New Dream Adventures of Raven Knight

2017, 10-25

Back to School Daze

I am at Pima Community College heading to my class. It is a computer animation class. There are a lot of people standing around outside right now. And there is a serious weed problem. I’m not talking about the drug. I’m talking about plants. A strange plant has been growing out of control. It is a plant that looks kind of like human hair. It is blocking the pathways in some places. People who want to get by have to grab large chunks of it and throw it out into the desert. It isn’t hard to pull up, and I am actually thinking that this part of the plant is already dead. It looks like serious fire hazard. I am thinking we should try to do something about it, but right now my class is going to start. So I find the correct classroom and go in.

I sit down at a computer that has some 3-D animation software running on it. There are some premade models already in the scene. It actually already looks pretty cool. I see a planet, moon, lots of stars, and a person. A character model looks like Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad from Assassin’s Creed. I am just messing around before class, and I stand Altaïr on the moon. The model of Altaïr is much too large compared to the moon. When I pull him too close to the moon, he automatically bends his legs. I am thinking that my work isn’t very good, because I see someone else working on their project and they have some weird space entity that is eating up all of the other objects. But they don’t seem pleased with it, so I guess that’s not what they wanted to do. My computer does strange things. More models appear. There are now two characters and three moons. The new character looks like Desmond from the Assassin’s Creed series. He is trying to balance on the smallest moon. He fails to do so, and falls right out of the monitor into the room with us. I am sitting there looking at him, he is on the floor next to my seat. All I can think to say is, Desmond! You’re real!

I wake up in bed and get up. I am thinking that I have to go to school. I go out into the other room where my mother is watching television. It looks like she is watching an old episode of MacGyver. I start telling her about my dream. She doesn’t seem very interested, but pays a little bit of attention. I am telling her about the features on the 3-D software, and saying I wish the real ones did that. I have just gotten to the point where Desmond falls out of the computer. My mom stops and looks at me, and asks if he’s cute? She says I should marry him. I tell her he was only a dream. I can’t marry a dream. My mother doesn’t pay any attention to the dream part, and says I should marry Altaïr. I am considering that maybe I am still dreaming, but I wake up before I can do anything about it.

01/17/14

I am in a strange place that somehow looks familiar and foreign to me at the same time. I am walking down a street in a town that looks like something out of one of my video games. Specifically out of Assassin's Creed I. Maybe Jerusalem. There are people walking on the streets and chatting casually though they all seem a bit uneasy. Like they're expecting something to happen at any moment. I notice there seem to be an awful lot of guards wandering the street as well. Many more than would seem justified in a peaceful city street. The guards also seem a little on edge. I see a commotion from off to my right and I head in that direction. There are a lot of people gathered around one spot, all talking animatedly. Some people are talking about dark magic and demons. I wonder what is going on. I push my way through the crowd to get a look at what they're talking about. People are calling the guards, apparently worried about something. Someone tells an approaching guard to use caution, this creatures has black magic and isn't afraid to use it! I head in the direction they are indicating. I am thinking this black magic user might be why I'm here.

I get to the place they have indicated before the guards close in and block it off. I find that the guards do have someone cornered, and it is definitely someone who doesn't belong here. Ratchet and Clank are here at the end of a dead end alley. The alley is blocked off by guards and Ratchet has one of his guns out and is pointing it at the guards. Clank is telling him he doesn't know if they're really enemies or if they're just confused, which must be why Ratchet isn't firing at the guards. The guards are wielding their swords at Ratchet but don't seem to dare approach, most likely due to the scorch mark on the ground... it seems Ratchet fired a warning shot and that is the "black magic" they're referring to. The talk of demons comes from the fact they've never seen anything even close to a lombax or a robot before, especially not one that appears to throw fireballs... A guard finally decided to use a ranged weapon... and he fires an arrow at Clank. The arrow hits Clank and bounces off with a *clank* noise but doesn't harm him. I get closer to them and throw a smoke bomb into the middle of the scene. I use my eagle vision to locate Ratchet and Clank and get them off of the street into a small concealed garden area that would no doubt make a very good hiding spot for an Assassin. I hear the guards behind me yelling and searching, giving orders to find them immediately. I wonder if they have a better plan on what to do if they do find them… get shot with more fireballs?

Ratchet and Clank seem quite confused as to what is going on. I tell him someone is screwing with space-time and I think I know who... and that someone is gonna be feeling my hidden blade really soon. Clank says they had just been heading to town to get a replacement part for Ratchet's space ship when a strange gateway had opened and pulled them here. Ratchet seems annoyed at being called a demon. I am thinking I need to open a portal to get them home. Before I have a chance to I spot that we aren't alone in the garden. I had originally thought it looked like a good hiding spot for an Assassin and I'm not the only one to have thought that. Altaïr is here. He is right behind Ratchet. Wait... does he also think Ratchet is some kind of demon or monster? I think he does... because he has his hidden blade out. Before he can stab Ratchet I push Ratchet out of the way and tell him to stop it. Altaïr stabs me. Of course in the dream state I am now a virus like Alex Mercer... so that does nothing except create a small injury that instantly heals. I ask Altaïr what he's doing that for. He hesitates when he sees me heal and says I must be another of the demons. He says he has heard that the Templars have enlisted demons to aid them. I say yes, they have, but neither Ratchet nor I are demons. The demon is no doubt the one who pointed Ratchet out to him. I am an Assassin from another dimension. Ratchet is also from another dimension, also not a Templar. Altaïr seems unsure of who to believe now. He says he's seen Ratchet use black magic on some guards... No. Not black magic. Just a more advanced weapon. One that doesn't really belong here, so he'll be taking it home with him.

So I need to send Ratchet and Clank home. I start focusing on opening the portal but it seems to be giving me trouble. Altaïr seems unsure of who to believe. I get the idea he is leaning towards believing me. He eyes me for a moment and then says he does believe me, that other person hadn't stayed around long enough for him to verify who's side he was on... but he can see I am an Assassin. He stares at Ratchet for a long while and that seems to annoy Ratchet a bit, who switches his tail around... which draws Altaïr's attention to it and he stares even more. Ratchet finally asks Altaïr if he's never seen a lombax before. "A what?" is Altaïr's response. I comment no, no one here has ever seen a lombax. Wrong time. Wrong planet. Wrong galaxy. Wrong fucking dimension. Robert de fucking Sable. I really want to find Robert and then rip off his favorite body part and shove it up his ass… Ratchet is asking who Robert de Sable is, but Altaïr knows exactly who I am talking about. He says Robert de Sable and his Templars will stop at nothing to get what they want, but this… a lumbet from a different planet? A different dimension? Yeah… but a lombax, not a lumbet… whatever those might be… I gotta send him home. I focus on opening a portal to send Ratchet and Clank back home.

I am focusing on the portal when Altaïr distracts me. He says Robert de Sable's name. I turn and see Robert de Sable standing at the entrance to the garden. He is laughing. Altaïr says he doesn't know what scheme the Templars are up to this time but it will fail. As long as there are Assassins around the Templars will always fail. Robert seems to be ignoring Altaïr right now. He asks me if I'm not going to send my two friends home. I hesitate in opening my portal… he seems to like the idea of me sending them home a bit too much, like maybe the Templars have fucked up my portals somehow. Like maybe if I send them "home" I'll actually be doing something to make things much worse. Robert laughs when I hesitate. Of course maybe he is just messing with me, too. And I can't keep Ratchet and Clank here… I really want to kick Robert's ass. Ratchet asks who this guy is, referring to Robert. He is the cause of a hundred paradoxes that Assassins keep having to fix… and this is just another fail. Because that's what he does. He fails. Has always failed. Will always fail. In the history books next to the name Robert de Sable they will write, "The Ultimate Infinite Failure" as the definition. Robert says he will show me a failure and throws a dark energy fireball at Altaïr. I pull the energy ball over to me and absorb it. I tell him to stop passing out dark energy. Well he has done it for the last time, anyway. I use an Alex Mercer move and drive spikes into the ground. They erupt right under Robert… right as he disappears in a blast of smoke. Shit! The chicken-wuss disappeared again! "Come back and FIGHT ME, you FLAKY JERK!"

The spikes and the commotion have apparently gotten some attention. Guards are entering the garden through the narrow entrance. They have their swords out and are attacking on sight, apparently not concerned with the idea there might be some innocent people here, too. One of them gets himself stabbed by Altair's hidden blade. A second gets shot with Ratchet's blaster, a third gets electrocuted when he tries to grab Clank. My Alex Mercer claws take out a fourth. The others aren't as quick to push through the opening. Altaïr says he knows a way out. He jumps up a wall and grabs a ledge, climbing as if he is assuming everyone else can obviously follow him. Clank jumps onto Ratchet's back and uses a jet booster to get Ratchet all the way up to the ledge Altaïr grabbed. I easily follow them as well. I guess Altaïr wasn't mistaken when he assumed everyone could follow him. Except the guards, that is. They don't seem to be able to reach the ledge. Close, but not quite. Altaïr throws a knife and takes out an archer aiming at us. A shot from Ratchet's blaster takes out that archer's partner. We get to a place that is hidden from the guards. I hear them out there still looking, but they aren't having any luck.

