Lydia's Game of Dreams

2019, 09-30

Skyrim: The Alex Mercer Mod

Regular Dream - Video Game / Semi-lucid - Lucid Dream - Notes

I am in my car with my ex-boyfriend James. We are on our way to work. We must be on some kind of business trip because we also have a hotel room where we will be staying. We arrive and the office is right next to the hotel. When we go to the hotel we find out that our room is on the opposite side of the hotel from the office. I find that annoying because it is a big hotel and it will take a while to make the walk. I drive us to the right area and park right in front of the room. We go inside and find it is a nice room. James changes clothes right there as if we were still together. I go change in the bathroom. Fortunately there are two beds and they are separated by a temporary wall like those that often separate office cubicles.

After we are done changing we head for the office. It is a long walk. I break off to make a visit to the restroom. I find that some people are giving out free food, it is a service of the hotel. They are almost out but I am able to get a chicken drumstick and some potatoes for my breakfast. It doesn’t strike me as odd that they serve fried chicken and potatoes for breakfast. I go to the office where we will be working. I see James is jealous of my fried chicken breakfast. He says he will get some but I tell him they were almost out. He seems annoyed. I turn on my computer and get prompted to continue my setup in virtual reality. I see a VR headset on my desk. I pick it up and put it on…

Now I am playing Skyrim VR. For some reason this doesn’t seem odd to be playing Skyrim VR at work. And what a great VR headset! It looks like the laboratory of a mad scientist. Right in front of me is a Thalmor that looks like he has somehow been assimilated by the Borg. He says his name is Archeron. I make fun of him, imitating his voice and saying, “I am Archeron of Borg. You will be assimilated. Resistance is futile.” He says he doesn’t know what Borg is or about being assimilated, but I am right in that resistance is futile. He says I must be the new arrival who will help him break the tower faster. The Dark Tower? This asshole wants to break the Dark Tower? I say I will never help him. He can go fus himself.

Archeron laughs and says I will be much more cooperative after my lobotomy. I fus him right in his Borg face. FUS-RO-DAH! Nothing happens. I do a double take. Archeron says he has already modified himself beyond being affected by such things. I ask if he’s immune to being sliced in two. He says no sword in Skyrim can harm him. I say I don’t use swords from Skyrim… I use swords from Prototype. He asks a prototype of what? I answer, “Alex Mercer.” I form my right arm into an Alex Mercer blade and tell him I’ve had a few modifications of my own, I’m no longer a mere Breton, I am an unstoppable virus! He is trying to figure out what that means when I use my Alex Mercer blade to slice him from his left shoulder down to his right hip, effectively cutting him in two. The look on his face when he dies is one of disbelief. I want to keep playing, but everything fades to black and I wake up.

2019, 09-27

Dark Tower: Parting of the Ways

Regular Dream - Video Game / Semi-lucid - Lucid Dream - Notes

It is night, I am standing near a campfire with Roland, Susanna, Eddie, and Jake from the Dark Tower books. Eddie and Jake are transparent. Susanna is holding Eddie’s hand and Roland is holding Jake’s. There is a young man there I don’t know. He is drawing on a pad of paper. He shows his drawing, which is a work of art. The drawing is of Eddie and Jake. As if by seeing the drawing Eddie and Jake become solid. Susanna and Roland reluctantly let go of Eddie and Jake. As they let go Eddie and Jake start fading again. I look at the drawing and I see that is also fading… but why? Roland says it’s because they’re not really supposed to be here, that’s why. Susanna grabs Eddie, Roland grabs Jake, and they stop fading. But they don’t become solid again…

I ask what is going on with Eddie and Jake. Roland says ka is trying to reassert itself. If Jake and Eddie don’t go to the world they belong in soon they might completely fade. So far they have only been able to remain in this world because of their connections. I realize that is why Susanna is holding on to Eddie and Roland to Jake, to try to anchor them in this world. Roland says there really is only one answer, Eddie and Jake have to go to the world they were meant to be in. And Patrick (indicating the man with the drawing) is the only one who can make it happen. Susanna goes over and whispers to Patrick for a bit, then Patrick starts drawing.

