Reckonings: The Overlook

[Nathan of the FoS]

Ah, man, you didn't!

I'm not talking about the sword; that'll be kinda scary for all concerned, including the Nightmare Court (in Ezra they may have hooked a bigger fish than they can land...) but you gets what you pays for, and it will definitely make things more exiciting.

No, I mean Davion the Mad. It's not him, is it? Please? (Oh, the ignominy! Hijacked by one of Ravenloft's cheeziest darklords!)

By the way, you'll see from this last post that Peregrine's not doing more to comfort Mme. d'Honaire (whose first name entirely escapes me at this early hour--Marta?) was not because of my obtuseness in figuring out what the Sword was talking about; it's because Peregrine has Intimacy Issues. In a big, big way.

Only one more important flashback for Peregrine, BTW. In which we discover why this particular memory is one he doesn't care to recall.

[Nathan of the FoS]

So I can see this going generally one of three ways, wrt Peregrine's falling asleep:

A) The sword has been staving off Peregrine's need to sleep since he's had it. Ergo, Peregrine should immediately start making massive saves to avoid falling asleep to catch up.

B) The sword has been replacing Peregrine's need for sleep as needed. Ergo, Peregrine will begin feeling sleepy at the normal time, and if he resists sleep he has to make in creasing saves at the normal times.

C) The sword keeps Peregrine's sleep-wake cycle set at "0." Ergo, Peregrine now has a full 16 hours of wakefulness before he starts to feel sleepy, and thereafter make increasing saves for resisting as needed.

I think the ability implies B), although A) (unfortunately) is more appropriate for the way I've been playing the ability. (Peregrine still wants to sleep at night, because that's what he's used to, and staying awake all night is really psychologically wearing--being alone in the dark all that time...)

Actually, I guess that fits pretty well with B, too. So A or B would both be appropriate, although I think B is a better fit.

[DeepShadow of FoS]

No, I mean Davion the Mad. It's not him, is it? Please? (Oh, the ignominy! Hijacked by one of Ravenloft's cheeziest darklords!)

Not at all. The FoS needs more smilies is all. I chose one that seemed appropriate for a character who was mad. FWIW, this smily is appropriate to what just happened in one other way...but we'll wait on that for the moment.

[Nathan of the FoS]

No, I mean Davion the Mad. It's not him, is it? Please? (Oh, the ignominy! Hijacked by one of Ravenloft's cheeziest darklords!)

Not at all. The FoS needs more smilies is all. I chose one that seemed appropriate for a character who was mad. FWIW, this smily is appropriate to what just happened in one other way...but we'll wait on that for the moment.

*sigh* Well, the worst is averted, then. I guess that the personality switch thing (can you call it a personality switch when you have two souls in one body?) is probably what's up. I guess we'll discover who the other fellow is soon enough...

Wait a second. Aren't there six members of the Nightmare Court?...

EDIT: So, there are six. Could Hypnos be "inside" Peregrine, or is it just that he's...er...different, and hence unable to attend?

And why would Peregrine be especially useful to Mullonga? Man, I wish I had The Nightmare Lands boxed set.

EDIT EDIT: Mullonga=dreams of fear. Well. There you go.

[DeepShadow of FoS]

Wait a second. Aren't there six members of the Nightmare Court?...

Oops, I'll fix that.

[Nathan of the FoS]

Wait a second. Aren't there six members of the Nightmare Court?...

Oops, I'll fix that.

By recruiting Peregrine?...

Okay, so let's say Hypnos is incorporated into Peregrine and is preventing Peregrine from "healing" by subliminal feelings of guilt (which fits both with Hypnos' MO and Peregrine's internal feelings as I've depicted them, as nice a piece of ex post facto fitting a scenario to a player's actions as I've ever seen, if I'm right on this point).

Wow.

That fits with what you mentioned about killing Peregrine=killing a darklord, too.

So...what would Hypnos do, if he had a body? Things that would ensure his "host" would remain full of guilty feelings and easy to exploit?

The outlines of a truly dismal scene begin to make themselves apparent...

[DeepShadow of FoS]

Wait a second. Aren't there six members of the Nightmare Court?...

Oops, I'll fix that.

By recruiting Peregrine?...

No, silly, by fixing my math in the cut scene.

Okay, so let's say Hypnos is incorporated into Peregrine and is preventing Peregrine from "healing" by subliminal feelings of guilt (which fits both with Hypnos' MO and Peregrine's internal feelings as I've depicted them, as nice a piece of ex post facto fitting a scenario to a player's actions as I've ever seen, if I'm right on this point).

