1977 - Part I Dream--01/04/77
On the Falcon Dancer - Don's hands are bluegreen. He sends Breane, Danielle and myself to a Volcano, where a being is siphoning off some of his power. Danielle is reluctant, saying Don isn't telling all. Breane also is questioning, but we go to the Volcano anyway. There, in a waterfall of green fire, there are three forms burning into life. Danielle says, "Your magician has lied again - our being here is creating these three new beings." Breane says, "This is doing what the Phoenix would do, but its wrong, there are too many!" She collapses and Danielle vanishes toward the Sanctuary. I hear a muffled growl - look down and see two wolves staring. In the green firefall, the forms begin to move. The first is Carol. I look at Breane, her glow is almost gone. I contact Gina and shift both Carol and Breane to the Sanctuary. Don breaks in immediately after, saying that Morganna has been stopped - she has retreated. Don asks for a way to the Volcano and I reach out to him. We look at the firefall and see the other two figures emerge. The first is Hellmann, the second is a greenish-blue skinned woman in silver, wearing a broadsword. The girl says to Don, "I am Victoria-of-the-Sword, your sister." Hellmann turns to her and kisses her. Don is outraged and looses power at them, but Victoria's sword contains Don's power, while Hellmann draws on the Volcano and masses of fire bury us as the dream ends.
Dream--01/05/77
I awaken from unconsciousness with Don over me, my wolves at his side. His eyes are pained, his hands are pure blue-green and his arms are mottled. He tells me that Jody and Art are still aboard the Falcon Dancer and that Hellmann has gone to aid Morganna. In the Sanctuary, Danielle has bound Gina and the others, and Victoria guards us in the Volcano. The Volcano is called the Fires-of-Life. Jody contacts Don, saying that Hellmann has split himself again. His prime self is seeking a place called Amaka, ruled by Illithians, while a facet recruited by Morganna has blonde hair, green eyes, wears black and yellow, calls himself Ersatz (as if he were aware he is only a double) and has as his symbol a red raven. Ersatz and Morganna attack the Falcon Dancer. I launch my two wolves at Victoria; her concentration breaks and Don bursts free. Victoria engages me, saying "I am Roderick's sister; he betrayed me," and slices with her sword. I channel energy to the wolves, whose names are Bone and Blood, and the three of us subdue Victoria. I reach out to Gina at Sanctuary, and she says Danielle has gone to the Falcon Dancer to help Morganna. I flash there. Arthur is crouched, making ooo-oo-oooh sounds at Ersatz. Don and Jody are battling Morganna. Morganna's hatred is overpowering; she hates Don, hates Jody, hates the idea of their being together. She's screaming - she's dressed in silver, she is MAD. Behind Don and Jody, Danielle materializes. I warn her not to try anything - she does anyway. When her power flashes, only then am I aware that I've changed selves again. I am once more Ras and pull arrows, wounding her. Don and Jody overcome Morganna, and Art stops Ersatz as the dream ends.
