Lucid Fire

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triaddraykin
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Lucid Fire

Post by triaddraykin » Thu Mar 22, 2018 2:50 am

This is the Dream Journal of Angela Amana.

It used to seem so silly to do this. Why people would want to remember fleeting dreams. Then again, my dreams haven't been pleasant for a long, long time. Not since I woke the dragon in my mind.

It's gone, now. I'm pursuing the very teachings that awoke it from it's primitive, vestigal state: Mindwalking. To even begin to begin, I have to be able to learn to examine my own mind. I can't create a mental space on my own, so I'm using my dreams. They aren't tainted anymore. No more bodies torn apart. Fire and blood aren't a recurring theme. They're just nonsense again. Useless periods of self-delusion, barely worth talking about. I intend to give them purpose. I've come across the notes from Mortimer, how to self-induce Arcane Lucid Dreaming. I plan to examine memories, thought patterns... Relive my own story, and why I am the way I am.

This should be interesting.
Alia: The uncanny knack of Angela Amana to make the otherwise perpetually well-mannered girl lose her temper and be HORRIBLY ASHAMED afterwards.

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Re: Lucid Fire

Post by triaddraykin » Thu Mar 22, 2018 3:50 am

The suicide of Lucien was mentioned in passing the other day, and I've thought of when I witnessed a man kill himself. Darrian Terringale.
A balor is ripped apart by evocational magics, held in place by a giant hand as a man walks despondently by it, bleeding from the gash it dealt him moments ago.

"What are you doing? You're going to get yourself killed, and I can't raise you, Darrian.
"That's the point, Angela. My own daughter loathes me, followed that witch and chose her over her own father. The whole city thinks I'm weak, wants me forgotten. So-"

Whatever else he said is lost in the screams of the devil pack that's spotted him from the peak that still emitted the Light of Benwick. Some, because of the spells already tearing into them, some for the thrill of the hunt.
She's running to catch up to him, looking side to side after she lost sight of him. He should be here. Did he run ahead? There's a creaking noise ahead, a hinge somewhere. Rounding the corner is the door to, "The Crypts. Oh gods damn it all."
Thunderous explosions echoing off of the walls, devil after devil falling as they charge at the mage tearing them down. It was a race to see if the endless spells or endless hordes would win first. She'd left Darrian with a heavy shattered tombstone in his lap, tucked into one of the alcoves so she could tear this horde down without worrying about hitting him.
They'd fallen back, waiting for more to come through the portal to reinforce them. As long as they stayed there, she wasn't trying to reach the portal, just get enough room to drag Darrian out of here without a dozen arrows in her back.

He wasn't underneath the heavy piece of marble she'd left him under. His breastplate was there, though...

She flinched at the twang of bowstrings, and the impacts of arrows on flesh, but didn't feel anything. She heard more impacts, they were behind her. She turned to see Darrian in the middle of the crypt, arms out and welcoming as he still staggered towards the infernal archers, took a third volley, and eall. The victorious cheers of the archers were cut short as hundreds of missiles of force tore into them, unerringly finding them and cutting them down before they could retreat to safety. Somewhere behind them was a woman screaming.
A fragment of a moment, noticing her heavy breathing and the drip of blood from her wounds was the only sounds in the crypt as she looked down at her friend's corpse.
More heavy breathing as she carried him out of the city, the painful strain of the steps sticking in her memories.
Her legs gave out outside the city gates. She laid him down, started removing the arrows. Most of them were limb wounds, it was the negative energy that killed him.
Somehow she found herself trying to restart his heart with small jolts, pouring positive energy into the corpse. Breathing air into his mouth. Pressing on the chest, the stomach. Life energy from the base of his spine to the his crown. She even tried to use one of the Raise scrolls she kept on her, knowing it's magic wouldn't work. Everything she'd ever heard of that might work.
Somehow, he started breathing again. But there was nothing there. It was a breathing, living body, but no soul in it. It was somehow worse this way.
She ran at someone passing by. "Do you have a raise scroll? I have one, I mean, can you use them?"
"I-.. No, my lady, I am a kensai, I do not..."
He stopped as she threw a lens at him, "Go to Bendir, hire a speedy messenger and tell name? Terringale that her father has died, and to return to Benwick's gates. Go! Now!"
name? stood over her father's body as the scroll's magic sank into it. It had died again while she waited, no conjured soul to sustain it. The moment dragged out, and became two. Then three. The corpse lay still. "The soul can choose not to return." she heard herself say.
name? scoffed, "He always was a coward. Why should he come back?"
The rest of the dream-memory, and pieces of it, are lost to time. This is an interesting method of recall. I wonder why the word somehow stood out in my writings.
I could have chosen a happier thing to recall, though.
There's always tomorrow night.
Alia: The uncanny knack of Angela Amana to make the otherwise perpetually well-mannered girl lose her temper and be HORRIBLY ASHAMED afterwards.

