Tag: faewild

Changing Allegiances

On By ravonlockeIn Journal, QuillLeave a comment

That meeting was confusing. Spy Master was very angry. Made me angry, too. I have to talk to Red. Careful talk, secret. Can’t tell the others. Oh feathers, what have I done? He’ll protect me, he helped me. Not just my fault. Red thinks I’m useful. It’ll be okay.

…

I was right. Offered me a place. Have to think. Don’t jump. Don’t look too eager. Stay in the restaurant. Look after the boys. They fit right in. Pretend to think about it. Oh, Catbard will be so disappointed. Don’t tell her. Don’t make her sad.

…

Faewild? They’re all going to the Faewild? Fistandia might be there. I don’t want to find her. She’ll take her kitties back. Red says stay. Yes, stay. Don’t help them lose the mansion. Keep the kitties if they don’t find her. Soft kitties. Oh, She needs money for a key. Of course I’ll pay. Faewild sounds fun, and She’ll write the best songs about it.

…

Looking forward to Skullport. Orange had such a good adventure there with his big fight. Wonder what we’ll steal while they’re gone.

A Queen, A Goddess, and the In-Between

On By ravonlockeIn Journal, TristiaLeave a comment

Alok escorts us out of the flying temple and back to ground. He says we must go Dusward towards Autmn, to find the Harvest, where the wedding was meant to be. He once against reminds us of the dangers, and begs us guard our thoughts as we head out. Time and our surroundings fluctuate strangely. We pass a cozy cabin with three bears, and before we get out of earshot, there is the shrill scream of a young girl. A young elfish prince comes toward us on the road, carrying a bloody slipper, begging the girls of the group to try it on. We turn him down, but Nat asks about the blood. His betrothed, he tells us. He swears he’ll recognize her, the cuts on her feet, or at the very least, the shoe will fit. We hurry away as he does the same. We pass a house made entirely of candy, and more and stranger things.

After a while, Alok stops the group. He says we are making good time, but the seasons are fickle and he is unsure of the path. He suggests we get a bit lost to find the right way to go. A short time later, we decide to stop and rest. Alok suggests making a fire to see if a guide while come to us, or at least someone who knows the way. He reminds us to be good hosts to any guests, as guests must behave as well. Hospitality rules.

We make a campsite, and start a small fire. There are strange noises in the night. Pipe playing. But Alok says we must not follow the music into the wood. Nat asks if there are any special herbs in this forest for dreaming, and Alok finds her a few. We sit and wait. And wait. And wait. And wait. But no one comes. Until heavy footsteps and crackling branches break the night’s stillness.

A huge, two-headed creature with hooks for hands bursts through the brush. One head is cursing and screaming, the other simply roars at it attacks. We don’t have to be good hosts to this thing, right Alok? Right! It’s another monster made by the gods. This things is brutal, and it takes all we can throw at it to bring it down without losing our lives. Klyce blames himself for his negative thoughts, and turns into a gigantic snake for the rest of the night. Exhausted from waiting and from battle, we decide to sleep, but take watches in case a guest arrives.

After a long rest, while we are eating breakfast, flute music approaches. Into camp rides a hedgehog of a man, on a large jaunty rooster. He introduces himself as Hans the Hedgehog, and finds us all very strange and large. We ask for his help and explain our situation. He says he knows where the wedding is, and asks if we were invited. No, we just have to go anyway. He says this is good, because those that were invited cannot leave until it is over. And since the King began it and then died, the wedding has not ended still. The queen and her 137 daughters, and the entire wedding party are still all there. He says he’d like it if we could bring the King back, as he owes Hans a daughter for helping him once in the forest. But can he help us, too?

He says he can get us there, but we will all owe him favors. One favor each, should we see him again afterwards. Alok ponders leaving, now that we have a new guide, but Hans goads him into staying to see the end of the story. The pact is sealed, and he leads us out of the forest onto a dank, foggy fen. Where his rooster leaps nibly from grassy knoll to grassy knoll. There is no animal life here, except for us. The grasses are even mostly dead. I do not like it one bit.