I go back to focusing on opening a portal to get Ratchet and Clank home. A portal opens. I look through the portal and see a place that definitely looks consistent with a Ratchet and Clank world. Robert is still in my mind laughing, still making me question whether this portal is good or not. I go through it, indicating Ratchet and Clank should follow. If it's the wrong place I can set it right once we get there. On the other side of the portal I look around and see the setting is consistent with a Ratchet and Clank world, but the inhabitants are not. The inhabitants are all reptilian creatures with big green eyes and a lot of teeth. They see us enter from a portal. Some of them just look confused, others look like something else… One of them is looking at Ratchet in a way that makes me think he wants there to be fresh lombax on the menu for tonight. I think Ratchet has the same idea, he gets a bit closer to me and says this is definitely not his home world. I tell him I know, this is another trick of Robert's. Time to get out of here. I open another portal, focusing even stronger on getting to Ratchet and Clank's home world. The portal opens and we go through it before anyone in the previous place decides to make a move. Now this world looks right. One of the people there even seems to recognize Ratchet and Clank. I think for a bit and remember his name… Big Al! So I think they're in the right place now. Which is good since here is where I wake up.

05/26/13

The Haunting of Ezio Auditore
I am lying on my back in a green field of grass. I am looking up at a clear blue sky. I have entered this dream already lucid by way of a hypnosis program. I hear the music of Metallica playing in the distance, I fell asleep listening to Metallica. I get up and look around. I am alone in the field. I remember that the first goal was to do the usual healing. So I focus on opening a portal to the healing glen on the moon. A portal opens and I go through. On the other side I am near the healing springs. Nomad is already there, and Winter is floating in the water. I go over near Winter and focus on the song Voices to heal her. Healing energy flows through Winter, and through everyone at the healing springs. When we are finished with the healing I tell Nomad that we have to find Ezio. I remember a previous dream that indicated shadow Templars would be going after Ezio. I focus on opening a portal to find the instance of Ezio that needs help. I focus for a bit and finally a portal opens. Nomad immediately disappears through the portal, I follow after him. On the other side we are inside a building, it is night time. My first thought is that we are in one of the Assassin Dens or Assassin Towers off of Assassin's Creed Brotherhood or Revelations. I look around the room and I see there is someone in bed sleeping. It is too dark to see who it is. But there are strange figures standing over the bed. Five of them, two on each side of the bed and one at the foot of the bed. One of the figures near the sleeper's head takes out a glowing dagger and prepares to stab the sleeper. I yell at the figure to stop and jump over the sleeper to tackle the figure before it can stab the sleeper. I pass right through the figure and crash face-first into the floor. I look back at the figure. While I didn't succeed in tackling the figure, I did succeed in distracting it from the sleeper. I think I surprised the figure simply by being able to see it. Nomad tells me they are on the astral plane, I need to also be on the astral plane to fight them. As if to prove the point he transforms to be part panther and shreds one of the figures with massive claws.

The other figures turn from the sleeper towards Nomad. I have to be on the astral plane? I am unsure of how to switch planes like that… Nomad is fighting the figures. They are attacking him with strangely glowing weapons, astral weapons. I wonder how I can help if I can't shift planes. I form Witchblade into a sword, but it passes right through the figures without effect. Nomad has now torn another of the figures apart. I see the sleeper shift restlessly as if having a bad dream. I am getting frustrated at being ineffective. I attack a dark figure, this time charging my Witchblade sword with energy. That seems to have done the trick, and I slice one of them in half as Nomad shreds a fourth. The last one is coming at me and I am able to cut it down before it reaches me. I go over to the sleeper, who still looks uneasy in his sleep. I look closer at the sleeping man… I recognize him. Ezio Auditore from Assassin's Creed. I wonder how he could not have woken up during the time Nomad and I were fighting the intruders. I look closer and see Ezio is in an uneasy sleep. I hesitate, then I carefully try to wake him up. No response. I try a little harder. No response. Nomad says he thinks Ezio is being kept in a dream state by a dream demon. We need to go into his dream to allow him to wake up. That sounds a lot easier than trying to shift to the astral plane. I find a dream crystal in my pocket and I give one to Nomad. The gems activate and we are both beamed into Ezio's dream. Once we're in the dream I see Ezio's nightmare. There is a platform with some people tied to stakes, surrounded by kindling. A man up there is laughing and about to set the kindling ablaze, burning those people alive. Ezio is trying to get to them, fighting his way through a hoard of Templars but not making any progress.

It is clear he is desperate to reach those people before it's too late. I look around to see where the actual dream demon might be. I don't see any one enemy that stands out. Nomad says there are so many dream demons. I look around again, there must be the main dream demon somewhere. I finally spot that the man on the platform about to light the fire is the main dream demon. Nomad has charged into the group of Templars and is scattering them, throwing them through portals that form in the sky. I head straight for the man with the torch. When I get close enough I use the song Dream Warriors. The dream demon gets pissed off and transforms into a giant wraith. I look and see that Nomad has gotten rid of enough Templars that Ezio has reached the platform, though now he is staring at the wraith. I use another song, Enter Sandman by Metallica to create a cyclone of energy around the wraith. There is a large explosion as light and dark energies mix like matter and antimatter. As the wraith explodes there is a blinding flash of light and then the dream suddenly ends. I wake up in bed.

05/16/13

Escape From Jerusalem
I am lying on a blanket in the middle of a green field. I look up at the clouds passing through the blue sky, I see that one of them looks like a cat. I sit up and look around. I am by myself. I remember my dream plans. Healing. I have been making it a habit to do some healing on Nomad's girlfriend Winter to try to get her fibromyalgia under control. Unfortunately it doesn't seem to be helping. But I guess I'm not ready to give up trying. So I open a portal to the healing springs on the moon. Nomad and Winter are already there, so I go through the usual process of healing with the song Voices. It makes me want to fall asleep in the dream, but I remember that there is another plan. To share an Assassin's Creed dream with SJ. As if he already knew what I wanted to do, Q appears and says he will send me to the proper instance of Jerusalem. He snaps his fingers and the scene around me changes. I am now standing in a back road of a city that looks like Jerusalem from Assassin's Creed. I am just missing SJ. I use the song Dream On by Aerosmith to initiate a shared dream. I focus on SJ, and after a bit a woman appears. She is dressed in dark Assassin robes and is looking around at the city but doesn't seem to notice me. I ask if she is SJ, she says yes. Now to find Altaïr. Of course that could be difficult in a place the size of Jerusalem, especially if he doesn't want to be found. I figure Q probably sent me to a place fairly close to Altaïr. SJ and I walk out into what looks like a busy market place.

There are vendors all around selling their wares, people buying, it is very crowded. I see what appears to be the main gate out of the city not far away. There are Templars blocking the way, which is getting quite a few people more than a little pissed off. I look around the area and I spot one of the game hiding places. Five robed scholars approaching the gate. But the middle one isn't quite right. The differences aren't nearly as visible as in the game, his weapons are mostly concealed beneath his robes. I can see the tip of the sword hanging down below the robes, but that is it. If I didn't know what I was looking for… The group of scholars approaches the gate and tries to pass through but the Templars block the way. After briefly arguing about it and then getting threatened with execution the group turns back into the market place. I see a bench nearby, so SJ sits on one end and I sit on the other. As I expected, Altaïr sits right between us and looks over at the gate, watching the Templars closely.

SJ is staring at Altaïr. Maybe he sees her from the corner of his eye or maybe he just senses her watching him, but Altaïr turns and looks at SJ. SJ hesitates briefly, then holds up her left hand with the ring finger bent over to indicate she is an Assassin. I can't see his face, and it is too loud to hear if he is speaking, so I don't know how he responds. But after a short time he turns and looks over at me. I copy SJ's hand gesture to indicate I am also an Assassin. He looks at me closely for a bit, perhaps checking my identity with his eagle vision. He seems satisfied that SJ and I are both Assassins. He says it is important that he get out of Jerusalem as quickly as possible before Robert de Sable meets with Richard. SJ indicates the gate. He asks if we know how many Templars are out there. I say it's not enough. Altaïr says he'd been hoping to avoid a direct confrontation with the Templars but there is no more time to wait. So all three of us go over to the gate. Templars get in the way and say no one enters or leaves. The Templar who spoke eyes us suspiciously. Two more Templars join him when we seem unwilling to leave. There are three of them, three of us… three stabs with three hidden blades, three dead Templars. The others don't seem to immediately realize what has just happened. We are halfway through the gate before some Templar sounds the alarm, pointing at us and yelling that the Assassins are here, don't let them through. So now a fight begins. I look over at SJ and see she has produced a sword from somewhere and knows how to use it. She kills a Templar as I watch. The next thing I know Altaïr yells to look out. I turn just in time to see Altaïr's throwing knife embedded in the neck of a Templar who had been coming at me. I need to pay less attention to SJ and more attention to the Templars! I dodge an incoming attack from a Templar and counter strike with my Witchblade sword, taking out another Templar. We are fighting our way towards the stables. Altaïr is after a horse. So we fight our way to the stables, leaving a trail of dead Templars in our wake. Then Altaïr is on a horse, tearing out of the stable at full speed and running down a couple Templars who had been blocking the gate. SJ and I kill some Templars trying to get to the horses to give chase. I see Altaïr disappear into the distance. There's no way they'll catch him now. I have just killed another Templar when I wake.