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triaddraykin
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Re: Lucid Fire

Post by triaddraykin » Fri May 04, 2018 12:03 am

Observations following my first Layer 4 Mindwalk.
Clarification: Layers 1-3 are defined by passive observation, tangible presence, and impermanent alterations. Layer 4 is making permanent changes with permissive empowerment from the host mind.

Subject: Nes'iat Amana

Reason for procedure: Subject was disoriented and appeared to be suffering memory loss.

Precautions: Anchor established with runic wristbands, with passive observation and emergency extraction properties activated.

Procedure:

Subject accepted mindwalk willingly.

Neutral space of a 'common ground' established, based on a hill subject and practitioner were familiar with from their mutual past. Layer 2 state established. Merging common with mindscape successful.

Mindscape was hurricane-force storm among a forest. A tower was in the distance, with a person standing just out of full perception. No other POIs observed.

Approached person, designated as Entity going forward. Entity was a fragment of Subject, with a mark of Cyric on it's forehead. Upon becoming active at approach, subject's physical body displayed an identical curse mark on brow.

Entity attacked with weapons, Layer 2 state prevented effect. Entity was nonsentient, attacking even when there was no effect.

Gained agreement with subject, transitioned to layer 4 state and encased Entity. Entity disposed of with a shrinking sphere that was dissipated.

Subjects physical curse mark lost wardings. Dispelled successfully by Anchor with a Remove Curse wand.

Mindscape became an unfeatured grassy plain. Entity left behind damaged area. Area walled off. Practitioner left a 'toll booth' filter on the wall, to prevent spread and allow healing.

Transported Subject and Practitioner to common ground and exited mindwalk.

Postulation: The curse displaced Subject's normal personality when triggered to do so, preventing long-term memory formation/retention. Likelihood of this is low, though possible. More likely is that the Entity influenced and disoriented Subject.

Observations: The curse mark was formed with a mental anchor, preventing a normal dissipation by a remove curse. The act of removing the anchor, and further leaving a copy of my own mental fragment within the mind to aid in healing, took an unanticipated amount of power to do so. Efficiency, resistance, or simply that it takes that much, contributed to the amount I'm sure. Personal Library mindscape was heavily disorganized by the sudden discharge, taking an hour of concentrated recovery to 'put the books where they belong' based on pre-established templates. No observable long-term effects.

Conclusion: Subject's behavior was influenced by a clerical curse of Cyric, resulting in personality changes and/or displacement. Curse fully removed, subject's mind will naturally heal with time.
Alia: The uncanny knack of Angela Amana to make the otherwise perpetually well-mannered girl lose her temper and be HORRIBLY ASHAMED afterwards.

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Re: Lucid Fire

Post by triaddraykin » Sun Feb 10, 2019 3:40 am

I'll use this for my visions as well. Easier to keep track of them this way.

Subject: Tho'Lan Amana. Second Uncle, Sun Elf. Known for his rigid demeanor and dependability.

Vision: Involuntary, proximity induced. I haven't been within touching distance of him since the Seer.

Location: Meeting room of the Firasalem Amana Lore-Vault, specialization deific lore, ranked 9th as of this writing. No one outside this family knows what all of that means, so might as well be overspecific to give a hint.

Vision Details: Tho'Lan was a newly sparked innatist, enjoying his minor abilities over fire and electricity, going through the normal phase of showing them off to everyone he could. His toddler sister in particular enjoyed 'clapping the fire' from his hands. This was given as background knowledge of the vision, and I can still hear and remember her laughter as vividly as my own daughter's. When he was bridging a spark from palm to palm, shoulder width, she laughed again and reached out to grab his palms. The electricity went through her instead, and the vision included a window where I saw her heart twitch and stop. She jumped at the odd but painless feeling, still looking at him with delight, then confusion that she felt light, and then she simply slumped against him as if she were suddenly asleep. He thought he'd somehow done a Sleep spell on her, and I felt the panic rise when he considered the possibility she had died from his magic. The vision mercifully cut off the visual and emotional aspects at that point. Further knowledge was granted, that it was determined to be a natural death, that she had a weak heart and that was the end of it. Later inspection found a form where the family requested there not to be further disturbance in the form of an investigation, believing Tho'lan's version that he realized she wasn't breathing at some point while he was telling her a story.

Additional notes: Tho'lan is unusually militaristic and rigid in his personality, something extremely uncommon for innatists, who are generally naturally inclined to freedom of self and choice as a part of their magic's influence. In particular, the misuse of knowledge and magic draws his ire. An example is he put my teenage twin sister and I in the pillories for several hours for playing 'Flare tag'. It's my belief that his guilt over this situation is what has made him so unusually demanding and strict. Additionally, he has long expressed a distrust in diviners, actively avoiding them. Perhaps this very situation is what he wanted to avoid. I still need to decide if I'm going to speak with him on the matter, or let it be.
Alia: The uncanny knack of Angela Amana to make the otherwise perpetually well-mannered girl lose her temper and be HORRIBLY ASHAMED afterwards.

Who on the Team to PM and When
Public Tower Discord
Tower Library
Scroll, Wand, & Potion Costs

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