Audio

[haremtrap]

Ugh, okay I wasn't going to add to the flood of people talking about weird visions but there's this one bit of the one I saw that is really sticking with me.

The vision: A pair of dragons were fighting. They were WAY bigger than the ones you guys brought back. The smaller of the two was like the size of a bus. Then while I watch it all an evil tree spoke to me, saying something like "You aren't the only one who has a mascot!" Which, who knows what that means.

That's not the weird part.

The weird part is One of the dragons was using Liminal Portals.

[Private to *Hyun-ae]

Also being drunk is weird. Being hungover is terrible.

Comments

[rustyhonesty]

... you sure you weren't just seeing some wacky dream?

[haremtrap]

It does kind of sound like a dream, doesn't it? But everyone else is talking about weird visions they had. If it was just a dream, then there's some kind of mass dream epidemic spreading through us and that warrants a fuckin' investigation in and of itself, wouldn't you say?

It wasn't, though, because I was wide awake when I saw it.

[rustyhonesty]

That's true. I guess a lot of guys picked a skill that lets you look into the future. Talking evil trees though...

Did you see it on one of those rooms?

[leftbehindagain]

...Can you describe the rest of the surroundings or the dragons beyond their size, at all?

[haremtrap]

Yeah.

[rustyhonesty]

My guess is that if we can give our companions the ability to use the network, we can also give them the ability to use liminal, which that would have demonstrated... which you yourself used on one of the dragons.

[haremtrap]

The bigger one was like the size of a school building, and had a kind of western look to it. The smaller one was like half invisible and had a more eastern appearance. The whole thing was in some kind of forest that was on fire because, you know...

Dragons.

The tree looked like its roots were shaped like chains, and like it was slowly turning into black glass or something.

[haremtrap]

It looked like something the dragon was good at, though. Like it did it with a kind of...contemptuous snort, I guess?

I dunno. Maybe it was something one of us gave it. I don't think so, but I can't give any good reason for why not beyond "It doesn't feel right."

[highsteaks]

Do you think one of the dragons belonged to the evil tree?

1/2

[leftbehindagain]

Half-invisible Eastern dragons might be Bando - I don't know if anyone actually got to see them in person, given that the Arcana kicked a few of them out of their shrines to talk to us instead, but air and wood are two of their major elements. If it's tied to the air or using the trees as conduits somehow, that might account for the invisibility.

The other one's definitely not a Jangwan dragon, that's for sure...

[leftbehindagain]

...oh. Oh no.

Which dragon was using the portals?

[haremtrap]

The little one was definitely using air and wood.

The big one was using the portals, though.

[haremtrap]

Definitely possible.

My first thought was that it was referring to the Arcana keeping US as mascots, so maybe it got a dragon to counter us.

[leftbehindagain]

Great. Someone's been teaching the Dolorosan dragons new tricks. Just what they needed.

[haremtrap]

I would like some context, please.

[highsteaks]

... I don't know how I feel about our opposite numbers being dragons.

[She really hopes she doesn't have to fight dragons. She likes dragons. Even if the babies set towns on fire when there's too many magic guys around.]

[leftbehindagain]

I don't know how much the dragons featured in the first visit there - that was well before my time. The one I was on was focused on a dragon that was serially kidnapping and impersonating people.

Turned out that was because she'd laid eggs under the city and wanted to give them a chance to hatch. With the Illuminants gathering there again, there was enough ambient magic around for all the eggs to hatch at once. And there were hundreds of them.

[haremtrap]

Oh I know how I feel about our opposite numbers being dragons.

Public -> Private (not protected)

[highsteaks]

Oh. Oh crap.

[She's gonna just. Try to attempt to private this to Naoki and Kohaku. We'll have to see how that goes.

(In other words, network snoops have permission to read this until someone protects it. Which isn't gonna be Chie. She can't.]

Okay. Um. Naoki, remember when Dai Malik finally contacted me after the whole Convert thing? It was to tell me about stuff he saw through one of those doors. Because Aquila, I mean Red, he and Dai Malik met in the vision in front of this temple for a guardian dragon? That maybe wasn't in Color Magic Land at all?

... also he thinks Red's gonna want me for his new vessel because he's getting old. That's why he wanted to talk to me.

let's make that Protection II until someone says otherwise

[leftbehindagain]

This just keeps getting better and better.

[Even over the network, that's positively dripping with sarcasm.]

[haremtrap]

So this is...a sign we might revisit another past jaunt, like with Harrowgate?

[leftbehindagain]

We might revisit a past jaunt that is itself being visited by people from a different world.

protection ii it is

[highsteaks]

So if the Eastern dragon belongs to the evil tree, maybe the Western dragon belongs to Red? It would come from the same place and dragons have red magic!

[haremtrap]

Tch. This is getting complicated. So there are other groups of travelers besides us?

[leftbehindagain]

Not as such. The Illuminants are more on the Arcana's level than ours, in the sense that they're powerful beings bound to the archetypes they represent. They're not nearly as understanding of needs outside their own, though, and... well, the Arcana don't always have a firm grasp on that. [Some of them try, though, and that's more than Naoki can say for the Illuminants.]

They took exception to the Arcana coming and meddling with their sandbox, so they broke into Liminal Space near the end of the dragon mess and tried to bring the fight to the Arcana. If you want to know more about that, ask Maria-chan - she seems to be the most willing of the involved Travelers to talk about it.