westwhere | a little dream of her

a little dream of her | part i

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

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Oh, no. You go home right to were you left off."

That should not be reassuring, but she's choosing to think of it that way, if she can. She wants the reward from the end of the messy, bloody deal she made with her father. She intends telling Buck this to be the same.

"You won't miss anything. Promise."

"Oh," he says, not sure he believes that but then: "So this really is like a dream?" Because that's the closest analogy he can think of to describe this.

And honestly, he still thinks that it's quite possible he got into an accident and fell into a coma or something, and that's why this feels so hyper realistic.

Allison hesitates because no, not exactly. It can feel that way, sure, when you think about it from that perspective, but at the same time, she doesn't want him to not take what they're doing seriously.

"No. These are real people who could really get hurt, and if you get hurt, there's no guarantee that you'll wake up on the other side. I'm not sure of all the rules or anything like that but ... it's very real. You just won't miss any time back home."

That's probably more sobering than it needs to be for their light conversation, but beyond this train, she's all too aware of the real life and death stakes.

Oh, well, that sucks. And kind of puts a dampers in his plans.

He's still hoping that this is all fake, because he just doesn't want to deal with this being the new reality. And he doesn't want to have to deal with a reality of being away from his family. But he'd fight to get back to them. He knows he will.

"Thanks for talking to me about all this," he says. "Feels like this whole thing just hasn't sunk in yet."

"It takes a minute. But honestly, this is one of the nicer ways to join the group. One trip we were on these awful pirate ships, and when I got here, I woke up in this labryinth in a mountain and had to find my way out before I even found the group."

Which was terrifying enough. At least this go round they have a nice comfortable train car with lots of booze.

"Sometimes taking your time with it is the best thing you can do. Have you run into anyone else you know here? Sometimes they pick people up in groups."

A labyrinth in the mountain sounds kind of fun, but yeah, definitely more traumatizing than the horses, probably. "I haven't yet. But LA's a big city," he explains. "So even if anyone else came from my city, let alone my Earth, it'd be a longshot."

"Why, do you know a lot of people here from home?" he asks.

"My brother is here with me, and a couple of my siblings have popped through." But they're gone now, and it's just her and Five. It might just be her and Five until the end, but she won't get her hopes up.

"But I lived in LA for a while, before I came here. I used to be an actress." Sometimes she misses it, when she wishes for a time when her life was simpler.

"Oh yeah? What have you been in? Maybe I've seen it." And maybe they're from different earths, but hey, he's just happy to meet someone who knows where LA is and has actually set foot there before.

It's a low bar to clear, but they're in very strange situations.

"Oh, god. Nothing that good."

As much as she liked to use her powers to force things back then, she could see the writing on the wall. The money isn't in in dramatic art pieces. It's in the franchises, the popcorn flicks. Those are the ones that make you a household name. But since TUA was never really clear on that, she's going to wave it off and not be too specific.

"A couple action movies, couple thrillers. I was lined up to be the final girl in this new horror franchise they were trying to set up but - " She cuts herself off before she can say the world ended. " - life happened."

He shrugs. "I guess that's how it is. And I bet if we're from the same world that has the same LA that I've probably watched at least one of your movies." But she doesn't look familiar so, there goes that theory.

"Anyway, I'm sorry to hear that. Hope you get back to Hollywood when we get home."

"Maybe. As much as I liked it, I'm not sure Hollywood was that good for me."

Allowing her to meet Patrick so she could have her daughter aside, a lot of the relationships she had out there weren't real. Right now, the only thing that matters is Claire.

"But none of that really matters until we can get home."

"That's fair. Hey, if you ever come back and need someplace to stay, uh. Well, I'm working on getting a couch."

That sounded terrible.

"I just mean. It's hard out there in LA."

"It is hard out there."

But the phrasing of that has her curious so she swirls her drink as she tries to figure out how gently to poke at it.

"Was there an issue with a previous couch? Or did you just never get one?"

He shakes his head. "Last two couches came with girlfriends. No girlfriend, no couch."