The Ghost Dancer is Guilt. Hypnos is inadequacy and incompetence.

Wow.

Wow indeed, you've got quite an imagination. The real thing is much worse, though.

That fits with what you mentioned about killing Peregrine=killing a darklord, too.

It does, doesn't it?

The outlines of a truly dismal scene begin to make themselves apparent...

Which can only become more dismal as you find out what's really going on here.

[Nathan of the FoS]

The Ghost Dancer is Guilt. Hypnos is inadequacy and incompetence.

Dabnabbit. I can never keep the Nightmare Court straight.

Wow indeed, you've got quite an imagination. The real thing is much worse, though.

....Much worse?...

Which can only become more dismal as you find out what's really going on here.

Oh, you're just saying that to cheer me up.

[Nathan of the FoS]

BTW, Hypnos=Ryven Trylbane?

[MatthiasStormcrow]

Oh man, you're screwed. That much, even I can tell.

I will add that I have absolutely no theories as to what's going on at the moment, and I clearly need to go read up on the Nightmare Court again.

edit: Hey, so about not having any theories about stuff, I lied, I just had a thought. If you were the Nightmare Court, how would you make use of a Scion/Son/Clone/Passable Fake of Vecna? Y'know, Vecna, the guy with the abilities to ferret out basically *anyone's* secrets? Just sayin'.

[Le Noir Faineant]

Just saying...

If we kill Peregrine, half of the Core dissolves...

[DeepShadow of FoS]

BTW, Hypnos=Ryven Trylbane?

Man, is there any obscure reference I can hide from you?!

Yes, I was thinking of Ryven when I did that, though it wasn't a deliberate homage.

[DeepShadow of FoS]

Oh man, you're screwed. That much, even I can tell.

Says the man with four soon-to-sink ships full of diseased druggies.

Seriously, I've got Malign Paradigm Shifts for everyone, but I prefer to save them for when the players are around. I think Cortez is up next.

Anders is back in the running, as he has a player again. I might not actually be able to hold Ciera's off much longer, so I'm hoping LV can make it back.

[Nathan of the FoS]

Y'know, the more I think about it, the more it seems to me that the wish just made by the Nightmare Court is going to work to their detriment, and pretty quickly. (It is almost certain to be really, really detrimental to Peregrine, and by extension everyone else, very quickly; but that's a rather different kettle of fish.)

I don't know what a dream servant can do, or how many dreams he can operate in at once, so I don't know how much mileage the NC will get out of the Wayfarer; I'm guessing it's quite a bit. But their short-term gain will, I think, quickly be offset by the changes they've made in the balance of power. I have the suspicion that they will not be the principal beneficiaries of Peregrine's losing control over himself; a lot has changed (things Peregrine himself doesn't know consciously, and that the Nightmare Court will have had little or no opportunity to learn) since he left the Nightmare Lands, and controlling his dream-self may get them quite a bit less mileage than they expect. (The truth is much, much worse...)

The other unintended consequence of their action is that they have seriously antagonized Ezra--a personage whose power over dreams and visions is (probably?) not influenced by their own, who has massive institutional resources available to her, and who knows at least as much as Peregrine does about the Nightmare Lands. Not only have they taken a course of action which pretty much demands a strong response, they have also brought one of Ezra's most powerful agents to the scene!

The Sword of Ezra may not be able to do them much harm, if they're careful and canny, but anyone (especially they themselves) even picking it up is dangerous for them. Can they secure it well enough to prevent it from working against them? (They may not know it, but they were very lucky indeed that they didn't choose to bring the Sword to them while the cathedral was still full of their minions; it might have destroyed a significant fraction of their strength then and there.)

Crazy stuff.

Anybody have any caffeine, btw?

[MatthiasStormcrow]

I'm sure the Nightwalkers probably have some delightful substance with only minor side-effects they could fix you up with....

As for the Wish, yeah, I can definitely see the wish working out poorly for them in the long run, but how is that a surprise? It's a Wish, in Ravenloft no less. Look at how well Tessius's wish worked out, after all...and that was just the first one of what looks to be a chain of disastrous wishes.

Seriously, I've got Malign Paradigm Shifts for everyone

I think the fact that you've got malign paradigm shifts lined up for everyone is probably at least as scary as the malign paradigm shifts themselves...