New Dream Adventures of Raven Knight

2017, 05-18

Distracting the Eye of Sauron

I am in a place I don’t recognize, standing on the top of a hill with numerous warriors all decked out in battle armor with swords and spears ready for action. I look around and see a few familiar faces, I see Gandalf, Aragorn, and Boromir around me. Several people step forward and call out the Dark Lord for crimes against Gondor, I go with them. An ugly man comes out through the cracked gate on an even uglier horse. He calls himself the mouth of Sauron and basically starts talking shit about everyone there. I can’t help it… I say he sounds more like the ass of Sauron with all the shit he’s spewing. He looks at me but is silent for a bit as if not sure what to say. He then sees Gandalf and starts talking shit again, presenting Gandalf with Frodo’s gear taken when he was temporarily captured. Pippin jumps out and looks afraid, so I quickly whisper to him that no, the enemy doesn’t have Frodo or Sam, I can’t prove it now, but I know it to be true. He remains silent as Gandalf rejects some very unreasonable demands for the release of the alleged prisoner and takes Frodo’s things, supposedly to remember him by.

The ugly mouth / ass of Sauron turns and rides quickly back to the large black gates as they swing open wide, and hordes of enemies start flooding through the gate and from the surrounding mountains both from in front of and behind us. Our forces are completely surrounded. I quick tell Gandalf that I’m going to drop an Immortal Fire right in the middle of our warriors to force the enemies back, but our people needn’t worry, the fire won’t burn any but those with black hearts. I then make my way to the center of the group, figuring to give our people some breathing room. “And suddenly the unreal silence is broken by a lament... a lament coming up from the deepest, darkest abyss. And from the seven gates of the dark fortress the dead come back to life to face them! This is hell...” Light energy erupts all around me now, getting the attention of those nearest me. Aragorn is telling them my fire won’t burn them, only those with dark hearts. “Immortal fire now rise, light my heart, light my way through the darkness, a guardian of space and time!” The energy explodes out from my position, not touching any of the warriors of Gondor and Rohan, but blasting away at the enemies with the force of an atomic bomb. I put all the energy into it that I can, take out all the enemies I can and definitely attract the attention of the giant red eye of Sauron.

After the Immortal Fire finishes I see there are no longer any enemies very close to our people. There are still plenty of enemies out there, but at least for the moment they seem to be keeping their distance. I am wondering what may be next when I see large shapes flying in the sky, coming our way. Everyone seems to be a bit freaked out as they see there are three dragons heading our way. But our people have nothing to worry about, two of the dragons, a blue one and a red one, attack the enemy armies, and the third dragon, a Blue Eyes White Dragon, swoops down and plucks me up and pikas at me as he sets me on his back. I see the other dragons from up here, and I see one of them has a man on its back, that’s MoSh! I wonder how he came to be here. As if I’d asked the question aloud, Q speaks in my mind and says he went and brought MoSh back since I wasn’t lucid enough to pick him up on the way. By now the enemies are attacking again, and MoSh and I are diving in on dragons to attack them. Then I see the Nazgul on their winged monsters and engage one of them in a dogfight type maneuver in the sky, me on my Blue Eyes White Dragon against him on his ugly demon steed. We dodge past the dark energy attacks he uses and nail him with light energy lightning. I turn in time to see MoSh is facing off against two Nazgul, the dragon he is on blasts one of them to dust and the other dragon, who is riderless, blasts the other one. I am about to engage another Nazgul, but I don’t get a chance before I wake up.

