Ask to Join The Dream

[MegaAbsol]

In his typical breezy fashion, the horned man not only accepted the rat-rider into the party, he also successfully managed to steer the party into working together to start solving the puzzle. Raven felt a twinge of guilt at not being able to be more useful - she felt as though her inhibitions far exceeded Hecthor's, and outside of just showing them the place, she hadn't been of any actual use so far. Chewing on her lip, she turned to the elf, who had managed to partially crack the code, it seemed. "Broken sentences? Hang on, let's just write it down..."

"D... A,S... N, O, N... H.. MA.... S"

It wasn't much, but it was a start. And by staring at the braille symbols long enough, she was beginning to see a pattern in how they were written. "Interesting, they seem to follow a certain rule, like... look, the symbol for A has one dot, and the symbol for D has a dot in the fourth place, for the fourth alphabet--" She was fighting to be heard over the raucous barking of her dogs, and as she moved to hush them, a loud roar rang out through the barren clearings of the vast plains. Sound travelled exceptionally well at night, and the sound came booming to their ears, and the dogs went wild. Raven began to physically lose her foothold as the two darted from side to side, lunging at the air and howling at the top of their voices. No doubt whoever had roared could hear exactly where the noisy little party was. Whatever they were trying to do-

"Hecthor! We'll have to be quick about it! Either we head in or we leave for the night! But either way, we. have. to. be. quick!" Raven ground out the words desperately between clenched teeth as she braced herself against the two dogs' leashes. A streak of frustration flashed through her and her hands clenched ever tighter into the leash, and the tension snapped the leather coils tight against the canines' throats. The length of rope coiled around her hand, simmering in the heat and sweat of her hand as she fought for control over the two.

 

[Draco Nightshade]

Despite having announced her presence, Savannah chose to remain hidden, hoping to first kill the goblin riders. She had been attacked by goblins once while bathing near a stream and has held a grudge ever since. The second she was in range, the felinoid grabbed the rearmost goblin off his mount, startling the enormous rodent and bit into his neck to silence him before dragging him up a tree to begin eating. While on her branch, she looked at the two canines and bared her bloody fangs at them before tearing into her kill like a starving animal.

 

[Sol the Lycanroc]

X could only freeze when he heard the roar, his ears flattening downwards. Zance assumed a defensive stance, teeth bared. Once the dogs started barking, however, X lowered onto all fours. Peering up to where the dogs were looking, they saw the same feline-humanoid that they had spoken to a few weeks prior (not a very good first impression.) Zance saw X rise to his feet again, and stared at him quizzically, crawling over. "Hey, I think it's not that bad. We've met once before, and I don't think she'd kill all of us Dreamers." X whispered to the reptilian, still somewhat nervous.

 

[MegaAbsol]

That was it.

Raven released the tension in her body, as well as the leash in her hand - and the two giant mutts were off like a rocket, heading straight for the feline aggressor. Barking, baying, growling and roaring, the bigger of the dogs was the first to reach her, maw wide open with cruelly curved fangs exposed, ready to rip and tear. The strong cat-like scent sent him into more of a frenzy, while the smaller of the two chose to run wide, circling behind the cat-lady and aligned herself perfectly for a flank attack. Raven watched on with bitter eyes, pulling off the spear from her back. She didn't know what was going on, but what she did know was that the sudden arrival of the cat lady was far from a friendly tone. Even the odd goblin king announced his arrival well and proceeded peacefully, while this creature had been nothing but aggressive. No time to think, one rat was already down. Spitting out a curse, Raven lunged forward, spear poised to strike deep in the felinoid's flesh.

 

[Draco Nightshade]

Seeing the canines coming at her, Savannah extended her claws and batted the larger one's muzzle before backflipping away from Raven's spear thrust. Knowing that the smaller of the canines was behind her, Savannah jumped onto a tree trunk before scrambling into the branches and out of sight. Sure, she left her disemboweled prey behind, but no meal was worth dying for. Especially goblin meat. If not for her self sworn oath to always eat what she killed, the leopardess would have fought back instead of running. "The next time I see you goblins in my territory, it will be the last day you ever see!" With that warning, Savannah roared once more before going off to find something else to eat. Hopefully it will be enough to rid her of the taste of goblin flesh.

