W7-LandofDreams

Wizardry VII - Land of Dreams

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1.	->from Munkharama You notice a funny smell in the air, and it makes you feel a bit lightheaded. ->encounter Nightmare
s3*	The room is clouded with sweet hazy smoke, and a shimmer of swirling colors makes you feel strangely dizzy, from out of the whirl something begins to take form. ->encounter Dream Weaver
2.	An old, old munk is lying sedate and serene on a mat upon the floor, surrounded by many curtains. Puffing on a long stem pipe, his eyes still closed, he parts the curtains as you approach. In mesmerizing tones he begins to cant. Life is but a dream, all seek, but do not find. They run the endless chase, do you know how to catch the horse? It runs the endless chase, it is by watching it, to see where it is going. That you see where it will be, this is how to catch the horse, this is how to catch a dream. How now shall you row your boat, life is but a dream. Then the old, old munk is silent for a moment, when suddenly his eye pop open and he snaps his fingers, two nymphs suddenly appear from out of nowhere and join him on the mat, cooing and softly pampering him, smiling, he gives you a wink. Then draws the curtain closed. You stand there aghast, as if dazed, not flinching, then furiously jerk the curtain back. But there is only an empty mat, and the sweet smell of a fragrant smoking pipe. ->get [SMOKING PIPE]
s9*	The room is clouded with sweet hazy smoke, and a shimmer of swirling colors makes you feel strangely dizzy, from out of the whirl something begins to take form. ->encounter Dream Weaver
3.	Splayed in an uncomely fashion in the corner lies a ragged beggar looking munk, eyes rolled back into his head, and drool running from out of his mouth, he is thin and gaunt, pale and dirty, and his odor is foully pungent, even at several paces distance. You surmise that his abuse of this establishment has led him to this condition, and you note how viciously such intoxications and addictions seize the soul, dragging one down the desperate path. A voice from behind you speaks, and you peer into the shadows, a figure emerges. His voice barely audible, you strain to hear. It is a trick within a trick, and a formidable combination it is. Those who are trapped seek escape, and the path to escape yields but further entrapment. Thus are all fooled, and the escape that they crave forever eludes them, they attempt freedom from the suffering of their life, while it is from themselves that their bonds are sustained. The trap is not the chains of life, the trap is the prison of themselves. Do you know why people like to laugh? It is a taste of momentary freedom, and to be able to laugh at oneself, is the ultimate act of freedom. An act most difficult to do. It is why escape remains so elusively hidden. From all but a very, very few. Then the figure walks away, fading into the shadows. You turn back to face the pitiful wretch in the corner, but nothing there remains. You glance back into the shadows, and then back into the corner, and sense that there was something familiar about the two. From deep in the darkness you hear the laughter of a distant munk, its echoes eventually fading into the quiet of the den.
s11*	The room is clouded with sweet hazy smoke, and a shimmer of swirling colors makes you feel strangely dizzy, from out of the whirl something begins to take form. ->encounter Fury
4.	Sitting upright upon a cushion, drawing smoke through a long supple tube, itself connected to a bulbous vase upon which rests a bowl of burning embers, a sedate munk succulently inhales his voyage into far distant reveries. As you step near, he breaks the silence Life is a mystery, a puzzle, a riddle, a rebus, an enigma. As you live, you discover some of its pieces, some you know, as if you had always known, others you do not recognize, and discard. But all is part of the puzzle, to unlock its secrets, remember that all is but a piece, and not the puzzle complete. Each man, each woman, all dwell in a grand collage, that which you fear, is but a piece which looms in the shadows. That which you believe, is but a piece that you cling to in safety. All of this is a part of the rebus of life, no one shall ever solve it for you, no one shall ever know you but you. To behold the puzzle, is to gaze into the face of the unknown, to solve the puzzle, is to walk the infinite journey. Then the smoke billows profusely from his pipe, and soon the room is enclouded with a dense haze, when the fog lifts, he is gone. A little pouch is all that remains, tiny on the floor. Reaching to pick it up, you hear his voice whisper inside your head. Do-dah. ->get [Mysterious Pastille]
s12*	A sense of dread and foreboding comes over you as you descend into the room, a sensation distinct from that of the palace. Though the area appears empty, you feel a sinister presence, something dark and dangerous and deadly. Your thoughts tell you to leave this place, but something here seems to be drawing you in, enticing you to stay.
