Run by David & James I on 16th February 2011

Holly March (Anna-Marie), Gavin Reys (Dave Ha), Galaena Ravin (Ellie W), Atoll Denar (Dan A), Mephisto D'Fracti (Dave Ho)

Rose Petals rise and fall in the still air. The Wind is calm. And all but gone…

A missive, distributed to all…

”STORM WARNING: Although Sources Are Yet To Be Academically Graded And Authenticicated, Local Meterophylosophical Phenomena Have Been Dreamed, Divined & Predicted To Be Originating In The Outskirts Of Dream. 'Oneirotempest Lydia', Can Be Expected Within Two Weeks. We Advise All Citizens Wrap Themselves In Blankets, Sit Under A Table, Don't Fall Asleep, And Pray For Forgiveness. All Pets Should Be Kept Indoors If They Wish To Be Seen Again. Mental Sideeffects May Include: Unrest, Malaisse, Extreme Paranoia, Hyper Violence, Extreme Hallucination, Self Hatred and Existential Doubt. Sightings Of Obfuscated Felines, Golden Winged Figures And Visions Of Collosal Armour Clad Inhuman Figures In The Sky Screaming In Existential Pain Are Merely Cloud Phenomena And Should Be Taken As Norm. Ofcourse, This Could All Be Ramblings And Account For Nought. The College Does Not Hold Responsibility For This Being Possibly Utterly Fabricated. College Department Of Astrology & Meterophysics. Help Needed”

And in the Watchtowers, Guard call of sightings of black-armour-clad regiments, marching Northwards resolutely.

Meeting in the College, the adventurers have the Oneirotempest explained to them by Professor Sythis: a strange mixture of wind and dream is gathering in the north, sapping the winds from the other compass points. Spreading nightmares and madness, if this mess reaches the White city, it could be more devastating than an army. Sythis says that the De Courci's Bodach Scholar, Shada has soem leads, but she's been gone for days. Some of the students have seen her in the old Merchantile district, visiting a curiosity shop run by a Mannfred Echo, on Fascination Street. Sythis offers 20Hx each for investigating and bringing back information on this phenomena, and pays 5Hx up front. He warns them of sightings of shadows in the area, and they should be careful…

The Adventurers head to Fascination Street, seeing cat shapes out of the corners of their eyes, and hearing enticing purring. Suddenly, they are waylaid by hordes of Shadowcats, and a huge, Geigeresque, purring, monstrous creature that is certainly Not A Cat. Tearing through, the adventurers witness the shadows merge and retract, scampering across walls, ruining their perception of daylight…

Following the shadows into the old, decrepit Merchantile Quarter, the party witness lamps lighting by themselves, and the shadows revealing “Mannfred Echo's Curious Emporium Est. -Scribble-”. Inside, they find a pale, clearly ill Shada unsuccessfully trying to purchase an old Ashen Pot off the smarmy, oily Mr. Echo. The party helps funding, and Mephisto also purchases a curious Wooden Block with the word “Death” written on it. Atoll also purchases an Ogre-trapped-as-a-wardrobe, and installs him in his bar. Echo mentions that he had some interesting Ash in that urn, but it was bought by a man in a colourful cloak, “DOBBIN A FARROWS”.

Shada thanks the party, and gives them a satchel filled with potions. Soon, after a carriage past the Watchtowers, they head North. In the distance, clouds gather, an aurora shining around them. A face, peeled in inhuman rage forms in the clouds, thunder wails from it's mouth. Distracted, the party are met by demanding Dream Catchers, whose accents and uneducated ways belie their true Ogre nature. Galaena's clout with Slender Nige' (and vague knowledge of the Ogre “handshake”) get them safely past, but not before finding out that there is a small camp of Hakardi lying in wait up ahead, who were also following a man in a colourful cloak, “SAFARI-DROWN BOB”

The Adventurers continue North, braving the growing winds. They follow tracks to The Hakardi's camp, and defeat their would be ambushers. Although Atoll attempts to keep as many alive as he can, even unconscious they still boil away eventually. Their commander bound, they get as much information out of him as possible - the colourful man's name was “WOAD RIBBONS-FAR”, and they were following him to try and regain the ashes of the First Hikardi (spelt like that), which was “stolen” by the Rose Princes aeons ago. One Hakardi is still in the village up ahead, trapped inside the Oneirotempest, laying down the “Penultimate Node”. Despite efforts, the commander boils away too, leaving behind the same purple letters and green numbers. Mephisto and Gavin note them down…