Hans keeps up a stream of conversation to keep us distracted and focused, but Klyce remains a giant snake the whole day. We quickly arrive at the Harvest grounds, and start to see the wedding reception still in progress. There is soft music and servants wander with rotten food on trays they cannot put down. Alok warns us not to accept an invitation to dance. I ask everyone in the group to surround me, and cover my ears and squint my eyes as tightly as I can. Hans looks at me strangely, and I explain to him my deal with the Hag of the Woods, all that time ago. I promised to always accept hospitality, so, here, I must not allow them to offer me anything. I beg to go around, but he says the Tomb of the King is right behind the Queen at her table at the feast. We must go through.

We make it through, not stealthy at first, but able to deny those who ask us to dance. We sneak more carefully after that, and manage to make it to the Queen without further trouble. The Queen sits alone, deep in grief, at the head table of a long since rotten banquet. The tables are lit with torches, row upon row encircle the high table at the far end, like a theatre. Behind her is a cave entrance, not twenty feet away. Nat and Dalish have a quiet and quick argument about approaching her or avoiding her. Hans wishes us luck and wanders a bit away to watch, his part in the deal completed. Dalish wins the argument, and we try to sneak to the cave.

Unfortunately, she sees us before we even get close. Who goes there? Who disturbs my grief? Nat had wanted to talk in the first place, so we push her forward to speak for us. Terribly sorry, great lady. We did not mean to disturb you. We are travelers out of place. Who are you? What are your names? Nat introduces herself, and then the rest of us. Why does that sound like equal parts Truth and Lies? There is a taint on us. The cause of your grief. The gods of the other world have touched our lives. Perhaps you sense that? Come closer.

We all head closer to the Queen. She recognizes us then, or the gods within us, probably, and asks again why we have come. Nat explains that we are from the other world, and we were told by the prophet that the way bad might be here, in the resting place of her dead husband. We wish only to find it and leave, to not bother her world any longer. What are you hiding? What possible connection could there be?

Nat offers her details, knowing it will be bad, no matter how she spins it. Telling her that one of her husband’s eyes was in our world, and being used for terrible purposes by other men. We defeated them and him, but then another of our friends somehow uses some of that power to craft an eye for himself. And we think this connection might take us home. You want to defile the grave of my husband to find your way home? Not defile, but yes, it might be our way home.

You come here! Representatives or chosen or whatever, connected to the people who murdered the king! To gain access to his resting place? You have robbed me of my daughters, too! No! I forbid it! As a mercy, from a grieving queen, I will allow you to leave and never return!

Dalish bows and immediately backs a way. Nat gives an As you wish, and turns to go. I pause before going, telling her that we had hoped to bring her son back to her, and would that maybe be worth it. She concedes, that should we do that, she might consider allowing us access. Then I retreat with the rest of the group.

Some distance away, we discuss. The mana machines! Did we steal her daughters and murder them in the machines??? Or were they many of the other things we killed in the city? Is Aranea one? We have to figure out what happened to the Prince, and how we might get him back for her, for everyone. Should we ask the gods what they did? Klyce reverts to human, and Alok calms his emotions to keep him summoning more monsters. The bookish folk look at Banishment, to see if they could reverse it somehow. I sit down and focus on the Green Witch and her love for the Clever Prince. Klyce suggests we chill out and tap into the world around us. Maybe a drum circle?

Alok agrees with the use of music in this place as a good way to connect. He gets us all to circle up, and uses calm emotions on the entire party to try to mellow us out and help us get in touch with the fae world. Nat decides to take it a step further and, using the herbs Alok had gathered, makes us all tea. We pass around cups and settle in to take a trip together with Nat guiding the dreaming.

It is all very confusing to me, time and space, and then great big nothingness with light at one point. The whiteness is the unknowable beyond, she tells us. It is beyond our order-wrapped world. We are in the in-between. We have to find the Prince and set him free. Focusing on that desire, we find a Door. Nat says it’s the Door to Oblivion from her dreams. There were terrible portents in that dream, but it is unclear what they mean. Things might explode if we open it, or he might just be an angry Prince. But this is what we came here for. This crudely painted door with the Prince beyond.

I settle down next to it with Nat. There are countless runes worked into the painted surface. Nat knocks, but nothing happens. I focus in on the door and there is a flicker and then a brilliant light. The Dawnmother commands me: DO NOT OPEN THAT DOOR! But she is afraid, almost pleading. I feel no compulsion in that command. I reach for the doorknob, and I can feel it. Not flat like the painting should be. I’m sorry, Dawnmother, but we must fix the damage you have caused here. I twist the knob and open the dor. It disappears in a crack of thunder.

