Fantasy RPG Forum - Standing Trials

The voyage from Viden's shores went as smoothly and slowly as one might expect. The Frigid Main was not to be sailed lightly, yet Korm was a capable captain, and Shipley knew his business. Escur had joined them along the way and they'd purchased a ship as well as hiring a small crew to man her.

Thus a layer of deception was rendered unnecessary, they only needed to fool customs that what they were transporting was not toxins and drugs, but vital medicines for the relief effort in Almund. Korm and Shipley had handled that aspect of matters, as Woe was occupying the form of the wolf, posing as a pet of his companions, to evade getting spotted. And there was no law against taking the form of an animal, although Woe certainly wasn't licensed to use becoming magics in Videnese lands. Still, that level of deniability was important to maintain confidence.

As they sailed the Frigid Main, some distance from those shores, Woe snuggled up in his wolf form to some of the crew, to keep them warm. Thus he fell into sleep. Perhaps it was the movement of the ship, or else his distance from home. Woe found himself materializing aboard the Stellar Rain, his ship on the seas of Emea when he entered into the dreams, immediately crossing over beyond the Veil.

As he did so, his mind turned to the events occurring, even now, in the Empire. That was the great prey, the eventual behemoth that Woe wished to depose, as part of his tinkering in Scalvoris and Viden, and with Artere.

Artere was a laboratory for his meddling with the toxic experiments, to break a great being's sense of control over its subjects. If he could do that, he could bring that substance to Viden and destabilize it. From there, the Empire would be a relatively soft target, with its expansive size and territory. Not to mention the big moves they were making now.

It almost seemed too easy, to think of it in such terms. Yet Woe knew he had to be cautious, and that meant keeping eyes and ears active in all those locations. Kraig was a big question mark, as they'd parted ways sometime last Cycle. Whether Kraig had fallen back into Artere's fold or not was a mystery. He would visit him later. But then there was another wild card, one he'd encountered deep in the Sacred Forest. A stray hunter, who owed allegiance to no Empire, but lived within its borders.

It seemed a good opportunity, as he appeared capable as a case agent. Although granted that was a low bar, one only needed eyes and ears, and not to make too many waves, as well as be in a position to see and hear the right information. Still, Woe was curious.

He felt himself mooring his Stellar Rain parallel to this hunter's Dreamscape. Their association was weak at the moment. Woe had only ever encountered him once beyond their meeting as the Beast and Hunter. And that had been a useful encounter, leading to a reunion with Kraig. So the bond was slightly stronger than it otherwise would be. Enough that Woe could track him in the vastness of Emea, and find the sense of his location in that astral realm.

He shifted, Woe did, from the deck of the Stellar Rain, to the midst of a forest. It was immediately apparent that this was a Dreamscape, untouched by lucidity. The forest was convincing enough, but there was an oddness enough to it that Woe could sense the strong moorings in the Mindscapes, the images and shared experiences of mortalkind.

So as the mirror wolf, Woe stalked into the forest, seeking his prey. He would need them to be a dreamwalker, in order to be a decent source of information through Dreams. Although he could very well send messages through Pickle, it was far more reliable to send and receive them himself.

The mirror wolf stalked through the forest, taking on the coloration of his surroundings through his fur. As he did so, he picked up the scent of his quarry, and darted off to follow in its trail.

He would have to be careful, although confident of his ability to fight without weapons. Non-lucid manifestations could be as dangerous as any Emeyan being to an unprepared dreamwalker. It was part of the risk of initiating non-lucid dreamers, that prompted many not to bother.

But this was an opportunity to have an active set of ears and eyes. The Hollow Prince couldn't do without it.

Fortunately for Woe, the dreamscape he'd entered was filled with nightly shadows. As one might expect a dreamer who'd yet to achieve lucid realization, yet Woe had encountered a few who'd dreamt of daylight. This one clearly occupied a dark space, a forest. There was doubtless safety in that shade, especially for a hunter. It made sense to Woe, at least. Yet his nature as a hunter that used shadow as his ally would become the key to bringing down his dreaming manifestation.