 

[DevVoid]

" KYEEEH-?! "

The Goblin King turned around, as did his troops, finding that they were down one man- er, goblin. Now, under normal circumstances, normal monsters wouldn't normally notice such a thing. However, not only were they Goblins that could, infact, count to at least 10, but they were also smarter than normal goblins thanks to the training that Null had them do!

" WHO DARES STAND AGAINST THE MIGHTY GINBLO?! "

The figure wasn't visible, but their voice was audible as they spoke a warning. Wait, a warning? But it was THEM who encroached onto HIS territory! How dare that thing kill one of them and then threaten them like they were nothing! Ginblo cried a shrill battlecry as he stomped forward, only to hear the roar go off further and further into the distance, indicating the creature scampered off.

" KYEEKEKEKE!! THAT'S RIGHT, RUN AWAY! COWARDICE, COWARDICE! TAKE ONE OF OURS AND THREATEN US?? SHOULD BE GLAD WE NOT BURN DOWN THIS STUPID FOREST!! MIGHT AS WELL NOW THAT WE KNOW YOU OUT THERE! "

Ginblo put one of his crooked fingers against his throat and made a cutting motion as he looked to his remaining soldiers, who understood all too well what this meant. It was kill on sight. No capturing, not even a knock-out was allowed to capture this thing. It was to be treated with the same brutality it just showed one of them.

" THIS MEANS WAAAAAR!! "

The King stomped his foot on the ground in anger as his soldiers now retreated into the cave with the others to ensure none of them would be caught off-guard again. Ginblo sighed and scratched his head now, grumbling.

" Will have to gather body before go back to camp. Will need bury it. But no time now, need stay on guard! Xyr, go watch entrance! Guards, do your job and.. guard.. SHUT UP YOU KNOW WHAT GINBLO MEANS! "

With the semi-muscular humanoid now heading on over to the cave entrance, Ginblo turned back to the puzzle at hand.

" Well... any progress? "

 

[Sol the Lycanroc]

X had to process what had happened in the last 30 seconds or so. Zance shook their head and tried to look for more patterns in the puzzle.
X then took a few steps away from the entrance, just in case. "Uh, hey, Ginblo, I know you're probably thinking really hard right now, but have you come up with anything that may be helpful in this puzzle? I need some hints to work with here."

 

[DevVoid]

Ginblo looked to X, pausing for a moment and blinking blankly a few times, thinking. This puzzle, could it really just be translating whatever it was supposed to say? Or.. could it be something simpler? Maybe, these guys were just thinking too much on it. So, Ginblo walked up to the larger mural, yet due to his size was not big enough to do what he wanted to.

" Ginblo has idea.. "

From below the Goblin King, a magical sigil there would now appear. A summoning circle, sky-blue in colour. Out of it, magic particles and matching light would eminate as Ginblo casted his magic.

" Summon Slime Horde! "

From right below him, a swarm of the common slimes found in these lands would emerge, which would quickly amass into a platform beneath Ginblo to grant him the proper height to reach the large mural.

" Ginblo think you think too much! "

An open hand was raised, then clenched into a fist, with one finger now popping out. The index finger, pointing upward. And now bending that finger, the Goblin moved it toward one of the glowing circles, attempting to press it like a button. Who knows, maybe this would do something to aid them? And if it didn't, Ginblo would simply try pressing one of the other, ring-like circles as opposed to the full ones.

 

[Sol the Lycanroc]

X studied the mural a bit. "Hey, maybe the large one is in binary code?"
Zance heard this and snapped to attention. "I think I knew how to translate that at some point." To X, it was still unclear whether Zance was a Dreamer or not. Zance swore that they weren't, but they understood all these human things...
Zance waited for Ginblo's action before trying to translate.

