logsinthenight | EVENT LOG: ENTER MR. SANDMAN (DREAMERS)

Entry tags:

EVENT LOG: ENTER MR. SANDMAN (DREAMERS)

characters: all characters that signed up as a dreamer for the event.
location: dreamland feat. beacon of the past.
date/time: november 16-29.
content: the dreamers investigate beacon as it once was.
warnings: psychological/existential horror. further cws will arise depending on the location; mods will cw tags appropriately, and you will too!

say your prayers, little one.

Hello, dreamers. Welcome to Beacon.

Below, each group has a toplevel ready and waiting for the investigation to begin. Feel free to tag in however to establish a tag order, and mod responses will begin once each character has tagged in. If you need a refresher on how the event will work, give the OOC info another read!

As for those of you in the ~~sin bin~~ opt out area...

The Beacon of the past isn't all too different from the Beacon of the present, frankly, except for a few notable exceptions. For one, it's far better lit: daylight leaves everything feels a lot brighter and more sensible than eternal night does. Several advertisements for community theater in the Invincible are hung up (Tryouts for the Ice Man Cometh! Cometh try your luck!) and minor lost and found posters are tacked to a community bulletin board nearby. Oh, and a merry little tune is playing on loop from a record player set up outside the Invincible.

It's cheerful, if not a little off-putting. But the signs of life are clear, even if the forest still looks darkly oppressive over yonder.

Additionally, since investigation threads 1) rely on mod responses, and 2) will likely move on the slow side given the nature of the event/size of the groups, if you would like to have your characters "mingle" in their assigned location, please feel free to write your own toplevels! We ask that you post them as separate toplevels not in response to the mod toplevels (so our inboxes don't get super flooded/we don't accidentally miss stuff). Remember that groups may only interact with each other during the event, but you're welcome to assume timey-wimey shenanigans to excuse why your characters are mingling instead of searching for clues—they do have two weeks in this dream, technically, and dreams are not always linear. If your investigation thread has not yet progressed to a point in which you've got enough of a handle on the setting to write a separate mingle starter, ask the mod you're working with! We'll fill you in on some OOC details so you can mingle accordingly while still allowing for characters to discover those details ICly in the investigation thread.

If you're still jonesing for more threading action during the event, we encourage you to check out the TDM!

QUICKNAV
comms	\|	network • logs • memes • ooc
pages	\|	rules • faq • taken • mod contact • player contact • calendar • setting • exploration • item requests • full nav

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Ya'll just got picked up by a dreamboat.

Haha, get it? But it's like, literally a boat in a dream.

Anyway, nothing seems to stop Stone from doing whatever he thinks he needs to do. Now that the boat is in the water, that whole compulsion thing seems to chill. Like, the boat itself has totally chilled out.

But even better, is as they sail out farther on that calm, clear water, they get closer to other floating ferries. They all seem to be full of metallic construction supplies.]

( they did get picked up by a dreamboat. if only they could be excited about it, instead of mildly uncomfortable.

Matt ended up by one of the oars, and once they decide they might as well go with the flow (more boating puns!! yay!!!) and does what he can to help Eliot row. he's not exactly experienced with it, though he'll pick up fast.

as they near the other boats, his eyes narrow. they seem to be filled with similar supplies to their own. )

What could they have been hoping to build with all this? ( the scope of the project seems utterly massive. )

Don't ask me. My people live in giant trees, we don't build anything.

[Stone lets the two young people row, instead prowling carefully around the little boat to take in the scents, and then hopping up onto the prow to peer as far into the distance as his gaze will let him.]

Though I guess there's that portal thing that the Lighthouse Keeper said all our supplies come through. Don't suppose that's made out of metal, is it?

Maybe they're thinking about founding the Principality of Sealand.

[ haha. get it? because sealand's in the middle of the ocean? and it's mostly made of metal? ah. he needs a better audience. ]

Whatever it is, it makes the least sense that there's nobody here. [ a pause as realization strikes. ] Well, other than us.