Despite the wind, they decide to camp. Atoll erects a steelsilk-roped tent for himself Gavin, Galaena and Holly, but Mephisto elects to sleep in a Glass Tower of his own construction. As he drifts into restless sleep, Mephisto feels hismelf pulled lower and lower, his flesh, his very self being pulled away and torn apart by sharp little broken fingers. A pair of white, featureless, long-fingered marble hands rescue him, carrying him back… Waking up, Mephisto sees his tower is shattered. He feels wrong, significantly changed, and indebted to something else…

The party carry on heading North, the wind getting too hard to fight in. Strange phenomena are observed, like uprooted trees staying stock still in mid-air. Up ahead, inside the Oneirotempest, is apparently a lumbering village, Crest. Approaching the edge of the auroric hurricane, the Oneirotempest seems to come alive, protecting itself with “antibodies” of sorts - Zephyrs, like the servants of Breath, but swirling in colours like Rainbows, armed with real swords. Beating past their immeasurable numbers, Atoll is eventually able to walk past the edge of the hurricane, and finds life inside the eye of the storm is trapped in a beautiful, stasis-like stillness. Yanking the others through, the Zephyrs go still and return to the hurricane, becoming part of the tempest once more. The party spends some hours recovering, watching the size of the hurricane grow from within…

Inside, the village of Crest has entered a still life. Investigating, the adventurers are attacked by Zephyric spirits of envy, very quickly and efficiently dealt with. The Hakardi scout is located, his Old Tongue symbol quickly scrubbed out. Amused by their intruding, the gamesmaster amkes himself known - The Bard Of Rainbows. Answering their questions, he reveals how he manipulated The Rose Princes Of The Compass Points to become trapped in Dream, feeding off tehir fears to create the Oneirotempest. His only motivation is childish humour. He acres little for the Hakardi Ash each carries, and offers the party a chance to win the Ash back - Four games, four pieces of Ash. Theya gree, but before he can whisk them somewhere else, tehya re intercepted…

…and placed within a grey abbey, rescued by the Grey Abbess herself, who offers them food & respite. In her abbey, they meet the Princes', and discover things are wrong: South is on edge, North despairing, East babbling and West thinking about Love. Trying to comfort them, one by one the adventurers witness the Princes snatched away by some horrid, spider-like hand. Mephisto asks to be placed asleep by the Abbess, and Atoll is forced to strap him to a makeshift sled, and drag him in through a Northern door…

The party walks into The Rose Prince Of The North's Nightmare, created by the Queen Of The Long Road - a world where the Walker in Darkness was not defeated, killed his would-be trappers (including North's daughter, Lee North), and has conquered the north in a permanent darkness. Following screams, the party circumvents a huge filled mass-grave, and find The Prince, consumed by despair and failing to fight off A Dream Of The Watcher In Black and Nightmarish minions. Swiftly, they deal with the threat, incapacitating the Watcher, and removing his cloak… only to find nothing but a Wooden Block. North thanks them, heals them, and leaves. Behind him he leaves a bag of Ash… and a strange wooden block. Resting, a door appears, but not before Atoll wakes Mephisto, discovering Di Fracti's entire chest & face has become a featureless porcelain mannequin.

The party walk into The Rose Princess Of The East's Nightmare, a huge, gleaming, screaming porcelain and marble palace, covered in Scissor symbology. Walking down twisting, winding halls, they eventually find a Court, filled with inanely chattering glass-masked Nobles, being served mercury by blank-faced scissor-handed butlers. Upon a symmetrical throne of broken blades, sits a veritable Empress, which Mephisto recognizes as the strange being in his dream. He tries to speak with her, but the mostly-faceless creature simply stays immobile. Galana finds The Rose Princess awaiting a chance to dance, to be with the other Nobles.