From there, changes might happen to his inner world, or not. Woe only knew that he would have to shed that ethereal skin, and be born again as himself, only under the roof of his Dreamscape and the thin Veil that lay above and beyond them. Of course, Woe would be taking this hunter on as his student in Dreamwalking, it was part of the calculus certainly. He couldn't have a newly initiated Dreamwalker merely for the eyes and ears, but took on the responsibility for his safety and that of other dreamers. Ethics that needed to be imparted, ironically perhaps given his own intrusion, necessary though it seemed to the Hollow Prince. Survival skills that could be turned to the defense of his Dreamscape, against both Emeans, environmental pitfalls of his own psyche, as well as other invaders.

All of this occurred to him as his hidden eyes beheld the shadows on the other end of the Stag. He conjured illusions from those , a row of gray and black wolves, emerging from the darkness. Their teeth flashed with red and white, as if glutted with some prey from his own dreamscape. This was intended to irritate and anger the dream manifestation, to turn his antlers toward them, so that Woe could make the blow that would strip the astral hide from the hunter's back.

He prompted those illusions to encroach further on the Stag, while Woe waited in mirrored darkness of the forest. He crouched down, venturing further, trying to draw the creature's anger with those false wolves.

Woe prompted some of those wolves to snap forward, barking and clacking their teeth furiously at the Stag's hooves. This might prompt the Stag to lower its neck, just enough, so it could impale the illusions with its massive antlers.

Then, and again if the stag repeated the motion Woe would slip into the clearing, and bite down on the jugular of the dream manifestation, tearing and ripping at the essence of the dreamer's self-mirage.

Yet he'd only spare this action if the Stag took the bait of those false wolves, snapping at his heels.

Woe stood foolishly indeed before the apparition, yet this was the role she'd chosen for their battle. To draw the beast's attention from Jinyel, in order that he might destroy the source of danger in his own Dreamscape. Woe wasn't sure if she even could kill the beast as a product of Jinyel's imagination in part, but knew that she could distract and wound it enough to make it vulnerable.

She dodged to the side, her boots finding purchase on a large tree root vaulting onto a hillock with a leap. As she did this, her hand snapped in a gesture toward Jinyel, summoning her as a body part, them, and then them toward the dreamer to catch him in midstride.

As he felt the wings attach to his back, the contact made communication that much simpler. Woe sent the concepts in short bursts. "Flee, castle or vantage for a shot. Both? I provoke wolf."

As she leapt over the hillock, the creature's teeth snapped after her, but the wolves were not idle in this. Woe communicated her need to them, and had them sent against the danger of the creature's jaws. She only had seventeen of the beasts, and their loyalty wasn't all but assured even in this. But she had to forestall any harm to herself or Jinyel. If the sacrifice took the seventeen constructs, then so be it. They'd make their stand at the castle, as Jinyel said.


The wolves shrieked and howled and bayed at the threat, one snapping at its hind quarters, another catching on its head, bravely being impaled by its antlers and immediately dispatched, reduced to nothing but ethereal flesh for the Nightmare to feed upon. The other worried at the colossal wolf's front paw, halting its progression as Woe made distance between herself and the beast. Heading roughly toward the south, but trying to keep the shot open for Jinyel to send arrows.

Yet their attacks were short lived as the Nightmare shook them off, abandoning those small wolves for a greater prize, the mage that had just fled. It's jaws snapped forward, as it came after her.

Woe spun low to the ground, sending the whip's lash back at the creature's neck, finding purchase there and radiating with sharp force to flay the hide. It shrieked horribly, and howled in pain, yet its jaws catch on the whip, tore it out of Woe's hand and destroyed it.

It would take a moment to conjure a new one, or repurpose the sword in her hand. But for then she took the pause to gain more momentum back toward the Castle.