Nat says something bad has happened with that action. We keep focusing on the Prince. Even calling for him, but nothing. The door is gone. Someone suggests that it must be back in reality now. Quite probably in our own world. We have forced the door to exist, but when they banished him behind the door, they must have also then banished the door. We have to get home and find it. I have been staring at the empty space in shock for a few moments, but the word home snaps me back to the discussion.

Home. Can we get home from here? From in between? Without going back to the queen? We rise up from where the door had been and we focus on going home. Nat stops us. We could do it, but in a dimished capacity. We have to go back and get our bodies and our full power. We turn back towards the fae, and the going back is a lot harder, but we manage it. Barely.

We clean up, and explain to Alok what has happened. Klyce has another strange ramble, this time worrying that if we find him, I’ll fall for the Prince, and then my other promise to the Hag will have him gone all over again. Oh man, Klyce, I’m pretty sure it was Oliver I gave to the Hag, but we’ll just have to risk it. I’m not going to fight the real Green Witch over the Prince. I’m only 15.

Alok asks us to swear we will try to undo the crimes of our gods, and bring back King Balor, the Clever Prince, and Time to the realm of the Fae. We agree to the Prince and Time. He goes to speak to the Queen on our behalf, turning blue as he does so. He gets her to agree, and we head back to see her. This one has said many words, I wish to hear them from you. We swear to her to try to open the door and attempt to repair time. As it is Sworn, So shall it Be. There is a tightness with these words, but then it passes.

We have to get the Prince back before we can fix time. Alok also asks us to find the daughters if we can. She then insists he go with us, to ensure we keep our word. Nat asks about her daughters, but she says we will know them when we see them. She then rises to leave, and we see that she has a gigantic bulbous body and eight legs. She heads away and we head into the tomb.

Nat reminds us to be ready for the fight. We apologize to Alok and tell him our world is awful. We have to help him disguise himself, maybe Remy can share his hat. We head down the cave to a set of double doors with a huge cycopian lion.

Who seeks to enter? Natty says the Queen sent us down. We must answer questions three.

What loses its head in the morning and gets it back at night?

A Pillow!

Yes!

The beginning of eternity and end of time…. he goes on for a while with this one, but it’s

The letter E!

Yes!

The more of these you take, the more you leave behind. What are they?

Shits? No! And lasers strike Gerhardt.

Moments? No! And Marybeth gets hit.

Breaths? No! More lasers.

Lives? No! Lasers.

Steps? Yes!

The door opens. We head in and down the stairs. A huge funerial chamber. The dias is 20 feet tall. The King does not look decayed, but there is golden ichor flowing from his wounds. His armor is rent and he holds a broken spear. His eyes is gone and his face is smashed. Do we need to go through the eye or just use his blood. His blood is certainly filled with power. We could use it to transfer, to connect. Drink his blood? Alok suggest this might be best. I remember the power, and how good it felt. I’m a little scared to feel it again, but I really want to. I get my phail from Marybeth so I can save some after we go through. We take one more look around, and notice he’s still breathing. Right, time to go!

His blood tastes awful!!! I give Marybeth my spare phial back, I do Not want more of that! We think really hard about going home as we circle up and hold hands. There is the feeling of movement. Then cold, strangeness, flickering dark of the cavern.

We made it! We’re alive and back in our bodies! The nightwalker looms above us and Nat’s aunt is cackling in glee. Remy stands up and shoots the monster. Klyce stands up and slices it in half! Shadows fly everywhere from its broken form. Natty and her Aunt pick up their internal fight and we all rush over to support her however we can. She crushes the spirit and gets some of her memories.

Okay, good. Now what about the ritual? We need to cleanse Old Town, but do we want to give Great Grandpa back his power? Wait, Remy? How are you alive? Where’s Alok? He says it’s complicated, but he and Alok are now sharing his mind. The conversation then devolves into what to do with the ritual.

Lore Drop of the Gods

On By ravonlockeIn Journal, TristiaLeave a comment

We travel for a long time, or a short time, or no time. I really don’t understand. We walked and we walked through a beautiful, raw, and beautiful land. Duskward and Springward, according to our new friend. Toward the Temple of the Clever Prince. Nat is eager to get back to her body, finish off the nightmare monster, and finish the ritual to cleanse Old Town. But first, we have to get to the temple.

