a little dream of her | part i

[groundrules]

A LITTLE DREAM OF HER

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This is the first of two logs covering the Dream county travel Arc — it stretches until 23 April OOCly and covers roughly one IC week. There is an entirely optional wedding mystery plot, which will depend heavily on information gathering, sharing and deduction, rather than on supernatural powers.

Boarding scenarios for existing and new characters are covered under the Old Timers and New Arrivals header, respectively. Click on the tabs for details!

OLD TIMERS

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Absorbing Wrath, Licyn and Yelena’s feedback, King Deimar of Alem decides against joining his brother Haiva in ‘noble sacrifice’ to hell. Good news for the party, who depends on royal savvy to reach Alem’s otherworld transport beacon, buried in the labyrinthine tunnels beneath crumbling Alem.

■ Deimar and his paladins guide small groups back to the beacon — but the keypoint’s war-drained energies only let a handful of party members out. Characters who have dropped or been swept by AC during Arc VI go home. You can also canon update your character now.

The party must heads onwards east, boarding a dreamy train at a station near Hassir. Here, find exotic stalls with wares once intended for Alem — from the latest travel fashions, to unlucky artefacts, heavy alcohol and narcotics. You can even purchase a domestic ghost.

Whether the Merchant supplies a ticket or false staff uniforms for you to proactively sneak aboard, don’t dally — this train runs like clockwork.

NEW ARRIVALS

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You wake up to claustrophobia, ash and gravel in your mouth — and a sense of urgency: run. Midway through a slovenly, rattling underground corridor, you meet an irritable woman, who leads you out, at the foot of a serene, smoke-topped mountain.

The woman passes you a pendant that allows you to understand her and to communicate with others like you. You are one of many otherworlders brought into Akhuras by undead lords who seek to weaponise you, as they battle humans and each other for dominion. Don’t believe her? Look up. The holy citadel Alem yet burns before the dead armies of Rahakku.

The woman is Karsa, an associate of the elusive Merchant, who collects and leads otherworlders east, where ancient beacons can transport them home.

Regrettably, you’re late — you arrived with the unexpected last gasps of Alem’s dying beacon and must now catch up with the others, who’ve departed on the Sandman train express.

WHY THE LONG FACE?

Karsa barters for a carriage led by two nightmare horses, along with several such steeds for confident riders. These are mercurial mounts and dizzyingly fast — your only shot to reach a train travelling through Dream county.

■ Karsa warns you must not fall asleep during travel. The horses will invade your nightmares, consuming your vital energy while you suffer asleep.

■ Talk at all times or sound the shrill silver bells Karsa provides to wake up any sleepers.

You reach the seaside village of Kyari, where you must board the incoming Sandman express. Regrettably, the horses have left Karsa with just enough coin for one ticket for the wounded Dean Winchester. Everyone else: make do.

You must also help Karsa sneak in fist-sized, forbidden dream boxes. Try to avoid the Sandman’s guards and their canine sentries, who scent newly boarding passengers for such contraband. Return the boxes to Karsa once on the train.

You’ve got 45 minutes to board, once the Sandman reaches its rustic station. Some options?

■ Play stowaway and break the rustier locks of the economy class cars.

■ Sweet talk the depressed Conductor. You bought, but just… forgot your ticket.

■ Distract the guards while your group boards, so they can sneak you on after.

■ Plant dream contraband on another would-be passenger, when the dogs draw close.

■ Ride one of those god-forsaken horses and jump on top of the train once it starts moving, then make your way in through ceiling hatches. God help.

A fully veiled young woman might lend you a hand.

THE SANDMAN

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All aboard… the Sandman, a majestic 100-car train that gallops on an emaciated railway across Dream county. Ghosts and dream residents wave as it passes by.

The Sandman stops once after leaving Alem, at seaside village Kyari, before crossing the abyss of the Cradle — the turbulent, storm-prone birthplace of dreams, where it is constantly night-time.

Some say the Cradle is only a cauldron for those who steal dreams or make them into living things. Others say the Cradle has its own mind.

