Chill: Lucid Dreams

Yesterday we played some Chill! Here's last time, though this time began a new case.

It's been a year since the Fourth of July murders (the first case in this campaign), and the parents of Tara Edwards, one of the victims, have arranged a memorial. A bunch of the people who were involved, as victims or as helpers, attend, including the envoys (all of whom were the ones who initially found the campsite where Tara Edwards and Neal Morgan were murdered, and who later helped to find Corey West, the killer). The envoys, of course, also know that Corey West was possessed when he killed his friends, largely due to experimentation with the Art. Corey is still institutionalized awaiting trial.

Amelia Rostov, mingling, sees Danika Baburin, a volunteer firefighter who was also with the envoys when they went into the woods and found the campsite initially. They chat, and Amelia notices a bandage on her arm. Danika says that a dog bit her - she's a dog groomer, it's an occupational hazard, although this one was more serious. Amelia digs a little and learns that the dog in question had never been aggressive before. Also, Danika looks a little peaked - she's lost weight and she looks pale and tired. There's a guy with her that she introduces as Dustin, but they don't seem to be a couple. Amelia takes Danika to the refreshment tent to get a drink, and sits down with her.

Danika reveals that she's not been sleeping especially well of late, but as the conversation progresses, also mentions that she and a few of her friends have, for the past year or so, been part of a meditation circle and have learned to lucid dream. She says that Dustin has kind of guided them (he's a massage therapist and reiki master), but that the impetus came from a stranger source.

See, when Danika and the envoys found the campsite, Danika found a piece of paper and pocketed it without thinking (she was kind of in shock). She read it later, and it turned out to be instructions on meditation - maybe part of a manuscript for a self-help book or something? With a sinking feeling, Amelia gets on the group chat and summons the others. She also touches Danika and uses Disrupt, but doesn't notice any immediate difference. Dustin comes back in as well, and the two of them gradually tell the envoys a bit more. 

There are four of them in this meditation group: Dustin (Holmes), Danika, Jean Cameron (owner of Sweets of Seward, a candy and confection ship, which all of the envoys know and love), and Rochelle Downing. They've been using the techniques outlined in the paper to meditate and dream, and they've gotten pretty good at it. But...some strange things have happened. Danika was bitten by the dog, OK, maybe that dog was hurting or something. Jean spilled molten sugar down their leg and wound up with second-degree burns. And Dustin...

Dustin clearly has something to tell them, but would rather do it somewhere a little more private. They decide to all go to the Crab Pot on Britt Lepus' suggestion ("post-memorial drinks?"). First, however, Nicholas Failor senses the Unknown, and the familiar sensation of being immersed in cold water comes over him. Both Danika and Dustin are carrying something...but so are Amelia and Britt, and so is he. Mercy Williams doesn't seem to have anything on her, but the presence is also elusive, and Nicholas can't quite get a read on it. 

The six of them go to the Crab Pot and Dustin explains a little more. He had a booth at the recent Fourth of July dealie downtown, where he was doing massage and energy work. He was doing reiki on a woman - barely touching her - and suddenly she leaned over and threw up an impressive amount of blood...and also a bunch of black beetles. She was taken away to the hospital, and Dustin's booth was shut down, but the beetles seemed to disappear and the organizers kind of swept this under the rug (the last thing Seward needs is another bloody mess associated with this holiday). Dustin insists that he wasn't attempt to harm the woman, he wasn't even thinking about anything - he empties his mind when doing energy work to avoid bringing any of his own issues to bear. 

After a little back-and-forth on the group chat, the envoys decide the only real course of action is to tell these people the truth. Britt and Amelia (far and away the best of the cell with people) explain SAVE and the Unknown, and, to a lesser degree, the Art. Danika says that the paper she found did mention "the Art," but without more context it was hard to know what that meant ("but you went ahead and did it anyway,"mutters Mercy). They decide to change venues again and head to the Community Center, and to have Jean and Rochelle meet them there.

They explain everything to them, and they have some different reactions. Rochelle apparently has not seen anything weird, thanks them for their concern, and heads home - she has two little kiddos and she leans on her mom for childcare enough as it is. Jean, however, is a little more open to it, and once Rochelle leaves, they explain why. 

"I didn't drop the sugar by accident," they explain. Jean was making candy in their kitchen while their wife and baby son were at the table eating, and for just a moment, Jean had an intrusive though - throw the sugar at them. But unlike most intrusive thoughts that just go away, this one bounced around in Jean's head, getting stronger and stronger, and finally Jean upended the pan of sugar on their own leg rather than follow the thought anymore. Jean is, of course, horrified at what they almost did, and asks if that's the kind of thing this "Unknown" can do. Britt confirms that yes, the Unknown can make you do stuff and make you think it was all your idea (like, say, want to marry a zombie).  