01/30/13

Secret Rescue
I am flying over the Nile, phasing into a dream. I land on a beach and wait for the dream to stabilize. I realize I am not alone. There are numerous people all over the place. They are all attacking me. I am surrounded by and being attacked by Templars. I focus on opening a portal to a Dark Tower dream. A portal opens, I go through it and close it immediately behind me to block them from following. On the other side I am walking the street of a city I don't recognize. It looks like a city out of Assassin's Creed: Revelations.

I wonder how I ended up here when I was aiming for a Dark Tower dream. I walk down the street when I see someone hidden behind a merchant booth signaling to me. I go over to the woman behind the booth, and she indicates she wants to get farther away from the main thoroughfare. She seems really worried or scared about something. I quickly look around, wondering if she has something to do with the people that attacked me on the banks of the Nile. We appear to be alone. She says she has something to tell me, but I have to promise to hear her out before doing anything. I agree to that. She says she knows I have been looking for the person in the market district that has been reporting Assassin activities to the Templars… she pauses, then says she is that person. She backs away from me and quickly adds that she doesn't want to, but they have her daughter and will kill the girl if she doesn't cooperate. She looks around nervously, she also seems unsure about me. She says she just wants her daughter back safely. I ask if she knows where the girl is being held, she says in the large house at the end of the street… yes, the one surrounded by Templars. She asks if I will get her daughter back. I tell her that's the plan. She says she has to disappear, if a Templar sees she is talking to an Assassin they will surely kill her daughter. She heads the other way quickly and disappears around a corner. I go back to the street and look to the end where there is a home that looks much larger than the other buildings, almost like a small palace. There are Templars guarding it.

I wonder where in there the girl might be. I don't want to be seen until she is safe or they might realize what is going on and either move or kill her. I go down the street but I turn off before getting in direct sight of the Templars. I look along the side of the building, looking for a way in. About halfway up there is an open window. I shoot a tendril of Witchblade out like a grappling hook and use it to climb up the side of the building to the window. I find myself in a bedroom that is currently unoccupied. I wonder where I should start looking for the girl. I peek out into the hall. I see the girl isn't content to wait to be rescued, she is creeping down the hallway. I see the resemblance between her and her mother, she looks like she is about 10 years old. She sneaks by the door I am peeking out of. As she passes the next door, however, it opens. A Templar guard steps out and grabs her from behind. He says he should cut her open right now. She bites his hand to try to make him let go. He gets mad and says no one said the kid couldn't be injured. He has a dagger out now. To get his attention off of her I tell her she shouldn't bite that thing… it's probably diseased. She says he is a disease and stomps on his foot. He shoves the girl down and attacks me with his dagger. He practically impales himself on my hidden blade… I tell the girl I'm there to get her out, her mother sent me. She comes with me back the way I came from, and I use Witchblade to lower us back out the window. We disappear into the city before any other Templars are aware she is gone. I go back to the place where I met with the woman, and she is clearly relieved to see her daughter safe. She says she can tell me a lot about what the Templars have been doing… but I am about to wake up, so I tell her to tell one of the others if she wants, I am unable to stay. I wake.

01/25/13

Note: I have shifted my nighttime hypnosis program from one to help with my depression to one that is supposed to develop ESP abilities in the hope that it will allow for some passive defense against constant psychic / astral attacks I have been getting lately. This has a different opening image, but it should still lead to easy WILD's as I fall asleep.

Suicide by Gunslinger
I am in the sky and flying over the Nile River. I look around to see the area, the area right around the river is lush and green, though the area a bit farther away is desert. This isn't where I want to be, I know I want to have a Dark Tower dream. So I open a portal and fly right through it into a different forest… where I promptly crash into a tree. Ow… I now find I am up a tree that is standing over a clearing. Down below I can see some small robotic machines wandering aimlessly around. I remember that scene from the Dark Tower books. I know Eddie is about to show up and start shooting them. An arrow flies by my left ear. Someone is shooting at me! I wonder what that could be, and I turn around to see a couple of Templar archers on the ground taking aim at me with more arrows. I see Eddie emerge from the bushes down below and take aim at the first of the machines. The Templars apparently see him as well, one of them aims at Eddie. I don't want to let them interfere with the Dark Tower progression, so I form Witchblade into a hidden blade on each arm and do an air double assassinate before they can shoot at Eddie. As I land on the pair of Templars I hear Eddie's gun roaring as he shoots the radar dishes off of each of the robots. I see movement in the trees as I am crouched over two dead Templars. Is there more chance of Eddie being attacked? I wonder why Templars would want to attack Eddie. There is a pause, then there is another explosive gunshot. Now I hear Eddie yelling at Roland, telling him he would shoot him if he had one more shot left in the gun. This is followed by Roland yelling for Eddie to get down, and another gunshot. Then there is silence. I see there has been more movement in the trees. I am surrounded by Templars. I tell them to butt out of my Dark Tower dream. One of them asks if I really think they would mind turning this place into one big paradox. Three archers are aiming arrows at Roland. That was a mistake. It seems some light has reflected off of their arrows, or maybe it was just Roland's keen instinct… but in a blur Roland has his gun out and shoots all three of them right out of the trees. I tell them that committing suicide by gunslinger won't create any paradoxes. Someone else is trying to shoot Roland in the back. I manage to jump on top of that Templar, hidden blade first, just in time to cause his arrow to go wild. And now Roland is under cover, as are Eddie and Susanna. Four more archers have arrows pointed at me now. But now they have Roland, Eddie, and Susanna hunting them. The four of them are taken out in several quick shots. One of the last Templars standing says they will have their treasure back, and there's nothing I can do to stop them. The last two disappear. Roland emerges into the area, holstering his gun. He asks who my friends were. I say they weren't friends… they were Templars… and then I wake up.

New Confidence
I wake up in bed. The first thing I notice is that I am not wearing my dream mask… which triggers me to do a reality check. Before I can do the reality check, however, I see something standing over me. Two somethings, actually. One on each side of my bed. Both of them are cloaked figures, so I can't see any details of them. One of them is draining positive energy out, the other is putting negative energy in. I can feel the energy drain as they are doing it, my mind being filled with negative thoughts. I also have the clear thought that if I return the treasure I stole from the Templars that they will leave me alone. I don't believe that one. The thought adjusts itself to if I return the treasure and stop interfering with their business then they will leave me alone. I try to get myself out of bed, but I can't find the strength to move much. Then a big black cat enters the room. A black cat the size of a panther. The cat pounces on one of the two creatures. It is Shadow! She pounces on the one draining my positive energy and tears into it with teeth and claws. With one of them off of me I am able to form Witchblade into a hidden blade and drive it into the face of the remaining figure. The thing lets out a scream of rage and then both of them have disappeared. I feel a bit drained, but ok. I know I need to do something to create protection around here. I lie down in bed to rest for a bit. Shadow has transformed back to a kitty cat, and she is now curled up beside me. I don't feel like sleeping, though I have completely forgotten the idea I might be dreaming. I get out of bed and load up my computer. I feel particularly motivated to work on making a game right now. I think I will make a game from scratch instead of using an existing engine. I feel amazingly confidence regarding making the game, and I can't wait to get started. When I wake up I still have this feeling lingering.

01/21/13

The Three Guardians
I am in my Fire Valkyrie heading for the moon. I land and get out, looking around to see if there's anything unusual going on. I see nothing out of the ordinary. I open a portal with the intent to have a Dark Tower dream. I go through the portal. I see movement as I go through it, but the portal closes before I get to see what the movement was. On the other side I am in a forest clearing. I look around and see Eddie not too far off. He is carving at a piece of wood. When he sees me he puts the carving behind his back. I ask what he was doing, he says just carving something… then adds that he's not very good. I comment that carving stuff sounds cool, and with practice I'm sure he'll get better. I want to get MoSh in on the dream. I open a portal with the goal of finding MoSh. A portal opens and I see MoSh in a house on the other side. It looks like he is playing video games. I tell him he is dreaming and come on for a Dark Tower dream. MoSh comes through. Eddie has gone back to carving, apparently deciding he doesn't care if I see him. I hear something approaching. Something big. I hear a tree fall not far off. I realize where in the Dark Tower series we are. The guardian is on its way! I am about to try to warn MoSh and Eddie when the thing enters the clearing, a bear that looks like it is about 50 feet tall, a bear that looks insane and pissed.

