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Last night, I had a strange, exceptionally vivid dream. I'm not sure what sort of inspiration I've had for it...
The segment I remember, anyway, is the most impressive one.
The surroundings - a swampy area, vaguely foggy, many plants of odd appearances and proportions grow. Strange plants with glowing blue flowers on stalks (looked a lot like the Draggle-Tail plants of Morrowind - Y'know, Coda Flowers...) and the occasional firefly-like insect are most of the illumination. You can occasionally see different bugs flying by, maybe the occasional amphibian - wierd frog/salamander creatures who scuttle away at the smallest rustle through the bushes. Small pools of greenish water dot the area, strange, weathered trees dipping snakelike roots into them. The air is filled with the rustle of crickets, soft buzzing of other insects, and the rustling of gentle wind.
And a faint scritching noise.
Enter me, in a strange, light 'encounter suit' - a strange bio-mechanical complex that looks metallic but feels organic, in a strange purple hue, covered with blue bioluminiscent patches of markings, scraping some kind of moss off the rocks with a wide dagger-shaped piece of strange tree bark that is smooth on its internal side and rough on its external side. The moss itself is a strange shade of green, with occasionalm vaguely glowing white orblike baubles growing out of it - possibly spore pods. I was scraping it off the rocks using the edge and the rough side while getting the moss over the smooth side. It was apparantly necessary for something.
I was on this expedition to gather certain ingredients. I've already gathered most, this moss happened to be one of the final ingredients.
My only companion in this swamp was a strange, flightless birdlike creature that followed me around - a creature large enough to ride without being on the whole too large, with powerful, muscular legs, a longish powerful looking neck, large, round and vaguely crystal-like blue eyes, lightly glowing, a beak that resembled something between a cardinal, an eagle and a parrot, and a strange, plated body, with smooth skin and occasional plumes where there were no plates. It also had longish, folded frills along its neck, its head, and its body, that were nearly invisible when folded but really stood out when expanded. The whole thing was slate-ish grey-blue, and had saddle bags attached to it - saddle bags that seemed to have some sorts of exotic-looking plants in them, as well as a few cylindrical plexiglass pods that seemed to contain more delicate components in them.
The bird moved silently through the swamp grass, its movements all slow and majestic, occasionally stopping to peck at the ground, or lunging out with its neck and snapping its beak to catch some kind of flying insect, occasionally flitting its frills open and then closed like gills, and making this kind of strange, soft purr/squawk noise that seemed to echo vaguely. It was clearly exceptionally loyal to me.
Suddenly, something, some kind of distant rustle or vague smell (these birds apparantly have excellent sensory capabilities) seemed to trigger the bird's attention - it made this alarming chirp, flitting its frills open and closed a few times, and turned its head towards something unseen. I could feel my heartbeat kicking up a few notches - There were terrors in this swamp, and I knew it - and one of them was probably stalking us.
There was a moment of silence, and then, an exceptionally loud (for the distance it came from) roar that sounded vaguely reverbing - kinda like the Xchagger victory scream in Star Control 3 - came, and the bird jumped to attention, seeking out a path to escape. Dramatic 'time is running out' kind of music started playing - My heartbeat rushes, body pumping adrenaline as I work faster, covering the bark blade with more moss, a facial expression like the one of a person trying to diffuse a bomb about to explode on my face.
There is thunderous, rapid steps of multiple legs in the background, as it is nearly obvious that whatever it is is moving as fast as it can and breaking through trees and plants.
Finally, the collecting is complete - the entire smooth side of the bark blade is covered with the moss. I hold it up with my hand, and a plexiglass pod, like the ones witnessed before, produced from some kind of module on my encounter suit's right arm, encasing the sample within it and sealing itself hermetically. I run over to the bird, that is really jumpy at the moment - looks like it's about to bolt at any minute in panic - it's hyperventilating, its eyes kinda widened... My breathing is still rather quick and erratic from the adrenaline rush itself. 'C'mon, it's going to be here any minute!' I exclaim, throwing the pod into the saddle bags, locking them and jumping on the creature's back, settling on a little natural saddle formed by the plates.
It's so close It can be heard. felt. just not yet... seen...