Dream--01/06/77
We're all on the Falcon Dancer - Danielle, Ersatz, Morganna, Don, Gina, Jody, Art, Carol, Breane, Atara, Angra, and myself. Don and I are materializing Victoria inside a cell. I ask Don if she really is his sister - his entire upper body is now greenish-blue - he responds that he used to think he had a sister, but she was older not younger. Danielle seems to hold keys, but she won't talk to anyone but Breane. Breane and Carol have each changed form so that they now appear as twins. Atara and Angra are eager to return to the shrine of the Phoenix, and Gina wishes to accompany them. Jody is with Arthur, trying to probe his mind for answers. Don tells me that this struggle is revolving around Sorcerors' House partly because of my ability to tap into any one of my selves at any given time. Since it seems to happen unconsciously, Don is not sure what keys it, although emotion seems to play a part. I ask Don why his body is changing hue and he is silent. Gina interrupts. Atara and Angra are muttering in an unknown tongue. The three of them vanish and we are six. Don sits on a small mushroom-shaped cushion, dressed in black. I am tall, bearded, dressed in black with silver trim. Breane and Carol are dressed similarly in dark blue with light blue trim. Jody is still dressed in reds and golds and browns, but wearing two bracelets with the design being the ancient masks of comedy and tragedy intertwined on them. Art is dressed in red, with concentric circles of blue all around. Don has steered us into a "safe" limbo area. Jody asks Don why he reacted with anger when Hellmann kissed Victoria. Don says he thought Hellmann was just showing off his arrogance, but Breane again asks, "Why the anger?" Don says he doesn't know. Carol motions us to silence, then points out that Victoria's sword has, in its finery, three intertwined serpents. Arthur is looking away - he motions to me. We get up and leave the four there talking. We travel to Sorcerors' House and Art says, "Show me the mirror," his voice cold. The room has changed places in the house, almost as if it never remains in the same co-ordinates for too long. The room this time is located in the anteroom. In the mirrored room, Art walks to the mirror and cries out. Except for the extreme left hand reflection, all the mirrors are blank - then they are not blank as four different coloured images of Hellmann (blue, red, yellow, green) stand there. Don is in my mind, "Beware the prism effect," but all four Hellmann's blaze at us. I can feel Arthur's mind winking out, and from deep inside me a voice comes through my chest, saying "Into the mirror, into the mirror." I leap at the mirrored image of Shardow, pulling Arthur with me. The world closes behind me and we sit on a ledge with rocks floating past. Art in unconscious. To my right is a Tree stretching up into infinity - the dream ends.
Dream--01/08/77
Art and I stand, looking out on nothingness. There is no up or down. We're standing on a piece of rock ledge, the rock at our backs is shifting colours and images. The tree trunk is to our left now, and it reaches up and down as far as the eye can see. I tell Art to wait and I jump to the trunk. I climb up about 80 feet but can see nothing. I go out on a branch but there are no clouds, there's no land, the sky is colourless and only rocks float by. Far below Art is waving to me - I return. He says that when he concentrates, he can tune in on the shifting images on the rock to the mirrored room in Sorcerors' House. I suggest we both try it, and we pull in a cool clear image okay, but can't get back. Very, very faintly I hear Carol calling me in my mind. I throw back as loud a response as I can, detailing our predicament. We maintain the image of the mirror room and suddenly Don strides through the doorway, comes to the mirror. His faces registers shock, but because we are in the mirror we can't see what he does. He is dressed in red and gold and his eyes are shadowed. The strange effect, the blue-green colours of his upper body, remains. He speaks sternly to us through the mirror, saying that the prism effect should have killed us. He asks why I went into the mirror and I tell him of the inner voice. His eyebrows rise at that. Art asks if we can get out, and Don says perhaps, but it involves dropping all our powers and going through a period of normalizing. He points out our extreme vulnerability, saying that most of the knowledge we now have will be subconscious. We're debating what to do when a wind suddenly threatens to knock Art and me off the ledge. I sense, rather than see, Don come into our frame. He is holding Jody's comedy-tragedy bracelet - he is different - his normal colour has returned but he seems younger, less certain. He gives me the bracelet "Jody says you're the only one who can make it work." I peer at it, put it on. It begins to glow. Don calls out to wait until he jumps back to the Sanctuary, but it is too late. Art has added his concentration to mine as we key in on my actor friends in Chicago, and Don is pulled along with us. As we materialize on the outskirts of Chicago, I can feel any power or knowledge slipping from me like a half-remembered song as the dream ends.
