Nymeria's Dreams
Nymeria's dreams brought on by her connection to Ianna's spirit.
Nymeria; your dreams this night are restless and meandering. Through a stream of consciousness flashes one subconscious memory after another, you eventually find yourself standing in the middle of a familiar dirt road, out front of the farmhouse you grew up in.Have Nymeria describe what her hometown is like.
Stars hang overhead, a cloudless sky allowing moonlight to bathe the town in a gloomy blue. The street is unsettlingly empty, absent the typical day-to-day bustle of the small Quorel'hrim farming village. In spite of the lack of other people, you can hear the sounds of a thriving community. You hear the unmistakable sound of a hammer striking an anvil somewhere to the west, shouting from the village center to the east, and the clucking of chickens from your family's barn behind you. Beneath all of that, you hear someone humming a soft tune, but you can't quite make out which direction it comes from.Allow her to move through her dreamscape. There are encounters if she heads west toward the blacksmith shop, east toward the town center, back into her family's farmhouse, or straight down the road toward the end of town. In every case, Nymeria encounters Ianna at various ages. Her face resembles Nymeria's but with softer, less detailed features, as if she were a painting of Nymeria by an apprentice artist. She has long, straight blonde hair and a faint radiant aura surrounding her. The aura creates a comforting warmth to anyone that moves close enough to her. Her eyes always have an intensity to them, like she's sizing you up to determine if you are a threat. Nymeria can interrupt any of the situations below and attempt to talk to Ianna or interact with her. If Ianna grabs Nymeria, the latter is transported into Ianna's memories, which can be described as follows:
You feel a sudden intense softness surrounding you on all sides, like a giant hand made out of pillows has wrapped itself around you and is attempting to tighten its pillow-y grip on your body. You feel your form yanked forward as your vision goes white.In all situations, should Nymeria be particularly perceptive, she will notice a shadowy standing off to the side of whatever Ianna is doing, watching her. This is Ianna's memory of Kaszith, a Lord of the Nine Hells she fought during the Drow War. He appears as a silhouette with red eyes, horns jutting out of his head, and wisps of black smoke coming off him, as if his shadow were on fire. Should Nymeria attempt to approach the shadow, Ianna will immediately reach out to try and stop her, triggering one of Ianna's memories.
The Barn
You follow the sounds of clucking chickens until you reach the fenced-in front of your family's barn, where you encounter a young blonde-haired girl standing in the chicken pen, crouched down as several chickens peck at her open palm.Upon closer inspection, Nymeria will notice Ianna has tears streaking her face. In her other hand, she clutches an axe between her fingers. After a little while feeding the chickens, Ianna will grab one by the neck and stand up, then slowly make her way toward a stump at the other end of the pen. She will lay the chicken down, look back at Kaszith, then in one quick chop will cut off the chicken's head and Nymeria will wake up. Try to use this situation to get Nymeria to roleplay her childhood and how she felt about being raised to do farm work.
The Blacksmith
As you turn off the main road and head to the west end of town, the rhythmic clanking of the hammer-on-anvil grows louder. You find yourself standing in front of the blacksmith's shop, watching a blonde-haired girl in her late teens standing beside an anvil, hammering a glowing sword against its face.
The Village Center
You duck down an alleyway you've used countless times growing up, when you wanted to beat your brother in a race to the village center. As you get closer, one by the one the chorus of voices you heard shouting in that direction go quiet. Emerging from the other end of the alley, you find the village center as empty as the rest of the town, save for a blonde-haired woman in her late 20's standing on a wooden crate and shouting very animatedly.
The Edge of Town
As you walk down that familiar road you've walked countless times before, that gentle humming increases in volume. The ethereal sound compels you to keep moving until you start nearing the edge of the village. In the distance, you make out a blonde-haired, middle aged woman standing in the middle of the road and looking in your direction.