Eddie scrambles up a tree, which seems like a good plan. The bear goes after Eddie, who is the one who moved quickest. It doesn't seem to have noticed MoSh and me. As the bear is trying to shake Eddie out of the tree I see Roland appear with Susanna on his shoulders. I hear her saying Roland should take the shot… she'll miss… but she finally takes the shot. Her shot takes out a radar dish that was sticking out of the bear's head. I see movement in the trees, but no one shows themselves. I wonder if whoever it is might be scared of the bear. I see weird parasites oozing out of the bear's mouth. I think it is over, but something else is coming. So now MoSh and I head up a tree, and Eddie, who had started climbing down, returns to the top of his tree. I see trees falling down in an approaching line. I see there are two locations where this is happening. Two more of the things are coming! They both enter the clearing at the same time, I see Roland and Susanna take cover behind a fallen tree. Not a very safe place, but all they had time to get to. I can clearly see the radar dishes on the heads of the second and third bears. One of them is heading straight for Roland and Susanna. I don't know where MoSh gets the gun, but he suddenly has a gun in his hand. At first his hand seems to be shaking and the first shot goes wild, I have no clue where it went. But then he seems to calm down and takes careful aim, blasting the dish right off of the top of the bear's head. The other one is heading for the tree MoSh and I are in. I wonder if we are high enough to be out of reach. I decide it is now or never, so I form Witchblade into a sword and jump out of the tree right onto the bear's head, slicing the radar dish off as I land.

As the bear is going insane I jump off of it and land hard on the ground, rolling to absorb most of the impact so I am unharmed. I take cover behind the same tree Roland and Susanna are behind. Now the guardian bears are going mad. They are all spitting parasites and they are attacking each other, tearing each other apart. The violent engagement doesn't last very long before all three of them collapse and appear to be dead. Eddie is a bit slower to get out of the tree this time. I see he is covered with bear snot and dead parasites… yuck. Susanna comments that MoSh and I sure seem to know the right time to show up. I tell her I show up when I am needed. We go over to take a closer look at the dead bears, which Roland calls guardians. They smell awful. They smell like they have been dead much longer than they actually have been. They smell like sickness. It looks like Roland has a headache. I ask if he is ok, he says something about a boy that never existed. I remember that there is a paradox that will have to be worked through before he'll really be ok. He says he doesn't know which one is true. I say the first thing that comes to mind… nothing is true. Roland looks at me strangely. He says neither is true and yet both are true at the same time. Everything is permitted. I didn't mean to say that out loud… but apparently I did because Roland says in the search for the tower everything is permitted... even… but then he trails off and is silent for a bit. He then repeats the two lines as if considering them, I do notice his headache seems to have passed for now at least. Eddie is looking at one of the bears and says it's a robot. But they are bleeding where they have injured each other, bleeding blood infested with parasites. It looks like they're part robotic and part biological. Cyborgs? I look at one of them closer and see a silver tag inside one of the ears that reads something to do with positronics. I have no idea what it means. I look closer to try to read it but I wake before I get a closer look.

Another Dreamer?
I am in my own room, I look around to see where Midna is lying. I am not lucid. I don't see the cat so I get up and leave the room. In the living room I have an art area set up, I have been painting a seascape, though not a very good one. I wish I could learn to paint better. As if I made the wish aloud Q appears and answers.

Q says I have played Assassin's Creed II and Brotherhood… so I know exactly where to find a version of Leonardo Da Vince… so why don't I… I interrupt and tell him I am not going to waste the time of someone like Leonardo Da Vinci considering I have absolutely no talent. Q pulls a Leroy Jethro Gibbs on me, he smacks me lightly on the back of the head. I tell him not to do that. He says to stop being dense. I tell him I have to get to class. For some reason seeing Q has not triggered a reality check. He says I am dreaming. But I am not listening to him any more since he has been talking about Leonardo Da Vinci. I look at my painting and think if there is any way I can salvage it. I am thinking no, but maybe… I go to get paint out. Q gets in my way and tells me if I won't listen, then how about this? He snaps his fingers and the scene around me changes. I am in a bedroom that is foreign to me. There is a woman huddled in the corner in a fetal position with several men standing over her and yelling things at her. They are telling her she is useless and will never amount to anything, that she has no value, no talent, if she killed herself no one would even notice let alone care. I notice they are also producing a field of negative energy around her. I ask them what the fuck they are doing. I tell them to quit that. One of them looks over at me. I realize they are Templars. I wonder why they are psychologically attacking this woman. The Templar that looked at me tells me this is none of my concern, I should just leave. I say I'll leave after they do. Quit attacking that woman. The Templar says I don't even know her… just go. I say I don't care if I know her, I want them to quit it. The others have continued their attacking. I decide they have done enough. I focus on a healing song, Touch My Heart, to surround the woman with positive energy. The positive energy forces the Templars back, and now they are all glaring at me. I tell them they have until the count of 5 if they all want to leave in one piece. I count by seconds… 1… 2… 3… 4… one of them says I can't hurt them and I know it. I say I can still make things pretty nasty… 5. I form Witchblade into a sword and run one Templar through, the others apparently decide here isn't where they want to be. One Templar dies, the others all disappear. I go over to the woman and ask if she is ok. She says it doesn't matter. I tell her this is a dream, as I am getting the feeling she is a dreamer. She says it's a nightmare… just like her life. And those people will be back soon enough… so I have not done her any good. I ask if she is a dreamer, and tell her if she is to join up with DV or MM and post dreams so I can find her in waking life. She scoffs at that and crawls into bed, ignoring me now. I am wondering what to do. I can't think of anything to help. Q appears. He says I didn't go where he had intended, but maybe I was needed here. I tell him I don't know how to help the woman, she seems to be depressed and the Templars are making it worse. He says first I need to help myself. He snaps his fingers and the scene changes again. I am now standing right in front of Leonardo Da Vinci as he appeared in Assassin's Creed II. He looks at me strangely, I mutter that Q is in big trouble for this as I focus to wake myself up.

01/10/13

The Tower and the Templars
I am in my Fire Valkyrie heading for the moon. I land on the moon and spend some time looking around before I remember plans to meet up with MoSh in a Dark Tower dream. I decide to find a Dark Tower dream and then try to pull MoSh into it. I open a portal while focused on my intent. I go through the portal and find I have ended up in the right place. There is a field of red roses surrounding a tall tower.

Though it has been a long while since I have read the Dark Tower series I know I have ended up in the right place. Now to get MoSh here. I am about to focus on a portal to find MoSh when I realize I am not alone there. I see there is a group of people there with me, quite a few men are standing around wearing the symbol of the Templars from Assassin's Creed. Wtf? I ask one that looks like he's in charge what they are doing there. He says they have had enough of my interference and I am to stop interfering in their affairs immediately. I point at the tower and ask what the fuck he thinks that is. I tell him he is in the wrong dream, this is a Dark Tower dream, not an Assassin's Creed dream, so go away. He says they're going to make sure I don't interfere with them any more. I point at the tower again. Dark Tower dream. You know the poem, Child Roland to the Dark Tower Came? The Stephen King Dark Tower series? So unless the Crimson King is really a fucking Templar they need to just go away. I turn away from the Templars to focus on the Dark Tower dream I want to have. I need to summon MoSh. The Templars are making themselves really hard to ignore. One of them is right next to me talking in my ear practically. He is making threats, saying nothing good can come of interfering with them. I finally said ok, if they are so determined to have my attention… I open a portal and I see Roland of Gilead shooting bad guys with his two big revolvers.

I pull a surprised Roland through the portal, and it closes behind him. He stares at me, I just tell him I can help him, I just need his help first. I point at the Templars and says they are trying to keep him from the Tower. In case he didn't believe me, one of the Templars shoots at Roland with a wimpy gun. I summon up a revolver that is size appropriate to me, Roland and I start taking out Templars. Roland's guns sound like cannons. And it seems he can't miss the target. Templars fall one by one, I even manage to hit a few of them. Finally the Templars are gone. Roland looks like he is about to say something when he sees the tower and he is struck silent. I tell him I know what has been missing when he reaches the tower. I remember to summon MoSh. I open a portal with the intent to find MoSh. A portal opens and I see MoSh wandering around on the other side. I pull him through and point at the dark tower. Roland wants to know who I am and who MoSh is. I summon up a Horn of Eld.

I tell Roland to blow the horn when he gets to the top of the tower. He says there's still the Crimson King. Well then we'd best get moving. So MoSh, Roland, and I start heading for the Dark Tower. There are more Templars in the way. I tell them Stephen King did not write Templars into the Dark Tower series, so GET LOST! Roland doesn't bother with talking… he starts shooting. I toss MoSh a gun and tell him to shoot a Templar. I don't think he is lucid. I shoot a Templar, then he starts shooting Templars. Roland is by far the best shot of the three of us. Roland and MoSh are ready to continue to the tower, but I wake up.

Let It Snow
I am in my best friend's house. I have just spent the night and I am waking up in the morning on my air mattress. Alicia is over by the window and when she sees I am awake she gets my attention immediately. She says it snowed last night. I get out of bed and look out the window. Sure enough the entire neighborhood is blanketed in white. I get dressed quickly and then Alicia and I go outside to check it out. I am surprised at how much snow there is. I decide I need to take some photos of this, after all it isn't that often that Tucson, Arizona gets a significant amount of snow. Alicia wants to make a snowman. I look around at the snow covered trees. The snow has melted some and then frozen again, creating glistening icicles hanging from all the branches. The sun is reflecting off of the icicles creating prism rainbows. It is really very beautiful. I tell Alicia I'm going to take some photos. I head down the road, using my digital camera to take some still shots. I then take some short video clips so I can see the light reflecting off of the icicles. I am with Alicia when we go to a spot underneath an overpass. I am not sure why we are there but I see there is a small pond of water gathered there that has frozen over. Alicia starts ice skating on the pond. I look around the edge of the pond until I find a small trickle of flowing water. There is a fish. There isn't enough water for the fish to survive. It is flopping around a lot. I want to save the fish. I see the water is flowing down a storm drain where there is a considerable flow of water, so I pick up the fish gently and put it down the storm drain into the water. Alicia is still ice skating so I decide to go take some more photos and videos. I keep doing that until I wake up.