2017, 05-12

Return to Minas Tirith

I am in a place I don’t recognize, I look around and see a man, is demanding to know who I am and how I got up here. He says only his personal guards and those he has admitted are permitted here. I wonder who he is, then I see another man there is Gandalf from Lord of the Rings. Gandalf says he knows me, I have traveled with their company at a couple different times. More important now is that Denethor get a rescue force together or Faramir and his men have no chance of reaching the city alive. I ask what has happened. Gandalf goes to the edge of the outcropping that overlooks Minas Tirith and the surrounding lands and he points out at a rock formation that is surrounded by many orcs. He says Faramir and his men have taken refuge there, but they can’t hold off the attacks forever, which is why Denethor needs to send out a rescue sortie. Denethor says there is no way a sortie would be successful, he would just be sending more men out to die. Gandalf is frustrated and says Denethor’s son is out there as if Denethor wasn’t already aware that Faramir was out there and cornered. Denethor says it is the hardest decisions that fall to him, but there is no hope for success. I tell him to just stay up here and watch if he thinks the situation is impossible.

Denethor is asking me what I think I can do about this but I ignore him and run right at the edge of the outcropping. I jump up and out into the open air much to both Denethor’s and Gandalf’s surprise. I fly out over the city and then out over the fields beyond. The enemies are filling the fields beyond, they are doing double takes at me flying but then they start firing arrows at me. I dodge them and dive down to a place among the enemies, about halfway between the rock formation and the gates of Minas Tirith. This is a good spot for Dark Power of Abyss by Rhapsody, it’s time to drop an Immortal Fire! “And suddenly the unreal silence is broken by a lament... a lament coming up from the deepest darkest abyss. And from the seven gates of the dark fortress, the dead come back to life to face them... this is hell!” As I do the next part a circle of light energy erupts around me. “Immortal fire, now rise, light my heart, light my way through the darkness, the guardian of space and time!” A circle of light energy explodes out from my position, blasting enemies out of the way all of the way from the rock formation where Faramir and his men are hiding to the gates of Minas Tirith.

In the aftermath of that massive blast the fields are left bare, enemies that were on the edge of the affected area are all fleeing in terror of a force they have never witnessed the like of. The way to the rock formation where Faramir and his men are is clear, I go over there to see if everyone is able to move towards Minas Tirith. I see Faramir come around the edge of the formation, with another familiar person right behind him. Altaïr is there with Faramir, his sword is drawn and covered in the blood of orcs. Altaïr says the enemies won’t stay afraid to approach for long, they’re too dumb to know their own peril. I ask if anyone needs healing before they can be moved to the city. There are a couple that are on the edge of death with serious wounds, so I quickly heal them and then we start heading for the gates of the city. Most of the enemies are keeping their distance, but not the Nazgul, five of them are swooping in towards us as we are making for the gates. From the gates of Minas Tirith now comes a man on a white horse, they are blazing with light energy. It’s Gandalf, the White Rider charging out to meet us, shining a bright ray of light energy at the approaching Nazgul. The wraiths veer aside and break off their attack, retreating into the night. We reach the gates and get inside, Gandalf following us in as the gates are swung closed with a heavy clang. The people in the city are all cheering us and the return of Faramir and his men, happy to see their safe return. I now have the time to heal the rest of the wounded, whether their wounds be small or great. Shortly after I finish healing the last wound everything around me fades to black and I wake.

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.

2017, 04-25

The Wise and the Lost

I am on what looks like a road from a fantasy game. The road leads across green fields and rolling hills. Not too far off I can see what looks like a wall around a city. I have the idea that is where I am going so I head in that direction. The road leads past a pillar with a white hand statue on it, the hand is pointing farther along the road and the fingernails are painted a red that looks like blood. I continue past that and soon come to a place that used to be blocked off by a heavy gate, but the gates have been literally torn to pieces and cast aside. I am about to go through the destroyed gate when I hear a couple different people calling out to me. One of the voices calls me by name, “Raven!” while the other voice demands to know who I am and what my business here is. The person addressing me by name is Legolas from the Lord of the Rings books, and the person who wants to know my business is a tree… or rather an Ent. The Ent seems to consider it good enough that Legolas knows me and he returns to his guard post near the destroyed gate where he becomes virtually invisible, which is why I hadn’t seen him on approach.

