New Dream Adventures of Raven Knight

03/27/13

Pools of Healing
I am in my room, in bed. Someone is yelling at me. That is all I am aware of at first. Who is it? I open my eyes and see there is a single Templar beside my bed and he seems to be in a bad mood. But I notice he doesn't seem to be sending off the attacks I have come to expect. He is asking questions. He wants to know something. I assume I know what he is talking about, but I assume wrong. I expect he will be wanting to know where I have hidden the thing I stole from them, instead he is asking what I did to someone. The three Templars that went through that portal aren't acting normal at all, what is wrong with them? I am a bit annoyed at this Templar being here yelling at me, my first reaction is to tell him I'll show him what I did to those other three… he falls silent and takes a step back, clearly not liking that idea. My mind clears and I remember that there were three Templars I got pissed at and sent to the Dark Realm. I'm not about to send another one there, but I am glad the idea of it has made him shut up. In fact I remember I had plans to get those three out of the Dark Realm, no one deserves to be left there. But first to the moon. I focus on opening a portal, and it opens right away. The Templar moves away from the portal. I tell him it leads to the balancing pools on the moon, not the Dark Realm… and then I go through the portal. I get to the other side and it is right next to the balancing pools.

Nomad is already in one of the pools and appears to be relaxing. I get into the pool and focus healing energy on his foot where he still has some sores, though the injuries look like they're improving. After doing that I let myself sink through the warm relaxing waters to the bottom of the pool where I am having no difficulty breathing the water. It smells fresh and clean. I am relaxing there as I fall asleep.

Out of the Darkness
I am with Nomad, Link, Altaïr, and Spike. I immediately don't like the place. We are in what looks like an underground hallway, part of a labyrinth perhaps, a long stone corridor that is illuminated only by torches set in the walls. The passage is stiflingly hot, the stone walls are practically too hot to touch. The look of the place isn't what I find worst about it, however. It's the sounds. From seemingly all around come the echoing sounds of people screaming in pain, like someone is being tortured. I wait for a moment for my mind to clear and then I remember I am actually there to get three people out, because this is probably the area of the Dark Realm they have been brought to. I sent them here, I need to get them out. I notice everyone else is wearing black, black versions of the usual Assassin robes, and I realize that is much harder to see against the dark stone than the white ones I have. So I change my white ones to black.

Someone I don't recognize comes down the hall, my first impression is that she is a Templar. But she seems to be helping us… well maybe she would be since the goal is to retrieve three Templars from the Dark Realm. She says she found the way through the labyrinth. There is a torture chamber, she shudders but offers no further description. Another scream of pain echoes through the halls making further description unnecessary. She says there are more than three of them there, she wasn't aware of which ones were the Templars I had sent here and who the others were. I figure it doesn't matter… if they're prisoners here they need to get out. We all follow the woman down some halls to a room of nightmares. I see a sight I am sure I have seen before. A man is naked in a metal cage over a fire, his skin is blistering and cracking as it burns, his face is a mask of pain but he is silent. Nomad says they will see about getting more free before we're discovered, though that probably won't take long. I go over to the man in the cage, he is not even aware of my presence. There is a demon of some kind watching him, completely absorbed by the sight. The demon is not paying any attention to me. The demon looks almost like a human, in fact if I hadn't already known it was a demon I might have thought it was a Templar… but a Templar wouldn't be torturing another Templar, would he? I charge my hidden blade with light energy and sneak up behind the demon, pumping him full of the stuff before he can sound an alarm. I open the cage with the half-dead Templar in it. There were three I sent here… where are the other two? I find the other two near where the first one was. The second one is another man, he is impaled on a pike that is set in fire… burning and impaled… and a demon is watching that. There is a woman in a small pit hogtied and there are bugs all over her, nasty demonic looking things, eating her alive… another demon is observing.

Somewhere around here someone must have gotten some attention, however, as the demons depart their posts and began gathering somewhere. I take that opportunity to get the other two free. I focus healing energy on them, healing up burns, bites, and other injuries, and blocking any pain. I see the others are there, and they have more prisoners with them. They are in an alcove, and I see there are demons searching the place. They seem a bit confused, and not sure where to find the intruders. The rescued prisoners all look like they're still in shock from their experience, they aren't very responsive. Nomad says they need more healing, and opens a portal to the Healing Glen where the crystal golem takes care of those who have been seriously hurt more than just physically. I'm not sure how many prisoners we rescued, though I am sure the three Templars I sent to the Dark Realm are the three I got out. I am thinking there are still more of them back in the prison, more of them that shouldn't be left there… but I'll not be getting them out now, I wake up.

