♫ tiger's eye ♫

[dramatispersonae]

You're in a sumptuous room, with rich brocade in your team colors and fine appointments in copper and marble that should look bright and beautiful -- but everything is dusty and grey, with a furtive, abandoned air. This is a place that's been locked away for a long time. It feels as if it would be sad to linger here for long.

Fortunately (perhaps), after one good look at the room, you catch a brief, pained snatch of melody. Your vision goes dark, and you immediately find your mind somewhere else-- ♫

Comments

♪ instructions ♪

[dramatispersonae]

For the first round, your character will be locked into a vivid waking nightmare (with which they can hopefully identify) for three comments! Your character will know to some extent that it's a dream, as one does sometimes in lucid dreams -- however, this shouldn't prevent the character from being affected by and reacting to the scenario. Our goal is a deeply unpleasant experience rather than outright trauma, so please use your judgment on how much immersion versus a sense of unreality from being in a dream you need to play with to get that outcome!

You can play with characters reacting to the scenario any way you want - have them interact with each other as if they're all going through what's being described together as a group, or have each person interact with it separately, or whatever - as you and your team prefer. (If you’re coming in late, you can just react individually to the scenario comments and then jump in wherever your team is playing! The rest of the game won’t make much sense otherwise.) After your team has finished reacting to each comment, let your gamerunner know that you're done so the next one (and then the next round, when the dream is over) can be unscreened.

Once the nightmare is over, teams will be free to discuss and answer a series of questions.

Teams will be running at their own pace without inter-team interactions, so please pace yourselves accordingly as a group to make sure you don’t run overtime! We’ll be cutting off all teams at the 5-hour mark (9:30 PM PST/12:30 AM EST).

round 1 ♩

[dramatispersonae]

first

[dramatispersonae]

ou're at the entrance to a beautiful garden, moving smoothly inside. The ones you love - your teammates and the ones you care about offteam - are behind you, and you can feel their presence at your back, trusting you, like the warmth of the sun. The sun is just as lovely inside the garden itself, and you relax as you flit inside. There was never ever anything to worry about--

But the sun seems colder in here. Your breath is coming faster, gasping and panicked. Something is wrong. Something is wrong at such a basic level that you can't even describe what. The ends of your fingers are numb with panic as you look more closely at the too-detailed statuary. You’ve made a terrible mistake. You shouldn’t have come to this place. Their stone features are all jeering at you. You lost the way. This is your fault.

Re: first

[emomachine]

[wow hey this is nice, what was all that hooplah about fears again-]

[oh. looks around at the statues uncomfortably, shoulders hunched]

I. . . I don't like this feeling. . .

Re: first

[hunting]

[ It's too familiar a reaction for him not to internalize, even knowing what they're up against. He curses under his breath and looks around frantically for the threat he knows to be present, hidden. ]

Re: first

[karlsefni]

[f-frowns, looking down at himself and then checking over to make sure he ha his knives, ok, it all feels kind of hazy and not really real but he's still a paranoid fuck. can he kill stones?? can he????]

second

[dramatispersonae]

You turn around and see something even worse... you didn’t guide the ones you loved through the garden properly, and they fell into the trap. They relied on you to use your power and knowledge to safely lead them through this place, and instead you took them straight to the place where they'd be changed. Did you mislead them this badly on purpose? You feel sick; your stomach cramps from clenching. They are all statues now. Their horrified faces stare out at you from between the trees.

Re: second

[emomachine]

[what]

[no]

[no no no]

I didn't mean- did I do this?

Re: second

[hunting]

No!

[ Lunging for the statues. This can't be permanent. ]

Re: second

[karlsefni]

[internal shrieking]

[no no it's a dream okay look it doesn't even really seem like them but this is fucking uncomfortable to watch that's my teaaaaaammmm you fuuuuuuuuuck]

[paralyzed, tbh, watching them—fuckfuckshit okay no, breathe, we're okay they're not even playing we're okay we're okay this is just a dream this is just a dream]

. . . Ffffuuck.

third

[dramatispersonae]

One of them -- the person you'd like to protect the most, still -- is still not yet completely petrified. They call for you -- you reach out to do something, anything, pull them free of the stone -- but they burst into flame under your hands, and it quickly spreads to the rest of the garden. No! you think, stretching out your hands -- but everything only burns faster, because of you. There is no one left now to draw your sword to heal; destruction is the only thing you can accomplish. You try to scream, but you can't hear the sound over the roar of the flames.

Re: third

[karlsefni]

[i hate this game i hate this game i hate this game i hate this game]

Re: third

[emomachine]

[not real not real not rEAL BUT EVERYTHING STILL FEELS HORRIBLE]

[covering his ears and squeezing his eyes shut]

I'm sorry-!

Re: third

[hunting]

[ OH FUCK. Time to bluescreen of death now. Grasping desperately at the flames, as if he can still save them if he just manages to hold onto some part of them... ]

NO!

round 2 ♩

[dramatispersonae]

You wake up sitting securely in one of the luxurious abandoned chairs. You're feeling sore and ill, pained from the affereffects of whatever happened -- but it's all the ghost of a reaction, fading slowly.

Firebird's voice floats through the air on another brief melody. She sounds exhausted, as tired and sick as you are.

"So what would you do, if such a thing came to pass? After all of your fears came true?"

discussion

[dramatispersonae]

decision

[dramatispersonae]

round 3 ♩

[dramatispersonae]

Firebird's voice filters to your ears again.

"I thank you for your thought on this matter so far... what do you think bravery is? How is it different from foolhardiness? When is it the right decision to be brave?"

discussion

[dramatispersonae]

decision

[dramatispersonae]

round 4 ♩

[dramatispersonae]

Firebird sighs. Her voice is almost inaudible this time.

"And how do you face your fears while they are happening? If you could... how would you change the dream of fear so that a different future came true?"

discussion

[dramatispersonae]

decision

[dramatispersonae]

result ♮

[dramatispersonae]

...

[dramatispersonae]

The scene begins to play out again on the walls and ceiling around you, a vision rather than something relived — but this time it's different. This time you nudge your team into conferring before you make your move through the garden; this time someone says something that makes you all startle and then take a slightly different route. This time you still brush past the danger zone, but not all of you fall into the trap, and you form a defensive ring around your frozen teammates, working to bring them back, eyes out for more danger -- still together.

The scene seems to spiral in on itself, into a tiny point of light in the middle of the room; this winks out, and something drops to the floor. It's a thick length of braided copper with interspersed tiger's eyes. As it is, one of you could wear it as a fancy belt -- but if you fiddle around a bit with it, you'll find out that you can unravel it into multiple individual chains, thin enough to be worn as necklaces.

(To endgame!)