New Dream Adventures of Raven Knight

2017, 05-18

The Battle for Minas Tirith

I am in a place I don’t recognize, on a ridge overlooking a wide open valley on the other side of which is the city of Minas Tirith. The open valley is crammed full of enemy troops including orcs, evil humans, trolls, Uruk Hai, Worgs, and every other manner of evil thing you can imagine. Several Ring Wraiths are soaring over the armies on their demonic steeds. The enemy army looks like it’s thousands or even tens of thousands strong. I’m not alone on the ridge, however. I am standing among another formidable army. King Theoden is off to my left on a beautiful white horse, Snowmane, so that must mean I am with the riders of Rohan, and I see they are preparing to charge down into the fray. Horns are blowing to signal their arrival, and on Theoden’s signal everyone charges down to battle.

I am being passed by people on horses charging into battle so I form my right arm into an Alex Mercer blade and charge down into the battle as well. There are plenty of enemies out there, and I don’t hesitate to cut into some orcs and a big troll, jumping up on a Uruk Hai’s back to gain enough altitude to cut the troll’s throat. I continue fighting and I lose count of how many enemies I take down when I see a dark shadow over the area. I turn to look and I see Theoden’s horse rear up as one of the Nazgul swoops down on him. It’s the Wraith King! I see the thing push Theoden’s horse over on top of him and then perch on top of it. As it is about to finish off Theoden, another warrior comes in when most everyone else, allies and enemies alike, have been retreating away from the monster. The Wraith King taunts the warrior, saying no one should dare come between a Nazgul and his prey, and no living man can kill him. The warrior announces she is not a man, she is a woman and removes the head of the Wraith King’s hideous steed. The Wraith King is enraged and advances on Eowyn, for surely that is Eowyn. Then a small warrior, no doubt Merry, strikes the Wraith King in the leg which distracts him enough for Eowyn to bury her blade in his head.

The Wraith King falls, now just a pile of empty robes. I see Eowyn and Merry have also collapsed. I go over to Theoden and find he’s alive, Snowmane has rolled off of him. Snowmane is also alive, but barely… which is enough. I focus healing energy on Theoden and on Snowmane, and they are revived. Eomer has come over to see what has happened, he sees Eowyn on the ground. Once healed, Theoden wants to continue fighting. Healing the damage done by the Wraith King would take too long to do in battle, so some men carry Eowyn towards Minas Tirith. I point out Merry also needs help, and guard them as they are taken to the city. I barely get to the city and see them through the gates before everything fades and I wake up.

2017, 05-12

The Battle at Osgiliath

I am in what appears to be a meeting hall, I am near the back of the room. I look around and see it is filled with warriors that appear to be of high rank. I hear someone talking at the front of the room, he is talking about not giving up the outer defenses. I hear mention of the outpost at Osgiliath, and that more soldiers need to go there to defend. A man says they will not be able to hold it long even with reinforcements. I get a bit closer and I recognize one of the men speaking as Faramir, captain of Gondor. I assume that the man he is talking with must be the steward of the lane, Denethor, Faramir’s father. Denethor says Boromir can’t do everything, he is away on an urgent errand, but if any captain remains who will do his lord’s bidding… Faramir says he will go to Osgiliath if Denethor orders it, and Denethor immediately says he does order it.

Faramir leaves the hall and I follow him out, I don’t think Denethor even noticed me. Gandalf is out with Faramir now telling him not to throw his life away needlessly, he says Denethor loves Faramir and will remember that before the end. I go over to Faramir and ask if he could use a little extra help, I will offer my skills as a healer and a warrior. He seems hesitant, probably because I am a woman, but finally says he will take any who are willing to come, for they will need all the help they can get at Osgiliath. I follow Faramir out where he gets on a horse, and some other soldiers are also on horses. A Rapidash I recognize as my own Rapidash named Stardust trots over to me. The people around are staring in amazement at Stardust’s flaming mane and tail. I climb up on Stardust and we are ready to go. I tell Faramir that if I go ahead and use a healing spell on the attackers I am sure at least some will break off the attack. He asks if that’s why the company moving through Ithilien was so small, I say yes, many of them turned back. He says to go ahead, then. An enemy who turns away from the fight is worth two who have to be defeated in battle.