Draem--01/10/77
Don, Art and Fill and myself are traveling to Chicago to see Bev and Dan. Chicago is huge, a multi-level city reaching out from mid Wisconsiin to mid Illinois. As we hit an area of Chicago, we go through a matter transmitter that shrinks Don, Art and Fill to six inches - and the vehicle as well. I remain normal-sized carrying them in the vehicle under my arm. We go through an area of spiral ramps and the speed increases under my feet. The spiral ramp leads to a level where all the buildings are ell-shaped. Fill, Art and Don are thrown out of the car by the speed and are lost to me. I go on to Bev's and she contacts Dan using a communicator with visual - behind Dan are the same black men in the vicinity where Don, Art and Fill were lost. Dan says he'll find Art and Don. While waiting, a girl named Diane Love gives Bev a small package - in it is heroin. She and I take it and pass the time talking. Dan comes in, says that Don and Fill were still at the spiral ramp station and are on their way here, but that Arthur wasn't there. Dan asks if Art knows how to enlarge himself. I say "no" but he has this address and Bev's folks' address. He suggests that Bev and I go there to wait for Art, while he waits for Don and Fill here. We do so. After some time spent socializing with her parents, Art shows up - full-sized - his face is very, very haggard and he's bleeding from one hand and one eye. He says that when he was lost he was thrown off the ramp into a slum/residential area. When he awoke he was normal-sized. He'd started to go back to the ramp but saw two men following him. One looked like Alf, only wearing black glasses and the other was a tall, powerfully-built black man. They'd almost caught him once, but he had trapped them in an echo well and had hurled metal objects into the well til the two of them were unconscious. Bev and her folks begin to straighten Art up and I check the grounds outside. The scene is very eerie, because the streetlamps are all blacklight. In the front of the house next to the driveway is a pit with metal walls that is used to incinerate and disintegrate any waste. As I start to go back inside, I hear high-pitched voices. I look in one of the basement windows and Alf and a black man are there. They are dressed similarly, in black clothes with a circle in white on each wrist. I slip inside. I overhear them saying they will take Art and use Bev as a hostage to trap me. On the table in the kitchen in Bev's communicator; I contact Dan. He says that Don has arrived, but Fill has gone back to his folks' home in Baltimore. I tell him the situation and he wants to rush right over. I tell him no, to wait, but he and Don should work together on an alternative after calling the authorities, in case my plan doesn't work. They agree. Alf and his friend are taking Art out through the basement entrance. I slip down and free Bev, tell her to go to the controls of the incinerating device; then I step out after them. I call out and they turn. I throw a rock that knocks the glasses off Alf and another that strikes his shoulder. Everything seems (due to the heroin, no doubt) to go slowmotion. Anything I can use to throw, I do. The two of them can't get any balance to throw anything back. They jump down into the pit, hoping to use the ledges for protection. I throw a garbage can down and yell to Bev. She activates it and there is a flash like a light bulb in a camera. There are no noises coming up from it. I go down inside, and the two are unconscious. Art comes up and murmurs a word that, to me, for some reason, is chilling: "Hellmann" - but Bev is coming too, so I don't respond. The authorities arrive and take the unconscious pair away, and Dan and Don take Art to a hospital, and Bev and I return to their place as the dream ends.
Dream--01/14/77
We are standing on a platform, Don, Art, Bev, Dan and myself. It is made of metal and is circular. Don is chanting a phrase of light and the rest of us are simply waiting. Suddenly a torus opens up in space to our right. Bev and Dan are amazed. Don's face is beaded with sweat, and Art and I are concentrating on helping. Suddenly it is as though all time and all realities have been stopped. In that instant, Bev projects a series of thoughts about magick and questions about "whatever we were doing in Chicago anyway?" Whatever was missing from our minds has returned - and I begin explaining about Hellmann. Don breaks in, saying that we are in 1983 but in our time it is 1977. Bev flashes "Why?" and Don says that the years 1976-77-78 hold great danger for the three of us, so that when we were drawn here out of limbo, he'd pushed us forward into a futuretime Chicago, so that danger wouldn't be as imminent - but he was wrong, as Hellmann, in the forms of Alf and the black sailor, managed to track us. He stops. The torus is now man-sized and glowing. Art, whose face is half-bandaged, steps through the opening and vanishes - Dan and Bev gasp. I turn to them, and give them the odd comedy-tragedy bracelet that Jody had sent to us. They nod, and Don and I step into the torus. There is a sensation like waves of water that have been held back and are now released - and time and space wash in over us. We are caught in a maelstrom, but I can sense Don reaching, reaching out to Jody's thoughts, and I throw my thoughts to Carol's to gain us a beaconway to the Falcon Dancer. As Don and I swim toward it, his skin grows darker. In the mist it is hard to gauge colour. Up ahead of us we can see Arthur's form flick-flickering into the "real" world. As we reach the Falcon Dancer, Jody, Carol, and Breane conjure a triangular doorway for he and I to step through. We do so and are dressed in our colours, Don in black and silver, myself in black and silver and red. Don's skin is entirely greenblue and that one fact is sharply apparent as the dream ends.