And he doesn't want to accept a new one because he doesn't want to just pick up a new girlfriend just yet.

He's working on it.

And yes, he speaks this obtusely all the time.

If this conversation had started somewhere else, she might have thought the couch was a metaphor. This feels a little more literal though, and while she applauds his self-restraint for wanting to make sure she knows what he wants first - a fair thing to consider when looking at relationships - going couchless seems a bit extreme.

"Speaking as someone who is also trying to do the whole working on me end of things, sometimes a couch is just a couch? You don't have to hold yourself back waiting for the other half to come with it."

The couch is definitely a metaphor, but he doesn't really want to go into it too much - he just doesn't want to have someone move in only to leave his life again. "I guess. But. I did have a couch and we threw it out to bring in Taylor's, and. Anyway, I'll get one if you come visit."

That's what he's going for.

"Then I'll hold you to it."

No reason not to take him at his word, and she won't belabor the point. She'll let him throw it back onto her baggage instead.

"Conversely, if you ever decide to swing towards New York, my father left us an absolutely massive house that almost no one is living in. So plenty of room for guests to sleep."

That's absolutely not what he expected to hear, but it's fine. "Sure. I'd love to come visit you and your... siblings? How many of them are there?" He's thinking one or two.

"I've just got the one sister. She recently had a baby over the pande-- two years ago."

"Seven. Maybe eight, if you count Pogo."

He was always more of a surrogate parent to the Hargreeves kids, but if you wanted to be really technical, Pogo was Reginald Hargreeves first child. Probably the child he actually liked the most.

"Our father called it the Umbrella Academy."

"Big family," he says. "Is Pogo like, a pet or something?" Sorry Allison, Pogo just doesn't sound like a human name.

"Wait, your dad called your family an academy? Sounds like the guy in Sound of Music." He's gonna assume there's also a dead mom and a couple musical numbers in here.

"I don't think he really considered it a family. He adopted us for his own reasons, not because he actually wanted children."

She hesitates because Pogo is technically a pet but he's also not a pet. How do you explain Pogo to someone who's never met him? She decides to not because Buck seems to already be on information overload. Best to save her simian not-brother for another time.

"Pogo's not a pet. It's a really long story."

"Okay," he says. "Well, I'm here for a bit if you wanna tell it." And if not, that's okay, too.

Though he doesn't ask about her dad. "My parents never wanted a third," he confides, instead. "Resented me my whole life." Well, there's more to that story, but he's too sober for that.

"That's awful."

She can't imagine resenting Claire. Of bringing a child into the world and not feeling like they were the best parts of her made manifest, and hopefully getting none of her flaws. But she also knows the woes of the neglectful parent all too well.

"Dad wasn't really interested in children. He wanted soldiers. He literally built us a robot mother so that he wouldn't have to provide any kind of parental warmth if he could avoid it. But before us, he had Pogo, who was one of his experiments. He's not a pet, but he is a chimpanzee. A genetically engineered, very intelligent, very articulate chimpanzee."

Edited 2023-04-24 01:52 (UTC)

Buck winces at hearing that. "Sorry," he says. "I just... that sounds like an awful way to live." He should know.

And then he takes a big breath. "My brother had childhood leukemia," he says. "It's why my parents had me. They needed a match. He died anyway." And well, that's why they resented him. He wasn't the son they wanted. He was the son they were left with.

"But you and your siblings, you're close, right?" That's one thing he could take out of this, the one thing that would make this okay.

She doesn't have to say it's awful again, but it is, and it shows on her face. She can't imagine how isolating that must have been, but she does understand what it's like to be told you were born for a purpose you didn't want.

"Did you have anyone? Or was it just you and your parents?"

Because that must have been hellish. At least she didn't have to do it alone.

"... Yeah." Sure, they're close. In the way that cats can close. Sometimes they want to snuggle and sometimes they want to just bat each other with their paws to see who wins. "I mean, we're all a bunch of collective assholes, but they're my favorite assholes."

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