To avoid igniting dream storms, passengers are strictly prohibited from carrying dream tokens and performing dream magic. Characters find their powers are significantly reduced while travelling on the Sandman.

New arrivals join the Sandman at Kyari with group caretaker Karsa, who introduces them to the old party.

■ The Sandman offers exquisite single-person compartments with en-suite bathrooms for First Class passengers, while Second Class travellers share generous cabins in pairs, and up to four voyagers can bunk up in… cozy Third Class cabins. Shared bathrooms and a small sauna cabin are also available.

■ You can hide in the staff, luggage or coal stock rooms.

■ You can decide your character’s First/Second/Third Class, staff or stowaway status. (Pick a job for staff!)

■ The LOST & FOUND booth contains an assortment of clothes and items forgotten by passengers, which you can raid (within reason). Latest findings: cigarettes, medical-grade opiate powders, a a beautiful green dress and pink striped men’s suit, all brought in after the Sandman leaves Kyari.

■ Amenities range from dining & bar carts to game, exercise and cinema halls where the (PG-13!) pleasant dreams you’ve gambled away can be viewed freely, or passengers can hold recitals or seminars.

■ You can gamble in regular currency or pleasant dreams (not memories).

■ Travellers are polite and social. You learn early on that you share a voyage with renown heroine and First Class passenger Firo, who, alongside her friends and sister party, picks up her bride Prassenze from Kyari.

■ Within two hours of leaving Kyari, the sky begins to darken, becoming pitch black and occasionally loudly stormed. It stays a starless night time throughout your journey over the Cradle.

■ For communal safety, windows and doors are locked and magically enforced shut after the train departs Kyari. The nightmare storms within the Cradle region crackle with highly chaotic energy that can (re)shape reality, endangering passengers. Deputy conductor Michel Bauc holds the window and door keys. An irritating, tinny, train-wide alarm sounds if anyone tries to force a window open.

■ You might sometimes find fellow passengers trying to exit the train or open the windows to join the storms, while they nap. Do wake up them up.

■ Whether you’re an insomniac or don’t typically need sleep, you find you fall instantly asleep at midnight and awaken refreshed by 8 a.m.

■ A skeletal crew serves the Sandman at night. The most authoritative figure is gloomy Conductor Rossakoff, who slinks silently across the train.

THE MENU

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Trot down to the dining carts for an unforgettable meal included with your ticket. Formal evening attire is expected during dinner. Some courses are lightly sparkled with stimulants that deepen certain aspects of diner’s emotions during the meal — this is not disclosed ICly, but visible to you OOCly in the menu. (ex: the Ham and Laughter Eggs triggers roaring laughter and a good disposition ).

   BREAKFAST

   SUPPER & DINNER

   SNACKS & BEVERAGES

DREAM SMUGGLERS

The new arrivals helped Karsa bring contraband aboard, but they’ve steps to go to their final destination. The sorceress doles out fist-sized boxes containing precious dream fragments of happiness, sadness, fear, surprise, anger, guilt or disgust — explicitly prohibited cargo that regains its magical properties once aboard the Sandman.

Each box comes with instructions for drop off under a dining hall table at midday, under a roulette table by 6 p.m. or in the coal room by 8 p.m. Karsa says the deliveries are an explicit favour from the Merchant to an old (dream thief) friend aboard the Sandman.

■ Pair up for your run! Those who hold dream boxes feel their emotions to a player-chosen degree of intensity, throughout their adventure.

■ Beware the vigilant guards of the Sandman, who run frequent searches for illicit dream artefacts. Some bring dream-catching dogs who catch the scent of the dreamed things.

■ You may feel unusually sleepy while holding dream boxes. Doze, and you wake up to find your dreams have summoned a wo/man, child or animal whose temperament embodies the box’s emotion. They can’t help drawing attention, but slowly disappear within 30-60 minutes — wait, are those the guards?

