nohalation | A Dream

That night you get to the Inn/Tavern, have a drink or two or twelve... or you don't drink, maybe you eat. Thankfully Early Rockenhurst has covered the costs for a few rooms and a morning's meal. And, of course, your selection of whatever you're having at the tavern that night.

When you sleep tonight, which you will somehow manage to do for at least a minute, you dream of something intimately familiar, yet foreign all the same.

You dream of entering your kingdom and witnessing the crowd—your people—cheering for Parsley of the Past, and (Par)snip of the Future. They've just given a speech with the practiced talent of conmen, and your citizens roar—they're eating it up.

Parsley's voice, soft and once kind, resonates.

"...and so, Halation's court cannot give you what you desire. They may give you the promise of safety, and they ensure you are fed, but there is no value in a life of only sustinence and survival if there is neither pleasure nor joy. You'll never become idols at this rate, you'll never develop a fanbase... but rejoice, for we can give you the happiness your half-baked court will never give you."

The crowd's cheers die. There's hurt. There's confusion. Half-baked?

You can't move. You can't move forward, you can't shout. They don't even see you there, your people aren't acknowleding you. It's hard to tell why this is—in fact, only Primrose, with her Wit of 4, will instantly realize, even in a dream, that you were frozen there with some unorthodox magic trap.
"Oh, brother, do be honest: they are a despicable bunch, this court." Snip laughs, smiling with his eyes. He has the nerve to look right at you. "A kingdom like this, with roots such as these, would find more value in a dog shitting on the table than them. You have-

The Oracle who foolishly worships the Deep Ones, of whom we deeply oppose.

The Ruler descended from the Lord of Disaster, smiling to hide this very fact.

The Knight who was pitifully "born" only to meet someone else's expectations.

The Ninja who skips from kingdom to kingdom, seeking revenge against the Angelic Ones for reasons we find petty.

And the Vizier and Servant, reigning from other kingdoms and only coming to this one for pathetic reasons: money and love. Senseless. Selfish.

People of Halation, these are the ones you wish to be guided by? Frankly, you deserve much better."

You can't hear the crowd. Your dream cuts off there, yet, you get the sense that there's more to it... that can't be it.