Soon, the strange Nobles call for a dance (along with shrieking, screaming music, and the sounds of thousands of butterflies flapping), and West reaches to join them… only to be intercepted and danced with by Galana. Incensed, the jilted Noble begins to complain, only to explode into shards. Each Noble tries to spurn and deride Galana, but she jilts them back, until they have all exploded. The Scissor-handed servants approach, but are stopped by a hand-gesture from The Empress, who rises, and speaks: “Tell My Daughter It Is Time. She Is Ready. A Shard Shada A Shard Shard A.” Smiling, the Empress turns to Mephito before melting into the walls…

The others begin to question what has happened, and who or what they have met, when the palace begins to shatter and crumble. The entire thronal area breaks away… to reveal a much, much larger replica of the room outside… and a grinning Empress tilting their Palace around, as if it were a model. Seeing a door out, an enamoured Rose Princess Of The West grabs Galana (and everyone else grabs on too) and flies out…

…only the party suddenly find themselves crashing into solid ground, without The Princess but with another Bag of Ash and wooden block. This is the Nightmare of The Rose Prince Of The South, and is provided by the final Sleeper, The End - this is a world where the Rose Prince Of The South has been corrupted by Glass, and killed all in his path, shattering the world. The ground has turned to parched, burnt glass, breaking and descending into a crystal roaring, grating sea, a bleak, burning broken tear in the sky for a sun. Quickly they locate the source of this world - a vainglorious, broken Rose Prince. Cutting through his glass-corrupted Zephyrs, Atoll takes on the Prince one-on-one… and surprisingly, takes down The Prince. Sparing the Prince's life, and helping the Prince cough up broken glass, Atoll is granted rejuvenation by the Prince, who leaves Ash & block in his wake. They rest as the broken world begins to heal itself in reverse, preparing themselves to go through the final door…

The Final Dream is that of The Rose Princess Of The East, created by The Queen Of Stars. This is a world where the Rose Princess is content & calm… but at a cost. There is no water, no clouds, no rain. Her Oasis is a shell, a husk in a featureless wasteland. Thes ky is a painted tapestry, held up by string with Gold-painted Stars sewn in. The party wander the blank nightmare until they find the Princess, quiet and happy at the bottom of a crater. The party soon realise that despite her calm and clarity, this can't be right. One of the stars descends, taking ambiguous, asexual young form - The Knave Of Stars, the Queen's servant. Swiftly, he begins an argument with Atoll for the Princess' predicament - she wanted clarity, he gave her clarity. Atoll throws his all into awakening teh Princess, chanting with her and getting her to bring teh rain again - clouds gather slowly. Upset, The Knave attacks Galana, and Mephisto is able to destroy his form by channeling his Eyes of Glass. As the clouds swell, more and more spirits of Drought gather, but Atoll and the Priestess are eventually able to swell the Tempest - Lightning destroys the Drought, the Princess is brought once again to babbling insanity, and leaves, not before Atoll promises to worship her monthly. She leaves, once more, Ash & Block. A final, rainbow door opens…

…back to the real world. Crest is still caught in The Oneirotempest's stasis, but the hurricane is fluxing, breaking - The Four, conscious, Rose Princes fly, attempting to fix the storm. The Bard, broken and weakened (looking more like a puppet than a man) accuses the Heroes of cheating, and challenges one of them to one final game - All or Nothing. Mephisto agrees, and the two play The Game, a tower of building blocks where the words on the pieces have meanings and powers. From teh walls of the Oneirotempest, more Auroric Zephyrs attack. The battle of wits and blades go on, Atoll, Galana and Holly falling often as Mephisto carefully duels the Bard. Eventually, he wins - the petulant Bard knocking the game asunder. Mephisto takes the oppurtunity to Vitrify the Sleeper, but the backlash is too much - as The Bard's physical form (now simply a marionette) shatters, Mephisto himself is rendered unconscious. The Princes call forth rejuvenating fire to heal their allies, and break a hole in the storm, and the Heroes run, dragging mephisto with them. Something high above them, connected to the puppet by nigh-invisible strings, stirreda nd looked down - some vast, horrid many coloured many mouthed many handed monster. And it laughed in the Bard's voice…

They keep running, watching the Oneirotempest swell and break - their mission done, the Ash gathered, the Bard defeated. But outside the stasis of Crest, the Ash begins to stir… Condemned by Ash, the First Hikardi is immortal, with no chance for rest. Atoll binds the Ash in his coat, only for it erupt into the entangled form of The First Hikardi - vainglorious, proud, boastful, and incredibly strong. He calls for challenge, but is only met by more Auroric Zephyrs, spawning from The Oneirotempest's final shuddering breaks. Forcing the Hakardi into the angry Zephyrs, Atoll Galana and Gavin are able to destroy it, and burn it's body. Atoll apologizes, and the First Hakardi conscedes, admitting that it was condemned. It should truly “Never Be”. With that, The Hakardi disolves into Ash, leaving only it's sword, a strange feeling in the air, and a sad, drained Atoll, Galana and Gavin.

