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☆ TDM: SEPTEMBER
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aefenglom's test drive! All threads can be considered game canon, should you choose to do so; regardless of if you pick specific threads to remain canon to the game, the prompts and test drive itself will be. This is part of our September-October event The Price of Revolution, so it's fairly important to note! Aside from that, here are some quick reminders:• The Application Queue is open. Apps can be submitted at any time but will only be processed as space opens up and game plot allows. The application page can be found here.With that taken care of...
• If you have any questions about the game or the world, please refer to the FAQ page; if you still have questions, feel free to ask them! For questions specific to the test drive, please ask them on the appropriate thread.
• For the purposes of the test drive, your character will have access to all magics taught by the Coven if they're a Witch, and as much of their shifted form as you'd like if they're a Monster. Feel free to play around and experiment with each!
• Test drive threads can be used as samples for your applications!
• And finally, since this is part of our event, characters already in-game ARE allowed to top-level on this post.
Mirrorbound who come to the Coven after dark on the 27th, who have volunteered to assist in waking the sleeping citizens of Dorchacht, are ushered into a large room laid with pallets on the floor inside a huge chalk circle. With Nessie are a group of sleepy-eyed Witches in loose robes, their expressions calm and almost dreamy despite the seriousness of the situation. These are the Dreamers, an oft-secluded group of Witches who study Divination and dream magic almost exclusively. They show signs of suffering some of the dangers of dreamwalking - they space out often, or doze off and have to be woken by one of their fellows. Still, they seem to know what they’re doing as they prepare candles and fragrant incense. Magic pulses through the floor, tingling threads of it escaping to reach out harmlessly toward the Mirrorbound who filter in.
Miss Nessie is the one to explain the ritual in a solemn tone as she oversees the final preparations and the other gathered Witches. "You all seem to have an uncanny ability to dreamwalk that we do not fully understand. Normally such a thing is difficult, it is, but the Mirrorbound are capable without even trying." She takes a breath and lets it go, standing straighter, determined. "Hopefully we can trigger that ability tonight. Theoretically, magical energy can be harvested from the dream planes. While you sleep, and dream, we will perform a spell to allow you all to bring back that energy crystallized into a physical form, and that is what we will use to wake the citizens of Dorchacht. The more you can collect, the more people we can help."
Her determination gives way briefly to open worry, and she admits, "We don't know what form this shared dream will take, or what dangers it may hold. With the spell going, any injuries you sustain in the dream will also carry over to your physical body, so be careful, yes? You can still back out, of course, and none will hold it against you. For those who stay, healers will be on-site and monitoring your physical forms."
Those who stay will be given a piece of a very rare lavender mushroom used by the Dreamers called Faecap, which works quickly to induce sleep - and shared dreaming. As they drift off, the sounds of soft chanting fill the large room.
[Due to the untested nature of dreamwalking, IC volunteering isn't necessary to participate in the TDM - your character may simply find themselves in the shared dream when they go to sleep that night, similar to how TDM characters will just find themselves in it.]
You feel like you're floating. Around you, colors and sounds and smells swirl as if trapped in a whirlpool, vibrancy and hue ever shifting. The more you watch them, the less solid they are; they only become clear out of the corner of your eye. The area around you begins to feel more solid as well, until your feet are on the ground, and a sour wind brushes across your face and through your hair. It seems to claw at your consciousness like chilling, spindly fingers -
and you know one thing, and one thing alone: this is a dream, and an incredibly realistic one at that.
The Nightmarescape
This is Aefenglom, and yet it isn't, at the same time. A large Victorian-styled city of cobblestone streets and close-together buildings, cut through the center by the River Temese. Whether you recognize its specific features and structures or not, you know deep in your bones it isn't meant to look like this. It's subtle at first, but it becomes more and more obvious the longer you walk the cobblestone streets. Everything is... almost gray, desaturated in color. Buildings are crooked, tilting at improbable angles. Clocks are upside-down. Writing is backwards or unrecognizable. The night sky above bears a greenish hue to it, and the stars seem to swim in and out of different formations. The city is also hauntingly empty - except for your fellow dreamers. The space yawns like it wants to be filled with life; it craves, it's hungry for it.
and you know one thing, and one thing alone: this is a dream, and an incredibly realistic one at that.