Plot points/Scenes
Battle Dream
As you take her by the hand, you feel a sudden wrenching of your body, as if you're being forcefully turned around. When your vision readjusts, you gaze down at a battlefield bathed in red light. The sky is a starless crimson with dark, thundering clouds breaking up the deep red panoply. All around you are flights of six-winged angelic warriors, each clad in ornate silver armor, their faces masked by plated helms festooned with winged crests. They wield spears, axes, longswords, and other weapons that shine with a radiant brilliance, stabbing and swiping at legions of fiendish enemies and nightmare creatures swarming across the battlefield. These warriors block oncoming devil attacks with glittering golden shields emblazoned with the emblem of a radiant sun. As you take in the sights, you hear the shriek of a fiend nearby, turning to see an impish warrior swinging in your direction with his wicked bastard sword. [give her a chance to react] Looking down at yourself, you find you are clad in the same armor as the warriors doing battle around you, a shining, bloodstained longsword gripped in your right hand. You also notice legions of dwarves, elves, orcs, and other mortal races engaged in brutal combat both with the angels and the devils. Massive dragons circle overhead, blasting gouts of flame, lightning, and other elemental magics into the pandemonium below. A familiar voice rings out to your left, catching your attention, "Ianna! Cover my right!" You look to your left toward [Kydemónash] a masculine angel, garbed in gold armor and wielding a flaming sword, as he slashes a long arc through a horde of devils, scattering them to ash in the wind. He's pointing to his right, where in the distance a full company of devil soldiers are fast approaching, while [Glasya'labolas] a massive armored pit fiend wielding a massive morningstar, bellows commands to the oncoming horde. His words are hard to make out in your fugue-like dream state, (DC 21 Perception check) though you think you hear the name Asmodeus.If she moves to assist...
As you fly forward to aid your fellow warrior, you are stopped by a sudden sharp pain and a warmth below your right breast, followed by a tug from behind you. Looking down, you see a long, curved sickle, sparking with blue lightning, jutting out of your belly just below your ribcage. You feel the warm rush of blood spilling from the gash in your midsection and can feel the electricity from the weapon sending sparks through your metal armor. You hear a wicked chuckle from behind you, one you've heard in your nightmares countless times before. Before you can turn your head to witness your attacker, the weapon arcs upward and you wake up in a cold sweat. [You turn to gaze into the face of [Kaszith] before he yanks his weapon upward and you awake in a cold sweat.]If she turns before moving...
(DC 21 Dexterity saving throw) If she fails the saving throw, she is still impaled by Kazsith's sickle and awakes. If she succeeds: You turn just in time to block the swipe of [Kazsith's] menacing-looking sickle, a crack of thunder ringing across the battlefield as lightning arcs off the weapon and into the blood red sky. The arch devil behind you, his embroidered jet black armor barely stained by the carnage below, two massive bat-like wings flapping to keep him aloft, brings the sickle back to his side. [Kazsith] smirks as he comments, "As nimble as you are beautiful." He sneers and adds, "You Exotar are a real pain in my side. Speaking of which." (DC 21 Dexterity saving throw) Before you can react, you feel a blunt impact dent the armor on your left side before you feel the flesh at your hip punctured by a curved stinger. You look down and see a massive scorpion tail impaled through your armor, the other end attached to the devil in front of you. (DC 21 Constitution saving throw)If she fails...
You feel every muscle in your body seize up at once, your form going rigid, your wings ceasing their flapping. Your body plummets to the ground, but you barely feel the impact on the dirt, as hard as it is being packed down by the boots of countless warriors. It seems the nerve relays to your extremities paralyzed by the devil's venom. You watch the teeming hordes of devils overtake [Kydemónash], listen to his cries as he is hacked to pieces. A hoof hits the ground directly in front of your face before you are suddenly jolted awake in a cold sweat.If she resists...
You let out a cry of defiance and your form seems to glow a radiant white, whatever poison the stinger contained being burned away by your willpower. [Kazsith] glares at you with a mixed look of shock and disgust, (start here if she succeeds the previous Dexterity saving throw) unable to react before you swing your sword across his tail, severing the limb from its stinger. The archdevil cries out and falls back, cursing at you before disappearing in a shimmer of magical energy. You turn to face the diabolic hordes rushing [Kydemónash], hilt of your sword now firmly gripped and ready to do battle.
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