[ another pause because what the hell. ]

You. Uh. You guys don't think this is what the dream wants us to do, right? Because that would be crazy. [ insert nervous laughter here. ]

[Stone won't be able to see anything. Looking forward, it's all just cool, sparkling water. Each and every boat holding its multitude of construction materials makes its way resolutely forward, just as they are.

But then, the boat begins to tip forward. Almost imperceptibly at first, but then faster, more abruptly, its path steep as it plunges into the water.

...or to what should be the water. But the water itself opens up, as if the lake itself was holding a secret doorway, a secret watery tunnel.]

( the boat ride is almost nice, skiffing between all too many boats floating with the same sort of materials. up until they start slowly floating toward a mysterious sinkhole in the middle of the lake. well that's fine. )

Do we have an endgame for getting out of this situation if it literally falls out from under us?

( he's curious what is down there but he's also not excited to die in a dream. )

[Stone clings to the prow of the boat tightly. He's actually seen something like this before, and so is only surprised rather than particularly afraid. At least it's not a whirlpool version of the underwater passageway the groundlings' boat took, last time.]

I think it's a tunnel that will take us somewhere else. Not drown us. But if there's a problem, I shift big and carry you both back to the surface.

[He does wish he had claws right now, though. And the strength he's used to. Clinging with old-man fingers is actually kind of hurting said fingers.]

Might want to hold your breath just in case, though.

[ eliot is meanwhile too busy reacting to say much else than: ] WHAT THE F--

[ 'what the fuck' indeed. it's a dream, so sure, no holds barred, whatever. but, come on. ]

[There really isn't anything much that they can do as the boat slides down into the depths of the lake. Ever been on Pirates of the Caribbean at Disneyland? Imagine that first sudden drop in the dark. It's kinda like that, but less dark, so they can see everything around them.

They can see how there's no real tunnel, but they're moving through the water, anyway. It moves and flows around an invisible barrier--but if any of them were to reach out, they'd find nothing but wet spray between them and the walls of the lake. Fish and plant life can be spotted, moving about in the water without seeming to notice them.

Until something notices them.

It doesn't move.

Or is it moving, keeping perfect time with them.

The boat is going faster, faster, faster, those glowing eyes growing growing growing and the tunnel stretches on and on, far and fast and deep, deep as an ocean and not a lake at all.

And it goes deeper

And darker

And colder.]

( Matt has not been on any amusement park ride, besides the ones at Coney Island. and that was a good 20ish years ago. he doesn't find this particularly similar since there's no safety precautions, no meticulously engineered systems to get them there and back again in one piece.

his knuckles are a little white at the places he's holding secure to the boat. )

Is this some kind of magic? Can you tell?

( it's asked with gritted teeth, trying not to let his reaction contain too much uncertainty, or fear, or panic, when a lovely myriad of all of them are threatening.

as for the eyes, Matt actually closes his. it's hard to focus his senses outward when he's freaked out, but he'll try anyway. see if he can get a sense of what might be in the dark, or even just how much farther they can go before they hit the bottom. )

[Stone hasn't been on any amusement park rides, either. He just flies. And this is kind of like diving. He clings to the boat with hands and feet now, shoulders hunched like if he had wings right now he'd be mantling them, and too-sharp teeth bared.

The eyes pacing them earn a growl, low and deep enough to make the wood under his feet vibrate. He will fight you, creepy eyed things. Or he will if and when they stop going down, and shifting bigger won't possibly break the spell protecting the boat.]

[ being as into musicals as he is, the prince of egypt is the first thing he likens it to because he can't think of anything as terrifying and awe inspiring as the scene of the israelites crossing the parted red sea and seeing all the aquatic animals swimming past, none the wiser.

the second thing he thinks of is some weird gene wilder wonka bullshit, especially with the whatever-the-hell following them down into the depths. ]

It's a dream. [ he manages after he finds his voice again, swallowing thickly to try and keep himself from being swept up by it all. ] It doesn't have to be magic. All it takes is the right thought, and with enough strength behind it, even we could likely affect the rules of this place.