The Nightmarescape
This is Aefenglom, and yet it isn't, at the same time. A large Victorian-styled city of cobblestone streets and close-together buildings, cut through the center by the River Temese. Whether you recognize its specific features and structures or not, you know deep in your bones it isn't meant to look like this. It's subtle at first, but it becomes more and more obvious the longer you walk the cobblestone streets. Everything is... almost gray, desaturated in color. Buildings are crooked, tilting at improbable angles. Clocks are upside-down. Writing is backwards or unrecognizable. The night sky above bears a greenish hue to it, and the stars seem to swim in and out of different formations. The city is also hauntingly empty - except for your fellow dreamers. The space yawns like it wants to be filled with life; it craves, it's hungry for it.
 A City Void of Life It does begin to fill, in time. The longer you're present in the dream, the more things shift and slide. You can feel it drawing from you, your memories, your thoughts and feelings, seeking out your fears and anxieties, your worries and your upsets. It slips right into your cracks and it digs out what it seeks. It turns the shadows of your mind into horrifying possibilities. Twisted features from your life overlay themselves on the empty city of Aefenglom - a single room, a building, a creature, a person. Not quite memories, they're all off in some way, adapting to the dream, warping. Don't get taken in by familiarity: whatever has drawn itself from your head is very, very dangerous. Shadows lurk where they shouldn't, once welcoming rooms close in on and threaten to suffocate you, a friendly creature's teeth and claws become pronounced and vicious, the darkened figure of a loved one watches you with blank eyes and malice in their smile. Whatever has appeared, it's a manifestation of your nightmares, and it wants to hurt you and the other dreamers around you. Maybe it's a dark what-if that has whispered in your ear at night, a bad end that you feared but never came to fruition, or maybe it's simply just the ugly representation of your greatest fear. Whatever it is, it's out for blood, and it's joined by fragments from the other dreamers. Hopefully you find a friend to help you out. If there was ever a time for a team-up. It's possible to leave the nightmarescape Aefenglom to try and escape these bad ends and what ifs. Time and space work strangely in this dream, and it's just a few steps to Dorchacht or the Wilde, or a quick tumble to the caverns Underground. Movement seems to be more about intent than direction. But it just gives a new backdrop for your nightmares, because they will follow, they will pursue you doggedly, melding into the scenery. |
 Face Your Fears Those who came here on purpose know what the mission is: to collect the crystallized magical energy present in this dreamscape to wake a city cursed to sleep forever. Let the others know, the ones who wound up here on accident, and maybe they can help you - each fragment of a nightmare contains this energy, even theirs, and can be collected and brought back by the dreamers who will wake at the Coven. The energy presents as black orbs, hard and clear like glass, no bigger than large marbles, with images of your terrors dancing deep within them. Coming by these orbs isn't exactly easy, however. To do so, you have to face manifestations of your worst fears. Defeat them - physically, emotionally, by standing up to them and staring them in the face, there are many ways to banish a nightmare - and they'll condense down into the dark glass pieces. With each defeat, the changes to the landscape sprung out of your head will disappear, and that part of Aefenglom (or Dorchacht, or the Underground, or the Wilde) will right itself, ease back into something normal, the oppressive air fading. The shadows will shorten and color will seep back into that patch of scenery. And hold tight to those crystals if you dare - other nightmares are drawn to them. These may not even belong to anyone in particular, but to the continent of Geardagas itself: grasping Shades of Monsters and Witches both, with white eyes and blackened skin, who wish to spread their infection; half-burned Dryads screaming for help; gleeful, malicious Fae playing terrible tricks, more twisted and insectoid than the Fae most know; a growing, creeping blackness that can only be the Cwyld itself. Even the land you walk on, or may walk on in the future, has many fears. It's a good thing some of you have new abilities at hand, and some of you have a few neat changes to help, or perhaps they aren't new at all. Regardless, use your abilities well and work together, it's time to face your fears. |