After two days' trek back, the party decide to alert the High Guard about The Empress message about Shad. Feeling urged on by The Empress, Mephisto places a conviction in the De Courci High Guard's head to deliver the messgae himself… and from within Shada's cottage tehre is a scream, the sound of breaking glass, and the whole world around the cottage appears to snap in two…

Charging into the De Courci grounds cottage, the adventurers are met with a mind breaking image. The entire cottage appears to have broken cleanly in two, in image at least, fractured splinters of reality twirling, vision painted upon them. The addled guard is caught close to the epicentre, no attempt to protect himself, visibly torn like a piece of paper, straight down the middle. Shada is the point of origin, her entire image shattered like a dropped stained-glass, pale cold white light emminating from all the cracks - it is obvious now that her “sickness” was her entire body breaking (and turning to a glass-like substance not too different from Mephisto's current form).

From the cracks, slender, pale, long featureless fingers emerge, the shards of reality spinning and turning, pushed to one side as multiple bodies emerge. The passage of time is immeasurable, as the shards of broken life twirl in the still air. And there, in the space that once encompassed a cottage, stand a number of figures. Featureless dome-headed scissor-handed footmen. Mask wearing, smiling, ragged porcelain Lords and ladies. A pair of marble heirophants, mitred with hands covering obscured eyes. And in the centre, a familiar porcelain Empress, a beehive hair-do of polished crystal, a featureless face bar smiling lips, and a flowing pearlescent dress.

They are all immobile statues, until they they all look up, or turn, to face Mephisto. The Lords and ladies bow low, sounds like violin strings being torn or chalk-boards-scratched. The Empress smiles. The two popes speak, their obscured mouthes almost-certainly never moving.

“The Daughters Are Dead. The Second Joins Her Siblings. The Empress Is Awakened. Forever Is Now”

Before any real reaction can be made, the scene seems to play into reverse. The statues refold back into the cracks, the broken shards sliding back into place. The Empress sneaks back in, smiling benignly. The pale light retreats back into the glowing wound in reality, and like a twisted spider, climbs speedily and erraticly into the sky, as if the wound was alive, and is soon unseen. With a screaming groan, the cottage reforms itself, leaving the adventurers alone with just a dead De Courci High Guard Officer, and a cloak that once belonged to Shada.

Around her, the last shards of glass tumble, displaying briefly on them, memories of her short, false existence: Dark Flames. Sudden existence, blood on a Bodach's hand. A shard of white glass tumbles, blackened & bloodied. It gains awareness. It has always been a Bodach. It is captured, hurt. It tries to find purpose, but it keeps breaking, hurt. She is stabbed, attacked, broken beyond life, saved by Falcon Bravo. But she keeps breaking. She has always been breaking. Forever…

The shards tumble, and stay still. No images remain. Just a high guard's body and a cloak. Nothing else of Shada remains…

The winds have returned to the White City. Sythis is pleased with your results, and happily hands over 30Hx each. While at the college, it is easy to overhear one of his students claiming to another that he saw, through his telescope, a strange crystaline crack in the sky, as well as a number of scholars arguing as to wether chapters on “The Empress Of Forever” have always been in their theoretical papers on Sleepers and Vitriarchs.

Rumours are heard from the Southern watchtower that their appears to be panic in the South. Hakardi patrols have suddenly turned direction and returned back to the Garden States. Something has changed in their fundamental nature…

The Eastern wind seems to favour Atoll's bar, giving the beer garden a more than pleasant breeze. The Hakardi Ash Pot seems rested…

Strange. A gentle, warm, wild wind blows almost continuously when Galaena isn't looking. A western wind, that seems to have obsession with the young ranger…

The whole Oneirotempest incident has left Mephisto in a strange position. He can still feel his connection to The King. But there is something else now, something in the way The Empress hands resculpted him…