■ Caught smugglers are locked into ‘jail’ cabins, while their contraband is placed in the office of Conductor Rossakoff. First-time captives can be bailed out at ludicrous expense or in exchange for maid service, but repeat offenders are jailed
for the rest of the voyage. Liberate your dream box back from the Conductor’s strangely barren, otherwise untouched compartment.

■ Successfully delivered boxes feed into the mystery of the missing bride. You mysteriously fall asleep to a sweet dream if you wait to meet the collector — and wake up to a feeling of wrongness, as if reality is mute and diffuse around you, before your hearing and vision resettle.

THE GROUNDHOG WEDDING: A MYSTERY

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Firo’s bride Prassenze boards the Sandman from Kyari. She comes alone, veiled head to toe, and only brings a modest case. She is short, thin, pale and shy, prone to silence and retiring to her cabin at the earliest opportunity — a far cry from boisterous Firo.

…so much so that Firo’s sister Lita and friends Dulcinea, Maiza and Attru tell anyone who’ll listen that Firo is marrying this girl after courting her for six months through correspondence. Even bashful Hugo admits the pair is… perhaps a little mismatched. This is their first in-person encounter.

■ The wedding party members plead or offer coin for you to coerce the loving pair to delay their marriage — or to sabotage the wedding, due to take place in two days.

■ An enthusiastic Firo meanwhile asks if you can help with celebratory clothing or wedding ornaments.

■ Shortly after, Lita appears lost in her thoughts and altogether not there, clutching a letter in hand, the day after the Sandman departs Kyari.

HERE COMES THE BRIDE... AGAIN

1.0

No one forgets their wedding night — least of all brave Firo, who, vows performed, makes merry with her group and timid bride over a magnificent feast in the dining halls. Everyone is invited.

The blushing bride is visibly infatuated with Firo, but overwhelmed by the loud, relentless social activity. She hardly speaks to anyone, other than Firo, whose friends complain increasingly loudly that Prassenze is aloof, a cold fish, and thinks herself above them.

Prassenze excuses herself to freshen up in her cabin. Nearly an hour’s absence later, a worried Firo checks up on her — finding the bride’s compartment locked from the inside. Once the door is forced open, the partygoers — and you? — discover the inside stormed, bridal veils discarded on the floors, and windows widely open as the Cradle’s nightmare tempests rage.

The bride has vanished.

Terrified, Firo questions everyone in earnest, accepting your assistance to find Prassenze.

2.0.

You wake up next morning to find everyone reliving the same wedding day, which only fellow otherworlders recall. Squinting outside, you see new landscape — suggesting the Sandman has covered a day’s journey.

The bride Prassenze is present again, but sharply different in appearance and manner. Now, she is closer to Firo in size, her build athletic. Her manner is brusque, assertive, commanding. Some in Firo’s group are put off, others frightened. Firo appears a little taken aback by her bride’s domineering nature.

During the second wedding, a drunk Maiza and Dulcinea quarrel with Prassenze, who doesn’t back down. A frustrated Firo tries to break the fight, verbally lashing out at her friends for drinking and at Prassenze for stooping to their intoxicated level.

Prassenze storms to her cabin. She is once more found missing, when searched. As before, her compartment was locked from the inside, the window is wide open, and her veils have been abandoned.

3.0.

You wake up to a third wedding day, with only party otherworlders recalling the past two days. Prassenze looks and acts differently from the first and second wedding day — now she is of average build and height, with an especially jovial, overly friendly manner, prone to laughter and pranks. This time, she drinks with Firo’s friends, plays (and wins!) at many of their card and dice games, humours their stories and even flirts — but is so devoted to Firo’s group that she accidentally neglects Firo herself throughout the day. Firo repeatedly tries to coax her to spend time together, but fails, and abandons her during the wedding feast — perhaps meeting you for a drink instead?

Realising she has driven Fire away, a distressed Prassenze once more withdraws into her compartment at the end of the (third) wedding night — and disappears, leaving the same clues behind as on the first and second wedding day.

