004 - Lucid Dreaming

[tabularasa_mods]

Lucid Dreaming Event Info Pt.1 ▲ Event Info Pt.2 ▼ Comments Please see the two info posts linked above for details on the nature of the event, the nightmares within, and the setting it takes place in. You may ask any unanswered questions in either post. If your character dies at any point during the dream event, please leave a comment in the death report thread to notify the mods.

As a final reminder, all characters will fall asleep for the full duration of this event whether you decide to take part or not. You may continue tagging threads that take place before the event, but everyone will fall asleep simultaneously.

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Falling Asleep, Waking Up
The shift happens without warning, much like the first time people appeared in the world. Perhaps you remember what you were doing in the last moments before a strange feeling of exhaustion overwhelmed you - or perhaps you remember nothing at all. Whatever it may be, you've appeared somewhere new. A seemingly ordinary train station, if not for the bizarre walls of flesh blocking the only exits. The only path forward is down into the pulsating depths, a humid breeze pushing at your back.

There may be others here with you, or you may be alone. Could there be more people trapped in this strange place? You won't find them just by standing around.

Nightmares
The screeching of a distant train will echo through the tunnels on occasion, shadows flicking through the translucent flesh of the walls. Sometimes, however, instead of fading away the noise will only grow louder, closer, until it sounds like the train should be upon you. It never appears, but something else always will.

The train is a siren call for nightmares, and you're unfortunate enough to be their victim. The shadows turn alive, twisting and growing as they rise up from the ground and begin to transform. What form they take varies, but the shadows of the mind know the true fears of those who walk among them. Are you prepared to face the darkness?

Volcanic Panic

The shadows congeal at the edges of the floor, and soon after a hot orange glow begins to fill the room - molten lava is pooling in from the other end of the tunnel. It rolls slowly forward, devouring everything it touches with an unquenchable searing hunger, leaving behind only the charred bones of its victims... although, strangely, the tunnels themselves appear to be completely unharmed.

Outrunning the flow of lava shouldn't be a problem, but there seems to be no end to it. How long can you run from something that never stops? Or worse, what happens if you find yourself surrounded? You'll need to find a way to higher ground before that happens.

A Radiant Plague

The shadows rise up into familiar shapes, and at first glance it'd be easy to mistake them for people. They may even share the faces and voices of people you know, stumbling towards you with wide, open arms... and empty, glowing eyes filled with an orange light. Something smells sickly sweet, and it's only once they're close enough to grab you that they begin to attack.

These are not your friends, and they'll do whatever it takes to make you one of them instead. Unfortunately, it's not an experience you'll be able to survive. Your only hope is to fight back before the plague can take hold, lest you become another mindless husk that knows only to further spread the infection.

Trust No One, Not Even Yourself

The shadows stretch and fill the air, choking everything in a thick blanket of darkness... before dispersing just as quickly as they'd appeared. A few moments pass and nothing else seems to be happening. You must've gotten lucky this time!

... Or did you?

Surely it can't be that simple. Nothing else here has been, so something must have happened just now. It's only you and the person you're currently traveling with... but are you sure that's really them right now? How do you know they haven't been possessed by another nightmare, waiting until you let your guard down to stab you in the back? Should you interrogate them to be sure, or start with restraining them and ask questions later? Wouldn't it be better to just kill them before things get out of hand? The sooner you strike, the safer you'll be when their true form emerges.

Yes, that must be the real explanation. It has to be them that's been possessed by a nightmare. What else could it be?

Joker’s Wild

There’s no limit to what form the shadows can take. The world may have its own perception of fear, but your nightmares are something only you could understand. What darkness lurks in the depths of your heart?

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code bases by tricklet

Comments

cw for guns and murder from here

[begetblue]

[ The ping was left ignored. It was impolite, but Turing was not particularly concerned with decorum at the moment.

They could still hear the banging on the door. As long as that they could hear that, Hayden would be fine. Hayden would live! However, Turing heard the door give way with a sickening crunch just after that thought, as if the nightmare knew just how to respond. There was no time! Hayden spotted them trying to close the distance and shouted something, but those words might as well have been incomprehensible static for all the attention Turing gave to them.

The assailants breaking in grabbed Hayden, and one revealed a gun. ]

No! Leave him alone, o-or else!!

[ They were so close! ]

[forwearemany]

(The lack of a ping only worries them more and they speed up, crossing the distance at a breakneck pace.

The widow is with them and once again fully functional-they unfold it as they go, pointing it at the goon with a gun as they come skidding to a stop.

Turing might remember the widow as the same gun in Legion's three hundred year old memory.)

Cease current action.

(They don't know what's going on here, but it is upsetting their ally.)

[begetblue]

[ Turing whirled around at the sound of Legion's voice, and whether they liked it or not, when they saw that gun again that memory replayed in their mind with Hayden's likeness overlapping the ones who died that day. They were aware enough to recognize that as an intrusive thought. They really were, but knowing that did little to calm their nerves, and they froze in place.

An astute observer might notice that it was strange that neither Hayden nor the intruders seemed terribly surprised by Legion's presence in general, but the significance of that was very far from Turing's mind at the moment. Unfortunately, to that same kind of observer, a chance at a peaceful resolution was already long gone, even in this warped replication of what really happened that day. ]

Turing, you need to get out of here! Run!

[ Hayden began to struggle to free themselves from being restrained, but just like in Turing's memory, the intruders tightened their grip on him with annoyance rather than difficulty. ]

I'm not leaving without you! Not again!

[ They stumbled forward in a run, knowing it was a terrible idea, but their desperation won out in the end, even if it meant being caught by the phantoms from the video recording they had seen that day. One of them even moved to scoop Turing up at the same time, and that same arm was met with the most ferocious blow Turing had ever landed on anyone. Worse still, the barrel of that gun was fixed on the back of Hayden's head with a finger already squeezing the trigger. ]

[forwearemany]

(They know nothing of this individual, other than that he is important to Turing. They are also aware this is a dream.

Their thoughts are fast: they see the shift in the hand as the trigger begins to squeeze and fire their own gun. They know it is probably futile: their mind might be fast but their body is under the same time constraints as an organic one. They are unlikely to kill this individual fast enough to save Hayden. But they make the attempt all the same. If nothing else, killing one goon makes for less going after Turing.)