Deconstructing Bright Dream

[JCD]

I wanted to try to make sense of A Bright Dream in terms of In Nomine (come on. You know you all wanted to do it) Eventually, I'll do a section on Dark Dreams as well.

From what AA Beth said, it was based upon an earlier version of the game, so things don't mesh seamlessly.

****

To Start, I wanted to divide things into Scenes, so if and when we discussed them, we could refer to the same section

Scene One: The Alley

Scene Two: Dance Club

Scene Three: The Car and Fight.

Interlude:

Scene Four: The Escape and House


Edited to add: I want to stipulate, I love the characters and the story. I understand artistic license. I respect the effort it takes to shoehorn in a story within a framework which may not work with dramatic necessity. This is purely in fun.

[JCD]

Scene One: The Alley

We meet our nameless protagonist, BB (Birthday Boy), who meets Nicole and a punk in an alley. BB describes hearing a sound which wasn't a sound, which seems to indicate Disturbance. Or not.

Nicole is just standing in plain sight in the alley when her soon to be former servant decides to knife and assault BB. She uses Ethereal Motion to throw her almost former Servant into a wall. Well, a man weighs from 120-300+ lbs. That Song supposedly only lifts E Forces times Essence. And it's resisted by strength. Exactly how much Essence did Nicole put into this? (I will ignore why this supposedly traitorous Servant is willing to show himself to Nicole for a few dollars. One assumes he didn't know his infamy had been exposed and she ordered him to do this...or something).

Now, she just caused a human to go unconscious, so that's probably 8 damage: 2 Disturbance. Add that to 2 Essence for Singing the Song, and the CD for a successful cast and we are talking 10 D. BB probably can't hear this, but it causes a disturbance which can be heard for 300 yards.

She further excaberates this by going Celestial for another 12! That is 22 Disturbance, which can be heard a long LONG way away (around 1200 yards). BB must be a significant investment! BB murders the guy and drains his blood.



Then she says two puzzling statements:

- That BB is now 'outside the Symphony' and that he is manipulating it without knowing. Essentially, he was fated to die and he owes her. One wonders how she knew this and what 'outside the Symphony' meant. Is she using metaphors?

-If BB refused to be her Servant, she will wipe his memories and get him thrown into jail. I don't care about the blackmail, but the memory thing is odd, particularly since she doesn't have a Song to do it. One assumes that it was some power Celestials used in an earlier version to keep the Secret? Hmm.

[Jason]

Originally Posted by JCD

BB probably can't hear this, but it causes a disturbance which can be heard for 300 yards. She further excaberates this by going Celestial for another 12! That is 22 Disturbance, which can be heard a long LONG way away (around 1200 yards).

Whoa. I have not been calculating disturbance right if you can hear one from that distance. (Or maybe you're going from a different range based on whatever Nicole's Celestial Forces and Perception are..?)

As for going celestial ... Nicole should invest in one of the Songs of Nimbus. It is quieter, right?

BB murders the guy and drains his blood.

This is my biggest issue with this scene. I can chalk up the stuff with Songs as disturbance to dramatic license, but a Mercurian telling another human to ritually kill another guy seems ... well, more than a little off. I've read it argued elsewhere around here that she wouldn't get dissonance, as she's not doing the killing herself. Still, I recall from the IPG that Impudites get dissonance not just for killing humans directly, but ALLOWING them to be killed around them. Is it less strict for Mercurians? (Don't have books handy right now.)

Then she says two puzzling statements:

- That BB is now 'outside the Symphony' and that he is manipulating it without knowing. Essentially, he was fated to die and he owes her. One wonders how she knew this and what 'outside the Symphony' meant. Is she using metaphors?

Maybe the implication was supposed to be that he's on the path to becoming Symphonically aware. Or maybe she was just BSing him.

-If BB refused to be her Servant, she will wipe his memories and get him thrown into jail. I don't care about the blackmail, but the memory thing is odd, particularly since she doesn't have a Song to do it. One assumes that it was some power Celestials used in an earlier version to keep the Secret? Hmm.