 Flitting Shadows Those who are attuned to their surroundings might notice something off - beyond everything else that is already quite off, that is. The sense of being watched, wherever you go, no matter where you turn, is strong and creeping, until it consumes your consciousness. Always just outside your peripheral vision is a presence, a shadow, lean and cloaked. No matter how quickly you run or how suddenly you turn to catch it, you can never quite get a glimpse of the figure's face, if it even has one. Trying too hard will make you dizzy, nauseous, as it evades and evades and evades. You might not be able to see a face, or much more than the vaguest hint of a shape, but it sees you. Don't let yourself be distracted from your mission, or from simple survival if you aren't the heroic type. If you linger trying to catch the specter at the edge of your vision, the nightmares will find you, readily and easily, vicious and ready to make you fight for your life. Ignore the sound of wings flapping in the distance, a whisper in an indistinct voice, words you can't hope to understand or even separate from the gnawing paranoia that roars in your ears. The presence never reveals itself, and never attacks you directly. You get the sense that it's trying to determine what, exactly, you're doing - and that maybe it's trying to sabotage your efforts to collect the hard glass marbles of energy from this plane. |
Alice Elliot | Shadow Hearts | Witch | OTA
[When Alice first arrives in the dreamscape, she mistakes it for Yuri's graveyard of the soul--or, possibly, her own. There's the same discolored sky, the same oppressive silence, the same feeling of being watched and taunted from just beyond her sense of vision... The longer she stays, the more the buildings seem to resemble graves and gates and mausoleums.
In time, however, she realizes there's one key difference: there's no soul to be found here, hers or anyone else's. Wherever this place is, it's truly some kind of void that her own thoughts seem to twist and turn at will. That fact is even more chilling than her first theory, as it places her completely out of her own depth. Souls, she can handle. Nothingness is a whole other story.
Luckily(?), she isn't alone here. There are other people walking about, and it seems that they are lucid and present in a manner similar to herself. Since there's nothing to be gained by keeping to herself, she approaches someone (you!) in an attempt to investigate what, exactly, is going on.]
Pardon me, but do you know where this place is? Or what's going on?
ii. Face Your Fears
[As Alice moves through the dreamscape, the graveyard-city churns and morphs until it comes to resemble an alleyway in Rouen, France. Blood and viscera are strewn everywhere. Slowly, horribly, the body parts move of their own accord and gel back together with a squelching sound. Before long a man stands before Alice, both looking at and through her.
Despite herself, Alice reacts. This scene is of the worst night of her life, and to see it reversed like this is a cruelty in and of itself. It can't be real. But yet...]
Father, I--!
[The man interjects.]
"You're no daughter of mine. You who sold your very soul, and for what?!"
[Alice is taken aback and visibly startles--her father was never so cold to her in his lifetime. He would have understood what she had done, why she had done it. He would have done what he could to help her and Yuri both. She's sure of it.
Come to think of it, even his very voice is wrong.
As soon as that thought occurs to Alice, her father's body bloats and mutates. She watches, dumbfounded with horror, as it takes the shape of a large head with painfully broken skin and several eyes. Suddenly, this all makes sense.
The face stares her down, peering into her very soul.]
"You say you have no regrets, but you still fear the unknown stretch before you once your time expires.
That time is now. Your penance is due."
[And without another word, the face lunges forward to strike.]
iii. Wildcard
[If there's something else you'd rather do with Alice, feel free to hit me up at
ii. Face Your Fears
[ The warning is called out from the shadows behind her as another figure steps into this Dreamscape. On accident, in fact, but she'd arrived in time to see the figure of a man morph and twist into a monster.
And also in time to hear that shocked cry of Father.
Having experienced a similar nightmare of her own while travelling these dreams, Yona is quick to react, her bow coming up and an arrow whizzing for the monster ahead of the unknown girl. ]
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Relief floods over her as she realizes that this isn't real. None of this can be real. Not here.]
Thank you!
[She turns back to the executioner of her soul, or the nightmare approximation of it, and takes a deep breath to steel her resolve.]
