PbP – Viktoria’s Plight An SOS has been received from Lionel Richie Richard and Mittens. It would seem that Viktoria is in trouble. Will some brave adventurers come to her aid? Will Vraela’s love be saved?
PC’s: Hanna, Vraela, Rig, Theila, Elghinn, Indr
DM: Rasz
So, Salem, you asked what it was like…. well let me tell you a story of nightmare realms and weird illusions. It all began when….
Hanna and Vraela: Hey, a friend of ours who is a little bit creepy seems to be in a lot of trouble. Who is willing to help us help them?
Indr: Alright, that sounds like the usual fair for me, I’m in.
Elghinn: a little bit high Sure why not.
Rig: Evil to slay? Rig there too.
Theila: CAN I COME?
And so we foolishly set off to find Viktoria, a magic user known for taking people apart and putting them back together again. Along the way we stayed at the house of some of the farmers that had become friends with this person by being their temporary victims. They weren’t home so we tried not to disturb anything… then we got to the cave home of this Viktoria and her friends Richard and Mittens. Richard was only about 4/5ths still there, having had his hand turned into naught but a skeleton hand still working the same as ever.
Richard: Hey, Viktoria was trying out a new experiment and it made a void bubble that sucked everyone but Mittens and I inside while we were preparing for a party. Mittens went to drop off the message for help and then went inside too, I think he could use a hand.
Indr: stares at the man Are we sure he is alright to leave alone?
HanVraela: Maybe.
Indr: Do I absolutely need to be doing this crazy thing or do you have another idea?
Richard: Yes you need to go in.
Indr: Richard, there better be pumpkin pie at this party when I get out of there. places a Strahd mask upon her face and steps into the void
Whole Party: DID SHE JUST…..
After that bit, everyone else followed me into the nightmare zone. It was dark, full of terrors, and began with a spooky forest.
But not just any spooky forest with eyes eternally watching us…. it was a spooky forest where a second Elghinn was about to hang a second Vraela for being a maleficar. As many of the group rushed to find a way to stop the execution and figure out what was going on, Vraela and I saw through the illusion.
That was how it went for a while, nightmares based on the people we were looking for being acted out by tortured puppets of an enigmatic being we never got to meet. In the woods we were waylaid by shadow creatures that took the forms of our fears. Thankfully they did not use the powers of the creatures they pretended to be to our eyes. Theila in particular saw them as the aberrations that laid waste to her home plane and none of the stories of those creatures make me wish to face them.
Theila: Spooky Scary Tentacles send shivers down my spine.
Indr: Whatever they are, they’re not real.
Spooks: We’re real enough to kill you
Party crushes them completely
Indr: See…. not real at all.
Thankfully it wasn’t too much of a fight to knock down the face swapping frauds and we delved deeper into the nightmare. At one point we found a fake version of Richard ripping a fake Mittens apart but we quickly saw passed the illusion. Growing somewhat impatient with the place’s weird rules we tried to take a rest but found time only sort of worked there. Instead, we wearily approached a large castle worthy of the mask I was wearing and the voice it was making me use.
Inside we found the real versions of some of those caught in the initial blast. Viktoria was oddly bonded to a separate being that is not the controller of this nightmare realm and two of the farmers moved as if devoid of any emotion or thought. We convinced Viktoria to work with us by appealing to her concern over Mittens but had to leave because the effects of the place were wearing us thin.
For those that try to go back to this place, heed my warning: bring potions.