And then, I release a strange, feral scream/battle-cry and the bird rears up, fanning out its frills and begins running at exceptionally rapid speeds. We could hear the creature roaring behind us - clearly, it isn't fast enough to chase a bird of this speed. So it just roars at us, glaring from the distance - a mere sillhouette within the swamp - a huge, bulky shape with a huge, gaping maw that seemed to consist most of its head, extremely powerful jaws and four insectoid, glowing red eyes. Two on each side of the head, one larger eye above one smaller eye. The outline of fuzz and a muscular looking legs can also be really vaguely seen, silently illuminated by the candle-like coda flowers and the vague flicker of a firefly. It roars a few more times, before the scene changes.
Back to me and the bird - riding through a purple desert at night. I seem to be in a rush, as the bird carries us forward. I can hear the sounds of more galloping birds in the distance, as some dust picks up - a small pack of riders, riding their own birds - with similar encounter suits to mine - with light differences in hues and markings, as well as the fact that they seemed to wear helmets overtook me - so now I find myself riding in this group.
Someone who is clearly the leader rides to my side - a tall female with a firm, commanding voice and a helmet so that her face is completely obscured, turns her head to me. "What news from the north?" she asks.
"The V'shardi are moving." I reply, matter of factly "It appears that they're losing their border skirmishes with the N'thon - They're trying to establish a foothold in the Gamara prairies."
"Gamara?" she replies, light concern and puzzlement in her voice "But, there's no strategical value or resources there at all. Why are they interested in the prairies?"
"Maybe they're after something UNDER the prairies." I reply, a hint of suspicion in my voice, then I shake my head as if it were nothing and say that "The shaman is anticipating my arrival", preparing to spur my bird on forawrd.
"Wait, you are still missing one ingredient." She calls out, and tosses me another plexiglass pod that I catch as my bird speeds up and rides on, leaving the riders behind. I do manage to shout a 'thank you' which the leader hears, and makes an elaborate gesture with a hand in the air, which basically means 'good luck and may the spirits be with you', or something to that effect.
The plexiglass pod contains a largish, blood-red flower with a golden center, its petals resemble ivy leaves, and are vaguely crumpled in texture. The colors seem exceptionally vibrant, even through the plexiglass. It's like the colors on that thing were a living entity on their own right. I look at it for a while, and keep carrying it with me as the bird continues to dash forward into the desert. Fade out.
... Dude. I should lay off the RPGs. o_o
The segment I remember, anyway, is the most impressive one.
The surroundings - a swampy area, vaguely foggy, many plants of odd appearances and proportions grow. Strange plants with glowing blue flowers on stalks (looked a lot like the Draggle-Tail plants of Morrowind - Y'know, Coda Flowers...) and the occasional firefly-like insect are most of the illumination. You can occasionally see different bugs flying by, maybe the occasional amphibian - wierd frog/salamander creatures who scuttle away at the smallest rustle through the bushes. Small pools of greenish water dot the area, strange, weathered trees dipping snakelike roots into them. The air is filled with the rustle of crickets, soft buzzing of other insects, and the rustling of gentle wind.
And a faint scritching noise.
Enter me, in a strange, light 'encounter suit' - a strange bio-mechanical complex that looks metallic but feels organic, in a strange purple hue, covered with blue bioluminiscent patches of markings, scraping some kind of moss off the rocks with a wide dagger-shaped piece of strange tree bark that is smooth on its internal side and rough on its external side. The moss itself is a strange shade of green, with occasionalm vaguely glowing white orblike baubles growing out of it - possibly spore pods. I was scraping it off the rocks using the edge and the rough side while getting the moss over the smooth side. It was apparantly necessary for something.
I was on this expedition to gather certain ingredients. I've already gathered most, this moss happened to be one of the final ingredients.
My only companion in this swamp was a strange, flightless birdlike creature that followed me around - a creature large enough to ride without being on the whole too large, with powerful, muscular legs, a longish powerful looking neck, large, round and vaguely crystal-like blue eyes, lightly glowing, a beak that resembled something between a cardinal, an eagle and a parrot, and a strange, plated body, with smooth skin and occasional plumes where there were no plates. It also had longish, folded frills along its neck, its head, and its body, that were nearly invisible when folded but really stood out when expanded. The whole thing was slate-ish grey-blue, and had saddle bags attached to it - saddle bags that seemed to have some sorts of exotic-looking plants in them, as well as a few cylindrical plexiglass pods that seemed to contain more delicate components in them.