Dream -- 01/17/77
There is a red-haired woman staring at me. I know it is Danielle, but this is another of her forms; her name is Leahan. She is dressed all in black and her hair is done up in tiny curls projecting a halo effect about her head. We are aboard the vessel and she is caged. I sit cross-legged on the floor in front of her. She is telpathing at me, "Why do you stay with them?" - a pause - "Your place is at Sanctuary." - a pause - "You do not belong." I open my eyes and stare at her. Her eyes are light, pale green. "I'm here because of promises" I respond. She answers, "You owe them nothing." It isn't said with malice or with any motive. I tell her I've given my word - and laughter comes from behind me - the others. I am on guard over Danielle, Victoria, Morganna and Ersatz. Morganna is laughing, but she's been laughing since she was subdued. The others are still, Victoria brooding, staring into the one candle in her cell. Ersatz paces back and forth. Suddenly, Don enters; his hair has turned rich navy blue and he wears an armored breastplate with an odd bird on it - the bird has two heads. He says that Art has regained consciousness and that we should meet. I stand up, my black and red cape draped over my shoulders. As I do so, Don yells. Leahan-Danielle is flickering. I call out to her to stop. She says, "If you want my answer, meet me in the Sanctuary." I pause and shake my head as she teleports. I laugh briefly. Don asks why. I say because it is absurd, all these crises piled one atop the other, like some bizarre melodrama. He says that it is all one crisis, having to do with Hellmann. I laugh at that, pointing at our prisoners, and then saying, "And the Phoenix, and Carol's death, and the Sanctuary, and Morganna, and the mountain Shorn?" He looks at me - he says, "You want to go?" I pause. "No, but somewhere is something we're missing, some clue to this, and it has to do with the Sanctuary." I turn to face Don. "Questions?" I yell at him. "Why are you metamorphosing? Why did Morganna appear? Who is Victoria? - and for right now, who are you?" Don cringes and I press it. "I've the feeling you know some of the answers; what DID you see in the mirror?" He stops and materializes a piece of chalk. He sketches in five rectangles on the floor. In the first, he sketches a picture of Jody with a skull in her hand; in the second, he sketches a picture of Sanctuary burning high in flames and crumbling to the ground; in the third, he sketches a rather cartoon figure of the Dragon, bluegreen; in the fourth, he sketches in Hellmann holding a pack of cards, on each card is the embellishment of a variety of faces from old dreams: Roderick, Shardow, Anatana, No-Name, Danielle, Victoria, Morganna, Gala, Arthur, Ras, Garn, Logan, Jarod, Dominic, J'Lea, Joelle, Marya, Gina, Ersatz, Atara, Angra - there is one other card but it is blank - and Hellmann is laughing; in the fifth, he sketches a picture of himself with a skull in his hand. Don stands. "Now do you see?" I say yes - his dilemma - caught on the fulcrum; if he does one extreme action it could result in Jody's destruction, if the other extreme, it could result in his own destruction. If he does nothing, which he is doing now, symbolized in the Dragon, then both Sanctuary will fall and Hellmann will win. I begin to understand the concept behind the mirror; it is a living Tarot reading for whoever stands in front of it. The reading can be either in terms of aspects of the person or aspects of the situation. I begin to say that I understand this as the dream ends.
Dream--01/18/77
I stand in front of the five-sided mirror, seeking. I've come to Sanctuary alone - the revelations from Don have sparked this. In my hand suddenly is a red rose and I snap back to concentrating on the mirror. I can feel myself opening up to the different aspects reflected therein. The conscience of Shardow, the viscious anger of Ras, the righteousness of Garn, the compassion of Logan, and the maturity of Jarod - they are all aspects. I close my eyes becasue the power of these aspects is pushing, pulsing into me. Finally the storm ends; the winds stop blowing in the room. I look again at the mirror. I am of average height and build, black haired with a lighter coloured beard. I'm dressed in blue and silver and I wear my black cape tinged with green outlines. It is fastened at my neck with a gold chain; in the chain is a green rose. A long silvery sword hangs at my hip, and the familiar red and white wolves stand beside. My countenance is Shardow's, minus the scar. Behind me I hear a voice. It is Leahan's, she says, "I knew you would come." I say to her, "You said once that I was the one who built this place - what did you mean?" She said that she meant in the future - but that I know it from my past, and she flashes her body like she was exploding herself - and time warps. Suddenly I know what Sanctuary is - the winding corridor, the steps, the rooms, the mirror, the emblems on the furniture and the old wooden huge table. It is my grandfather's house, that was destroyed by fire on Christmas night 1963. Some time later, Don and Jody and myself stand in the mirrored room at Sanctuary, and Leahan is materializing tea in cups for us as the dream ends.