Here I definitely just assumed she was BSing him. Or, you know, she knows someone who can do that. For instance, she doesn't have a Healing song (as we learn later) but knows someone who does.

[JCD]

Originally Posted by Jason

Whoa. I have not been calculating disturbance right if you can hear one from that distance. (Or maybe you're going from a different range based on whatever Nicole's Celestial Forces and Perception are..?)

As for going celestial ... Nicole should invest in one of the Songs of Nimbus. It is quieter, right?

<mutters and goes to lab> Okay Perception mod (i.e. Disturbance size) TIMES Celestial Forces. Assume Celestial Forces of 3 on average. 22 Disturbance x 3 = 66 yards. That is the 'increment'. Every 66 yards from ground zero, you get a Perception of -1. But we are starting at +22. 22 x 66 = 1452 Yards.

This means that the player, 1452 yards away from ground zero, simply needs to roll their Perception of (assumed for example) 6 to hear it. 'Automatic' detection range is at 6 increments less then this (1452 - {66 x6} = 1056.) Anyone with a perception of 6 or greater and without Celestial blindness can hear the Disturbance at 1056 yards without a roll because the roll is at a +6 modifier.

To continue the example: For Bob, our average Celestial, to no longer have any chance to hear this disturbance, we need to add 396 yards to 1452. So at 1848 yards, Nicole is safe from Bob hearing her. This is more then a mile and doesn't include Interventions.

If anyone can show me the flaw in my math, I'd be obliged.

***

Nimbus may be quieter. It is Approrpriate Forces of Song + CD. So on a CD of 6 and Celestial Forces of 4, it would only a little less loud then Nicole going Celestial (9 + 2 ).

(This is why I put this as a natural feature of Celestials in my House Rules. It's usually quieter)

This is my biggest issue with this scene. I can chalk up the stuff with Songs as disturbance to dramatic license, but a Mercurian telling another human to ritually kill another guy seems ... well, more than a little off. I've read it argued elsewhere around here that she wouldn't get dissonance, as she's not doing the killing herself. Still, I recall from the IPG that Impudites get dissonance not just for killing humans directly, but ALLOWING them to be killed around them. Is it less strict for Mercurians? (Don't have books handy right now.)

This is why a lot of people don't like it from a low contrast standpoint. Meh. If an angel of God could wander around Memphis kakking the first born, a ritual murderer of a 'suck head' traitor is NBD to me.

A Mercurian can't DO violence. If you read the scene, when she tossed the Ex into the wall, she falls to one knee and looks like she got gut punched. This is her Dissonance showing. She got dinged for personally hurting him. (Thank you, I forgot to mention this part) As they say in the Mercurian description:

This doesn’t mean they
don’t advocate violence; they just don’t indulge in it
themselves. When negotiations break down, a Mercurian
has to know when to step aside and wave in the sharp
knives of the Malakim.

You are correct with the Impudites. They can't kill or allow a human to be killed. However he can torture them all day long as long as they don't die...

Which sounds perfectly appropriate for this scene.

Maybe the implication was supposed to be that he's on the path to becoming Symphonically aware. Or maybe she was just BSing him.



Here I definitely just assumed she was BSing him. Or, you know, she knows someone who can do that. For instance, she doesn't have a Healing song (as we learn later) but knows someone who does.

Perfectly viable interpretations.

[Rocket Man]

Originally Posted by Jason

This is my biggest issue with this scene. I can chalk up the stuff with Songs as disturbance to dramatic license, but a Mercurian telling another human to ritually kill another guy seems ... well, more than a little off. I've read it argued elsewhere around here that she wouldn't get dissonance, as she's not doing the killing herself. Still, I recall from the IPG that Impudites get dissonance not just for killing humans directly, but ALLOWING them to be killed around them. Is it less strict for Mercurians? (Don't have books handy right now.)