01/06/13

Where's Nomad?
I am flying in my Fire Valkyrie to the moon. I land on the moon and get out to take a look around. My current goal is to find Nomad because I haven't heard from him for a while. What seems like a long while. I have become convinced that the Templars have something to do with this, and I intend to investigate and see if I can find him. I focus on opening a portal. I want to find out what happened to Nomad. A portal opens and I go through it. On the other side I find I am in a place I don't recognize. It is very green and very beautiful, but I don't see any sign of Nomad.

I wonder why I have been brought here. I am still feeling convinced that the Templars did something to him, and thus I figure they probably somehow interfered with my portal to find him. I'll just have to find out directly from them. I open another portal and go through it. I am in another place I don't recognize. But this time I am not alone there. And as soon as I arrive there are alarms going off, people running around… I wonder where I have ended up. I am in the hallway of some kind of underground facility. Some kind of attack hits me, and it is draining my energy. I look around some more and I realize the people around me are Templars, and they don't look very happy to see me there. I grab a guy as he goes past me and tell him I just want to ask someone a question, nothing more. He looks rather doubtful about that, he doesn't seem to believe me. I tell him I want to know what's happened to Nomad. He chuckles slightly and asks if the nomad has wandered off… that is what nomads do after all. I tell him I want to know what he and his people have done to Nomad. He just looks at me with a blank look on his face. He clearly doesn't know anything. I tell him I want to talk to someone who does know something. A man comes down the hall, he says that would be him. He says he hears I have been harassing his people to find out where Nomad has gone… well, he'll put that question to rest right now. He says neither he nor any of his people have anything to do with my inability to get in touch with my friend Nomad. I don't believe him. I tell him he is lying. He asks if I ever considered that Nomad simply doesn't want to talk to me. I tell him he's wrong about that, and I know he did something. He says no, neither he nor any of his people did anything. Accept that and be gone. And keep them out of my dreams… or they might have to really do something. He is pissing me off. I tell him to stop lying. He says to be gone while I still have the energy to do so. The attack I have been getting hit by has continued draining energy. I tell him I'll show him how much energy I have left… I tell him this is for whatever they have done to Nomad, and I drop an immortal fire right there, the white fire incinerates everything in the area. I am now standing in a ruined underground facility. The attack on me has stopped. I realize part of the reason I am so pissed off is that I don't really have a clue what has happened to Nomad… I wonder how I will ever find out and I wake.

B and E Without The B
I am in the yard of a house that is for sale. My mother is there with me, she says she thinks this could be the house we are looking for. She says we should go inside and look around. I ask if we should really be doing that. She says as long as the door is unlocked we can go in and look around. She goes over and tries the front door, and it opens. I follow her inside and we look around in the house. It is a large and very nice home. I am thinking there is no way we could afford to buy that home anyway. I am about to say something when I spot a cat in the corner of the room. I am officially distracted and I go after the kitty. The cat doesn't run away so I go right over to the kitty and start petting. It is a cute little tabby cat with the softest silkiest fur I have ever felt. The cat begins to purr softly. My mom has left the room to look around some more, and apparently she startled up another cat. A cute little tortie comes into the room.

I approach the second cat and start to pet. The first cat follows me, one cat for each hand. I pet both cats at the same time and hear purrs in stereo. My mom returns to the room and sees me with the cats. She said she doesn't think the cats come with the house. I comment that they had better not be abandoned kitties. A woman I don't know enters the room. It turns out she is one of the home owners. She asks what we are doing in there. I tell her I am loving on her kitties… they are sooooo cute! I scoop the purring tortie into my arms and continue petting. The woman says we weren't invited in here and should leave. My mom says she is definitely interested in buying the place. The woman seems to slightly change her attitude. She is still annoyed at us for being there but is now trying to hide it, she is clearly hoping to convince us to buy the house. My mother and her start talking about money as I continue to love on the two kitties. A third cat enters the room, I put down the tortie to pet the new cat. The new cat is a solid white cat. So many cute kitties! I am in kitty cat heaven! I am loving on the cats when I wake up next to my own pretty kitty.

Ambush!
I am playing a virtual reality version of Assassin's Creed II, but I am playing as a female Assassin. I am walking through one of the cities looking for anything interesting. I think there are still some glyphs I need to find before continuing the missions. So I look at a map contained in my iPad which is effectively disguised as a book. I locate a building that has a glyph that I have not yet decoded and head for it. There are buildings in the way. I am about to start climbing one when someone yells out. It is a guard. I think better of climbing the building as I don't really want to get in a fight right now. But in spite of the fact I don't do anything out of the ordinary the guards seem to identify me as someone they don't like and they come towards me. When they get closer one of them calls me an 'Assassino' and they all attack me. I pull my sword out to defend myself, wondering what the hell they decided to attack me for when I hadn't been doing anything.

I hadn't even been looking for a fight. So I am in a fight now and there are five enemies. I'm used to the fighting system of the virtual reality version so I take them out quickly. Now for that glyph. I head towards the building while staying on the ground so I don't trigger another attack. Well that is what I am hoping… but it doesn't work. I step around a corner and a group of guards immediately attacks me on sight. I wonder why they are doing that. I know for a fact I am not notorious right now… well there is a tiny bit of notoriety due to the previous fight… but not enough to trigger an instant attack. So I defend myself again. By the time I finish with the four that attacked more of them have joined in, and there are a couple of brutes involved so my counter attacks aren't always working. I ask a guard what they attacked me for and he just tells me to give up and die. So I keep fighting until I finally get rid of this wave of attackers. I look around and see everyone is watching me. A couple of civilians run away screaming while one cowers against a building and begs for his life. I put my sword away and tear down a couple posters with my face on them to get rid of my notoriety. I am clear now. But that hasn't helped me in the past. I am almost to the building. I approach the building with the glyph and I find I am under attack yet again. I think maybe this time I'll avoid the attack and just run away. So I do, and they chase after me yelling that I'll never escape. I am about to jump into a hiding spot but then more guards come after me. And more… and more… it seems they never stop coming. I realize I am going to have to fight after all, and now there are way too many of them. I wonder if I'll be able to handle all of them. I check my supply of medicines and find I have a full bag. So I turn and fight them. The ones susceptible to counter attack aren't a problem, though the brutes are a bit of an issue. I get hit quite a few times by them and I have to use a couple of my medicines. I finally win the battle, which I think was against… I'm not sure how many guards. But it seems to go on forever. I wonder if there is any point in trying to get to the glyph I've been after. Is there any chance to get to it before being attacked? I am trying to determine the best course of action when I wake up.

12/28/12

False Messages
I am in my Fire Valkyrie heading for the moon, I hear the affirmations of my hypnotic program over the sound system of the Fire Valkyrie. It is telling me to take deep breaths and relax as I approach the moon and land. I ignore the part about having a space suit on and I just get out of the ship. I know it is a dream, so I don't need any such things as space suits. I walk around on the moon for a bit, I can still hear the affirmations in my head. That's when I notice something wrong with them. The affirmations are telling me I am worthless and that I might as well just stay in bed all day, it's not worth getting up. Those aren't antidepressant affirmations, they are clearly meant to make depression worse. I wonder if I have been totally ripped off when I bought the program. Well it was only $1, so I can't feel too ripped off… but I don't want to be using such trash. So I think maybe I can wake myself up by going to my own room and waking my sleeping body up. I open a portal and go into my room where I see myself sleeping. My earphones are in place, but there are two men, one on either side of my bed, whispering the negative affirmations. It's not my hypnosis program that was giving me negative affirmations… it's those stupid assholes. I ask them what they think they're doing, and they seem surprised to see me. One of them says I'm not supposed to know how to astral travel, I tell him it works fine in a lucid dream state… now they have ten seconds to leave my sight before this particular dream turns into a nightmare for them. They transform into Templar guards from the game Assassin's Creed II, the brute type which I have the most trouble with.

I comment that apparently they have chosen for this to become a nightmare. I form my Witchblade armor and sword just as they attack me. The armor is able to block their attacks, though it still knocks me down. One of them says it is might nightmare and pulls out something hair and throws it to me. It is my cat, Midna… and they have killed her! She is all bloody and mangled! That does it. Before they even know what happened I have cut both of them down. Apparently they didn't realize how pissed off I would be when I saw my cat. After the shock of it wears off I remember that it is just a dream and that is not really Midna. There are two dead Templars on the floor in my room… but one of them is still wiggling a bit. I really don't care. I telekinetically throw them both through my window which has turned into a portal that leads… well I don't know where it leads… but again I don't care. I look at my dead cat and think after pulling a stunt like that the portal can lead to the Dark Realm for all I care. I see my real cat lying beside me on my bed. She is looking at me. I reach to pet her but I find I can't actually touch her. Then I wake up next to her and start petting her.

