New Dream Adventures of Raven Knight

12/21/10 Asuka in the Dream with Roses
Note: It seems that Lujan has gone and grabbed Asuka again, even though I thought that was over quite a while ago. He hasn't caused any trouble since July of 2010, but here we go again?! As annoying as that is, the first goal is to get Asuka back , dealing with Lujan is secondary. I am wondering if there is something wrong with Kanmuri, who was Lujan's girlfriend, and for the past several months has been keeping Lujan occupied so he hasn't been going after Asuka. I got the feeling from reading MoSh's dream that something could be very wrong… So this was the primary plan for the night.

Asuka in the Dream with Roses
When going to look for Asuka, I somehow find myself in a huge garden, and I find I am there alone even though I had intended to pick up MoSh before coming to find Asuka. I wonder where MoSh has gone to, I clearly remember making a stop by his inner world before opening a portal to track Asuka, and I would have sworn MoSh was right behind me in that portal. Well, he isn't here now, so I will just have to deal with that and see if my portal even ended up in the right place at all. I explore the garden, and it is all roses, roses are everywhere. There doesn't even seem to be any ground except for the ground I am walking on, just roses as far as the eye can see. I also can't see any sky… it is a bit disorienting, but I follow the path through the tunnel of roses to see where it leads and hoping it leads to Asuka.

All of the roses are actually a bit disorienting, but I finally find an area that is basically a room made out of roses. The effect is really rather beautiful, but so disorienting… Asuka is in the middle of the rose room, sitting there holding a rose, a golden rose, it looks like the golden rose is the only one of its kind… there aren't any golden roses on the bushes all around us. She looks up at me as I enter the area, at first she doesn't seem to recognize me at all. I look at the golden rose she is holding in her hands, I wonder if there is anything wrong with it that might be affecting Asuka. She finally seems to recognize me and holds the rose out to me.

I take the rose and look closely at it, the rose begins glowing with a golden light. I look around the rose room and see that the entrance I entered through is gone, now there is no sign of an exit. I also think it is strange that Asuka has not said a word to me, she has smiled, but not spoken. I speak to her and ask if she is ok, she still doesn't answer, instead she reaches a hand up to me for me to help her up. I do that, asking again if she is ok, she still doesn't answer me. She is still looking at me with a strange look on her face, so now I am wondering if I have definitely found Asuka at all, or if this might be some kind of decoy, so I look closely at her, reaching out to feel her energy… it is definitely Asuka, though there seems to be a bit of unstable energy there. It's Asuka, but something is not right. I open a portal out of the rose room… there is a small amount of resistance to the portal, but nothing I can't handle… and I lead Asuka through into the healing glen. I'm not sure if he knew telepathically or what, but MoSh meets us there in the healing glen. He wants to know if Asuka is ok, I say I think there is something not right, but she should be fine after healing. When the crystal golem comes out I hand the golden rose to him and tell him I think the rose may have something to do with what is wrong with Asuka since I found her holding it. He says he will take a look at it after putting Asuka somewhere comfortable. He takes the rose, which is tiny compared to his huge hand, but he gently lies the rose on the ground before taking Asuka into the healing cave with MoSh following behind.