Page 63 of the IPG says an Impudite can't let someone kill a human, unless he has no control over the situation. What's curious is that that's the only place that particular restriction is mentioned. In both the core rules, and the summary chart at the end of IPG, the dissonance condition is simply that the Taker can't kill a human himself.

Mercurians, meanwhile, can't commit violence against anyone but demons ... but they can advocate it all they want. Even the core rules say they know when to wave in "the sharp knives of the Malakim."

Maybe the implication was supposed to be that he's on the path to becoming Symphonically aware. Or maybe she was just BSing him.

I reached the same conclusion. Most mortals don't hear the Symphony because they're an intimate part of it, just as fish don't necessarily see water. He's been "awakened" enough to stand to one side and hear Disturbance and possibly even manipulate the Symphony a little, rather than just being one note in the tune.


As for the memory wipe ...

Here, I definitely just assumed she was BSing him.

Agreed 100 percent. Hey, she's a Mercurian, not a Seraph.

[JCD]

Scene Two: The Dance Club

We find Nicole and BB at a dance club threatening their fellow patrons with their flailing limbs. BB has no problem dancing with his blackmailer, who, btw, has several pints of blood on her. (Maybe they are in her jacket. Hope the Coat Check girl isn't a thief...)

At this point they have a conversation about good and evil, Karma, Christianity and demons. Mostly not germane and a very nice flavor piece.

Nicole says two things which are significant though. She mentions that she got a rite from a friend (Novalis, though not stated), and that she generated Essence from it. The Mercurian goes on to say that she needed this, since she used her last little bit face planting her former Servant into the concrete.

(Though as we saw from the numbers, she's have to have a CD of 6, Ethereal Forces of 3 just to move 18 pounds. Maybe she jacked her CD with Essence? Running the numbers: Her skill is 4 and her Eth For is 3. 7 + 9 Essence would be 16. That would make CD of 10 times 3. A whopping 30 pounds of force! Sigh. Can we just make the Ethereal Song of Motion effective?)

So, Nicole is empty of Essence except for what she has from this rite. This is important later...

[Rocket Man]

Originally Posted by JCD

Scene Two: The Dance Club


So, Nicole is empty of Essence except for what she has from this rite. This is important later...

Actually, it's important now. If she blew the last bit on that Song ... how'd she take celestial form in the alley?

[JCD]

Originally Posted by Rocket Man

Actually, it's important now. If she blew the last bit on that Song ... how'd she take celestial form in the alley?

Good point and I missed that. I would just fold that into 'I used the last of my Essence in the alley'. But it suggests that in an original version of the game, going Celestial was free.

[Jason]

Originally Posted by JCD

Good point and I missed that. I would just fold that into 'I used the last of my Essence in the alley'. But it suggests that in an original version of the game, going Celestial was free.

I'd say it suggests (in conjunction with the liberal interpretation of Ethereal Motion's effects) that the writer was taking some poetic license.

(Though personally, I do make it free to go celestial for my players, and they only have to roll if they have to do it on a moment's notice, like in a fight. There are enough reasons to fear being in celestial form without making it expensive.)

Also, I have calculating disturbance wrong. Thanks!

[Rocket Man]

Originally Posted by Jason

(Though personally, I do make it free to go celestial for my players, and they only have to roll if they have to do it on a moment's notice, like in a fight. There are enough reasons to fear being in celestial form without making it expensive.)

In my own games, I make it free at a Tether and the regular Essence cost elsewhere.

But anyway, on with the story!

(And thanks for suggesting this, JCD!)

EDIT: Hmmm, a thought on Ethereal Motion, though it stretches the description a bit -- what if Nicole mentally picked up 20 pounds of air, balled it up, and used it to "shove" her old servant across the alley? Caught at the right moment, such as when he's picked up his foot for his next step, that could throw him off balance pretty badly and push him back into the wall. Celestial Tai Chi, if you will. :-)