There are no further repetitions and time passes regularly after the third wedding day. The morning after, apothecary passenger Rigolante mentions asks Conductor Rossakoff to conduct a search, as some of his herbs and measuring tools have gone missing.

■ Player characters can change events and investigate during the second and third groundhog wedding days. Regrettably, Prassenze still disappears.

■ Non-PC characters and the Sandman’s crew only recall the third wedding day.

■ Conductor Rossakoff says the number of dreamers whose dreams help propel the Sandman during the obligatory midnight-8 a.m. nap — what do you know, you were helping all along! — has stayed the same since leaving Kyari, meaning the bride is alive on board. No one seems able to find her… help a distraught Firo find her missing wife!

CAST & CREW

	FIRO Good-humoured, sincere and just heroine, renown for her many feats of bravery — from rescuing villages to outwitting sphinxes and challenging immortals. Loud and prone to laughter. Quick to tell everyone about her beloved Prassenze.
	CONTESSA LITA Doting older sister of Firo, married to a Count who prefers a quiet life at his countryside estate. Preposterously wealthy and fashionable. Life of every party.
	MAIZA Once a gifted mathematician, Maiza quickly realized there is more money for the modern man to make from his brawns than his brains. After retraining as a barbarian, he served as muscle (and accountant) during many of Firo’s adventures..
	ATTRU The prince of a distant land, some say descended from wolves. Walks among men to learn their ways. Looks young, but will mention at least three wives and five children in the first five minutes of conversation. Smooth.
	DULCINEA Redeemed mercenary, who once used to sell her sword to anyone with the coin to spare — some say, even the dead! Turned an honest leaf after meeting Firo, of whom she is very protective. At times still sinister at her edges.
	HUGO A pilot turned priest, or a priest turned pilot. Met Firo during his many travels. Soft-spoken, mild-mannered, but jittery, with the kind of thin nerves that suggest he has survived numerous fraught circumstances.
	RIGOLANTE An apothecary of exotic drugs and herbs. He had hoped to make his fortune in Alem, but arrived just as the fortress crumbled, before he could sell enough of his wares. Prays he will find better fortune east.
	CONDUCTOR ROSSAKOFF The gloom and doom of the Sandman, eerily tall, slinking and silent. Passengers prefer to deal with deputy conductor Michael Bauc because of Rossakoff’s intimidating and discouraging presence. Takes a hard stand on smuggling or passenger misbehaviour and all but worships the Sandman.
	PRASSENZE The all-veiled bride of Firo, boarding at Kyari. Not once, not twice, but thrice disappeared.

IC TIMELINE

Day 01: Boarding at Hassir/Alem (morning)

Day 03: Boarding at Kyari (midday); within two hours of departing, the Sandman starts journeying on the railway above the abyssal Cradle — the sky is pitch black at all hours, nightmare storms rattle the train.

Day 04: Lita begins to behave airily, as if she’s not quite present.

Day 05: First wedding (16:00) and wedding feast (19:00)

Day 06: Second wedding (16:00) and wedding feast (19:00)

Day 07: Third wedding (16:00) and wedding feast (19:00).

Day 08: Rigolante asks Conductor Rossakoff to enforce a search for his missing herbs and recipients.

QUESTIONS

NPC THREADS

Comments

[3point0]

He shrugs non-committally. "It's either real or it's not, and if it's real, I'd rather not get myself into too much trouble."

Too much trouble, because he'd be okay with a little bit. He smiles at her, at the compliment. "Yeah, the company's pretty nice. Do I get to ask you boring questions like what you do at home for work or what your hobbies are?"

He can do all this while serving other people their drinks. Really, it's lightening the mood, talking with Adrienne. He finds this way easier than all the wedding stuff.

[pathologise]

"Only if you answer them too."

She smiles, and he'll find that as soon as a new shot goes out she's very quick to take it, no letting it sit.

"I'm a doctor. I like long walks in the woods, reading and sex."

That lightly flirtatious edge was still in it making it sound like she was answering a dating ad. She also definitely included sex as a hobby. Drinking with a very hot bartender... she might keep flirting.

