh I wasn't disagreeing. I meant to say that I didn't particularly want to go to Egypt, but that its an option cause it seemed to be the origin point. Finding Erica might be the best move we can take, and before committing to travel we should indeed first figure out where to direct our efforts. We are under a time crunch, and all options has their associated risks.

I don't think we know enough to ask Emily anything at this point. Is she aware of cults? Yes. Is this aware of this particular cult? What are its identifying marks, actions, or goals? Speaking is not a free action. Let's save that action until we have a better base of information than "Do you know the people that attacked our friend, likely picked up their cult in Egypt or Africa, and is likely connected to hunger in such a tangential way that a human mind can't recognize the connection?"

Click to shrink...

I'm afraid I have to disagree there, look at how the scene ends. It's just good action economy to not end the dream without any follow up. We should at least have a ending conversational note with Jackson before the scene moves onto the next. Involving Emily doesn't have to be optimal, the intention is to get her and Jackson speaking while Oliver is around. And she has served the Dream god for a long time, and might have insights on the designs of the entity. Remember how she explained Hunger?

Lastly, I strongly disagree with Dr Houston being a good target for dream vectors. He's the character on the cult side specifically called out for being good at dreams. He's the most likely to notice, and the most likely to have counters for us.

Click to shrink...

Oh I didn't mean to say he was a weakpoint, more that he might be prolific in his presence in the dreamland. And so perhaps easier to find and observe - if we run out of leads for the cult in the physical world. We can always decide not to commit to it if we think that the intel out weights the risk.

 

[Tascion]

It's just good action economy to not end the dream without any follow up. We should at least have a ending conversational note with Jackson before the scene moves onto the next. Involving Emily doesn't have to be optimal, the intention is to get her and Jackson speaking while Oliver is arou

Click to shrink...

This is good points, and I think I've let myself get a bit meta in my voting. My impression is that (mostly) regardless of time, we can only prioritize a handful of voted actions.

I think in part due to the complexity of this plot, writing a vote is down to you and me. I'll edit in your contact Emily option.