With a Betrayer
I am in a small apartment with my former boyfriend James, but in the dream it seems we never broke up and are now living together. We are both in the bedroom talking about playing Assassin's Creed, it seems James thinks it is a stupid game. I tell him he doesn't have to play it. When he says he doesn't want me playing it I get annoyed and I tell him I'll play whatever games I like, he can play whatever games he likes. He asks if there isn't something else I'd rather play like Oblivion or Skyrim. I tell him I'll play those in good time, but right now I'm playing Assassin's Creed… and why should he have a problem with that? He says it is a stupid game. I blurt out that he is being stupid. And I'm not going to change what games I play according to what he wants. He says then stop dreaming about Templars. I tell him I'll dream about whatever I want to as well. And if that's to dream about Assassin's Creed then that's what I'll dream about. I ask what's gotten into him, thinking he is acting really strange. I change the subject and say we should get pizza for dinner. He says we should skip dinner and go straight for dessert. I say if it's chocolate cake he has a deal. He announces that he is horny and wants to fuck. I tell him he has gotten me out of the mood… he's going to have to get me back in the mood. He says I'm not worth that much trouble. I tell him then he can fuck himself. He says he thought he could get one final fuck before I was taken away. Taken away by who? He opens the door of the apartment and I see three men standing there, and my first thought is that they are real world Templars. James says he's sorry, he had no choice, confirming he has betrayed me. So I knee him in the balls really hard and tell him he may never fuck again. James doubles over in pain, the three guys come in and grab me. I find out I can fight with the skill of Ziva David off of NCIS which clearly takes the Templars by surprise even as I surprise myself.

So I proceed to kick all three of their asses, kicking a gun out of one of their hands when he tries to draw the weapon on me. I leave the apartment through the back entrance where I spot another couple Templars guarding the rear. Apparently they really don't want me to leave. There's just the two of them, so I take them by surprise and kick their asses in Ziva David style. A third one off to the side says he could just put a bullet in my head. I tell him to go ahead and do that… If I'm not tethered to a body I'll be in the dream state permanently and I'll be their worst nightmare. He does not shoot, but he looks frustrated. I tell him I knew he wasn't quite that stupid. I leave the place, not sure where to go now since I don't want to go back to my mom's place followed by a bunch of Templars. I am deciding where to go when I wake up.

Driving Me Crazy
I am in a car dealership looking for a new car. There are sales people all around me trying to sell me a car. I wonder why I am even looking for a new car since I have a perfectly good car already, and it's even paid for. People around me are arguing that I need fuel efficiency… no, I need safety… no, I need something economical. People are telling me to buy a hybrid… no buy an SUV… no buy an electric car… buy this… buy that… I am thinking that I am unemployed, there's no way I would qualify to buy a vehicle of any kind, certainly not a new one. My mom is there with me telling me I need to choose something low price since I have no job. I tell her I don't really want a new car. I'm fine with the one I have. She doesn't seem to believe me and brings over a salesman who is talking about buying a Fiat.

It is a tiny little car that probably gets great mileage but it has only two seats. My mom says it's not like I have a lot of friends anyway. I tell her again that I don't want a new car. She says of course I do and then starts trying to sell me the car as much as any of the salespeople. I remind her that I can't afford a car. She doesn't seem to know what to say. I tell the salesman I am unemployed, and he responds by walking away to a more promising customer. I think this is all really strange so I finally think to do a reality check. I am dreaming. Why am I dreaming about people trying to sell me a car? Are they beaming commercials into people's dreams now? I take to flying, commenting to a nearby pushy salesman that I don't need a car… I'll just fly where I need to go. My mom tells me to come back down right now, but I ignore her and fly up over Tucson. I think I'd like to go visit my friend Alicia, but I'm not sure if she's home or at work right now… I figure I'll check at her home and then at work. I fly in the direction I think Alicia's house is in, hoping I won't miss it since I'm not used to seeing it from the sky. I am getting quite exhilarated from flying but that wakes me up.

12/27/12

Hidden Poison
I am in my Fire Valkyrie on my way to the moon. I realize many of my dreams will be starting like this since I am trying a different hypnosis program when I fall asleep which ironically enough involves a trip to the moon during the process of relaxation. So I am able to start this dream off lucid. I land on the moon and explore the craters briefly before deciding to open a portal to somewhere I might be needed. I trace out a circle in front of me which becomes a portal and I go through it. I enter into a garden of some kind which looks like the numerous small garden enclosures in Florence in Assassin's Creed II.

It is night time and I am not sure why I have come here. I am looking at the garden when someone runs in looking quite frantic. He grabs me by my robes and says I have to save him, the person after him is going to kill him. The guy looks like he is about to piss his pants… smells like he already has. I ask who is trying to kill him, he says it is an Assassin. What is he, a Templar? He says he has no idea what a Templar is. He looks like he is lying. A man enters the garden and stops, looking at me strangely. He is dressed like an Assassin. The man who was running hides behind me, looking quite pathetic. The Assassin mocks him for hiding behind a girl. He then looks at my robes and says the man chose the wrong woman to try to hide behind. He says the coward behind me was trying to poison the city's water supply. The coward says the Assassin is lying. The Assassin says the poison is in a vial in the man's pouch. The man refuses to show me what is in his pouch. More people have arrived in the garden. A bunch of guards. The coward hiding behind me laughs and tells the guards to kill both the Assassin and me, since apparently we are working together. So a fight breaks out. I use my Witchblade sword, which seems to surprise everyone when it forms. The Assassin and I fight against what I estimate to be eight guards, until six of them are dead and two of them think better of continuing to fight and run away. The Assassin climbs up a wall and grabs hold of the fleeing man, the one who had originally hidden behind me, and kills him before throwing the body back into the enclosure. I still have my sword out, not sure if he's going to attack me, but he says we are on the same side here. So I put my sword away. When I get a better look at him I see it looks like he is Ezio Auditore.

I confirm that it is Ezio, he says we need to get somewhere safe before the body is found. He turns to leave, apparently expecting me to follow, but he will soon find there is no one there because it is here that I wake up.

Bullies
I am climbing around on the roofs of Florence in a full virtual reality version of Assassin's Creed II. But I am not playing as Ezio… I am playing as a female Assassin.

It is awesome. I wonder how come I didn't get this virtual reality system sooner. I am collecting eagle feathers from the roofs of the buildings, looking to find the last of the feathers in Florence. I jump from one roof to another to grab a feather. I wonder how hard it will be to climb to the highest places in virtual reality when the possibility of falling looks so real. I look down to determine if the heights will bother me. I have never been afraid of heights in my waking life, and I am not afraid of heights now. I see some assholes down below me. Four sizeable guys are pushing one woman around, I hear them talking about taking turns at her. One of them says they should go somewhere more private. Another says he knows where they won't be bothered. Being unafraid of heights, I jump down off of the roof and land right behind one of the assholes. I tell them to leave the woman alone or there's going to be trouble. Three of the four men laugh. The fourth one looks scared, which I had expected laughter from all of them. One of the laughing men said two women means twice as much fun. The scared person is repeating the word 'ass' over and over again. One of the men grabs my arm and says if I relax maybe I'll have some fun, too. The scared guy finally yells that I am an Assassin and turns and runs out into the street, he runs flat into a guard. The guard starts pushing him around and he keeps pointing and yelling that there is an Assassin over there. I comment that one of them has a brain… let go of me and leave the woman alone, last chance. He tries to pull me with him, still laughing. I nail him with my hidden blade. Another says no bitch is going to take him out. He charges at me and practically skewers himself on my other hidden blade. The fourth one runs away in the same direction the first one went. I notice that the guards don't seem to be taking their claims of an Assassin seriously. They are mocking the two men. The woman thanks me for saving her life. I see the two men get hot headed with the guards, they start throwing insults and get themselves arrested. The woman thanks me again and then hurries off down the street, seeming in a hurry to get somewhere. I climb back up the wall of the building. It seems harder to climb than I had expected it to be. Is it because it's virtual reality? Maybe… As I am climbing the wall I feel like I am going to fall, but I fall into my bed as I wake up.

12/26/12

Moon Templars
I am in my Fire Valkyrie in space, approaching the moon. I land on the moon and get out of my ship, not concerned with a space suit since it is a dream. I walk on the moon for a while, just looking around, not considering any of my dream goals right now. I spot something strange on top of a small hill not too far away. It looks like a laser of some kind, and it is pointed into the sky where I see the Earth shining like a small jewel in the vastness of space.

I wonder what it is there for, is someone going to shoot the Earth? I decide this is worth checking out and I approach the site slowly, keeping out of sight. I realize I am dressed in white Assassin's robes which look more gray in the dim light of the setting sun, which gives me good camouflage against the gray surface of the moon. When I get closer I see that there are people around the laser, they seem to be working on it. I wonder what their goal is. As I approach them I see they also have uniforms on, and I see the symbol of the Templars on the shoulders of the uniforms where an astronaut would have a flag. Templars… I figure they can be up to nothing good. Well, apparently I'm an Assassin… so it seems pretty obvious I am there to put a stop to whatever they are doing. I hear them talking amongst themselves about the ray, and I gather that it is some kind of a mind control ray that will make people more compliant and less likely to resist changes they would normally protest. I manage to sneak right over to the beam, I look at an access panel. I open it up and look at the wires and stuff inside, which makes no sense to me… but breaking it doesn't require understanding it. I pull out a bunch of the wires and sparks fly from the access panel. That gets an immediate response from the Templars. They start shooting beam weapons at me. They just hit their own laser weapon, adding to the damage I have already done. So I respond by summoning my Witchblade sword and fighting back. There are only three Templars working on the weapon, and I take them out quickly. I then use my sword to cut right through the beam weapon, leaving it as a pile of rubble on the moon. I look up at the Earth in the sky, thinking it sure is beautiful from here… then I wake.