The group gets into a strange discussion with our guide about time and intention and distance and the past or future. I’m not entirely sure, I wasn’t listening. I was enjoying the quiet of the forest. No heartbeat, no terrifying throb of a world about to rip at the seams. Just solid nature. Just believe in where we’re going, and we’ll get there, I say.

Then the land changes. Darker skies, fungus and mossy plants. Alok has turned bluer in tone. He says it’s time to set up camp, and we dont’ argue. Dalish sets up our normal protections, dome, sanctum, dog and all. We decide to set up watches because it’s weird here, even though we’re safe inside the magic. And, I still think we would have been.

Nat and I are on second watch, the light doesn’t change here, so it’s hard to tell the difference. We notice the moss rippling. Then a long claw pokes up through it. Around ten strange figures claw their way out of the ground. They have five strange long arms, tipped with a pointy claw. They mill about, confused by a strangeness in their path.

Nat looks into their minds, and find sadness and fear. Digging deeper, she can only sense the question, where? They’re poking at the edge of the magics now, so we wake up the rest of the group. Which, honestly, I think might have been a mistake in retrospect, maybe they just would have gone away.

Everyone armors up, and then Nat and Klyce go out of the dome to speak to them. The creatures scream at the sight of them, like everything here has done. Except these don’t run, they immediately attack. Two grab up Klyce, and stabbing all of their arms through him, clutching him between them in the creepiest scene I’ve seen in this strange realm. I rush out and Thunderstep him away with me, tossing a tiny bit of my magic into him to get his bleeding to stop at least. Naturally, he runs right bak into the fray.

The others also come out of the dome, except Dalish, who is trying to keep the spells up. I pull up a Storm Sphere and spend the rest of the fight trying to zap these creatures off my friends. It takes a while, and Gerhardt has to save Klyce again, but we manage to put the creatures down. We then head back inside and finish our rest in peace.

We head on in the not-actually-morning, with Nat and Dalish interrogating Alok about the monsters. He doesn’t know anything about those, but promises that we have been able to avoid the things he does know about in this area. Eventually, we head out of the fungal forrest into a wheatfield, with the sunsetting on the far horizon. Above us, we can see the floating temple from our dreams.

We organize a few flying spells and polymorphs, then fly up to the entrance stairs. There are really creepy, melting statues on either side of the double doors. Alok says they are the guardians of the temple and will destroy everything if they sense a threat. Right, remember to control your thoughts everyone. I just want to go home. We head up, and Klyce gets a weird melty glob tossed at him, but they do no harm and we are able to enter.

The foyer has sweeping pillars and flying butresses, and the hint of chanting from somewhere far off. Two figures step out and give bows to us. They are faceless, but humanoid, and have strange growths out of their shoulders.

“We greet you, Breakers. What business in the temple of the uncrowned king?”

Alok prompts me to ask for an audience with the prophets, and so I do. They ask us to wait here for some time. And their emphasis is so strange on the word time, that I stare after them for a few minutes. Then the group goes off onto another esoteric discussion, and I tune out again. We’re gods, guys, why can’t you just let it go. We need to go home and save the Bones, why does anything else matter?

The figures return and say we have been granted audience, so we follow them through the temple. There are libraries and great halls, and a strange room full of fae gathered around a rather massive tree-looking individual who is unmoving. They take us to a set of double doors that has a red glow leaking through and bid us enter. We open the doors and enter, the glow gets brighter and brighter. Then a flash. Then Darkness.

We are in an open hall, with black roiling clouds beyond, and the setting sun is still visible, as well. A many-armed, and horned figure bows to us from the far end of the hall as we approach. He bids us welcome, again, as the Breakers, but does admit we aren’t actually the gods, though we carry their power. Dalish explains that we died and woke up in this place, and we came here seeking a way home. He says it may be possible for ones such as us.

Someone asks how the war started between our peoples. He says he was there, and the war was inevitable, but then decides to start from the beginning. This is the best I can retell his story, it was a lot to take in:

There is a spectrum from Perfect Frozen Order all the way to Utter Chaos. Our two worlds are linked, circling mirrors in the center of this spectrum. The Human world on the Order side, and this Fae world on the Chaos side. The human world has rules, like gravity, climate, time, and movement. The Fae world is far looser with those concepts.

In the long past, travel between the worlds was easy and frequent. And this caused significant friction between our two peoples, when chaos and order mixed. This friction lead to conflict and death. Starvation and dehydration are ridiculous rules to the chaotic fae creatures. How could humans blame them for eating whatever they could find?