 

[Hecotoro]

"Did you just scare away a cat girl?!" Hecthor cried out, lowering his bow, "I've been looking for those!"

Cherry turned around, an angry, surprised look on her face. "For what?!"

Hecthor laughed nervously, scratching the back of his head. "Never met one, just curious, besides you know I prefer fox girls."

Cherry growled, shot a smile at Raven and then turned away from the horned man. "I'll stand guard, can't have one of those puppies getting hurt."

"Good idea..." Hecthor went to join the Goblin King, trying to see if pressing the buttons made any progress. "Maybe you need to press them in a certain order? Do you feel anything when you touch them?"

 

[MegaAbsol]

As quickly as it had started, the fight ended - with no bloodshed, if her spear was to give away anything at all. Still shaking, Raven composed herself, watching, listening... the roar faded away into the night, but her unease did not. Going up to a mysterious cave was bad enough, but to be interrupted and one of their squad to be slaughtered... She cast a mournful, apologetic look at the remains of the goblin and his steed, and with a wave of her hand, allowed the ground to open up and swallow the bodies whole, into the earth. Crouching and focusing harder, with a hand on the soil, she whispered a long incantation and dug her fingers in, allowing a single flower to rise and speedily sprout before their eyes. It was the most, and yet, the least she could do.

Discreetly wiping the sweat off her brow, she wandered back to the door, as the dogs prowled around outside, no longer barking, but with hackles raised and heads low. Their ears were pinned back but their chests rumbled with deep, menacing growls - they were just as uneasy as she was, and the only comfort to be found was that she wasn't the only one out of her depth here in the wilderness, away from the peaceful town. She shot a surprised glance at the elf creature though, when he pointed out that the larger mural could be binary. It could indeed be binary - it definitely made sense, 1s and 0s. But binary in a world with no computers? Well, the other puzzle did happen to be braille...

She watched as Ginblo approached the wall, finger outstretched, inching ever closer to the glowing white dots... and she wasn't quite sure how she felt when the circle he pressed did indeed change. On one hand, she felt like she should have expected it, and on the other hand, the stone wall behaved exactly like she'd imagine a smartphone touchscreen to behave. Most curious indeed. The solid white circle lost its centre and became a hollow circle when pressed and vice versa for the rings, solidifying X's theory of it being binary. "Well... does anyone know how to translate binary? Maybe input something to... I dunno, just the right combination to make it open or something?"

 

[Sol the Lycanroc]

Zance stepped forward and examined the large mural. "At one point I understood binary, but this seems like you need to answer the question or riddle given in braille. So I can't really help just yet."

 

[DevVoid]

Ginblo smirked a smug grin as the circles and hollowed shapes became inverted as he pressed down on them. He turned to face the group, still having a shit-eating grin engraved on his face.

" HAHA! Ginblo tell you that you think too much- wait. "

The goblin king paused, putting a hand to his chin. If it were possible to look inside his head, one would most definitely see a set of clockwork and gears just struggling to rattle and rotate, sparks and smoke almost flying about.. before the gears started turning and the light bulb turned on, flicking the few moths that seemed to be his brain cells to a brand new idea. One that quickly wiped the smirk off his face and replaced it with an annoyed frown.

" KYEH! How is puzzle to be solved if we not know answer? Gah! "

The goblin jumped off his tower of slimes and now pointed towards the mural.

" Slime, mash ALL the buttons! "

His collective mass of blobs would now swarm up to the mural, form small, elongated limbs and would start to brute-force the puzzle, trying to push the buttons randomly as fast as they could until something eventually worked or lit up enough to let them know they were going in the right direction.