I hear something out in the darkness, it sounds like something is creeping about out there. I feel a sensation of being watched. Roland sees me and says Mordrid is out there, and Mordrid’s a-hungry. I say no, it can’t be Mordrid, MoSh killed Mordrid. I am sure of that. Roland says something is lurking out there. I stare out into the darkness, trying to see what’s out there. I see something is reflecting the firelight. I slip into the darkness, ignoring Roland saying I shouldn’t. I use my night vision and I find the thing. It looks like a cross between a giant beetle the size of a large dog and a praying mantis. It attacks me, but I form my right arm into an Alex Mercer blade and slice it in two. The thing melts into a strange black fluid that flows off into the darkness.

I return to the camp and now there is a door standing near the edge of the campsite. Susanna is looking at the door, still holding Eddie’s hand. She opens it and lets go of Eddie. When Eddie and Jake get near the door they are solid, but they start fading when they move away. Eddie says that must be the place. He is reluctant to leave because he wants to reach the Dark Tower, but he knows if he stays here he won’t make it anyhow. He and Jake will fade. After some debate it is decided that Susanna will go through the door with Eddie and Jake. Roland seems worried that the door is a trap that leads to toedash space. I say if it does I will get them out. I think Roland just doesn’t want them to leave. Susanna, Eddie, and Jake go through the door. After a brief hesitation Oy follows Jake. Patrick stays behind even though Susanna tries to get him to follow.

The door closes with a resounding thud. Now there is only Roland, Patrick, and me at the campsite. Roland looks depressed. Patrick curls up and appears to go to sleep. Roland sits by the fire and stares into it. He says maybe I should have gone, too. I say it would make no difference, I will wake up back in my prison dimension where I have no skills, no talents, and no abilities. Roland says he doesn’t believe that. I say yes, I always end up there. He said no, he meant he doesn’t believe I have no skills, talents, or abilities there. I don’t answer. He looks more depressed so I put my arm around him and give him a hug. I say I’ll probably wake soon, but I will be back, I am sure of that. I want to see the tower… if the roses around the Dark Tower have the healing properties of the one in the vacant lot then maybe it can even overpower my depression. Maybe both Roland and I can be free. I wake up here.

2019, 09-26

The Dark Tower: The Laughter Vampire

Regular Dream - Video Game / Semi-lucid - Lucid Dream - Notes

I am in a strange place. It is snowy all around, but I don’t feel the cold. I draw the conclusion that I am playing Skyrim VR since I can see the snow and feel a breeze but I’m not cold. It is getting dark out and the snow is starting to fall. I see a plowed street and a small house with smoke coming from the chimney. I head in that direction. I hear roars of laughter from inside. I look in the window and I see Roland, Eddie, Susanna, and Jake all laughing their asses off. There is also another man there that I don’t recognize. Something about him looks fake, though… like he was an illusion. This feels off, so I try the door. It is unlocked so I let myself in, hoping to not be seen as too rude… after all, no one would hear me knock over the laughter and for any normal person it would be bitterly cold out.

When I get inside and close the door behind me I see that none of the people laughing have even noticed me enter. The man I don’t recognize sees me and makes a lame-ass joke about my arrival. I don’t remember the joke, just that I found it about as funny as vomiting. I am the only one who finds it unfunny, though, as everyone else in the room roars with renewed gales of laughter. Susanna slaps her own face while laughing and a sore at the corner of her mouth starts bleeding profusely. This puts an immediate damper on Eddie’s laughter, and as the others look over they also stop laughing. The man telling the bad jokes, they call him Joe, looks annoyed. How dare Susanna interrupt his jokes with her bleeding!

