Author Topic: Dawson - Vision Quest  (Read 7879 times)

GM Craig

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Dawson - Vision Quest
« on: May 13, 2014, 12:46:01 PM »
Days have turned into weeks and weeks have blended together. The ceaseless howling of the wind during the day robs you of sleep, and the walking at night is filled with waking dreams and hallucinations.

In your lucid moments, you have noticed a pattern. The dreams while you not-sleep during the day are often of the old man in the Bladesea, or Jon and a happy life together, with encouragement and support, often asking searching questions you do not want to answer. Night time, the visions are of death, blood and horror, filled with accusations. Things you could have done differently.

Somewhere, you lost your datapad and your pack. You don't know how it happened, you just looked down in the middle of the night and your hand was empty. At the time, you though Jon had taken it to tease you. A day later, it didn't matter anymore. You just kept on walking.

As Khaliss suggested, you have occasionally found supplies on your road - dried meat, sturdy vegetables. Even once, about half a litre of water. You drank that immediately, as if you were dehydrated. Something told you you needed to do that, though you cannot remember. Those supplies ran out a week ago, and every day there is less and less water in the catch pockets of the suit.

The days and nights start to flow together, so that only the type of visions and hallucinations you are having at the moment give you a sense of night or day. Still, you get up with the dawn and keep walking, though you don't even know where you are going anymore. You no longer remember why you are out here walking. The whole world is a sea of rocks and dunes, and your sole purpose is to walk them.

Then, one night you hear a voice. This one seems different, but you are so tired you ignore it. No visions today. Just rest.

But the voice is insistent. "Wake up! You must wake up!"

Dawson

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Re: Dawson - Vision Quest
« Reply #1 on: May 13, 2014, 03:26:07 PM »
I groan softly, and use a tiny bit of the energy that I can muster to weakly slap in the direction the voice is coming from.  The black space had almost begun to encompass me.. and the voice pushes it back and lets in the light. 
Insistent .. almost gnat like.. buzzing.. bothering.. irritating ...
"Go... "  my throat is so dry the word escapes like grit on glass.

GM Craig

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Re: Dawson - Vision Quest
« Reply #2 on: May 13, 2014, 03:31:44 PM »
"You must listen to me! You are heading into danger! Turn back now before it is too late!"

That word twigs something. Danger.

Dawson

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Re: Dawson - Vision Quest
« Reply #3 on: May 13, 2014, 03:33:22 PM »
A tiny spark ignites in the haze..
Danger..
No danger in sand, in rock, in heat.
I shake my head, the movement almost too minute to see.
"Go... way" 

GM Craig

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Re: Dawson - Vision Quest
« Reply #4 on: May 13, 2014, 03:36:30 PM »
"The path you are treading leads only to death. Turn back now."

The insistence props an eye open. A vision stands before you, but this one is different. Translucent, and glowing blue. A young face you do not recognize. Not someone from yuor past, but someone new, and ghostly, not real.

Dawson

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Re: Dawson - Vision Quest
« Reply #5 on: May 13, 2014, 03:43:00 PM »
The tiniest sip of water from the catch pocket does little to moisten my throat, or my burnt, split lips.
Hallucinations are not new. But i didn't think I had the energy to muster a yet unseen, unknown person.
'No.. must.. finish... "
my eye slips closed
"Ari.. "

GM Craig

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Re: Dawson - Vision Quest
« Reply #6 on: May 13, 2014, 03:44:42 PM »
The figure shakes his ghostly head. "Only death lies this way. Turn back now." Then the figure slowly vanishes.

Dawson

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Re: Dawson - Vision Quest
« Reply #7 on: May 14, 2014, 08:38:25 AM »
I stare blankly at the space where the.. figure.. was. 
My consciousness surfaces briefly to consider what I saw.
Hallucinations of glowy blue people?   Too much new information to process.

Turn back.
I wonder what it means.. turn back. 
And go where, exactly. 
Sand before me. Sand behind me. Rocks.. sand.. more sand..