I ride with Faramir and the others for the trip to Osgiliath because the enemy still hasn’t shown themselves. The waiting when we get to Osgiliath is the hardest, and I am afraid I will wake up before the action even starts. Soon there are armies approaching from the other side of the Anduin River. That’s my signal so I ride right towards the middle of the group while focusing on the song Full Moonlight from the Devil Hunter Yohko soundtrack. The song plays, I am surrounded by light energy that spreads out over the area as I am spinning around, forming into an orb in the sky that looks like a moon shining bright. Light energy is spreading out from that orb, bathing all of the attacking forces in its light. Indeed, some of the enemies start turning back the way they came, but they don’t get far. The Nazgul are following up the attack and immediately strike down anyone who is trying to retreat. This really pisses me off because they are killing all of the enemies I have managed to heal. I focus a blast of light energy from my moon orb right at the Nazgul who are attacking, and it creates an opening for at least some of those who have changed their minds to escape.

There are still plenty of enemies attacking, however. And the Nazgul are attacking rather than following after the enemies who have decided to retreat. I leave the moon orb to cast light energy over the battle areas in hope that it might counter the fear effect of the Nazgul. I form my right arm into an Alex Mercer blade and start cutting up the enemies who I was not able to heal. The battle rages on for a while, I have killed many orcs and healed several injured soldiers of Gondor. But there are just so many enemies that before long they are slipping past and our group has to fall back towards Minas Tirith to keep from being surrounded. There are also more soldiers of Gondor injured than I can keep up with healing, so I break off and help escort some of the injured to a place sheltered by large rock formations where I can heal them without being attacked. I heal them but then I am feeling the dream slipping. Faramir has arrived with more injured men and I tell him I’m about to disappear, no time to explain, but I will come back as soon as I can. Everything around me fades to black and I wake up.

2017, 05-11

The White Rider

I am in a city that looks like it came straight out of a fantasy game. I look around and see a lot of people moving about, some of them stop to look at me as if they have never seen the like of me. I notice most of the people I am seeing are men that are decked out in armor as if ready for war. I’m not sure where I should be going, but I get the idea I should be going somewhere… I walk for a while and soon one of the men passing by asks what I am doing here. He says he doesn’t mean any offense, but he thought all of the women went to the shelter in the mountains. I’m not really sure what to tell him when I hear another voice call me by name, someone clearly recognizes me! I look and see Pippin from Lord of the Rings. Pippin says he was wondering when he would see me again. The man who questioned me says he thought all the women had left, Pippin says I’ve traveled with their company at times and I fight as well as a company of men. He says if I help protect Minas Tirith then the enemy will surely fail! I see Pippin is with another man, the first man continues on with his duties. Pippin introduces me to his friend who turns out to be Beregond, one of the soldiers of Minas Tirith. Pippin says they were just going up on the wall to see what they can see, maybe I should come. Beregond seems a little hesitant, but Pippin says he knows me well enough to vouch for me.

I follow Beregond and Pippin up some stairs and soon we are at the top of a wall overlooking the lands surrounding the city. I look out over the lands as Beregond and Pippin are talking about what is out there and what they know to be coming. I hear a faint noise out there that sounds demonic, and both Beregond and Pippin shiver as if a chill has run through them. Pippin looks over the wall and points to a place where three flying shapes can be seen swooping and turning in the sky. I look out and see it, too, and there are also shapes on the ground that appear to be people on horses. The flying shapes are firing blasts of dark energy at the people and horses, and I hear a horn blast from them. Beregond says that’s Faramir. Pippin is saying Faramir and his riders will never make it, won’t someone go help them? It looks like Beregond might be about to head out to help them but I have seen now why I am here. Much to Beregond’s amazement I jump right off of the wall to head out and help.

I see it is a lot farther than I had realized and I need a ride… I need a horse! As if called by my thoughts, I hear the sound of hooves behind me. I look back and I see a Rapidash quickly catching up with me. Rapidash slows down a bit beside me so I can jump onto her back and then she speeds towards the approaching riders as they are being bombed by the flying Nazgul yet again. Rapidash is fast, and in just an instant I am among them, using the song Battery by Metallica to call down bolts of white lightning on the attacking Nazgul. It doesn’t take much to make them back down, they immediately break off their attacks and soar back to the east, back to Mordor. I see flashes of white in the sky from off to the North, and two more Nazgul retreat from up there. Shortly after they retreat I see a white horse come into view with a white rider, Gandalf has come, but apparently the Nazgul had split up in order to keep him away from Faramir and the fleeing riders so they could not make it to Minas Tirith. Gandalf arrives and asks if everyone is ok, he says we need to get into Minas Tirith in case they return. All of the riders get their scared horses back under control and everyone rides for Minas Tirith. But I never get there because on the way I wake up.