New Dream Adventures of Raven Knight

2017, 08-29

Game of Dreams – Mountain Fortress

I am riding on a horse. I am Catelyn. I am riding with a small group of people into the mountains. Right now we are hiding. One of our people spotted horse riders heading our way. There are roving bands of bandits around here. We have already lost a couple people to them. We don't want to meet another attack. I can see Tyrion Lannister nearby. He is sharpening an axe. We are waiting with trepidation for the riders to arrive. I am hoping they pass us by, but I don't know how much chance there is of that. Then one of our people calls out. He has cited a banner being flown by the riders. It is the sigil of my sister’s house. These are not enemies. I am relieved. One of the visitors is my uncle. He has the symbol of the black fish on his cloak. He says we should've let them know we were coming so they could meet us with an escort. He says it's very dangerous on the roads. I say yeah we found out the hard way. He is here to escort us the rest of the way. He has about 12 people with him.

We proceed into the valley. We passed through gate that is guarded, but the guard lets us right through. We continue down into the valley, and I look back to see Tyrion riding right next to Braun, one of those sell swords, and feel suspicious. I know he didn't try to kill my son, but he might still be up to something. Now I have to clean up the mess that Catelyn has made while I was away. I know that tear Tyrion is innocent, but she wasn't convinced. I talk to my uncle about what happened. I tell him about my son’s fall, about the attempted murder that I interrupted, and about how someone is trying to set Tyrian up. I tell him that we made like we were taking him prisoner so that maybe the actual perpetrator would feel complacent and get careless. He thinks my tale is rather strange. He says that's not what my letter said. I tell him that I did not want anyone to possibly intercept that letter. So we have had to behave as if Tyrion was our prisoner.

Soon we reach a gate house at the base of a mountain. Most of our group stays down below. However, my sister has requested that I come up immediately. It is night time now, and that is a dangerous climb at night. A girl says that she has made the trip up the mountain many times in the dark. We will ride mules. We take the mules most of the way. We make our way up the mountain at a slow but steady pace. The girl and I have some small talk, but nothing really important. We finally get to the farthest point where the mules can go no farther. Now there is a steep climb that is more like a stone ladder instead of a stair. The last part has to be done on foot, or to ride up in a basket that is used to raise goods and supplies. I remember earlier Tyrion said he has his pride and therefore would not ride up with the turnips. That seems silly to me. I say I have more sense than Tyrion, and since I’m tired I will ride up in a basket.

I am lifted up to the top where there is a castle. They take me to see my sister. At first she seems happy to see me, and give me a big hug. She's a bit chubbier than I remember. But as soon as we are alone, she starts yelling at me for bringing Tyrion to her castle. She says she didn't want to get involved with the Lannister's. I told her she's not going to be able to avoid them. She says no one can get in the Eyrie. As she was yelling she woke a child in the next room. A little boy comes out asking what's going on. This is the new ward of the Eyrie? He's only six years old. I try to talk sense to my sister about preparing for a possible war. The kid gets scared. My sister is coddling him. To my surprise, my sister pulls her nightclothes down over one breast, and the six-year-old boy begins to nurse. What the fuck? My three-year-old no longer nurses! It is all I can do not to say something. But I don't want to make things with my Lysa even worse. The boy asks if Tyrion is a bad person. My sister says he is. I say someone is setting him up, he didn’t do anything. Lysa ignores me. The boy asks if we can make TTTLY. She says that might be just what we do. I am feeling a bit annoyed at her now.

2017, 08-28

Game of Dreams – Cats and Monsters

Arya: I am playing a game of virtual reality Assassins Creed, or that's what I think of it as. The current mission is to catch cats. There are a lot of stray cat some various kinds around, and I'm supposed to catch them. The place that I’m at looks kind of like a Medieval castle. There are a lot of outside courtyards, towers, buildings, and it's almost like a maze. I am chasing the final cat. I have taken all of the other cats to see my teacher, and now I am chasing the final cat. A mean looking Tom cat. I have him cornered. I get hissed at. He tries to dart past me, but I am faster. I catch the cat, pick him up in my arms as he struggling and yowling and hissing. I gave him a kiss right on his fuzzy face. He does not appreciate it. There are some people that have found me. There are two guards, a stern looking woman, a little boy, and a young girl who asks what I am doing to the cat. Maybe I have wandered into an area where I shouldn’t be. I tell the truth, or part of it. I say I am cuddling the cat. I let the cat go and he takes off, pausing to give me one more hiss as he goes.

From how they speak to me, these people think I am just a random beggar child. I take advantage of that, and make a break for it. With some tricky moves, I get past the guards and knock the boy down as I am trying to get away. I jump over him and run down the pathway. I hear the guards closing in behind me, so I jump up and grab a windowsill and pull myself in through the window. They cannot follow. I think there may be another way they can follow, so I keep going. I run through courtyards, upstairs, downstairs, and in through a window into a really dark cellar. I am completely lost by now. There are skulls here in the cellar, I see them as my eyes adjust the dark. The skulls are huge and menacing. I have a brief flash of fear when I first see them, but then I remind myself they're already dead. They can't hurt me. But I do need to get out of here.

I go out the door in the far side of the room, and it's even darker in the hall. I make feel my way down the hall until I hear voices. I see a light coming out of a hole in the ground. There's a stairway there that leads deep beneath the castle. Two men come out of the hole, and I make sure I'm flat against the wall so they won't see me. They are talking. One of them is a really fat guy and I think I know who he is. I don’t recognize the other. The fat guy wants to stall for time before there is a war. The other tells him to just speed things up, he should be able to, he is a wizard. They start talking about a murder. I hear them talk about the Kings Hand dying... that’s my father! They want to kill my father. They head off down the hall, missing me completely, now talking about what sounds like slave children. I need to find a way out, so I follow them. I stay too far back to hear their voices. Eventually I lose them completely. I keep following the tunnel, and it turns into a sewer. I'm wading in sewage when I finally find my way to the outside. I stink worse than anything I can think of. So I take off my clothes and try to wash up in the river near the exit. I don't want to alert everyone 10 miles away that I'm coming. I am swimming when I wake.