I won't make you stay if there's somewhere else you need to go. I... I can handle this.
[Maybe. But it seems rude to drag someone else into her own nightmare.]
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Shaking her head resolutely, Yona takes a step closer, notching another arrow on her string. ]
I don't need to be anywhere else. Not right now. I've got your back.
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Keeping an eye on the creature, Alice pulls out a large bible and grips it tightly to her chest.]
This... creature. It's the final executioner of a curse I took on to save the soul of the man I love. It shouldn't be here.
[The statement is as much to provide the other girl context as it is an attempt to reclaim some semblance of control over the situation. Alice has already lost, and she's living on borrowed time. She knows that and thought she had accepted that, but...]
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What a horrible fate. If an honorable one, on this person's behalf. To save Hak's soul, or even those of her dearest companions, wouldn't she have sacrificed much the same? She knew they would have done the same for her, as well. Without hesitation. ]
This place... it's only a dream. Cobbled together by our minds, our memories. If it does not belong here, then you have the power to be rid of it. This is your dream. You have control here.
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This is a dream. She has control.]
That means we can defeat him.
[The "we" is intentional. The other girl has refused to abandon her, after all. And, quite frankly, she's already helped more than she could know.
Alice turns to face the nightmare head-on, opening her book and preparing the most powerful spell she knows.]
Ouranos...Ouranos...Ouranos!
[There is a flash of blinding light, which constricts into a single beam upwards. A large pyramid appears in the darkened sky and draws a glyph on the ground. An eye opens on one face of the pyramid, incinerating the glyph and, by extension, the creature within in.
Unlike when she faced it in real life, the spell seems to have an effect. While the abomination remains, it appears to have been heavily wounded.
Alice's surprise at this development is clearly obvious.]
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She reaches out to lay a reassuring hand on the girl's shoulder, noting her surprise over the effect she's had. ]
Good. You almost have him. Can you cast again?
[ It's a dream, so technically they can do anything they will into being, but Yona is aware that all magic has a cost. Probably even in dreams. ]
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ii
[The voice will be unfamiliar to her; it comes from behind, incensed and followed sharply by a large fireball that sails through the air, past Alice herself before it collides with the abomination that's seen fit to assault her.
It reels back, if only for a moment, the smell of burnt flesh piercing the air as it lets out an inhuman noise of distaste, while the source of the spell takes the opportunity to join the girl at her side, staff in hand. He's dressed in white robes draped over fine leather, a stark contrast against the darkness that surrounds them, and though they haven't much time to chat, he spares a moment to ensure she's alright.]
Are you hurt? We must act quickly!
[It will take more than a show of brute force or even expertly-woven spells to fell this foe— he has learned that much since his awakening here already, but he is prepared to do what he must to help others face their fears as he's been forced to face his own.]
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It takes her a moment, but she finally nods in response to his concern.]
I... I'm fine.
[Physically, at least.
True to her rescuer's prediction, her hesitation ends up costing her--the abomination approaches and multiplies, surrounding her and clouding out everything except herself and her companion. Pain and panic hit her as the attack and the memory of her final judgement wash over her, and instinctively she reaches out and grabs the other man's robes to try and ground herself on something. Anything.
And then it's over.
She's still standing. Trembling and in clear pain, but standing.]
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His upper lip curls, displeased when he sees that his magic is nowhere near as effective as he would have hoped, but even so, it's over as soon as it began. Though he suspects he had little to do with it, the ghoulish faces that had surrounded them are suddenly gone, and it is only the two of them now. He turns to face her in their foe's absence, his dark brows pulling together with momentary concern.]
Well, that was dreadful.
[Grotesque, really.]
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Yes, it was.
[She looks over at Atman, which seems content to simply watch them for the time being. As she continues, she makes sure it's not totally gone from her attention.]
At least I survived this time. When this happened at home... [Her voice trails off. It's complicated--it's not like Atman's spell straight-up killed her. It was just the final warning that her soul is due.]
It's the inevitable end to a curse that's slowly killing me.
[That's probably the most succinct way she can put it.]
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He does seem the type.