[ but it's always easiest for the caster. after all, they've been brought into someone--or something?--else's dreamscape. only psychics are really taught to master manipulating a maze they've been forced into. none of them being that, their best bet is to use the skills they know they have, using the reality their minds know as well as their bodies to fight a fiction imposed on them. ]

[All at once, the eyes disappear. They don't flicker out or vanish, no. They leave, as if veering off course from where they are, suddenly. And the thing, the creature, whatever it is, is gone.

It's gone, at least, until there's a sound of roaring, ripping water, and a claw bursts through the water and into their tunnel behind them. It reaches, stretching, coming closer. It's big enough to blot out the sun. To engulf life itself. Their little boat is nothing.

Their little boat is a splinter.]

( great. this dream is taking a unique and terrible turn. and not one that makes much sense, none of this seems like an applicable vision from a well-meaning spirit. it just seems like... well, Beacon is fucking with them, basically. he's honestly a bit tired of it, or he would be, if he weren't at least a little worried about what it would mean if they died in their dream. )

We need to fall faster or start trying to go the other direction.

( he manages to keep panic from his tone, but the fact he's speaking at almost a normal human volume indicates he's rattled. it won't help them to panic, and Matt is determined not to... but he'd also not like to die, on the off chance it means something whenever they manage to wake up form all this. )

[Welp. Stone could fight that. Probably. If this being a dream means he has the strength, speed, and endurance he remembers, instead of the fragile near-death body he arrived with. Does he want to take the risk, with two groundlings right there likely to get tossed to splinters themselves if he tried?

Nope, not really. Stone is a dramatic old geezer, but he's got some streak of realism in him. So he yells at the two humans:]

Grab onto my legs and tail!

[And before they can (well, currently, he doesn't have a tail...), he disappears, into a cloud of dark mist. That cloud expands, reforms, and solidifies into... well, dragon is probably an apt enough word. Four limbs, wings covered in feather-like scales, a long spaded tail, and a mane of spines all down his head and back. The last is currently flared tall, like an cockateil, a shield of deadly sharp protection along his spine. Also, he's easily as tall as the Invincible standing on two legs, with something like a seventy-foot wingspan.

He lets out a shriek that sounds somewhere between an angry cat, a diving hawk, and a challenging elephant, then rears up off the boat to swat at the approaching claw, while his hind feet start cracking and tearing at the boat simply by being very big and very sharp-clawed.

Now's the time to grab on, boys. He's getting them some breathing room (hopefully), and then he's gonna dive.]

What th--

[ he doesn't really have time to say it this time. because that's the problem: time. he understands transformation, and even he's shapeshifted himself before, but holy shit.

eliot has to shake his head to break out of being caught off guard by the sudden immediate need to make a decision. he leaps, and as his luck tends to work, manages a good grasp onto one of the dragon's legs before looking to make sure the other man made it over too. (hopefully not on the tail? talk about whiplash waiting to happen.)

if this was already like a rollercoaster, this suddenly turned into a straight vertical drop. eliot has to gasp as gravity does its usual work and is almost grateful that the feeling of his stomach turning upside down keeps him from shrieking. ]

[Whatever they do, they better do it fast. When Stone transforms and Eliot leaps, the little ferry loses its balance and begins to tumble. It'll only be seconds before it veers off course and is lost in the depths of the lake. This impossible lake.]

