GLoG 94: Good place to grow up

[Ironsmith]

[Wormwood Cabin - Reelshka]

Reelshka leads Nefila there. As she pushes open the door, the woman will find that the cabin does seem fairly new. Some furnishings are still missing, but all the essentials are here. Braon might hear someone enter the main area from her room.

[Wormwood Cabin - Reelshka]

Behind the goblin enters a figure over six feet in height. Wrapped in a tattered cloak, the grey-skinned, noseless young lady walks on four arthropoid legs. In her arms, she holds a swaddled bundle. She looks tired, but wildly relieved.

Nefila looks around the room with interest. "Oh, this looks lovely. I feel better already." Her eyes go to the bed. It'll be a little bit of an awkward fit, but hell if she cares.

[Wormwood Cabin - New Roommates]

Of course Braon hears them coming in. The sudden entry of new people is, as she knows, the bane of people desperately needing sleep everywhere. Fortunately, she's developed a three-step counter-process that should assist her in her continued quest to return to dreamland.

The first step is a loud, annoyed groan, of the variety that can only be achieved by a tired, hormonal pregnant woman. This should let them both know they've entered her territory and are not welcome.

The second step is to pull her pillow over her head and resume trying to sleep. Whether this is successful or not will depend heavily on whether Reelshka and Nefila come into her room.

The third step is a last resort, which will only apply if they come in to check on her. Less of a preventative measure and more of a parting shot, it involves questioning the legitimacy of the intruders' parentage, insinuating the presence of canines in their family trees, comparing them to fecal matter, and the use of an obscene hand gesture.

[Wormwood Cabin - Fayyaad]

For the first time, Fayyaad has visited GLoG. He has never had a reason to do it before. But now he's heard, more or less by accident, that a woman matching Braon's description is staying here. He still remembers what happened during the raid in Inside and feels like he has to hear her version. Was it all just a ruse when she pleaded with him? He's quickly directed to her cabin and knocks on the door.

[Wormwood Cabin - Fayyaad]

"Damn it, Sophie, we already did a session today! I swear to Adea, if you think you're getting another one out of me-"

The door is yanked open from the other side, revealing Braon, clad in a thick cotton dress and scarf, with a wooden ladle clutched in her hand. The borderline murderous scowl on her face disappears when she sees that her visitor is not, in fact, Sophie.

"Lovers above..." Braon drops the ladle and surges forward, attempting to pull the pyromancer into a hug. "Fayyaad! Haha! You son of a bitch, where have you been?!" She squeals happily, accompanying the question with an affectionate squeeze if he permits it.

Finally, someone she wanted to see!

Wormwood Cabin, Braon's Dreams

It's not going to be a pleasant dream tonight, unfortunately for Braon. It looks like GLoG, but... it's not GLoG as Braon's seen it. The lake is blood, there's only piles of burnt wood and ash instead of the cabins, and marking where the doors were are steel spikes, heads mounted on them. Sophie's head is there, staring accusingly at Braon; so is Fayyaad's, and other heads with other faces, anyone she likes or has any positive impressions of. Fayyaad's head is closest, eyes locked on Braon, and his lips are moving slightly. "You. You did this, you killed us all. You brought this upon me, I hate you. I hope you die slow and painful, over a thousand years, hating every second."

Lurking in the background, trying to stay unnoticed but unable to hide itself, is a tall, gaunt humanoid with pale blue skin stretched tight over a skeleton that has unpleasant-looking twists, with spikes and hooks emerging from its ribs, hips, humerus and femur. The long bones of arm and leg seem to twist, with ridges spiralling along the outside, looking vaguely like a helter-skelter. Its elongated head is almost all mouth, with no eyes or nose, and teeth grow from its head in place of hair. Six eyes peer asymmetrically from between its ribs, no two matching and all shockingly human. It has six long tentacles on each hand in place of finger and thumb, and its legs end in barbed points, yet it has no difficulty balancing. Its sole garment is a bandoleer made from human skin, from which hangs a crude serrated dagger of black iron.

[Braon's Nightmare]

If the demon is limiting itself to people Braon likes, it's going to find a short list to work with; Fayyaad, Zee, her father, and a teenage boy whose face she's nearly forgotten. Fortunately, the number of people Braon would be distressed to cause the death of, even accidentally, is much higher. Wandering through what was clearly the grounds of a massive slaughter, even if it's mostly of people she doesn't care about, is still... rather disconcerting, all told.

Despite seeing no transition from the waking world, Braon can't help but feel somehow responsible for this. Fayyaad's words were nothing she hadn't heard in her dreams before, but tonight... tonight they were made a little more real.

She didn't cause this directly, of course. She'd remember if she did. And even her nightmare-powered counterpart rather provably couldn't cause this kind of devastation. No, if she's responsible, it's indirectly. She caused this by knocking down the first domino in a chain. Something she's done, or failed to do, resulted in everyone dying.