1. Journals

[2021-06-20] Max goes to Hell

Session

Tonight I think I went to hell, or something pretty close to it. First I was trapped in this whirlpool of sand, falling into a black hole. It took a significant amount of effort, but I managed to swim against the currents of sand and take refuge on a boulder. It was there that I realized I wasn't alone: there was a woman cosplaying as an elf of some kind standing atop another nearby boulder (later named Colette Delafose), and a large man using a wagon as a raft (later named Moxmen Ho). No sooner than Colette and I joined Moxmen on his raft/wagon did the world shake and the ground split, sending us plummeting from the sky. That we were in the sky in the first place was news to me. Oddly enough, our landing was slow and gentle enough to leave us and the wagon unscathed. We landed and made introductions. It was at this point I became lucid, though I couldn't seem to shape the dream in any way.

We set off towards what seemed to be a nearby city, the only other visible landmarks being an inhospitable-looking mountain and a featureless desert. During the journey, an indecipherable voice echoed across the land and it began to pour down rain. Upon reaching the city, we discovered that it was absolutely ruined. The streets were lined with mud and (what might be) blood. Colette had a pet bird that she could (supposedly) understand to some extent, who warned of danger further along the road. We took refuge in the remaining half of a house (at least it had a roof) getting to know each other and eating (maybe I skipped dinner?). I seemed to be better off, food-wise, than Colette and offered her some of the edible foods I apparently had tucked amongst the pockets of my coat, but she refused. While she seems all too willing to acknowledge that this is all a bad dream I'm having, and she's but a figment of my imagination, I got the sense that she doesn't much care for me. Moxmen seems a decent fellow, however, and offered to share all of his food with us the moment we reached relative safety.

Once we realized the rain was not going to lessen, we set out once more in an attempt to find... something? Anything? We sought out whatever it was my subconscious so badly wanted me to see. Having no other leads, we went in the direction of the "dangerous creatures" Colette's bird "mentioned". We found a courtyard of sorts with a couple of dogs munching on what seemed to be a corpse. At Colette's assumption that they were just scared puppies looking for love, we got their attention. They were not scared puppies looking for love. Both charged and attempted to bite at me, ignoring my companions. I suppose that makes sense, given I'm the only one here who's real. Moxmen killed the one that succeeded in biting me, and I stabbed the other with a knife that mysteriously appeared in my hands. Colette did something? Nothing? I'm not sure.

The second ravenous wolf had backed off for a moment when a crossbow bolt shot from the otherside of the courtyard slammed into it, killing it. A strange hooded figure in a gas mask slowly approached us, shouting nonsense at us. Her name was Hella (pronounced "Helga"?), and she warned us that the rain wouldn't stop until the world came to an end. The world ending, she explained, was a commonplace cycle that had happened thousands of times, destroying everything on the face of the world each time. This makes no sense, but very well. Perhaps my subconscious is concerned about anthropogenic climate change. Regardless, she seemed intrigued by the idea that my companions were from different worlds altogether, and invited us to accompany her to an underground encampment of survivors.

The encampment turned out to be deep in a winding labyrinth intended to leave intruders, man and monster alike, lost in its depths forever. It was lit by old-fashioned means: torches and fire. Hella told us to find a man named Johan then left us to go do... something. Colette wandered off to find a trader, and we ended up making some purchases. I can't say I'm horribly familiar with using a flail, but it seemed more dangerous than the knife I had been carrying. It would appear that I am suitably wealthy in my dreams as I am in waking life.

We wandered the rest of the encampment until we found the man named Johan. He fed us and told us more of the world we find ourselves in, as well as how we can earn our keep while we are here. I don't pretend to fully understand what's going on, but we seem to now be on the hunt for a man with a strange blue crystal, and must find him before the world ends again.