Assassin's Creed
I am in a strange city; I do not recognize it at first. I walk for a short distance until I see something I recognize, but I don't recognize it from my waking life, I recognize it from the video game Assassin's Creed II. I am quite certain that I am standing right next to Leonardo Da Vinci's workshop in Florence.

I am just walking along when I realize someone is chasing after me. I hear them calling that they see me, kill her before she catches up with someone I didn't realize I was chasing. I turn to face my pursuers, Witchblade sword ready. There are five of them. I am outnumbered. But I find out that if I wait for one of them to make their move and then dodge the attack I am able to find an opening to get in a counter attack of my own. Using this technique I am able to take down four of them and the fifth decides he'd rather not fight, sheaths his sword, and runs for it. I see no reason to go after him, and I have the idea it is important for me to catch up with the person I have been chasing. I hurry along the street in the opposite direction that the guards came from, figuring if they were chasing me I must have been going this way. I spot the guy I am after, it seems he was actually stupid enough to stop and watch the fight when he could've been using the opportunity to escape. He has seen that the guards have lost the fight and now he is running away again. He must be the Templar I am after. I chase after him up the side of a building and into a small garden where I have him cornered. He is cowering in a corner and begging for his life. I wonder how someone that pathetic could be a threat to anyone. I tell him he isn't worth the trouble to kill and turn away, thinking if he is a main target I probably have to kill him no matter how pathetic he is. I see movement behind me and I turn just in time to catch the loser trying to stab me in the back. I stab him with my hidden blade before he can stab me and he dies. I leave the garden quickly before any more guards show up and realize I have completed my mission. I am back around Leonardo's workshop when I wake up.

I was in a strange town, I didn't have any idea how I had gotten there but that fact didn't occur to me at the time. The town looked like something I would expect to see in an RPG or fantasy movie. I was dressed in the white robes of an Assassin's Creed Assassin' which was a good thing since the sun was shining very hotly and the white robes helped keep the direct heat off. That certainly didn't make things comfortable, however, so I was looking for a public place to get in to so I could cool off a bit, I ended up going into a tavern of some kind, though I didn't notice the name.

The inside of the tavern was quite a bit darker than the bright exterior, so it took my eyes a couple minutes to adjust so I could see clearly. There were lots of people in the place, all talking amongst themselves, making it impossible to determine what any one person was saying. I walked farther into the tavern, I noticed that there were quite a few people looking at me, I wasn't sure why that might be, so I ignored them and went over to the bar and ordered a beer. I wasn't sure why I ordered a beer, I don't even like beer, but I opened it Nd took a drink. It was better than I expected. The bar tender asked if there was anything else I needed, I thanked him and said the beer was it for now... I asked how much I owed him, he said I owed him nothing, I thought that was odd, but I stepped away from the bar.

I was feeling like a character in a video game, which was how I looked, so I thought I should find a quest to go on. This was a tavern, there should be some kind of quest available in here... So I wandered around the tavern a bit, eavesdropping on some conversations to see if there was anyone who sounded like they needed help. I wasn't hearing anything interesting at first... A man was speaking lovingly to a woman, telling her not to worry, his wife would never find them there... A woman getting quite angry, talking to her friend about how she wanted to kill her cheating husband, a couple of women were kissing as lovers... None of this really got my attention, these were all personal matters, so I continued looking. I was starting to worry that I might become obvious when something caught my attention, someone was talking about their daughter having been kidnapped. I sat down at a table close enough to listen in on their conversation.

The mother and father were both talking to a rather creepy looking guy, the mother and father looked like pretty well-off individuals, more so than most of the people in the tavern. The creepy guy, on the other hand, looked like he had crawled out of the city dump, or more likely the rats had thrown him out for being too disgusting. As I listened, I found out that the couple's daughter, 15 years old, had ben kidnapped and would most likely be sacrificed to some nasty called a spider demon. At the mention of a sacrafice, the parents looked horrified. The creepy guy seemed to savor that reaction... Then he continued to say the girl would be alive for a good week yet, since that was the gestation period for the little ones. Apparently there were many spiders controlled by this spider demon, and they would feed on the girl for the entire time while making sure to keep her alive, they would lay their eggs in her, when the eggs hatch in several days, the little ones atr hungry. But no worries, the girl would make a ready food supply, if she was lucky she would be too delirious to feel the excruciating pain as the little ones ate her alive from the inside. By now the mother was in tears... The father was begging the guy to tell them where the girl was being held, offering to pay any amount, but the man said he just wanted to be sure the couple would know their daughter would be dying a very slow and painful death. He walked out, leaving the parents too stunned to react.

I wondered if those horrible things the man had said were true, he also seemed the type to make up a horrible series of lies just to watch the parents' despair and pain... But if there was any chance that was true, I had to check it out, and I had been looking for a quest... So I followed the man from the tavern and onto the street, somehow it had become night while I had been in the tavern, and even stranger was the fact my Assassin's robes had turned black. They were adjusting to keep me hidden in any situation, which I thought was pretty cool. I saw the man moving down the street at a quick pace, he definitely knew where he was heading, and I followed him. I wanted to stay close enough not to lose him and still far enough back that he wouldn't spot me, although my robes kept me well hidden so there wasn't really any threat of that. I followed him for quite a while, he clearly knew where he was going, though I had no clue. He left the town and made his way through the darkness as if he had been there many times before, he had no trouble navigating the narrow trails through the rocky landscape with little to no difficulty while there were a couple places where I nearly face planted due to tripping on a rock I hadn't seen. The man disappeared into a small cave, glancing around to be sure no one was following him before disappearing inside. I noticed that he looked directly at me but gave no indication that he had seen me at all.

I followed him into the inky darkness of the cave, at which point he finally revealed that he could not see in total darkness by lighting a torch to see by. Of course that made it really easy to follow him through what seemed to be an endless maze of caves branching off in every direction. He finally entered a cavern that was illuminated by torches, that was his final destination. I entered the room to find a scene from a horror movie, there was a girl in there who looked like she was about 15 years old, she was naked and bound to the side of the cavern with what looked like wads of spider webs. That wasn't the worst part of it, either. The worst part of the scene was that there were small spiders crawling all over her, it looked like they were biting her, and there were red welts all over her body where she had been previously bitten, and she was hanging limply from her bonds and crying. When the man entered the room, the girl looked up at him, still crying, she said she wanted to go home, please help her... The man looked at her and laughed, he said he was going to help himself to her, that's what he was going to do, and as he said that he pulled his pants down, I was grateful that I couldn't see what he pulled out. The girl saw it, however, and was repeating over and over, "No… no… no…" and "Don't… don't… don't…" through her tears. That dirty, rotten, filthy piece of shit!

This would stop now. The girl fell silent as I walked up behind the asshole, she was looking at me with wide eyes… I figured it probably looked to her like I had just materialized out of nowhere. Time to take out the trash… but not too fast… that filthy asshole… his sickening chuckles fell silent as I ran my hidden blade into him. He turned towards me before I could even remove the hidden blade, which resulted in the wound getting torn even bigger… He opened his mouth to curse, but all that came out was blood, he fell down to his knees and coughed up blood again, then fell onto his side and twitched there for a short time before coughing up blood one final time and then being still. I noticed the girl was staring at me with wide eyes, I wondered if I had made a mistake by letting her see what I had just done, well there was nothing to be done for it now. What I had to do was get her out of there.

I remembered that in dreams I am able to control insects and spiders, so I ordered the spiders on the girl to get off of her, and I was surprised when they actually obeyed. I was actually considering doing a reality check but I was distracted when someone entered the room, this was a big and ugly guy… I remembered the freak saying there was someone he called the Spider Demon. Well, this guy was definitely ugly, but he didn't look like a demon to me. He proved that he truly was able to control the spiders, however, when he summoned all of the spiders in the room to gather around him. I'm not sure what had happened before I had arrived, but the sight of the ugly demon wanna-be set the girl off on some uncontrollable screaming, I wondered what sick things that asshole had already done… He ordered the spiders to attack me, I hadn't had a chance to cut the girl free yet, the asshole was laughing insanely. The spiders seemed to hesitate, but then started moving towards me, but I told them to turn around and attack the asshole. They immediately turned around and surrounded the asshole, completely ignoring his commands now, and then swarmed over him as he yelled his commands at them to attack me, not him. His yelling soon became muffled as the spiders filled his mouth with web, and they completely bound him in web, he fell to the ground, futilely struggling, looking like a big worm trying to break out of a cocoon of spider web, only his nose and eyes were still visible. His muffled cries of anger changed to cries of pain…

I pulled my attention from the "Spider Demon" and cut the girl free of the spider webs, then carried her out of the cavern. I'm not sure how I managed to find my way through the maze of dark passages, but I somehow did and emerged with the girl into the night. She was still crying, still naked in the night… I took off my robe and wrapped it around her, which left me wearing a non-descript shirt and pair of pants. There were so many spider bites all over her, I thought that since I could control the spiders IWL, maybe I could now use my healing powers IWL… so I focused on healing the girl's wounds, golden energy formed and flowed through her, wiping the bite marks away as if they were nothing more than spots of dirt on her skin, the energy also served to calm her down and relax her, she stopped crying, and now she just looked tired, completely exhausted… so I ended up carrying her all the way back to the town, I was surprised that at no point during that hike did I become tired nor did the girl start feeling heavy. I didn't really consider why that might be. I went down the main street in the town and went directly to the tavern, I wasn't sure if the parents would still be there, but that was a good place to start looking for them.