Dream--01/20/77
Jody, Don, Art and myself are in Sorcerors' House. We sit on the floor, Don to the East, myself to the South, Jody to the West and Art to the North. Before us is a bowl of smoking herbs. We're in the mirrored room, but the mirror itself is covered by a black cloth. This dream is odd, we all have names: I am Shardow, Don is Roderick, Jody is Anatana and Art is Bartholomew. We've left Carol and Breane aboard the vessel, and a spell of binding on the prisoners on board. We're here for a ceremony. Roderick calls it 'calling down the Dragon' and he is guiding our pathwork toward this end. There is a wind blowing through the room and a rustling sound comes from outside. Bartholomew is startled by it, then he begins breaking away from the ceremony. As he stands us, a voice floats into our consciousness: "Stay." and a moment later the woman Danielle appears in her Leahan aspect. She motions and suddenly the room is plunged into a weird kind of blacklight effect, making us all look like negative images. Roderick's face, however, is white. She says for us to remain still, then gestures, her hands open and held before her, palms up. Slowly twin pillars of light materialize upward from her palms. She warns us to remain still, then plays the beams over us. We all stand and suddenly we're able to see Danielle's true form as Being, composed of Space and Time. She then announces, "I am the daughter of the Dragon" as if she's calling on some higher force. She continues, "Victoria-of-the-Sword is my daughter" and "you are my son," pointing to Roderick. Don's face is a mask. Suddenly Jody comes aware of motion and says, "Hellmann." By the mirror, the air shimmers and the black cloth covering the mirror falls away. Hellmann materializes in front of or out of the mirror - and the mirror itself seems alive. In it are other aspects of Hellmann; one is No-Name, another is Alan Friend, but the others I don't recognize, but one aspect of him is a woman whose face and form are shadow. He is laughing - and with one gesture brings the other players into the room. Morganna stands beside him, Victoria is between him and Danielle, Ersatz walks into Hellmann's form, while Carol and Breane stand with the four of us. He turns and his face softens. He says, "This is your death," and multicoloured cones ringed with black strike at us from his hands as the dream ends.
Dream--01/22/77
Don and Jody and myself suddenly wink into a plane of existence. We've been shifted here by Hellmann. We're standing on a stairway in what appears to be an ultra-modern building. All the floors and stairs are metal. Don opens a door to one of the floors; inside are many different kinds of beings, all sitting at a huge ell-shaped counter with containers of food or drink in front of them. We walk on in and the beings stare at us. They're all dressed in ragged grey shapeless clothes, and they all wear a bracelet with the words "EKTU LARS" on it. It appears this is some sort of enclosure. There are mechanical creatures that stand at the doorways. We dash through the cafeteria (?) and return to our stairwell. Don closes his eyes and says, "There are 45 stories in this enclosure." We begin going down. We reach the 16th level from the bottom, according to Don, and start to go in. As we do so, we catch a glimpse of someone walking towards us. It is a mechanical guard; he calls to us to halt, then his eyes elongate into barrels and energy flashes toward us. Jody erects a barrier and Don draws a circle in the air and sticks his fist through it. The guard crumples. We return to our journey. As we reach the 12th level, an alarm sounds. Again we try to teleport out of this situation, but no go. We enter the 12th level and it is a lounge type area. There are futuristic couches all around and a picture window viewing into another section. We go to that window and look down. In the area are about ten men; they are all images of Arthur. We look at each other, confused, until suddenly one of them is taken to a circular cell in the center of the room. We hear a click and then the next instant this Arthur's face melts away as his flesh peels off. Jody turns away, Don holds her and I swallow. I pull at them, we go back to the stairway but are pursued. We run and Don and I construct a meshnet of doom. It destroys several of the mechanical men. As we round a corner there's another viewiing port. Jody reaches it before Don and I. She screams and begins running away from us. We get to the viewport and