So, there was war. But it was easy and good at first. But, restrictions breed creativity. Humans grew clever and began to master their world and its rules. They learned to use iron to hurt the fae, and to harness magic from the Fae world. The balance of power shifted until it was even. This was still a fun challenge, but then the Breakers came.

The Breakers were the gods of the world of order, the Human world. They gathered power their, followers, entire tribes and nations. They lead armies into the Fae world. They burned villages to the ground.

Someone interupted here, to ask if they were really gods, probably Remy, but maybe Dalish, I wasn’t really paying attention. The prophet asked: What’s the difference between a god ad a being with immense power? And then continued his story.

They came to the Fae world, and tried to learn the rules among the chaotic realm. But they couldn’t, they didn’t understand the chaos. It didn’t play by the rules they knew. So, they made their own rules. They seduced the Clever Prince. He was fascinated by the Human world. He fell in love with one. (The Green Witch by our stories.) At the end of the wedding, the Breakers killed Balor, the King of the Fae world. (The evil eye of a god we defeated.) Then, before the Prince could be crowned in his stead, they imprisoned him in a place outside of reality. Then, they locked the Fae world away. They have cursed the fae to live here, as they are, forever.

The Breakers did not like the uncertain and confusing time of the Fae world. They changed it so that time no longer flowed in its normal path. They took away their freedom to change. We toss out a few questions at this point. It’s confusing, because we saw beings of all ages in the village. He explains that while we are here, in the Fae world, no time is passing back in the Human world. He shows us a window into our world, nothing is moving. He says generations that have been born since that time were different than the ones before, but it is difficult to explain how.

Alok asks about the monsters we ran across. He says he hasn’t seen one of them in eons. They were weapons of war, created by the Breakers. They are known as the Sorrowful Ones. Nat asks about the oncoming darkness, but the Prophet suggests she try looking into the future here. She will find it impossible. He is not a Prophet in the future sense of seeing anymore.

Nat asks if peace between our peoples might be possible, but he repeats that it is inevitable. We are too different. What if we could return the Prince to you? He would give anything for that. Nat asks about the place beyond reality, what if it leaked into reality? He says it would do less damage here than in our world. What about time? Would you want time back. Yes, he would, but he has no idea how we could do that.

We ask if there is some way to get back through that window he opened, but he says not in any way he knows, but he can look deeper with a gift of blood. Dalish immediately steps forward, and the prophet creates a pool of darkness and whispers. As Dalish’s blood drips in, we can see the cave. All of our bodies are still there, with the monster standing over us, and Nat’s form surrounded by a black smoke. The prophet asks the dark whispers how we could return there. The vision focuses in on Remy’s eye, which is still twitching, and looks up at the pool, which then catches fire.

We explain about Balor and Remy’s eye, much to his shock and dismay. He suggests that we could make a connection to that from Balor’s burial mound perhaps. It is further duskward, Alok could show us the way. It might be possible, somehow, for us to travel on that thread of connection, back to our world.

A few more questions before we go. The big silent, unmoving tree, is their judge. He meets out justice, but is unable to function right now. Do the beings here age? Yes and No. We ask if people have been going missing and he acknowledges they have. We explain the mana machines, regretfully, and our attempts to stop them. He wishes we would leave, and never return, so we head out.

Spoilers: We’re Gods Now

On By ravonlockeIn Journal, TristiaLeave a comment

The ritual has begun, but Natty is frozen. The look on her face is stubborn anger and she is muttering to herself. The inky black from attacks!

Remy shoots, but is immediately paralyzed as the monster goes after Marybeth. Klyce wades in to put himself between them, and Gerhardt rushes forward to try to help keep him standing. It isn’t enough. I call lightning down, but it isn’t enough. The monster strike Klyce down. Then Remy as he ran it to help. Then Gerhardt, as Marybeth runs away to shoot from a distance. I’ve been staying by Natty, who is still mumbling angrily to herself. The creatures strides up and puts me down.

Into Darkness.

And Silence.

Then green.

I start awake, surrounded by grass and trees. We’re in a forest clearing. Teeming with life and gentle sunlight coming through the boughs above. We all sit up, we’re all there. Except for Remy, and Nat. They must be back there? But no, I saw Remy fall. Klyce says he was right.

