Location: The Underdark
party begins their travel towards Gravenhollow
Sarith begins coughing again; the PCs get worried and try to look after him, but
he gets defensive
-
Sylrien tries to help Sarith's overwhelm by telling the others it's not a big
deal, but Dibrael perceives this as uncaring
- that night, Dibrael drags Sarith into their tent & apologizes for making a scene
travel is mostly uneventful, with Mylz working together with Sarith on
navigation
-
Dibrael turns into a capybara, and the Underdark natives learn what that is
- party discovers a kiperu; Shoor suggests Zaz make bird noises at it
Skjorn is the first to be plagued with this round of nightmares; when he
wakes, Jorlan comforts him and Shoor expresses concern
-
nightmare
You open your eyes, and you're lying on the cold, hard ground. Your bedroll is gone, as is your entire tent; you're completely exposed to the dangers of the Underdark. Sitting up quickly to take in your surroundings, you find yourself in a small cave, the entrance of which is barred off. You've been imprisoned again - but how? You don't remember encountering any slavers. In fact, the last thing you remember is balancing on top of some sort of dangerous, shifting platform... Frantically, you look around for your friends, your family, your lover-- You spot Za'zimlas first, his massive wings unmistakable, but it brings you no relief or comfort because sitting across from him is *Buppido*. You haven't seen the old derro in over a year; he should be *dead*, yet he looks at you with a deceptively friendly smile. Dibrael is also here, as is your mom- Mylz- though back in her disguise. You count each of the other prisoners with nausea building in your gut, all of them the original escaped slaves of Velkynvelve. You have to know. Shakily, you breathe out a question, dreading the answer. "Where's Jorlan?" You receive a few suspicious looks, and some of them glance past you, over your shoulder. Turning back toward the cell door, you see him: your partner, the love of your life, with his hair newly cut and his burns fresh. He scowls down at you. "Why do you ask for me, slave?"
Dibrael's nightmare follows a paranoia-filled day; he surprises everyone by
asking Shoor to take first watch so he "can finally get some rest"
-
nightmare
You are in a familiar battlefield. The laughing form of Aerlian dissolves and reappears elsewhere whenever you try to swing at him; it is as if he is a shadow, an illusion, or perhaps a ghost. But you know that he is real, because the evidence of what he's done is on the ground not 30 feet from you. As you spot your boyfriend's barely breathing form in the background, your breath is stolen away, and you feel your body freeze up against your will. It only takes that moment of weakness, of letting your guard down, of *not paying enough attention* for Aerlian to sink a blade into your stomach. You choke on the pain, on the blood and bile bubbling up your throat, as you finally collapse. You've been fighting for so long; you can no longer stand, but you're not quite to the point of passing out. Aerlian smiles sickeningly as he watches you watch him stalk toward Za'zimlas. The tiny avariel can only scream in pain and terror as Aerlian digs his fingers into his stark white hair. You can do nothing but echo his screams as he is dragged away into the shadows.
days go by before Mylz's nightmare, and Elwyra is unable to comfort her; only after speaking with
Tamryn does she feel reassured
-
nightmare
A mountainous shadow looms over you, its form hazy and difficult to identify, but you know it to be a demon lord. Your companions stand at your side, ready to attack, ready to save the world together. You take a deep breath, grip your swords tighter, and lunge forward -- and cut down your nearest ally in a single stroke. The others respond with confusion, then concern, and finally terror as the reality crashes down upon them. You are sickeningly aware as your body moves against your will, using perfectly honed skill and instinct to slaughter them all one by one. Some of them bravely try to stand in your way, try to save you and everyone else from yourself, but it's no use. Others try to flee, but you pounce on them like a predator who has never lost a hunt. Your new companions curse you, your friends and family desperately plead for you to come to your senses. Elwyra's last words are that she doesn't blame you. It's a bloodbath, and you don't regain control until you're the last one standing in a sea of glaze-eyed corpses. You turn to face the enemy that's driven you to this madness - only to find nothing and nobody there.