[Light though his tone remains, he manages to avoid being dismissive.]
Curses can indeed be powerful things. Is there no breaking it?
[He can't help but ask out of curiosity as well as concern.]
Most spells can be undone if one has the proper resources.
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[She glances back at the floating head, which still seems to be content with simply floating there.]
I have no regrets, but... I suppose part of me is afraid knowing that I don't have much time left. And I'm afraid of leaving poor Yuri alone again after he's lost so much already.
[Her eyes are welling up a bit, even as she wills herself not to cry.]
I wish there was a better way, but there isn't.
i.
[This would be a strange person to approach unless desperate, unless aware of sentient beings made of metal and fur, apparently. From behind, at least, Mettaton is humanoid, broad-shouldered and dark of hair, but possessing of traits belonging to a silver-furred Puca. What he possesses that stands out in Alices's graveyard of nightmares, however, is a bright pop of color: pink.
And as he turns, he reveals that he's not man, but machine. His tall rabbit ears lean for her, intrigued by the setting she's dreamed up as though he's a tourist and this is dreamland rather than a manifestation of her fears. The robotic idol towers over her, his golden eye alight with interest — in her, in her dream, in these graves and mausoleums.]
Were you not put to sleep by Miss Nessie, darling? How fascinating! Unique! [He leans for her, not at all regarding her personal bubble as personal. Surely, this will be interesting news to report upon waking.] I'll tell you... However. All of this. Is this yours...?
[With a span of his arm, the Puca points with a claw toward the whole of her mind-manifested setting. Mettaton is aware of the mission, but not at all aware of this scenery. It has to be somebody's...]
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In response to his lean and line of questioning, Alice quickly takes a step back and shakes her head.]
I don't know who Miss Nessie is. I went to sleep in Wales and ended up here. That's all I know.
[When he asks about the scenery, Alice takes a moment to get a good look. The city is no more--the two of them are standing in the middle of a very familiar graveyard.]
This isn't mine, exactly, but I've been here before. It's the graveyard of the soul--of Yuri's soul. This is where I took on the Four Mask Curse in order to save him--a man who is very, very dear to me.
[As if on cue, there's a bit of taunting laughter that can be heard on the far side of the cemetery. Four floating masks guard a sealed mausoleum. Alice shoots them a quick glare, but quickly turns her attention back to the machine-rabbit-person.]
Please, tell me about this Nessie and why we're here.
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But at least she clarifies that his is a graveyard — just as he suspected. He gets a better look around, never having been to the graveyard in Aefenglom and never having seen a graveyard before, either. The lack of chill he feels for it is quite evident, replaced instead with an abject curiosity, wandering toward headstones and even reaching out for them while she speaks. But the robotic idol doesn't get a chance to touch anything when he hears laughter, his ears swiveling in response as he turns toward the mausoleum, rather than Alice.
More curiosity in his eye, more dauntlessness, more daring. But instead of rushing for it like he wants (the dreams breed in him even more of a devil-may-care attitude), he fixes his attention loosely upon Alice once more.]
A man who is dear to you, is that right...? [That seems to be the most important part — this Yuri person, he assumes. He breaks into a smile.] Well. Nessie... Nerissa Bell. She's a Witch, the head of Aefenglom's Coven... But a lot of that is going to sound meaningless to you, right now. You'll learn in time, when you arrive! Don't worry about it too much, beautiful.
[Alice has been granted an incredibly helpful guide. Mettaton waves a hand dismissively, leaning toward her again — and glancing to the mausoleum as well.]
By Four Mask Curse, you must mean something having to do with that... And you must be scared of it, somehow. So! [If the rules are to confront nightmares, get glass... Mettaton reaches for Alice's hand without her permission and tries to drag her toward that mausoleum, as helpful as he is. Bold and rash.] Let's go take a look and see what haunts you about this scene! What do you say?
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She's about to guess that he's somehow related to the curse and portending her imminent death when he grabs her hand and starts dragging her to confront the masks.]
T-there's no need to do this!
[She really would rather not speak to them. As they approach, it becomes clear why.