The bird moved silently through the swamp grass, its movements all slow and majestic, occasionally stopping to peck at the ground, or lunging out with its neck and snapping its beak to catch some kind of flying insect, occasionally flitting its frills open and then closed like gills, and making this kind of strange, soft purr/squawk noise that seemed to echo vaguely. It was clearly exceptionally loyal to me.
Suddenly, something, some kind of distant rustle or vague smell (these birds apparantly have excellent sensory capabilities) seemed to trigger the bird's attention - it made this alarming chirp, flitting its frills open and closed a few times, and turned its head towards something unseen. I could feel my heartbeat kicking up a few notches - There were terrors in this swamp, and I knew it - and one of them was probably stalking us.
There was a moment of silence, and then, an exceptionally loud (for the distance it came from) roar that sounded vaguely reverbing - kinda like the Xchagger victory scream in Star Control 3 - came, and the bird jumped to attention, seeking out a path to escape. Dramatic 'time is running out' kind of music started playing - My heartbeat rushes, body pumping adrenaline as I work faster, covering the bark blade with more moss, a facial expression like the one of a person trying to diffuse a bomb about to explode on my face.
There is thunderous, rapid steps of multiple legs in the background, as it is nearly obvious that whatever it is is moving as fast as it can and breaking through trees and plants.
Finally, the collecting is complete - the entire smooth side of the bark blade is covered with the moss. I hold it up with my hand, and a plexiglass pod, like the ones witnessed before, produced from some kind of module on my encounter suit's right arm, encasing the sample within it and sealing itself hermetically. I run over to the bird, that is really jumpy at the moment - looks like it's about to bolt at any minute in panic - it's hyperventilating, its eyes kinda widened... My breathing is still rather quick and erratic from the adrenaline rush itself. 'C'mon, it's going to be here any minute!' I exclaim, throwing the pod into the saddle bags, locking them and jumping on the creature's back, settling on a little natural saddle formed by the plates.
It's so close It can be heard. felt. just not yet... seen...
And then, I release a strange, feral scream/battle-cry and the bird rears up, fanning out its frills and begins running at exceptionally rapid speeds. We could hear the creature roaring behind us - clearly, it isn't fast enough to chase a bird of this speed. So it just roars at us, glaring from the distance - a mere sillhouette within the swamp - a huge, bulky shape with a huge, gaping maw that seemed to consist most of its head, extremely powerful jaws and four insectoid, glowing red eyes. Two on each side of the head, one larger eye above one smaller eye. The outline of fuzz and a muscular looking legs can also be really vaguely seen, silently illuminated by the candle-like coda flowers and the vague flicker of a firefly. It roars a few more times, before the scene changes.
Back to me and the bird - riding through a purple desert at night. I seem to be in a rush, as the bird carries us forward. I can hear the sounds of more galloping birds in the distance, as some dust picks up - a small pack of riders, riding their own birds - with similar encounter suits to mine - with light differences in hues and markings, as well as the fact that they seemed to wear helmets overtook me - so now I find myself riding in this group.
Someone who is clearly the leader rides to my side - a tall female with a firm, commanding voice and a helmet so that her face is completely obscured, turns her head to me. "What news from the north?" she asks.
"The V'shardi are moving." I reply, matter of factly "It appears that they're losing their border skirmishes with the N'thon - They're trying to establish a foothold in the Gamara prairies."
"Gamara?" she replies, light concern and puzzlement in her voice "But, there's no strategical value or resources there at all. Why are they interested in the prairies?"
"Maybe they're after something UNDER the prairies." I reply, a hint of suspicion in my voice, then I shake my head as if it were nothing and say that "The shaman is anticipating my arrival", preparing to spur my bird on forawrd.
"Wait, you are still missing one ingredient." She calls out, and tosses me another plexiglass pod that I catch as my bird speeds up and rides on, leaving the riders behind. I do manage to shout a 'thank you' which the leader hears, and makes an elaborate gesture with a hand in the air, which basically means 'good luck and may the spirits be with you', or something to that effect.
The plexiglass pod contains a largish, blood-red flower with a golden center, its petals resemble ivy leaves, and are vaguely crumpled in texture. The colors seem exceptionally vibrant, even through the plexiglass. It's like the colors on that thing were a living entity on their own right. I look at it for a while, and keep carrying it with me as the bird continues to dash forward into the desert. Fade out.
... Dude. I should lay off the RPGs. o_o