Zaz & Sarith have a nightmare on the same night and it doesn't mix well; Sarith is skittish while Zaz is cold and on-guard, and Dibrael is left frantic
-
Zaz's nightmare
You've been enjoying a peaceful evening by the campfire with your friends, and Dibrael and Sarith are tucked into your sides. You're warm, safe, *happy*, and relishing your freedom; but you should know better than that. It's subtle at first, starting with an odd draft of cold air. You shiver, but no one else acknowledges it. Every now and then, it goes by again, slowly picking up in frequency and strength, but the others only look at you strangely when you mention it. Unsettled but determined to have a good night with everyone, you chalk it up to a hallucination, or maybe a weird genasi thing - but then Skjorn gets a sudden nosebleed. It's a domino effect; he raises a handkerchief to halt the bleeding, but when he pulls it away, half of his face has gone with it. The others look at you with shock at horror, and the wind returns in full force. It whips into them, opening new gashes across their bodies and drawing blood from their noses, mouths, even eyes... The air roars in your ears, louder than you've been able to hear anything for years, and you scramble back in terror, away from gruesome scene. One by one, everyone collapses, until only Dibrael is left - sitting perfectly still with not a hair on his head out of place. You're several feet behind him now, and s l o w l y he stands and turns to face you, his cold seafoam eyes piercing straight into your heart. He laughs in a voice that is not his, and his image melts away to reveal Aerlian holding a longsword. He reaches you in only a few steps; you have no time to get away. Pinning you down with a boot to your chest, it's only now that the blade is in front of your face that you recognize the various shades of blood it's drenched in. -
Sarith's nightmare
He wakes up in the dark. It's cold. His head hurts. He reaches out for Zaz and Dibrael, expecting them to be sleeping close by, and doesn't feel them there. Remembering what happened to Zaz before, he jolts up, seeking them out - and when he finds them in the shadows, they're disgusted by him. Dibrael blames him for Zaz's torment, one of them says they never should have expected better from a drow. He tries to back away and they stalk forward, driving him out of their tent, where the rest of the party emerges, also hissing vitriol, throwing rocks, beginning to unsheath weapons as Sarith scrambles away. All of them are implying he's messed up his standing with them, that the rocky start to their mission is entirely his fault, and he's forced to flee into the dark tunnels by himself as his headache gets worse, becoming agonizing before he wakes up.
during the next day, Dibrael overhears Elias whispering to Sylrien about what Aerlian could have done to Zaz to put him in such a state; he takes it badly
- Sylrien is growing concerned that something is wrong with Dibrael
-
Elias tries to befriend Zaz more, and Sylrien tries to take travel stress
off everyone by taking more night shifts
-
nightmare
He arrives at the scene of the battle with Aerlian to absolute carnage. His friends are scattered around, lying still. Aerlian is smiling icily on his perch, and Jorlan enters the cave just in time to see Skjorn be mortally wounded, gurgling on blood as he sinks to the ground. He tries to run forward, but is stopped by a spell from Aerlian that holds him in place. He screams desperately as the the person he saved - and who saved him - collapses and stops breathing. Only the empty shell of Zaz is still standing on the battlefield, emotionless as Jorlan is dragged away from his dead friends and family by the new NPCs.
not long after, Shoor has one of his own, and he is comforted by both Skjorn
& Jorlan, kickstarting his relationship with them
-
nightmare
It is one of those nightmares that begin with 'waking up'. He walks out into the camp and everyone is cold, silent, still. They all stare at him and sneer. As he tries to joke and get them to respond to him, Ilvara steps out of the shadows, a shambling but identifiable corpse, and begins mocking him. She approaches and begins hitting him for daring to think he could get away. He's shaking, frantic, and he looks around to his friends for help, but they only form a circle around the spectacle. He's pushed down and beaten into the ground, and one of those who were previously kind to him reveals that they never would have trusted him, that they got sick of his behavior, that they were sending him back.