Faceless Dream Ruthar/Dandelion

General Summary

Laying your head to rest, typically the moment you fall to unconsciousness is impossible to determine. But this evening, the transition is almost jarring as you feel your body become inexplicably heavy. You realise your eyes are open, despite not recalling opening them, nor feeling the sensation of opening them. You gaze upon a room that is essentially pitch black. A more alarming aspect is that your ability to see in the dark appears to have no function here. [Due to your high passive perception, you will not be required to roll to perceive what little you otherwise could in this situation] You can hear music coming from above you, though the words are difficult to make out, seeming to come from the right of you. The room you observe is clearly longer than it is wide, that said the room does appear to a good 30 ft wide, extending beyond your field of vision, with your point of view places you equidistant from each wall. As your vision does its best to adjust to the dark you can make out what appears to be a vanity table against the left hand wall, with a small glistening hand mirror, amongst imperceptible items in this darkness. On the right hand wall there appears to be a ladder beside bench containing indeterminable tools, with the exception of a long pair of metal scissors, softly gleaming with a sourceless light. The walls themselves seemed to be covered with frames of inconsistent sizes, some simple and some with ornate filigree embellishments. While none of the frames contents can be perceived at this light, some appear to contain a smooth surface that catches the diffused light. Finally you become aware that the ceiling must be higher than your field of vision allows, with the only suggestion of its existence being an innumerable series of objects dangling on strings, ropes or wires. It is unclear what these items are, though they do not appear to be uniform, with a wide variety of vague shapes, becoming more indistinguishable the further from you they are. [When Ruthar asks to move, approach or inspect anything within the room] As you compel yourself to move you become aware of that heaviness, you feel pulling at points of your body (your shoulders, wrists, neck, head, torso and knees), and hear a sound like ceramic grinding against ceramic as you attempt to step forward and instead of your feet making purchase with ground, your equilibrium indicates to you that you are in fact laying horizontal, despite what your perspective would suggest. In your disorientation, you feel yourself slip from the surface you are laying on undefined [After wither tumbling to the floor to a sound like pottery dalling on stone OR steadying themselves as they feel pressure on points of their body life them up] Your sense of equilibrium is further disoriented as you realise that despite your physical activity, your perspective remains completely fixed. As you stumble and steady yourself, your point of view does not shift or sway. [If they request to move, roll a d8 to determine their direction. They may roll a DC10 CHA check to decide their direction OR follow the sound of the music]
[If they call out or start to approach the field of vision] Moments after calling out, you observe the surface within one of the frames shifts. The surface distorts as a figure emaninating a soft light emerges from the frame. It is immediately apparent that this figure resembles Michel Dumontier, appearing more corporeal than you have ever seen him. His hair is cropped short, with a subtle wave, and a delicate moustache on his upper lip. You hear him call your name "Ruth, is that you, what's happening, where are we?" but the origin of his voice does not come from in front of you, but as if from another direction and further away. [If/when Ruthar calls again] You observe Michel turn as if in response to your call, but you see them look toward the darkness beyond your field of vision, as they walk in said direction, their soft light disappearing into the dark. As they disappear from view, you hear the sound of footsteps approaching. "Ruthar... is that.. is that you?" [depending on response] "You... look different. Like a puppet... or a marionette"

MORE IMPORTANT DETAILS

1

Ruthar's visual point of origin is a painting hanging about 7 ft from the ground.

2

When lead back the way Michel came, Ruthar will first observe the objects hanging from the ceiling rustle and clink into each other as they approach, until she can perceive a facsimile of herself fashioned out of ceramics walking beside Michel, strings extending from her up out of view. While it is clearly her, the face is almost featureless, with just the vague topography of a humanoid face, with no distinguishable features.

3

Ruthar can be lead to the source of the music, which resembles Dandelion's voice, however it is coming from above, among the hanging objects. If they use the ladder, the origin is a singing porcelain faceplate that has his features. When touched, it will become clear that there are several singing faceplates, with this one being the loudest.]

the other objects appear to be various body parts, each decorated differently. There are several repeated body parts, but each repeat is decorated differently, their aspect decorated in different outfits, some with colours and styles resembling guild attire.

Ruthar and Michel need to collect a full set of matching parts, and if they assemble a version of Dandelion that does not match his Rakdos identity, he will awake having taken 2d12 psychic damage, making all skill checks and attack rolls at disadvantage, finding himself disoriented and confused.

4

The Vanity table holds a number of cosmetics, along with a silver hand mirror. If the hand mirror is angled at Ruthar's painting in a way that the reflection shows the paintings face she will observe the image from which her perspective originates.

It is a beautiful woman with olive skin. Raven hair cascading down her shoulder. Soft eyes and long pointed ears. They gentle eyes are rendered so realisitically, when they visibly shift like a real pair.

Ruthar will find her vision blur momentarily, feeling a head splitting pain. As her vision clears, she finds herself observing the painting from the mirrors perspective. The Full image of the woman is one appearing to be sitting on a throne of twisted roots. She is dressed modestly, in a low necked summer dress, long billowing sleeves, and fabricate containing few embellishments.

From this point forward, Ruthar's point of view originates from the hand mirror, which can be held by either herself, or Michel

5

The Bench contains various tools for crafting, as well as paint brushes, ink pots, and coiled lengths of cord. The Scissors can be used to cut any of the cords hanging from the ceiling.

If Ruthar's strings are cut she will be unable to move unassisted, however the cords on the table can be used to reattach.

the scissors are required to remove dandelions faceplate and any of the objects from the ceiling

6

the walls are decorated with a collection of mirrors and paintings. The Mirrors will show various ceramic forms for Ruthar, but Michel's will be as they appear.

The Other paintings will show strangers as well as the other party members

Clover: holding a war hammer, dressed in barbarian like attire, in the wilds. Another wearing a huge sun hat, tilling a field. Another running naked through a wilderness containing flora that seems to shift and warp, the paint almost seeming to move on its own.

Bly: passed out alone on a bar table. Laboring in a huge factory.

Violet: A circle of 9 small round-framed portraits, 1 in the centre, with 8 circling around it. The centre has a very genuine smile, dressed in Selesnya garb. The other 8 are naked, each donning the exact same extremely menacing grin.

Ending the Dream

[Ask the party to leave the room] To complete the dream, Rutha must reassemble Dandelion, after which the singing will stop and he will become cognisant. A purple hued aura will surround them both as they feel a connection. The room will start to warp and groan, as a discordant piping comes from the painting that Rutha woke up in. The decorative frame will start to grow tendrils, as the root throne extends from the image, with the figure becoming dark. The tendrils will wrap around and pull Rutha to the painting. The figure will reach out and grab her, shrieking, after which all parties will wake up.
Upon awaking, she and Dandelion will have acquired the Bond of Revival spell, the black aligned shared guild spell. Rutha will have to roll 1d10, and reduce their max HP by this amount. To even be aware that something was wrong, they must roll a Medicine check with a DC equal to 20 less the number rolled on the d10
[if the party doesn't leave, copy paste this to FB messenger] Roll 1d10 and reduce your Max HP by the amount rolled. To be able to determine that any effect to your health, roll a medicine check and message the result rather than say aloud.

Report Date

21 Jan 2023