It's definitely easier and more enjoyable than their actual reality.

[3point0]

Buck gives Adrienne's list of hobbies a smile, and looks down at that last thing. He would be blushing, but he's just been out of this game for awhile, not entirely devoid of it.

"I'm a firefighter," he answers, easily enough. Makes sense, since the shirt doesn't fit very well so it's obvious he's got lots of muscles under his sleeves. "And I like videogames, trivia nights, and what do you know? I also really like sex."

He skips the part where he explains that he spent the first half of his twenties bedding or at least trying to bed any unattached woman who was remotely interested in him. He figures most people peg him for that, anyway.

[pathologise]

Her smile widens at that and considering she's already decided that she'd sleep with him she has zero judgement about how he spends his sex life.

"Find my cabin sometime if serving drinks isn't a big enough distraction." That there's restraint and she isn't more seriously suggesting going somewhere now...

"Boring question: where are you from?"

[3point0]

Well, he's not saying no to that. This might be a dream and it might not be, but he's recently single and coming off of a serious relationship and not looking to swing right back into a new one just yet. So, a rendezvous with a stranger on a train before he gets back home might just be what he needs.

"I'm gonna need to get your number," he answers, and then: "Los Angeles. If you're from Earth." He's met a couple people who aren't, and even though she looks like a human, well, some of the natives here look human.

[pathologise]

Her smile widens and he gets her cabin number, Adrienne leaning into the bar (and him) a little more.

"New York. Recently, anyway." And maybe it's the alcohol or the slight buzz from their potential arrangement that's making the if you're from earth not really register.

"I'd been... travelling. Let's call it that."

[3point0]

"Yeah?" he asks, definitely interested now. "Last place I went was Texas," he says. But he'd only been placed there to fight forest fires. He's kinda attached to Los Angeles now, but he does have to admit: "But I've been all over."

He also leans in so they can have a more private conversation, and though the smile never leaves his face, it's a lot sweeter now. "You should look me up if you're ever in town."

[pathologise]

She nods, though Adrienne knows that she'd be making the trip just for a nice promise. It'd be worth it.

"I spent the last two years working in Egypt."

She lets the statement hang there for a little bit, reaching a hand across to rest on his.

"I thought I was done with the desert." And where did they land... Adrienne had loved the work and people but the climate didn't agree with her.

[3point0]

"Egypt, wow," he says. "Never been there. Always kinda wanted to see the pyramids." But that's impressive to him, that she went there. He assumes it was for work and not for pleasure.

He turns his hand in hers, gently caressing the underside of her palm with his fingertips. "Do you speak Arabic? Not sure why, but maybe that'll come in handy later."

[pathologise]

"Picking it up was very helpful with patients." Which she tells him in Arabic, not expecting him to understand.

"A lot of people at the clinic I worked in spoke English but learning the language made my job a lot easier." And two years there immersed in the people and culture would have been impossible not to pick anything up. She wasn't fluent but she'd learned enough to have the needed conversations.

"I did however only see the pyramids from a distance." She hadn't actually done the sightseeing. A lot of her time there she'd spent pulling herself back together when she wasn't working, she didn't live there.

[3point0]

He does make a confused face when she pulls out the Arabic, but then he just smiles widely because he realizes that it's definitely on purpose that he wasn't supposed to understand. And from her follow-up, he assumes it was about work.

Though, he would've also accepted more flirting.

"That's kind of a shame," he says. "But I'm sure your patients appreciated you being dedicated to the job. What brought you back to the states?" he asks this because it kind of hasn't really sunk in that he's not in the states.

[pathologise]

There's a pause before she answers and it's a little less easy. She also would have preferred more flirting.

"I was out there voluntary. So I came back just... to see what I'd missed."

It's not entirely true but she doesn't want really explain.

[3point0]

He can tell she doesn't really want to talk about this, so he drops the topic.

"Then you ended up here," he says, instead, grinning. "Guess so far aside from the zombies, the nightmares, and this wedding, it's not so bad?" He tries to look on the bright side.