Legolas comes over with Merry, Pippin, Gimli, and Aragorn. I do a double take and before I even realize I’m going to speak I ask where Boromir has gone. Aragorn says not to worry, my healing work did its job well, but Boromir went directly on to Minas Tirith, as was his original intent. He says I will never believe who came back to them when they needed him most… Gandalf! Well there he is right now, with Treebeard and King Theoden and the others. He heads off in their direction and everyone follows him. We meet up not far from the tower of Orthanc, Gandalf doesn’t look surprised to see me. He motions to the tower of Orthanc and says he was just about to go have a word with Saruman. I say I think I may yet be able to heal Saruman’s heart from the darkness that has taken up residence there. Gandalf says he would not tell me to not try, but he has a feeling Saruman won’t be likely to listen to reason. I say he merely has to listen to my song.

When we get to the tower, Gandalf calls Saruman out. After a brief pause I see Saruman standing on a small balcony up above us, about a third of the way up the tower. Saruman leans out and surveys the people here, I quickly duck out of the way closer to the tower so he doesn’t see me. Saruman is now saying how he has little hope that Gandalf is here for his council, but King Theoden has been his friend for so long… he then sets off on trying to win King Theoden over with his charismatic voice. I look back and see that Theoden seems hesitant to give any answer to Saruman’s request that he come up and they talk together and make peace between Saruman and the people of Rohan. Saruman is acting like he is the one who has been wronged rather than King Theoden and the people of Rohan, even though it was Saruman who started the attacks, not the people of Rohan. I ignore what Saruman is continuing to say and I go to the door into Orthanc. It is, of course, locked. I use the Harry Potter spell Alohamora to unlock the door and it swings open silently and I enter, taking care to be completely silent.

The interior of the tower of Orthanc is dark at first, but my eyes quickly adjust. I find stairs that head upward. I wonder how many levels up Saruman is, it only looked like a few, which is less than I’d pictured it when reading the books. I climb up a few levels, following the sound of Saruman’s voice. Suddenly he sounds angry for a bit before going back to his soft and soothing voice. Someone down there is getting him annoyed. I get to the level where he is and quietly open the door. I see across the room to where the balcony connects to the room, Saruman is outside and completely unaware of me. Now Saruman is telling Gandalf to come up, let the two of them take council together and speak reasonably as only the wise can. There is a pause, then Saruman gets pissed again. He spits out a few curses that weren’t mentioned in the Lord of the Rings books and then turns away from the balcony and comes inside. He stops short when he sees me and asks who I am to barge into his tower unannounced and uninvited. I tell him I have only done what he bid, for someone to come up and be reasonable and hear his council. I figure he might be more agreeable if he thinks I’m on his side. He says he doesn’t have any interest in taking council with the likes of me. I feign disappointment and say then I will have to settle for giving my help to him even if it is unasked for.

He starts to say there is nothing I could possibly have to say that would interest Saruman the Wise, but I ignore him and begin the song Liberate by Disturbed. Saruman needs to have his mind set free from Sauron the Dark Lord, who controls him through the Palantir. “Bold motherfucker won’t you liberate your mind?” Saruman does a double take at the music that starts playing, the sound of Disturbed… “Bold motherfucker, won’t you liberate your mind? Can't you see that the messages have fallen behind? All the hate in your heart will be leaving you blind, so bold motherfucker won’t you liberate your mind this time!” The room fills with a golden energy that flows around and through Saruman. When the song is done he looks disoriented, confused. He asks what has happened, what has he done? I say he has done only what his puppet master has commanded him to do, but now the strings have been broken and he is free to act on his own again. I look around the room and I see the source of his problems, there is the palantir sitting on a pedestal in the middle of the room. I go over to it and carefully pick it up without looking into it. I say to Saruman that the palantir is what the enemy has been using to control him, but no more will he be shown those twisted and backwards versions of what is happening in the world. Now he will make his own mind instead.

