(open) rough seas will be calm

[scythegun]

WHO: Jaeger (eventually) and you!
WHERE: Dreamscapes.
WHEN: 8/25.
WHAT: Dreamdives!
WARNINGS: Suicidal implications, threads are warned accordingly.

[You find yourself on a grassy plain. It's nighttime, and while this whole thing is probably incredibly surreal, the scenery is at least peaceful. You can see a dark building ahead of you.

If you look behind you, you'll notice that there's a large, thick forest. Listening for a moment will tell you that there's plenty of wildlife there, and it doesn't sound happy to see you. It's probably not a good idea to head that direction. But hey, if you really want to, there's nothing stopping you.

If you choose to approach the building, you'll hear the distant sound of waves crashing, but otherwise all is silent. It would almost be serene, if not for the ominous look of the building. It appears to be a very large manor. There are plenty of lights on inside despite the late hour, which gives you a little more light to see the building itself. For some reason there are massive chains decorating the left side of the building that don't actually seem to be there for any specific purpose, and above that are flags for... some reason. The whole thing is kind of an experience, and the gloomy atmosphere and isolated nature of the house probably aren't doing much to make you feel at ease.

Since the manor is most likely where you're headed, you might want to get a bit closer to the front door to check it out. Be careful, though - you won't be able to get too close without two guards spotting you. They're dressed in yellow uniforms complete with masks that hide the upper halves of their faces. They don't exactly look friendly; one of them has a crossbow in hand and the other has some kind of large daggers that look like they're attached to the back of his hands.

You'll find that there's a solid wall around the perimeter of the manor; you can hide here for a moment if you'd like. Climbing over the wall seems to be out of the question given the height of it and the spikes on top.

How do you want to proceed?]

Comments

[thesettingsun]

I was probably too busy running from the monsters to realize I missed Dahngrest.

[That seems like a sensible thing to do with regards to monsters.]

How long have you been working here?

[scythegun]

A while now.

[...That seems to be all he has to say on the subject, apparently.]

[thesettingsun]

[Huh. Rather than let things fade into awkward silence:]

What's your name? I'm Shuji. [One name because we're in the fantasy land of one name only.] Thank you again for letting me stay here, I really appreciate it.

[scythegun]

[Before the guard can respond, his partner comes out with a folded up blanket and a pillow. They actually look surprisingly comfy?? He hands them off to the first guard, who takes them over to you. The other guard's still got his crossbow at the ready in case there's any foul play, of course.]

Here. And uh, don't mention it.

[thesettingsun]

[They do look surprisingly comfy! Shuji accepts them with another 'thanks', then goes to set up his pillow and blanket a little further away. Still directly in front of the door so they can see there's no funny business.]

Goodnight!

[And he's climbing into 'bed'... on the bare ground... well, it's not like he was going to actually fall asleep anyway. He has enough trouble with that in an actual bed.]

[scythegun]

[They'll leave you alone and go back to... just sort of standing there, honestly. They're not outright ignoring you, but they're not paying super close attention to you anymore either.

So now what?]

[thesettingsun]

[Well obviously he can't mess with these guards? They got him a blanket and a pillow and let him stay, these guards are good.

But logically, they should have to trade shifts at some point with some other guards who probably look exactly the same. He can mess with those guards.

[scythegun]

[That's very true! You'll have to wait for a few minutes, but thankfully it won't be too long before a pair of identical guards show up. They talk for a moment in hushed tones, and the new guards look over in your direction before staring back at the other two like "dude, really" but eventually they'll trade places. The two guards you confronted head back inside the manor and you're left with two new guys.]

[thesettingsun]

[Excellent. Shuji waits a few minutes more so it isn't so obvious he was waiting for the new guards, then tosses and turns a bit before sitting up.]

I guess I can't really sleep like that... And the guards were so nice to me too.

[He looks over at the identical guards. Reactions to him being awake?]

[scythegun]

[The new guards watch him warily, but don't speak up. Like the previous two, one of them has knives and the other has a crossbow. They aren't trying to pick a fight or anything, but it's obvious they're more jumpy than the previous two.]

[thesettingsun]

[That's fair. Shuji will approach them slowly, hands in the air again to show that nope, still got no weapons.]