Susanna gets up and excuses herself. Eddie wants to go with her, but she insists she’s fine and just wants to clean up in the bathroom. Eddie nervously watches Susanna as she goes. He mutters something to Roland about that sore not being a pimple, and he and Susanna should stop bullshitting a bullshitter. Joe tells a joke about bullshit. Eddie gets mad at Joe, saying his wife is bleeding, this is no time for jokes. Joe makes a joke out of that, too. Eddie laughs in spite of himself, Roland laughs, and Jake is on the floor laughing. I still find nothing funny. I think I will go check on Susanna, but then Jake looks like he’s choking so I go to him and try to get him to stop laughing. Joe tells another bad joke, making the laughter worse. I tell Joe if he wants to see something funny, watch this… and I fus him in the face. FUS-RO-DAH! Joe flies across the room into the far wall, falling to the floor in a mess of objects caught in the fus.

I am trying to help Jake and Joe makes a joke out of my fus’ing him. This especially gets Roland laughing and now Roland looks like he’s choking. Joe is clearly an energy vampire and he’s stealing energy from their uncontrolled laughter! I am about to do something a bit more permanent than a fus when Susanna comes back from the bathroom. She has her Witchblade formed into a sword which she uses to remove Joe’s head. The headless body doesn’t die. It stays on its feet and starts transforming onto something that looks more insectile than human. The strange thing blunders around for a bit before collapsing into the fireplace and catching fire and finally dying.

Susanna and Eddie embrace but then I notice Eddie is semi-transparent. What is happening? Jake is also semi-transparent. I do a double-take. I ask what is going on. Susanna holds on more tightly to Eddie and Roland embraces Jake as if they can physically keep them from fading. And maybe it works, as they become solid again. Roland tells me that ever since Thunderclap both Eddie and Jake have been fading in and out of existence. He says he thinks ka doesn’t like being foiled like I did. He says I saved them both, but now ka is trying to set things back to the way they were meant to be, and that means no Eddie and no Jake. Susanna says she has been having dreams that indicate there is a world where they are supposed to be right now, and they will be taken there one way or another. I wonder how to counter this unexpected effect when I wake.

2019, 09-20

Regular Dream - Video Game / Semi-lucid - Lucid Dream - Notes

Dark Tower: Saving Jake

I am standing outside a convenience store and gas station. It is a nice day. I hear a gunshot from the store and look that way. Shortly after the sound I see a familiar looking man and boy come out with a middle aged woman I don’t recognize. The man is Roland and the kid is Jake, from the Dark Tower books. The three of them head towards an old pickup truck and pile in the front. I have to follow, so I run after them as the woman tries to drive. It sounds like she is torturing a Tasmanian devil under the hood, then she finally gets it in gear and we pull onto the road. I jump into the bed of the truck as it is pulling away. We barely avoid an accident with an idiot in a blue van.

The woman drives like a maniac, but still better than the idiot in the blue van had been. She drives like she’s late for an appointment she wants to reach, that van had been driving like they didn’t care about getting anywhere in one piece. We drive down a steep driveway and then Jake and Roland are talking to a gardener about Steven King. They finally notice me. I tell Roland I am just there to help out if needed. I usually find myself where I need to be, but I don’t know what I am here to do yet. After a brief talk the woman tortures the transmission of the truck some more and finally rockets the truck back up the steep driveway.

I stay in the bed of the truck as we speed down the road. We make a sudden turn and speed down another road. I do not recognize the location, but it is beautiful. It would be a good place to live. There is a knock on the window to the truck cab and the woman motions to me to brace myself. I do, and the truck skids to a stop almost quickly enough to throw me over the cab and onto the road. I see a man walking along the side of the road and the same blue van from earlier driving on the shoulder, straight towards him! I see the driver is paying absolutely no attention to the road, he has turned around in his seat to discipline two dogs in his back seat. What a moron! And it’s about to cost the man walking on the shoulder his life!

The next few things happen really fast, there’s no time for second guessing. The passenger door of the pickup opens and Roland falls out onto the road, grasping his hip. Then Jake jumps over Roland and runs to the man walking in a flash, positioning himself between the man and the oncoming van. No! Jake will not die here! So then I jump over the cab of the truck, landing between Jake and the van and without even stopping to think about it I open up with a FUS-RO-DAH at the van. The wave of force deflects the van away from the boy and the man and into a tree on the opposite side of the street with a squeal of tires and a crash.