Saruman looks confused still as I walk from the room. I go down the stairs and past a confused looking Wormtongue, who does nothing to get in my way. I figure he can stay loyal to Saruman, because now that will not put him on the side of evil. I have a feeling Saruman is going to be very angry at the Dark Lord for being used as a pawn. I notice that he looks rather sickly, but I figure Saruman can help him if he is ill. I exit the tower of Orthanc and find Gandalf and the others still there. Gandalf asks what happened in there, he said he heard what sounded like music from another world (I get the idea he didn’t particularly like it) and then nothing. I carefully hand Gandalf the palantir and say the enemy has controlled Sauron using that, but now the strings are broken and Saruman is a puppet no more. Gandalf takes the palantir, also making sure not to look into it, and wraps it in a cloth he pulls from inside his robes. Aragorn asks what about Wormtongue. I say he’s been doing evil under Saruman’s orders, so now if he continues following Saruman, he won’t be doing evil. I say if Wormtongue needs more healing of heart, I will return, but now I can’t stay. Everything is fading even as I say that, and then I wake up.

2017, 04-06

Escape From Moria

I am in a dark place. A very dark place. It is so dark that I literally can’t see my hand in front of my face. The night vision feature of my Penticon computer chip implant activates and now I can see around me, though everything has a strange greenish tint from the night vision. I am in a long underground passage that looks like it was built rather than a natural cave. It looks like a mine shaft. I follow it for a while and soon find it opens into a huge hall that is supported by many huge pillars. I am able to see the main hall with my night vision, but I see there is a dim light coming through a passage off to my left. I head down that passage to see if I can find out where I am and why I’m there. The source of the light is from a door on the right.

I go through the door and stop short when I see an elf pointing an arrow at me. It’s Legolas, and he lowers his bow when he sees me. He says I have a bad habit of sneaking up on people. I tell him I wasn’t trying to sneak. Boromir looks puzzled and says he thought I got trapped outside Moria after the lake monster destroyed the doors. Sam looks upset and says he thought I was going to see Bill safely to Rivendell. Gandalf has been focusing his attention on an old book, but he looks up and sees me. He is standing beside a large slab of stone that looks like it might be a tomb, the book is lying open. He closes up the book and gives it to a dwarf, Gimli. He also wants to know how I got past the destroyed western gate. He then says I can tell them later, for now he has a feeling we had better all get moving out of there. He says to go back to the main hall and then exit through the eastern passage.

But before anyone can move towards the western exit there is the sound of drums from all around. Legolas, who has gone back to watching the passage, calls to the others that they are coming. I reflexively ask who. Gimili says we cannot get out. Aragorn says to close and bar both doors. Boromir is beside the western door and he says it’s no good, the door is broken and wouldn’t budge if we had our own troll to push. Gandalf fires an energy blast down the hall outside and illuminates many orcs in the light as the orc in front gets a hole blasted through it. Gandalf tells everyone to run through the other door, there’s too many to fight. I don’t figure I have to listen to Gandalf, so I go out into the halls to stall the orcs and give the fellowship a better chance to get away. I form my right arm into an Alex Mercer blade, charged with light energy so it is giving off a light that I can see the enemies by. The orcs fire arrows at me, but I knock them aside with my Alex Mercer blade. That doesn’t deter them, however, they are advancing down the hallway. The group of orcs parts and makes way for a troll coming through their ranks. The troll is practically filling up the entire passageway all by itself. I’m not sure how easy it will be to take on a troll in such a closed area, but remember talking to MoSh about the Ranma ½ anime series. I think of a technique used by Ryoga Hibiki called Bakusai Tenketsu, which shatters inanimate objects such as stones… so I use it on the supports of the passage to each side, causing the aging structure to collapse around and on top of the orcs and troll.