the same scene is being repeated, only the victim is Jody. Don takes off after her and I slip into the stairway to draw away some of the pursuers. I reach the first level and go into a long wide lobby area; behind me is pursuit. I flash on that part of me that is Garn, and suddenly my wolves are there. I mutter a phrase, "Try not to reach me through Blood or Bone, or the flesh you destroy will be your own" -- and the pursuers suddenly find themselves grappling with invisible manifestations of my killer wolves. Don appears beside me, carrying Jody -- his face is streaked with dirt. In front of us is a man, very straight looking, about 55 or so, with grey hair and an aging businessman's look to him. He smiles benignly, says "I can't let you leave here" and presses a button that sets a huge cage hurtling towards us. Don hands Jody to me and presses his hands together; the cage dissipates and the old man's eyes become gun barrels. He blasts at us but I get a shield up in time. I take my dagger from its sheath and aim at the chandelier above the old man. It falls on him. As this respite occurs, there's a voice in my mind -- I can't tell if it is Carol or Breane -- it is saying, "the secret is in the mirror." I mention this to Don. He says, "We're in a factory but I don't know why." Jody says, "This is where Hellmann has taken away parts of people's realities; he holds them prisoner here and then destroys them." As she says this the wall rises open and a whole crew of metal men come at us. Jody immediately moves to bind them and Don goes aloft. I stand swinging my sword, clearing a path. Don's power is awesome, he forms a small sun in the sky and melts them to slag -- but I know what a drain that much power takes from him and I harbor my own energies, just in case. We begin to ride down an escalator. Suddenly Hellmann's image fills the sky and there is laughter. The escalator falls away from under us and Hellmann takes us high. Again he's sending cones at us, but this time Jody is blocking them. Don tries to break his hold on us, but the powers are too similar. Don calls to me and I call on an infinite source. Suddenly there is a blinding flash and we are free -- falling, but free. Don forms a triangle with his hands and as we are about to hit the ground, we vanish -- to reappear suddenly at Sorceror's House. The room of mirrors is a shambles. Each mirror shows only one scene: the scene of limbo where Art and I were trapped next to the Tree that reached forever in two directions. I look at Don and he says, "That is what Hellmann seeks, control of the Tree of All Realities." Suddenly from behind us is an explosion and we all feel great pain. In my mind is Carol (or Breane?) screaming, "No-No-No!!" The room clears and in the mirror we can see Hellmann in the one reality stepping closer and closer to the Tree. There's a groan from behind us. Art and Carol and Breane are lying behind the huge oaken table. Art is unconscious and Breane appears delirius. Carol is shaken, but apparently alright. She says that Hellmann struck them as soon as we'd vanished and that Danielle and Victoria were sent to a similar place, a prison of souls. Her saying that disturbs me. Don and Jody begin to prepare for going into the mirror, but suddenly they seem frozen on the floor. Again is the tug at my mind, much weaker now, now urging a warning -- and I know now what is happening. I turn to Carol and ask, "How did you know we were in a prison?" as I send great waves of energy into her form, building to an overload. Her form glows ever brighter, then dissipates. As she does so, her hold over Don, Jody, Art and Breane ends. I can feel wetness against my eyes and Breane is in my mind, saying, "Thank you." Don questions, but I am a little out of it. Breane responds, saying that from the time of her ressurection in the green firefall, Carol had been Hellmann's creature. The only one who'd known had been Breane herself because of her own affinity for Carol's soul. Jody says, "Then the blank woman's shadowform shown with Hellmann..." Breane ends it "was Carol." I sit in the throne-chair in the room, hearing her explain the details of a thing that I knew only intuitively. Don places his hand on my shoulder and says, "I did not know." I tell him it doesn't matter. There was no triumph. He asks me if I will continue to aid against Hellmann. I am sarcastic: "You've got to be kidding! Of course I will." Don looks vaguely troubled as I say "Hellmann is mine!" -- and the dream ends.