The lion-faced gold mask speaks first:]
"Bwa... ha... ha...! Long time no see, little girl."
[Next speaks the mask with a bird's head on the edge of a sword.]
"Tsk, tsk, tsk! I see the boy isn't with you. And who is this new friend? Is this "love" of yours truly so fickle?"
[At that last line, Alice visibly bristles.]
That isn't true and you know it. This is... um...
[She hasn't gotten a name from him, come to think of it.]
This is a person who is helping me.
[She thinks.]
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But he laughs, still holding Alice's hand and even reaching over to pat it with his other at the accusation of their love affair.]
Oh, my. Love?? Ahaha... Yes. I'm a star, darlings! To be loved is a natural outcome, nothing so unusual. I've an image BEGGING to be adored. Can she be blamed, for loving me...?
[He winks, but it's impossible to tell with his single eye save for the animated tilt of his head.]
However. It's a love quite different from heart she bears for Yuri. That much, I can tell. [And this is more for Alice's sake, indicated by the way he turns to her.] Anyway. I'm Mettaton! And I want to know why this young lady, fears this moment so much... that it'd plague her deep in her nightmares.
[Yes, he's... helping? He just hasn't explained a thing to Alice, facing off against her nightmare with an eagerness to watch this scene unfold like a drama... And hopefully, to see to it that she can confront it, for the sake of Dorchacht's citizens.]
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At least she now knows her companion's name. And he's vouching for her emotional integrity despite having just met her, which is nice.]
Thank you. I'm Alice.
[Before she has a chance to address Mettaton further, the mask that looks like a plank of wood speaks up.]
"Ho...ho...ho! Did she not tell you? The girl has forfeit her life for this boy, and her end is coming soon. She says she doesn't fear us, but perhaps she fears the reaper!"
[Alice takes a half step back and clutches her arms to her chest. There may be a kernel of truth in that assessment, loathe as she is to admit it.]
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The 'reaper'? So you put your life on the line... If that's a metaphor for death, can you really be blamed for being afraid?
['Did she not tell him?' Not like Mettaton gave her much room to explain anything before dragging her off like this! He likes the surprise of it all. It's still something that prompts him to turn back to Alice, gesturing at the masks before the mausoleum with a flourish of his metal arm.]
Well! If it's less the curse, more the 'reaper'... Why don't we face off with that fear of yours? There's so much death all around us. The stage is set! So, Alice, darling... If you're so afraid of that, why forfeit your life? Is it truly because your love for him is stronger than your fears? [He sighs. He has to have a moment of ridiculous, so he says in a lower tone,] A story full of love and tragedy... A classic.
sorry for the super late reply--life hit me in the face the past couple of weeks -_-
nw! i understand... 😅
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i
It might be possible to mistake this towering person as someone who wears full armor, at least it's clear he is humanoid in shape. However, as he turns to face her, if the glowing red visor and 'faceless' face weren't convincing enough, the very electronic-like quality speaking would be a plenty good tip off that this person is anything but human- a mechanoid.]
This is a dreamscape. Nessie put us to sleep.
[Though his voice is almost toneless, he is speaking as if it's a fact she should know or even know who Nessie is. Soundwave and several others had volunteered themselves in the mission, after all. Unless... he tilts his head slightly.]
You didn't intend to be here?
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The man-machine flatly tells her that this is a dream, however, so it's equally possible that her consciousness is merely scrambling recent events together to create his presence. She's seen a lot of weird things in the past several months.
The name "Nessie" rings unfamiliar, which he quickly realizes with his question to her. She shakes her head in reply.]
No, I didn't. I don't know of any person named Nessie or why I've been pulled to this dreamscape. I suspect there's a purpose?
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I didn't think the Coven's spell would pull other dreamers, only those willing. [At least that was his thought before he came to the realization himself. Something's telling him that this is unintentional, however.]
We have a mission. [A nod, before he explains further.] A terrible spell was cast on the physical world. Those who were willing enter dreams to gather magical energies from them in order to counter it.
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How are these magical energies gathered? I'd like to help, even if I was brought here accidentally.