The Nightmare Switch: part 2

With the party recovering from the harrowing scene in the Redstone Arms tavern, they decided to bed down for the night on board Deymish's boat, moored in the canal at the base of the cliffs. Before everyone drifted off to sleep, Six proposed a theory that perhaps they would all suffer the nightmare, being as they were sleeping in Redstone. What is more, if they did he had a theory about what could be causing these awful dreams: the Numenera (which Cannis snorted at and stated: "Its always the bloody Numenera with you"). Six proposed that there may be some sort of signal or radio wave (to which his two Glaive companions looked blankly at him) that was carrying this dream to people's sleeping minds. With his two companions confused about what on the Ninth World Six was blathering about, they all quickly went off to sleep. That's when the nightmare struck... Strange images, disconnected sensations, sounds smission (a combination of smell and vision) all assaulted minds that were not designed to handle it, creating nothing but pain, terror and confusion. Everyone quickly awoke, relaying the same experience to one another whilst the horrifying memory of the dream receded, all except Six...

Here was an example of GM intrusion recommended in the adventure itself: the alternative dream. This one, instead of the confusing dream/nightmare images, gave a clearer picture of a structure in the desert, of something broken that needed fixing: a strange cylinder, and a sense of urgency. Six, being a Mechanical Nano seemed like the perfect target for this alternative dream and so it was that I offered him the intrusion, which he accepted and learned more.

Six relayed his dream, to the others, who were able to share their experience with him. Much to his disgust, Nord had to admit that Six could possibly be right with his theory of it being Numenera related. The party quickly discussed what Six had seen and what they could do next. Six informed them that he thought the dome was close (at least, that was the impression the dream gave), and he thought they should set out to find it. Grabbing water and some limited provisions, the party made ready to leave in the night, informing Deymish who said he would remain behind with his boat.

The desert surrounding Redstone, where the party went off in search of Six's dream.

The party made it's way up through the village and out into the desert beyond, following the path out to the quarry. It was here that Cannis found signs of tracks leading off into the desert, and what is more, determined that there were signs of three sets of tracks. They started to follow these off into the red desert, with their hopes lifted that Six's dream may prove right.



As the sun started to rise in the morning, Cannis' sharp eyes once again picked up on an anomaly, with a bright sparkle occasionally popping up on the horizon. As the day wore on this became a constant glare, and as the party moved further north it became apparent that this was a reflection off of a surface. The direction of this co-incided with the tracks that the party were following and so by midday they arrived at a structure in the desert, a dome made of crystal panels: the Faceted Dome.

The Faceted Dome, and ancient structure in the deserts of Seshar

This was the structure from Six's dream and the party were pleased to have made real progress. However, they were presented with the issue of how to get in? They searched round the structure, finding no obvious entrances. Nord offered to climb the structure and have look on the top, whilst the others continued on the ground. Nord scrambled up the side, clinging on to the crystal panels, and upon reaching the top realised it was the same as the sides: in desperation he simply placed his hands on the crystal and whispered (so as not to get laughed at by those on the ground) "let me in crystal dome", where upon the dome admitted him, dropping him to the floor after bouncing him off some pipes!

Outside, the other two continued to look round, and found an area where there were signs of a struggle, between multiple creatures: bits of torn robe, blood spatter, a broken spear. Along with this were tracks leading off to the west, some mounted some on foot. Further investigation revealed that strange sigils had been carved into the dirt of the desert around the site of the battle, and neither of the characters could discern the meaning of them.

It was about this point where Nord was able to repeat his feat of getting the crystal to open, but this time facing his friends. After some discussion of how it was done, all of the party entered the dome to be met by the twin sights of strange advanced machinery, and green potted plants! This gave the atmosphere a cool, pleasant feel after the heat and dryness of the desert. Whilst they took in their new surroundings, Six searched for what he had seen in his dreams, and found it: a cylinder, burnt out an blackened, detached from it mountings. This was what he had dreamt, and he thought he now knew how to fix it. Just one problem: where could they find a new cylinder?