 

[Sol the Lycanroc]

Zance could only blink. "I mean, alright, but we might not have that many attempts to solve it-"
X stopped them. "It's alright, just chill out for a bit. This guy probably knows something." He turned back towards the smaller puzzle. "Well, we could just figure out what this means as well."
Studying it, X found a couple more letters. So far he figured out "D_EAMS _U_N _O NI_H_MA_ES", which led to him guessing the first word was "dreams." Facing the others, they presented their answer.
"This puzzle may have to do with us being Dreamers, and may require all of us to use our individual talents later on in the puzzles. But it may also heed warning, a sort of hidden code to keep in mind."
Zance snapped back to attention and began to command. "You two, archer and the fox, could you remember any more letters than what we have right now?"
@Hecotoro

 

[Hecotoro]

The handsome player, Hecthor.

"Well Dreams..." Hecthor rubbed the back of his neck while trying to figure out what the message could say, "How about... Sweet dreams are made of these, who am I to disagree."

Cherry rolled her eyes, "Dreams turn to Nightmares." She pointed at the possible, "It's kind of obvious, were you all like in elementary school before we got sent here? Raven, you saw that right?" She went to stand next to the only other person she considered logical. "Maybe it's talking about how this fabulous world also has dark and scary secrets. Maybe we have to look in the dark? I'm just guessing here."

 

[Sol the Lycanroc]

X scratched his head. "Hmm, that's very possible. Ginblo, try turning all of them off?" He knew that it was unlikely that the goblin would listen to him, but X figured that he'd give it a try.
"And, apologies for seeming stupid, I can't really remember much from my life other than braille and the letter X."

Zance could only remain silent, deep in thought. Perhaps a prophecy was upon them? A great enemy to be slain? Who knows. They tried to clear their head and focus on the simplest details of the puzzle.

 

[MegaAbsol]

Raven's jaw dropped as the self-proclaimed Goblin King took charge - and promptly started mashing the terminal with everything he had. "W- wait, hold up!" She called out weakly, hesitant to let him do it but part of her wanting to see what happens too. I mean... slap the remote if it doesn't work, right? Give the TV a little lovetap if it's acting up? TV... remote... words that were long forgotten on her tongue, replaced instead with the names of herbs and spices that were once new to her. But that was all cast aside as she watched the absolute spectacle in front of her eyes, open mouthed.

Cherry sidled up to her, with a few suggestions, drawing her attention away from Ginblo to the braille. Dreams turn into nightmares? That's so cliche, but there was really something humorous about the entire situation - as though someone, somewhere was deriving a great amount of entertainment from the entire debacle. The girl pursed her lips and paused for a long minute before replying, "There- I mean- I don't know-" She stuttered out helpfully. Great job.

On the other side, Ginblo atleast definitely seemed to make some progress - a few minutes of furious button mashing and it all seemed to finally pay off. Clearly the right combination of rights and wrongs had been achieved, because with a mighty rumble heralding success, the cave rumbled, releasing a puff of dust and dirt into the air as the wall began to shimmer and crumble slightly. And in the oddest of transitions, instead of rolling aside or opening like a door, it faded away as though it too were nothing more than an illusion, leaving a gaping opening into the cave. There, in the depths, a dim light shone at the back, if one were bold enough to take the first steps.

 

[Sol the Lycanroc]

Zance whipped around to see the stone fading. They crouched and motioned X over. X grabbed his duffel with the symbolic rocks and hopped on. Turning back to the others, he said, "Well, what do you say? We head in together?" Zance peered towards the end, making out some shapes, but not enough to identify anything for sure. They grumbled under their breath, only loud enough for X to hear, "prepare for anything, kid."
X, in response, grabbed the small cylinder from their pocket and held it in their left hand, holding a mounted position with the right.
Regardless of an answer, however, Zance started forth on fours, at a fast walking pace.
X was shaking a bit, his ears flat, but he tried to keep his cool. The others, or whatever lurks in the dark, might smell their fear. The tunnel had a slight cold draft flowing through it, and one could hear the soft clacking of Zance's claws on the stone floor echoing through the chamber.
It was dark enough to not be able to tell where the walls were, but light enough to see one's feet on the ground below. The word that came to X's mind was eerie.
Perhaps this is the beginning of the nightmare, or a foreshadowing of something to occur later.