The envoys still don't have a good idea of what this might be, however. Nicholas doesn't have a firm location to use Postcognition, and while he's been experimenting with Premonition, that only works for about a minute's worth of future-sight. They decide that Amelia will go home with Danika and Britt with Dustin, just to keep an eye on them, but in the meanwhile, no more lucid dreaming! They give Jean contact info and tell them to contact the envoys immediately if anything else weird happens.

Amelia goes to Danika's place, and in talking to her, learns that she's been under the weather for a while. Not sick, just...run down, weak, like she's about to get a cold but can't shake it. Amelia wards her bedroom, just to see if that helps for tonight, and crashes on the couch.

Britt, meanwhile, talks with Dustin, and asks if he or the others have ever encountered something weird before. Dustin hesitates, and Britt asks if maybe that's "second date" conversation. They stay up a bit watching TV, Britt tells him a little about her family in Vegas and how she's basically been part of SAVE her whole life, and then they both go to sleep.

Sleep is unquiet, however. All four of the envoys dream. They are walking through the woods, and can see each other, but in that weird dream-logic they can't call out. They see something running behind the trees, just out of sight, and then the person leaps out and buries and ax in Britt's head. They all wake up, a little the worse for wear.

Dustin is already up, and Britt asks if he had the dream - he did. Danika comes out of her room, stretching, but looking refreshed. She slept just fine and doesn't remember any dreams. The ward worked, apparently. Mercy texts the brand-new group chat with all eight of them and asks "Murder dreams? [tree emoji ax emoji]" and gets back "yeah" from Jean and "wtf" from Rochelle. 

Everyone has shit to do today, of course. Nicholas has supply runs to make. Mercy has a shift. Britt doesn't work until later, and Amelia decides to spend the day doing some research - specifically, she wants to take the page that Danika found (which she happily gives back) and put it in its proper context with the other SAVE papers. 

She learns that this section of the printout was a primer on astral projection. The page that Danika found describes exercises to relax the mind and "loosen" the soul in preparation for leaving the body. The four of them took those exercises and combined them with Dustin's guided meditation, and got really good at lucid dreams...but also apparently got something's attention. 

Nicholas, later that morning, is flying back into Seward when the weather changes. A storm blows up out of nowhere, and he considers a water landing, but manages to keep the plane under control and land. And as soon as he does, the storm disappears. He looks at the weather that NOAA is tracking, and there's nothing in the area. 

Britt also decides to do some research, and looks into shared dreams. She discovers that lucid dreaming generally isn't hard to do with practice. Shared dreaming is usually associated with shared experience or a one-time psychic phenomenon (two people having the same dream of a mutual  acquaintance dying before it happens, that kind of thing). When it's described as a negative experience, it normally hearkens back to some shared trauma. Britt recalls that Dustin seemed to have something to tell her, and texts him that maybe it's time for that second-date conversation.

As she does, she hears a rattle behind her. She glances back and sees a book on her shelf vibrate, and then hurl itself at her head. She ducks expertly and tenses for more attacks, but nothing else moves. 

The envoys decide to get together to go over this some more, and head for the community center. Mercy gets a call right at the end of her shift, though. The ambulance goes to the dock and she hears a woman saying "I did not stab anyone! I don't know what happened!" Mercy looks over and realizes that the woman saying that is Stef Copeland, the surviving victim of the Fourth of July murders. Mercy actually saved her life with the Heal discipline last year.

Mercy is directed to a man leaning on a pylon with a wound in his shoulder. It doesn't look like a bullet or a knife - actually it looks more like a hatchet. It's not deep enough to be fatal but it's going to require some stitches. Mercy patches the guy up and then checks in with Stef, and through listening to the witnesses and talking with Stef, learns that she was waiting in line to get on a ferry, the guy was standing in front of her, he turned around to look at something and suddenly he just fell over bleeding! Someone yelled that she'd stabbed him, and then everything went nuts. Stef just wants to go home, she was waiting on a ferry to take her to where she's catching her flight.

The police arrive and Mercy tries to get them to delay Stef, but the cops decide that would be a dick move and there's no evidence that Stef did anything wrong. They're not sure what did happen - no weapon was found. Mercy feels a sudden rush of confusion and nearly tells the cops that Stef did stab the guy, but stops herself. Whatever is messing with the dreamers, it's apparently noticed the envoys as well...