5.	The door is ebony black, cold and unholy, and from it emanates an aura of doom. You feel it pulling you, urging you to pass through.
6.	You step into oblivion, you are falling, falling, and then you are falling no longer. All is quiet and black, though you can feel a solid surface beneath your feet, you see nothing, and all around you presses the deep void. ->step forward A vision of burning flames appears in the distance ->step forward You draw closer to the fiery blaze, and you see there is something burning in the flames. ->step forward It it you, the fire swells and suddenly you are surrounded by faces from your past, faces of those you have both loved and slain, their skin bubbles and their eyeballs swell and then explode as they scream, as you watch as they turn into a host of blackened charred corpse. Their screams become a mad cackling, and as they crumble into dust you see arise within the flames huge buildings and structures. And you sense that the structures mean something important, but watch as they too crack and fall into the burning inferno. The flame congeals into flaming ball, and from its smoke and ash forms a sphere of spinning firmament which begins to orbit around the burning mother. And you look upon the sphere as its surface transforms, blossoming an infinite variety of features, and soon there are other spheres and then behind them still others and then a thousand suns dot the black sky. A million planets swarm past you, racing through the void, and time itself seems to accelerate as you witness the birth and demise of nations and whole worlds. You gaze upon the evolution of life as it streams through the galaxies, birthing and growing, warring and dying, and soon the shapes become a blur until they finally collide in a tremendous explosion and time itself becomes exhausted and collapses. And then all is still and black again. ->step forward You are falling, falling, and then you are falling no longer. All is quiet and black, though you can feel a solid surface beneath your feet, you see nothing, and all around you presses the deep void. ->step forward A vision of burning flames appears in the distance ->step forward You draw closer to the fiery blaze, and you see there is something burning in the flames. ->combine [SMOKING PIPE] and [Mysterious Pastille] to [PIPE & ?PASTILLE] ->use [PIPE & ?PASTILLE] You puff on the pipe, as if by magic the mix starts to smoke! Puff, it doesn't appear to be having much effecthftt. Not ttoo mmuuch ogedoe boo tay. ->step forward It is something you do not recognize, it is something new, it emerges from the flames, and the fire diminishes. It is something beautiful, moving with perfect grace, it appears before you. I am the Spirit of Life, and the spirit that unites all creation and destruction. Your eyes have beheld the magnificence that is life and the emptiness that is non-life, and this no mortal mind was meant to hold. For this is the seed that is the root and heart and mind of all living things, be not afraid, for you have earned the right to choose for yourself, and choices matter little for aught else. For though it is through your acts and the acts of all life that the universe breathes, it is the breathing itself that is the necessary lifegiving force. Now you may choose a path of divine power to assist you: will you take the SWORD, the STAFF, the GOWN, the RING, or the STONE? ->if choose Sword, +strength to all party, get [SWORD of 4 WINDS] ->if choose Staff, +Intelligence to all party, get [STAVE of 12 STARS] ->if chhose Gown, +piety to all party, get [GOWN of DIVINEMAIL (U)&(L)] ->if choose Ring, +dexterity to all party, get [RING of INVISIBLTY] ->if choose Stone, +vitality to all party, get [AMULET of HEALING] So be it, you have seen the miraculous, but soon shall you open your eyes and remember no longer. For such is the nature of mortal mind to forget so that it may see again, this is why everything dies, to be born anew, in each blink of an eye, in each life of a man, in each birth of the cosmos. Fear not that you forget, it is each new moment of life that you should remember. (+karma to all members)
c1	Chromatic Lyre, Golden Apples