03/26/13

Dark Deeds
I am in my room, I am in bed. I wake up in bed, hoping it is not time to get up yet. I look around and see there are Templars all around me, there is a strange energy pulsing off of them. It makes it hard to see them even when I am looking directly at them. The waves of energy coming off of them is holding me down, I have the idea it is holding me back in more ways than one. I am feeling quite pissed off at them for their constant attacks. I use the song Whiplash by Metallica to send their attack energy back at them. For a brief time I can see them clearly, a pulse of energy from me actually knocks them against the walls of my room. The attacks immediately resume. One of them says it's not going to stop until I return what I stole, return the artifact and they will leave me alone. I don't believe them. Instead I am getting pissed off. I use another Whiplash spell and send the energy back at them again, this time getting out of my bed and phasing through the wall. I remembered chatting with Nomad on Facebook, he had said there were Templars attacking him… so I decide to go help him with his Templar problems. The Templars attacks are making it hard to focus on opening a portal. They are really pissing me off. I use Whiplash again and open a vortex portal, I want to send them away to somewhere they won't like. Maybe then they'll learn to leave me alone. A vortex portal opens and pulls three of the Templars through it right away. Something comes back out of the portal… a wave of dark energy, it seems I have opened a portal somewhere I might have been better off not… The portal then closes, but before it does I see demons on the other side, the portal led to the Dark Realm, I'm not sure I like the idea of sending even Templars to the Dark Realm.

The wave of dark energy slams into me, knocking me back against the bed. My mind is filled with images of the three Templars I sent through the portal getting tortured, demons are laughing, people are screaming. I see images of one of them inside a metal box that is being heated, his skin is cracked and blistered… a second one, a woman, is tied to a bench and is being eaten alive by strange bugs… the third one is actually impaled on a spit and is being roasted alive over a fire… no, I didn't want that, not even for Templars… my anger is gone now, my next thought is I have to get them out of there, but I can't even move enough to get off my bed. Something is draining my energy, that attack that hit me from the Dark Realm? Everything fades to black. I can still hear the Templars crying out in pain and the demons laughing…

Queen of Night
I am on fire. But the fire is not burning me; it isn't that kind of fire. It is a purifying fire, and it is not burning me, rather it seems to be burning something off of me. As the strange substance is burned off of me it feels like I can breathe again, as if it had been suffocating me. I see I am not alone there. Spike and Altaïr are both right there with me, I see Nomad and MoSh not too far away. And I also see enemies. So many enemies. I realize my hands were tied behind me, not sure how that happened, I don't realize it until Altaïr is cutting the bonds with his blade. Spike starts to ask if I am ok, but then he is distracted by enemies. There is a big fight going on around us. The enemies… orcs? Templars? Templar orcs?

They are orcs, but they are dressed in Templar armor, clearly marked as Templars. I think they must be pissed off about me sending three of them to the Dark Realm. I'm not even particularly pleased about that incident. There is a huge fight going on all around me. Is this all about the fact it seems I had been captured? The Templar orcs are attacking my friends, and I start to feel a bit of the anger that led me to send some Templars to the Dark Realm to begin with. I don't want to let that feeling go too far this time, I still want to go get them out of there. No one should be left in the Dark Realm for the demons to be playing their sick games with. I still feel a dark energy inside, but I can keep it stable, so I focus on using it instead of getting rid of it. I transform into the form of a dark sorceress, still on fire… with the black wings of giant raven, somehow seems appropriate.

I use spell songs on the Templar Orcs, Damage Inc. by Metallica to throw balls of fire, Battery by Metallica to call lightning from the sky. The entire place sounds like a Metallica concert with an awesome light show to accompany it. Lyrics from a completely different song are going through my mind, "When the shadows remain in the light of day, on the wings of darkness we retaliate…" I can't think what song these lyrics are from… The entire fight is rather unfocused in my memory, it doesn't really seem to take very long before it is over. Then I am on the ground, I see I am in my white Assassin robes again… the dream is over. But it can't be, I still have to go to the Dark Realm and get those Templars out… I sent them there, it is my responsibility to set it right by getting them out. Nomad is right beside me, I look around and see the other people around are also friends. I tell Nomad I have to go to the Dark Realm and get someone out, he seems to think I need to rest. I try to get up, not having much progress. I tell him I have to go now, they're being tortured, I was wrong to send them there… but something has drained all my energy, things around me are fading to black.