We fall into a discussion of each of the six gods having a claim on each of us. Except there’s seven of us and only six gods. Unless the evil eye god has claimed him. But the rest, we each have one. Not based on our own chosing, but theirs somehow.

The Green Witch has clearly chosen me, by the evidence of my rising in the mines. Klyce has the red aura of the Wandering Vengeance. Marybeth, by her library pendant, must be the Eternal Mind. Nat’s been worshiping the Stilled Tempest, but does worship matter? I’ve been worshipping the Dawnmother. Maybe Gerhardt, with his healing, is the Dawnmother, and that leaves Dalish with the Stoneman. We’re not sure about these last few.

Klyce interrupts the conversation for a sound in the quiet wood. A flute being played some distance off. Gerhardt starts patching us up as we head off to investigate the sound. The forest is beautiful, untouched wilderness. There is no pulse, no heartbeat here, just beautiful life.

Ahead, there is music and splashing. We see a small goat of a man playing a flute for frollicking nymphs in a spring-fed brook. Klyce calls out to him, and he screams in terror and falls over. The nymphs dive out of sight. I step forward to try and calm him, but he scrambles up and runs. So, I levitate him and try again.

We just need to find people, I tell him. Where are there beings who all live together. He calls me Queen, and says there is a place fifteen minutes past noonwards. I have no idea what that’s supposed to mean, so I ask if he will lead us there. He seems even more terrified, but grovels more about me being a Qeen, and if it’s what I really want.

As I begin to let him down, keeping my spell, just in case he runs again, a burned humanoid creatures climbs out of a tree. This upsets him greatly, but we quickly figure out that it’s Nat, who had to leave her body behind, in her Great-Great-Aunt’s care. I go to introduce her to our new friend and realize I have yet to ask his name. He says it is Baraduk Tine. When we ask about the beings that live where he is taking us, he mentions pixies, dryads, and eladrin. None of which make sense, really, to us. Thought, it seems, Nat’s take the body of a dryad.

We approach a settlement of odd humanoids with pointy ears and flowing hair. They move so gracefully, as well. Then, they begin to see us, and the younger folk stare uncertainly, while the elders take flight, just like Baraduk. I call out to them, but it doesn’t help. Frustrated, I call out for them to Stop!

And they do. They all freeze in place and simply stop moving. I call out to one of the younger folk close by, who had just been staring at us the whole time. I ask where we are, but this seems a confusing question. They ask who we are and how we got here, but we have no idea. I ask if their people have magic, if anyone here has powerful magic that can maybe help us. So, they take us to see Alock.

Alock is an older eladrin who is inside a mushroom house. He looks askance at our young friend, and when we ask for help, invites us in. I pause to tell the people they can move again, and they do, as we head inside and introduce ourselves. He’s not terrily happy about Nat’s situation, but she didn’t know she was killing a dryad, she just needed somewhere to go.

We ask him about everyone being afraid of us and running away. He said it’s because we’re gods, and we destroyed their world and sealed away their Clever Prince. Eons ago, their world was larger, ruled by The Clever Prince. He was tempestuous and they were wild things. But then, the six banded together and bound him into the space between for all eternity. He was the son of Balor, and was to marry the Green Witch at the wedding where Balor was killed. This is all very confusing, but asking questions doesn’t get us any closer to answers.

He tells us that The Clever Prince has a temple near here, that may have answers for us. Or danger. Or nothing. But it seems to be our best bet. He wants us to leave his village, and even offered to take us to the temple. He is afraid we’re there to destroy them all again. He takes us Duskward and Springward, whatever that means. Warning us that intention is the key to this place, and we must control our thoughts.

Moments pass as we walk, but not time. It is a strange sensation, as I watch the flower, grass, and trees. Alock again warns us to be careful what we will to be in this place. I can feel something here. Something not quite remembered from my dream when I was dead in the mines. I hate that feeling! It itches on the back of my brain, but I can’t catch it. Then there is crashing in the bushes, someone was thinking to hard about our most recent death.

The dark shadow man appears ahead of us. Everyone panics and begins throwing spells, bullets, and knives. I drop to the ground, and curl up into a ball. Nonononono! Then there is darkness again.

I wake up, to them telling me it wasn’t real. They just had to remember that it wasn’t real. Alock suggests we rest. Dalish magics up our dome and sanctums and we sleep. I dream of an eight-armed, flying temple! This place is so strange.