The first time I'd walked into the tavern quite a few of the people in the room had turned to look at me. When I walked in carrying the girl wrapped in my robes, everyone in the room turned to look at me. I scanned the crowd, searching for the parents of the girl I was holding, and I spotted them over in the far corner talking to a man who appeared to be an adventurer or a mercenary of some kind, I figured the parents were looking everywhere, desperate for someone to help them find their daughter. Now they were looking at me along with everyone else. I didn't really know what to say, so I just carried the girl over to the couple, at which point I pulled a fold of robe away from the girl's face, revealing her to her parents. The two of them were beside themselves with relief, the girl had been sleeping in my arms, but now she woke up. I set her on her feet, her parents embraced her, the three of them hugging and crying tears of relief and saying a bunch of stuff I couldn't understand due to the fact they were crying tears of joy. Excellent. Another sappy happy ending, though I wasn't sure why that was the way I was thinking of it… I turned to leave the tavern, to leave the happy family to their celebration, but the mother grabbed me, she was saying she didn't know how to thank me enough, she didn't know how to repay me, I just said I hadn't done it for payment. Both parents were expressing their gratitude now, the father took off his cloak and wrapped it around the girl before handing me my robes back. He said they looked like an exceptional garment… I felt like I was going to wake up, so I told them I had to go, there were places I had to be. I turned and left the tavern quickly… as soon as I stepped out the door and around the corner I woke.

I focused on following don Juan and MoSh, tried to open a portal, but nothing happened… hmmm… maybe I was really not meant to follow them. I figured I might as well continue to another goal for the night…

I opened a portal to get back to the biodome, my first thing would be to check to see if anyone was waiting there for me at the koi pond. I went through the portal and entered the biodome right next to the tree which grows loaves of fresh bread instead of the usual apples or oranges, I picked myself a loaf of fresh french bread, it already smelled of butter, then I went to the bench by the koi pond. I sat there and ate my bread, it was definitely already buttered, I tossed a few pieces of bread into the pond, those were quickly snatched up by the fish. After I finished my bread I sat there a couple more minutes, but I was afraid if I sat there and did nothing for too long I would lose lucidity or lose the dream or both, I kind of felt the dream slipping even now, I stood up and focused on one of the koi to try to stabilize the dream. As I brought the koi into focus the dream around me became more stable. So what now? One of my goals was to share an Oblivion dream with Tigress… either that or a DDO dream, either way, I had to find Tigress first. I opened the portal with the goal of locating Tigress for this kind of dream.

I emerged from the portal to find myself in a grassy area near a cave. I wasn't sure where I was, but it did look something like a scene in Oblivion, which was one possibility I had been looking for. Of course I had been looking for Tigress, not for a specific location, so I thought she might be somewhere in the area. I looked around to see if I could find Tigress anywhere, and I finally spotted a woman there with me, though if it wasn't for her energy I wouldn't have recognized her as Tigress… although the form did make sense. She was a khajiit off of Oblivion, she had armor and weapons and looked ready to head into battle.

She gave me a strange look and then said there aren't any Assassins in Oblivion, I said there are, there's the Dark Brotherhood which is basically an Assassin's guild, and I have seen screenshots where people have created a custom Oblivion character to look like Altaïr. Besides, this is an Oblivion dream, not the actual game Oblivion, so I can be whatever character I want. She said she wasn't trying to say my being an Assassin was bad, just that there are no Assassin's Creed style Assassins in Oblivion, so it would be interesting to see how it worked if I kept my actions limited to the game abilities of Altaïr. She said she thought it would result in a kick ass character. She said she already had a quest, she described the quest to me, our goal was to sneak into the goblin caves and find the lost magical sword of flames within, but we would most likely have to fight our way out once we had it because taking it would alert the goblins. But if we were discovered before we got the sword, the goblins would no doubt move it to a new location and we would lose our chance to steal it. Stealth on the way in, steal sword, fighting on the way out. Got it.

So now Tigress and I quietly entered the cave, the door made a creaking noise that seemed disturbingly loud, but the sound didn't draw any response. There was a long passage that lead to a ledge overlooking a larger chamber down below. At the far end of the chamber there were two goblins guarding a door, it looked like the large chamber was there so that no one could easily sneak up on the guards. The room was well lighted with torches, the goblins were too far away to make an archery shot easy, and there was no hidden approach. While the archery shot appeared difficult at best, that didn't deter Tigress, who pulled her bow off her back and aimed an arrow at one of the guards. She had one arrow aimed, a second arrow already in her hand, then she fired… and fired the second arrow in quick succession. Both of the goblins dropped silently to the ground. Nice shots, and I told Tigress so. We went down to the lower level using a ladder and went straight to the cave the fallen goblins had been guarding, Tigress found a key on one of them and used it to open the door.

There was another passage beyond the door with doors opening off to the sides, but there was no way such a valuable item, and we also had intelligence reports that the sword we were looking for was down on the third level of the dungeon. The passage ended in a larger room where there were quite a few goblins lined up, like soldiers ready for battle, but that didn't last for long before they moved out in an organized line. That left four goblins visible on the other side of the room talking amongst themselves. They didn't seem to be paying much attention to our side of the room, apparently they didn't consider the threat of invasion to be very high since they were in a very relaxed and casual state. About ten feet to their left there was a large bell that would no doubt serve to alert the rest of the goblins in the dungeon that there was an intruder. I scanned the room and saw there were also two goblins on either side of the passage exit. So, at the same time, Tigress let loose a volley of arrows to take down the four goblins in quick succession and I knifed the goblins beside the passage entrance with my hidden blade.

So our quest continued like this, us progressing silently through the maze of passages, selecting the passages that were least watched by goblins which meant that they were sometimes harder to traverse. Tigress took out distant goblins with excellent archery skills, making hits that looked neigh impossible, I snuck up on goblins that were never aware of my presence until my blade was already in them. We finally found our way down to the main treasure chamber, which had to be opened by inserting five seals in the star shaped carving. Once the seals were in place, the carving turned around and the door slid open. The room beyond looked really cool. There was a sword on display in the middle of the room, on a small pedestal in a cylinder of light, the sword was floating in the air, hilt down, blade up, and it was on fire. The room was filled with a dim blue glow.

Tigress and I went into the room and over to the sword, which was burning brightly, I somehow knew that as soon as someone touched the sword an alarm would sound. Tigress and I paused for a bit, I formed Witchblade into a sword and motioned to Tigress that she could use the fire sword since her element is fire, and then she took it. Sure enough, the sound of alarm bells rang through the caves, I didn't even know how they had been set off, but they were loud. Goblins were coming in from the chamber entrance, our way out was completely blocked, and we were completely surrounded. The goblins were growling menacingly, no doubt assured of their victory… Tigress and I fought and killed quite a few goblins. They were staying back, but they still blocked our way. We would just have to go through them.

Tigress and I were about to do just that when there was a portal, and MoSh came into the room. He didn't even seem to notice the goblins there at all, he looked annoyed at me… He said that since I hadn't followed him and don Juan he was going to completely forget everything they said and did. He said he was going to completely forget what don Juan had said about tapping into his inner power to reach his full potential, Tigress let out a "pfft" that MoSh didn't notice or ignored, the goblins were getting a bit perplexed by this newcomer that had somehow gotten straight into their treasure chamber and was completely ignoring the lot of them. The goblins were snarling angrily at all of us, especially at MoSh, who turned and told them to shut the fuck up, they weren't about to forget some important information. Well, he might as well use it during the short time he would have it… He took a few steps towards the goblins, stopped, then a wave of energy expanded out from him and incinerated every goblin it touched, though it washed harmlessly over Tigress and myself… Shortly after the energy wave MoSh disappeared, apparently having woken up.

Well, whatever had brought MoSh there, he had broken the barricade of goblins, causing quite a few of them to run away in fear of whatever that energy pulse had been. Tigress and I got out of the sword chamber and fought our way through the goblins, taking them down in huge numbers, leaving a trail of dead goblins in our wake. We finally got out of the caverns and into the sunlight, which was very bright after the caves, and it appeared it was even brighter to Tigress since she was a khajiit. Tigress said the sword was a treasure of the khajiit, it had been stolen by the goblins. I told her I thought I was about to wake up, so I would see her later, and then I woke.