Now that there is time to look around I realize I have seen the man walking on the side of the road before. Stephen King? The author? Roland gets up and rushes over to Jake. I look over at the crashed van and I see the driver is moving. He probably hit his head, but he clearly doesn’t use that much anyhow. Stephen King recognizes Roland right away and also Jake, but seems confused as to who I am. And what was that thing I just did to stop the van? I say I am just a different kind of walk-in, and what I did comes from a video game that won’t be released until 2011. Then I asked if this was sure 1999. Everyone agreed that it is. I wonder if I am somehow in the past of my own world, if I am then I need to open a bank account with some money to save interest until 2019… but even if it would work I don’t get a chance to try before I wake up.

2019, 09-12

Regular Dream - Video Game / Semi-lucid - Lucid Dream - Notes

Dark Tower: Algul Siento

I am in Thunderclap from the Dark Tower books. Roland, Eddie, Jake, and Susanna are all gathered in preparation for their assault on Algul Siento, which is where the breakers are being held while they work on breaking one of the remaining beams supporting the Dark Tower. I tell Roland that I can use a song to remove the brainwashing on the breakers, increasing the chances of them helping. Roland says no, that may help after but for now he didn't want the breakers helping, it would make it too hard to determine who the enemies are. Right now there are only a few people on our side, and anyone else coming at them with a weapon could be assumed to be an enemy. I agree to go along with that plan.

As we are talking I see MoSh arrive. He looks at me and says that Algul Siento has some serious giant spider problems, but don't worry about it... giant spider went squish. I am wondering if he means Mordred. If Mordred is dead that’s one fewer problems to deal with. I ask MoSh what happened with the giant spider but Roland says the horn will blow soon, signaling the change in shifts. He says we have to be in position by then. It seems MoSh and I don’t have a part in the plan since no one knew that we would be there, so we decide that MoSh and I will just do whatever we can to cause as much chaos among the guards, Can-Toi, and Taheen that we can. And try to keep the breakers safe.

I think I will stay with MoSh, but I see he has already gone off towards Algul Siento. I try to catch up with him but a couple of guards with guns get in my way. One of them has the head of a rat, the other looks to be human. The human says he doesn’t recognize me, the rat says he’s sure I’m not one of the breakers. I tell them I’m not a breaker, I’m a fus’er. They look confused, the human asks what a fus’er is. I say I’m glad he asked… FUS-RO-DAH! With a sound like thunder the two guards are thrown backwards and they slam into an electric fence, getting electrocution added to the fus’ing. I change my right arm into an Alex Mercer blade and cut through the three electric fences that surround Algul Siento.

Now the chaos begins. The horn sounds, signaling the changing of the shift. There are explosions from opposite sides of the small settlement. There is the sound of gunfire and someone is sending out a telepathic message to go South with your hands up and you won’t be hurt. I ignore that message, putting up a block so I won’t have to hear it so loud. I have my Alex Mercer blade formed, so I put it to use as some of the Taheen guards are going past me towards the sound of the gunfire. I don’t have a clear memory of the fight, but when it is ending I see the warden of this prison camp, Pimli Prentiss, lying on the ground, wounded. I see Susanna and Eddie celebrating. Then I see Pimli Prentiss raising a gun. This is where he shoots Eddie! I go and step on the hand raising the gun before he can lift it. I say he’s not going to shoot Eddie this time before using my Alex Mercer blade to remove his head.

I watch Susanna and Eddie embracing for a bit more and then I hear Sheemie running through the streets yelling at the top of his lungs that the beam says thank you, the beam says it’s not too late, all may still be well! This seems to have made Sheemie unbelievably happy. I see he is limping. I go to him and ask if he is hurt. He says his foot hurts a little, but not too bad, and the beam says thank you, all may yet be well! I tell him I want to look at his foot. He says there’s no need, but I insist. He takes off his slipper and I see a nasty cut on his foot. I focus healing energy on that injury, I remember in the book it became infected and Sheemie died from it. Now he won’t be dying from that at least. I wonder where MoSh has gone to. I look around for him for a bit but then I wake up.