Sorry, I guess you're stuck with me until the morning? I hate to be a bother...

[How close can he get before one of them shanks him.]

[scythegun]

[The guard with the knives is standing a bit further from the door, he's closer to you while the other guard is on the left side of the door. You can't get super close to the first guard without him tensing and readying those knives while the guy behind him prepares his crossbow.]

What are you trying to do?

[...With that said, considering the size of your scythe, you are probably within scythe-range.]

[thesettingsun]

The ground's pretty uncomfortable, I was thinking I'd just stand? Maybe make small talk to pass the time? Or I could just read a book until morning, I guess...

[Shuji's book sticks visibly out of his satchel for ease of grabbing, so hopefully when he picks it up the guard will think he's going for the aforementioned book and not a weapon.]

[scythegun]

[They're still on-edge, but they don't see the book as any more of a threat than anything else Shuji's done so far.]

You can read if you want, just back away from the door.

[thesettingsun]

Thank you. Sorry again for all this.

[...because now he transforms his book into the scythe - which is basically instantaneous - and attempts to whack the one guard on the back of the head.

He doesn't want to kill him, just knock him out. This guard probably has a mental construct family? Metaphorical kids?]

[scythegun]

[The first guard barely has time to react to the scythe before it's being brought down on the back of his head. He's out like a light, good job!

Unfortunately, the second guard is already firing crossbow bolts at you, so have fun with that. His aim's pretty good, and he can fire three shots before he needs to reload, so you'll have a moment to approach, assuming you can avoid the bolts!]

[thesettingsun]

[That is good aim, and Shuji doesn't have any confidence in his ability to avoid the bolts. He does have confidence that his satchel contains a generous amount of ink he can heal himself with, so he's going to let those shots hit him in nonvital areas in order to get close enough to whack.

He'll get ink all over his clothes, but they're dream clothes, it's fine.]

[scythegun]

[The ink actually gets the guard to pause and he has no damn idea what to do with that. He'll back up a bit as Shuji gets closer, but there isn't really anywhere for him to go and his only weapon's the crossbow, so you shouldn't have any trouble taking him out.]

[thesettingsun]

[Another whack to the back of the head!]

I really am sorry about this.

[When the other guard is out, Shuji will untransform his scythe and put it back in his satchel, then take out some ink to drink... he hadn't even considered if his ink healing wouldn't work here, um.]

[scythegun]

[As long as Jaeger knows about it, it's fine! You can drink your ink and heal back up, don't worry.

While you're over here near the door, you'll notice that it's very quiet. It doesn't sound like there's anyone on the other side of the door.]

[thesettingsun]

[That's weird. Guess it's not a very busy headquarters.

With the ink put away, Shuji will open the door and slip inside.]

[scythegun]

[You'll enter into a large room that's sparsely decorated. The decorations all look fancy and extravagant, the sort of things that make the place feel more like a manor than the base of operations of a shady guild. The place strikes a weird balance of not looking brand-new, but not looking like it's been lived-in either. This is the sort of thing you're looking at, there's a lot of open space and... no one about, actually.

To your left there's a small alcove that you can check out if you want. To your right there's a hallway that bends and seems to lead further back into the manor.

The strangest thing is that straight ahead... looks incomplete, somehow. You can look up and see that there's an upstairs and that there's a railing to prevent anyone from falling down, but that railing stops at one point in front of you. There's probably supposed to be stairs there, actually? But there definitely aren't any stairs there.

Where to now?]

[thesettingsun]

[Well, at least he doesn't have to worry about somebody immediately yelling at him for not being supposed to be here.

Since the right seems to lead further back, let's check out the alcove first. It's more efficient to search the whole place that way.]

[scythegun]

[There isn't much over here, really - more of the fancy decorations and... strangely enough there are some boxes and crates that don't look unpacked. There are also some pots that just... have swords in them. As you do???]

[thesettingsun]

[As you do.

Shuji doesn't feel right about searching past-Jaeger's stuff, but...]

If you live here, you really should get around to unpacking your personal effects. It's your home, you know?

[He doesn't know if Jaeger can hear him, but he has to say it.

Alright, now it's time to head down the hallway.]