[pathologise]

She frowns slightly.

"I would have said that this bar and the company in it were some of the better parts."

She smiles again, squeezing his hand gently.

"It has to go up from there."

[3point0]

He squeezes her hand back, and finds this whole thing rather pleasant. It also helps that it's not really a busy bar right this second, so he has plenty of time to just talk to her.

Which.

"Okay, another boring question. I don't think I ever got your name. Wanna give it to me?"

[pathologise]

"Adrienne."

She starts to mention something though cuts herself off before it starts.

"How much longer do you have here?"

Adrienne's assuming that he's interested but he'd seemed it so far.

[3point0]

He smiles. "I uh. I'm not sure when the shifts are, I was hoping someone would come relieve me soon." He's not really a bartender here, if she hadn't figured that out.

But at the same time... "Though I'm not actually getting paid, so, I don't know if I can really get fired if I just. Leave."

[pathologise]

"We could always test that."

She's also been doing bar there and she has as little idea as he does. But she didn't mind working longer for it being a very nice distraction.

"See what cabins are open?"

The nice ones. Hers comes with someone else staying in it. Or when in doubt: find a bathroom.

[3point0]

He is definitely not above finding a bathroom, but he does think maybe they ought to crash a cabin. "There are some pretty nice ones in first class, and uh..." He looks over to a very drunk couple over in a corner. "I don't think 301 and 426 are going to need their rooms right now."

He gives Adrienne a wayward smile.

[pathologise]

Her smile widens and she slips down from her barstool. She'll let go of his hand to let him do anything he needs or wants to behind the bar before seeking out his hand again once he's with her, keeping very close in step to him as they head off through the train.

"I don't think I've even gone this far through the train."

She'd just found the first available bed and had dived in.

[3point0]

He scrawls a note that essentially says out to lunch, be back in an hour, and leaves it on the bar as he takes her hand and starts moving through the cars.

It doesn't take him long to find one of the rooms that the drunk passengers are residing in, and luckily, they seem the type to leave their doors completely unlocked. "After you," he says, gesturing.

[pathologise]

Her hand keeps on his the entire time, a sharper tug as she walks into the room and pulls him with her. Despite it being a first class room Adrienne doesn't even look around, focused on him.

She presses up onto her toes to kiss him, hand squeezing his, the other coming to rest on the back of his head.

The kiss is soft at first, feeling him out, gently drawing him in until she deepens it, kissing him until she's breathless. There's a pleased sound as she kisses him again, starting to imagine where else that mouth might touch.

[3point0]

He barely gets a look at the room before her lips are on his, and honestly, he doesn't mind. He deepens it pretty immediately, confidently, clearly having done this many times before. And his arms go around her waist, pulling her to him tightly.

"Wait, wait," he says, into her mouth, barely breaking the kiss, and not really moving away. "Let me lock the door," he whispers with a bit of a laugh bubbling up, so that she knows he's not getting cold feet, he's just not trying to get them walked in on.

He fumbles with the lock, one hand still on the small of her back, and when that's done, he asks: "Where were we?" eyes trained directly on her mouth, and pulls her in for another kiss before he even gets an answer.

[pathologise]

She laughs a little in response at his pause, kissing him fiercely again when their lips meet. Her hands move from him, drifting to his chest to fiddle with the buttons of his shirt, working them open around how she's pressed to him.

There's another pleased hum in their kisses, though her impatience is getting the better of her, keeping him pulled to her as she starts to walk them more into the room, hopefully towards that bed. Or something useful.

idk i guess this is getting nsfw lmao

[3point0]

The bed sounds like a good place to go. He happily walks with her there, hands rucking up her shirt the whole way, eager to get it off of her, even as he's shrugging his own off himself. It's awkward because he's stolen the uniform so it's a bit tight, but hopefully she's happy with the musculature he's got underneath.

His kisses become more fervent too, eventually dropping to her neck, pressing his tongue on her pulse, careful not to leave any evidence behind.