I go back through the door into the room with the tomb and I see no one is left there. The far door has also collapsed even though I didn’t do my Bakusai Tenketsu anywhere near it. I assume I must have accidently caused the collapse, however. There were apparently some orcs on the near side of the collapse in the outer passage because now they come into the room and attack me without seeming to realize there is nowhere to go in here. I use my Alex Mercer blade arm to fight back. Only a few orcs got through so it doesn’t take long to cut them down. My next thought is that I have no idea how I’m supposed to get myself out of here with the outside passage blocked and the other door also blocked. Maybe I could find a way through the collapse? I start looking around the collapsed door to see if I can find a way. There aren’t any openings large enough for anything bigger than an ant to go through. As I pointlessly try to fit into a small opening, however, I find I am getting smaller and smaller… until I fit through! I hurry along the dark passage and stairs beyond by using night vision once again, and I seem to be my normal size again. Somehow I seem to have changed size without being consciously aware of how I did it. I wonder if I will be able to do it again if I choose to…

I finally enter a huge hall at the end of a passage. The hall is lit by a red light coming from a giant crack halfway through the room. Fire is coming from that crack. In the other direction I see a long and narrow bridge. On top of the bridge I see something ugly like a demon of some kind and Gandalf. I can hear Gandalf speaking loud and clear, "I am a servant of the Secret Fire, wielder of the flame of Anor. You cannot pass. The dark fire will not avail you, flame of Udûn. Go back to the Shadow! You cannot pass." I see Aragorn and Boromir coming up behind Gandalf as he strikes the bridge, causing a wall of white flame to erupt and the bridge to break under the demon’s feet. I know what is about to happen and I take off at a sprint to reach the bridge in time. The bridge collapses underneath the demon, and it plunges into the depths. I am reaching the edge of the bridge as the demon sends its whip up to snare Gandalf, he is hanging on the edge as I jump the gap and dive to grab his arm… I barely get hold of his hand. He gives me a strangely calm look and says to me to just let go, this is not the end. I can’t hold on with only having his hand and the weight of the demon pulling down, and he slips away, yelling louder to everyone to, “Fly, you fools!”

I’m about to jump right off the bridge and go after Gandalf and the demon, but the next thing I know strong arms are pulling me away from the edge, a man says not to be foolish, Gandalf is beyond our aid now. I look and Aragorn is pulling me away from the edge. The bridge is crumbling, if I hold Aragorn up he might fall, too… not acceptable. So I follow him the rest of the way over the bridge and we get off just in time. Aragorn calls to the others that he will lead them now, and we must start by following Gandalf’s final command, we must get out of here! So there really isn’t any option now but to follow the others down a passage and then into the final chamber. I see the door to the outside on the far side of the room, the light shining brightly through. There are more orcs barring our way to get there. Aragorn and Boromir charge right in and kill several orcs, Legolas hits a few more with well aimed arrows. I reform my Alex Mercer blade (it had changed back to a normal arm) and use it to cut down a couple more orcs. The rest run away in fear. We all pass through the door and onto a rocky landscape under the bright sun.

We move quickly away from the entrance, making sure to get beyond the range of bows and arrows before taking a pause. I look around, everyone is sad, some are openly crying. I just kept thinking I should have saved Gandalf, I should have saved him. Apparently I said that aloud, because Aragorn says I did everything I could, we all did. He said this was what he feared from the start, alas but he spoke true. Gimili blames one of the mountains, shaking his fist at it, saying only if Caradhras had been less cruel. I look around again and I see Sam has a cut on his head. I don’t know where he got that, but I can heal it… I go over to Sam and focus healing energy on the injury and it closes up quickly. I’m not sure if he even notices, he is currently lost in his grief. I look around, but no one else looks injured. Aragorn says if I’m willing to stay around, they could use the extra help now. I tell him I can’t stay constantly, but I’ll be back if I’m needed. Everything around me fades to black and I wake up.