[IC] Lost in Dreams [Gabriel]

[ericthered]

Gabriel Baxter slept well that night. That was rare in and of itself, but he had one of his precious dreams ... a clue in his quest. Interpreting the dream...

He dreamed of magic, and of myth, of creatures attacking each other with fire, flung stones, bolts of lights, and glowing weapons. They had all sorts of shapes, but each was some sort of distorted natural creature: rats, spiders, lizards, birds, horses, and even humans.

He dreamed of cities, dwelling on the edge of the wild, paying homage to ... forces. Gods, in the classic sense, though some would call them Wizards, Spirits, Demons, or Forces. And Dragons.

One city was strange though: it was ringed about with iron fences, and it grew a strange crop of grass to armour its warriors, who fought against the monsters of this land, who could not peirce the armor ... until they faced dragons, who burned the city to the ground.

Gabriel woke up in a field of grass, with smoke filling his nostrils, strange in the grass. It did not take him long to recognize the grass ... it was the crop from his dreams.

[genin]

Gabriel assumes that he has had a "false awakening" and is, in fact, still dreaming.

He will look around.

If nothing more interesting presents itself, he will stoop and examine the grass more closely.

[ericthered]

Over to the east (judging by the sun) is the burned wreck of a village. There is no one in sight, but he's at the bottom of a hill, so he can't see much.

The grass is about three feet tall, and inch wide, and covered with fairly stiff serations. Its currently quite green.

[genin]

Looking more closely at the grass, Gabriel finds himself perplexed.

Ordinarily dreams lack the vivid details that he is currently experiencing. There isn't usually such an intricacy to textures, for one thing. Gabriel doesn't believe that he is smart enough to concoct all of the myriad sensations that he is perceiving; the smell of smoke, the grass swaying gently, the warmth of the sun on his skin, etc.

What could be happening? A lucid dream? Plausible, but it still doesn't explain the depth of detail.

He asks himself, "Am I dreaming?"

[OOC: please roll for me vs. IQ or Fortune Telling (Dream Interpretation) or whatever relevant skill to determine if Gabriel believes he is dreaming or not]

If he concludes that he is not dreaming, Gabriel will come to believe that he is having a visionary experience of the type that he has read about from Jung.

[ericthered]

Gabriel finds this dream like none he's had before. He rather doubts that he is, at least in the traditional sense. For one, he can think more clearly than usual.

For another, all of senses are giving meaningful input.

[genin]

So, Gabriel will conclude that he is potentially experiencing some type of Jungian vision. If that is the case, he wishes to commune with both his own Anima and also Psyche, the embodiment of the human soul and collective unconscious.

He will begin by heading toward the burned village. He will be very attentive to his surroundings and constantly wondering what they might signify about his unconscious mind.

[ericthered]

Smoke is still rising from it, though most of the buildings are burned. No one seems to be moving, though several corpses are in it, smoldering themselves. Whoever burned it must have been quite thorough: There are multiple sources and every singling building is on fire.

[genin]

Gabriel doesn't believe that this is real, otherwise he would search for survivors immediately.

Instead, he will contemplate what the burned village might mean about his unconscious mind. Is some part of him destroyed/devastated? What does it mean that dragons were attacking this village? Maybe one part of his mind is opposed to another part? Gabriel's initial hypothesis is that his lustful thoughts (represented by the dragons) have (symbolically) overwhelmed his professional ethics (as represented by the village ringed with iron fences). Is this a vision of the damage that could happen to his life if he is discovered violating his professional obligations?

While musing such thoughts, Gabriel slowly walks through the smoldering ruins looking for survivors. (He won't put himself in danger from the flames while doing so, unless he sees someone still alive).

[ericthered]

He doesn't find survivors, but he does find more corpses and the possessions of the victims: Farm implements, knives, small dolls, stores of grain (half burned), clothing, and so forth. Animals seem to have been as thoroughly killed as the people.

[genin]

Gabriel is disturbed by the carnage, but it's certainly no worse than what he's read about in Jung. Apparently Psyche once instructed Jung to eat the kidney of a young, dead girl.

Feeling like it might have some significance, Gabriel finds some clothes that fit him and takes three of the knives (more for their survival value than as a weapon; he takes three because he likes to be prepared). He will take some of the grain if he can find a way to carry it.

Gabriel studies the small dolls more closely, intuiting that they might have some symbolic meaning.

If nothing interesting has happened by now, Gabriel will try to give the corpses a proper burial.