I rock myself up to my hands and knees, my body protesting with every shift.. there is no sun.. it is not the dawn.. now we rest..
It feels like minutes pass as i rock slowly back and forth on my hands and knees. Or hours?  I have not had awareness of the passing of time for so long, I could not even guess.
Slowly, achingly, I pull myself up to a kneeling position, and forcing my self to focus, take notice of my surroundings.  My eyes burn, so dry... even blinking feels like i am pulling sandpaper across them. 

GM Craig

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Re: Dawson - Vision Quest
« Reply #8 on: May 16, 2014, 01:20:36 PM »
It is still night, but under the moonlight, you see a structure far off in the distance. It is probably a day or more away, but it is hard to judge distance in the desert.

You guess that it is still several hours to dawn. The moaning of the wind on the rocks and sand continues to shatter your concentration.

Then, you realize that when the blue figure was speaking, the sound of the wind had faded, for the first time in many weeks. You hadn't realized what an effect it had been having on you, but now that the blue man is gone, the moaning of the wind makes your brain vibrate with annoyance.

Dawson

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Re: Dawson - Vision Quest
« Reply #9 on: May 27, 2014, 03:22:27 PM »
As I try to prune the wandering branches of my thoughts, I find the damn wind to be making it extremely difficult.  My thoughts seem to be running away on tangents of their very own, and I can barely keep a singular thought path in mind.  I try to focus on something.. anything, but I keep going back to the echo of the words of the ghostly blue man.

I look once more towards the building, and wonder, if that is the direction that the blue man says holds death.. or is it turning back where the end lies?? Or was he being more metaphoric?  My mind stumbles along in an endless loop, and before too long, I find my feet moving, stumbling,  almost of their own volition, towards the building in the distance.

GM Craig

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Re: Dawson - Vision Quest
« Reply #10 on: June 09, 2014, 12:03:13 PM »
You come back to your senses sometime in the early evening.  The buildings are much closer now. - you covered some good ground last night, and somehow still managed to find decent shelter without being consciously aware of it. Visions kept you company, the usual kind of poisoned memories involving people telling you how worthless you are, and recounting all the bad things you've ever done. At least you had some peace, as there is a chunk of time you do not remember, which is a relief in a way. The howling of the daytime wind seems to have abated somewhat.

You groan to your feet, and when you stand, the blue glowy man is there.

"Please, go no further. Only death awaits you there. Please! Turn around and go back. Do not throw your life away!" He seems legitimately concerned for you. And unlike the other visions, you do not recognize him at all. You've never seen him before - you are certain of that - yet he seems somehow familiar.

Dawson

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Re: Dawson - Vision Quest
« Reply #11 on: June 12, 2014, 08:55:12 AM »
I blink several times, to clear my eyes of the film that blurs my vision.
My voice rasps, and is so foreign even to my own ear....
"Who...............   are............. you.....why............do you...... follow me... "
I reach out a hand as if to touch him, some how to assure my self that he is really there.. or that he is not - and simply another delusion of my fragmented mind.

GM Craig

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Re: Dawson - Vision Quest
« Reply #12 on: June 13, 2014, 11:59:01 AM »
He looks at your grasping hand, then looks back to you. "You delirious, and dehydrated. Come with me, I will show you to some water." The voice is kind, and his forceful tone has softened.

"I am called Jinn-Tu. Jinn-Tu Klakk."

Dawson

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Re: Dawson - Vision Quest
« Reply #13 on: June 13, 2014, 01:43:40 PM »
The name means nothing to me... at least in my present state of mind.  I eye him suspiciously.
"Why... " I swallow dryly, my mouth puckering at the thought of water.
"Why.. would you.. help... me"  the 'me' trails off in a rasp. 
My mind is screaming at me to just follow him.

GM Craig

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Re: Dawson - Vision Quest
« Reply #14 on: June 13, 2014, 02:11:44 PM »
"I do not want you to die. Please, come with me. I can show you to water. But I cannot stay long - coming to you like this weakens me."