( Matt is both lucky, and unlucky, to have his eyes closed at the moment. the transformation would be nearly as jarring for his mind to process as the freefall they're in, and he doesn't have time to worry about anything but getting out of the boat, especially as it tilts precariously with Eliot's jump.

it's good he has the excuse of seeing in the dream, otherwise explaining how he could get from where he is to the huge-dragon creature would be really hard to explain. as it is, he gets up, skitters along the rim of the boat, and does manage to snag a foot with a surprisingly graceful leap. actually, maybe how easily he does it is a little suspect...

the fact he does it with his eyes closed still certainly is, though who has time to notice that when they're falling towards potential doom? )

Let's go!

[Stone doesn't care how anyone gets to him, he just cares that they do. He launches off the boat, curling his hind claws around his little burdens as best as he can, and rather than flying up towards the advancing claws, he folds his wings and dives, spines flattening down against his neck and back again and tail whipping behind them.

He keeps ready to unfurl at a moment's notice, so they don't crash into anything, but right now the plan is "get someplace a giant predator isn't", and that place is unfortunately down, following the path of the water.]

[ eliot had been looking for matt after he'd leapt and so ends up noticing something isn't quite right there with leaping with his eyes closed. chances are it probably wasn't a lucky guess, but. well, at least he's on board now too.

he's still too much in shock to really be screaming, but they are now diving at a really fast speed, so he clutches on tighter to keep from slipping. dreams don't have to follow rules, and this tunnel could keep going forever if it wanted to. eliot really hopes it doesn't. he'd like to breath normally again. ]

[What happens next makes less sense than anything else. Stone dives, and the cold is oppressive. It sinks into their marrow as somewhere behind them in the deep dark their former ferry is crushed to splinters. Down they go...down, down...

Until down is up again, and they're swimming toward the sunshine that streams against the top of the water--and something else, a shadow, looming in their path like an underwater mountain. It isn't anything alive, that much they'll be able to tell if they can bear to keep their eyes open--it's a structure, and at its very top, which tapers just below the water's surface, it gleams. It's a shining metal hatch.]

What the hell?

( things must be going pretty bad if the good catholic boy is out here saying swears. then again he’s hanging off a dragon like creature, and was nearly eaten by Cthulhu’s eyesore of a first cousin. get it? eyesore? all the eyes?

Matt apparently is willing to look now that he’s made it to the relative safety of Stone’s foot. which is the only reason he can really make sense of what is happening, they’re moving too fast for him to sonar it. )

Is there any way to open that? ( Matt actually has to shout in the din of movement, it’s good to know his voice is capable of being that loud. )

[Stone can't talk in this form, but he does arrow up towards the object or whatever it is, using his wings now to propel him now. He clings to the object with one hind foot, the leading edge of one wing, and his tail, and reaches up to pry at the hatch with a couple claws. He's too close to really see where any latches or locks are, but his claws might catch on one. Either of the humans might have better luck, if they want to swim up, or climb up the offered free hand to investigate more closely.]

[ other side of the world? small world. eliot's more than grateful it's stopped though. seeing as this has fallen back into the realm of physical magic he can manage, he shouts: ] I've got it.

[ eliot takes a moment to find his balance and assess their surroundings before he casts, tutting with a single hand to try and unlock any mechanism holding the hatch in place. it follows with a flick of his wrist, kinetic magic to help with opening the hatch.

hopefully the fact that it's underwater isn't going to make it difficult to get in. or make them have to get wet. eliot knows a spell for that too though, at least. ]

[Fortunately, Eliot's spell works. The hatch's large handle turns with a great metallic yawning, and quickly they're swept toward the opening as water rushes inward. They'll have to close it again quickly if they don't want to flood the place.

And inside, it isn't dark. A light akin to its own sunshine bursts out from within.]

EVENT LOG: ENTER MR. SANDMAN (DREAMERS)

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

short but sweet sorry yall

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

just a comment to keep us moving, not really anything matt can do i don't think!

(no subject)

(no subject)

I'll continue to tag this until it's wrapped up, and aimed to have that done by the 7th!

(no subject)

(no subject)

sorry life's been a bit crazy

wrap up!