Dreams of men in bandages, the parties they hold and other quiet, dark places.
A dream about wine and dead men
You dream you're at the quietest party ever….
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A dream about wine and dead men
You dream you're at the quietest party ever. You are in a vast dark ballroom lined with mirrors. Dead men and women wrapped in bandages - like they wear in the tomb-colonies - stand around, glasses of wine in hand. No-one says anything. Very occasionally someone coughs. You can't wait to leave, but you feel an obligation to the host.
having Recurring Dreams: The Burial of the Dead increase
A dream about a market-place crowded with dead men
You dream you're at a window, watching dead men wrapped in bandages…
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Unlocked with having Recurring Dreams: Burial of the Dead 1
A dream about a market-place crowded with dead men
You dream you're at a window, watching dead men wrapped in bandages go to and fro in the square below. Candle-lit stalls sell little ornaments of copper and ivory, or mouldering books. At one side of the square a troupe of clowns shuffle disconsolately in circles. You tap the windowsill, waiting impatiently for something to happen.
having Recurring Dreams: The Burial of the Dead increase
Nightmares increase
A dream about a town square
You dream of standing in a town square. You've been here before. Crowds mill and push past you. Everyone is bandaged. Many are unravelling.
Unlocked with having Recurring Dreams: Burial of the Dead 2
Try to catch one
Grasp at the trailing bandages as people go past.
(A matter of luck: it could go either way.)
Eeny, meeny…
..miny, moe. You grasp at the fluttering bandages, and soon you catch one. The man on the other end of the bandage keeps walking, and his wrappings unravel as he goes. He disappears into a doorway before you can see what lies beneath.
having Recurring Dreams: The Burial of the Dead increase
Nightmares increase
Pawing at the air
You snatch at the trailing bandages, but they slip through your fingers. You feel like a cat surounded by elusive pieces of string.
A dream about a garden of stones
You dream of standing in a garden, hidden in the shadow between two stone trees…
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Unlocked with having Recurring Dreams: Burial of the Dead 2
A dream about a garden of stones
You dream of standing in a garden, hidden in the shadow between two stone trees. Tombs are scattered across the garden like mushrooms. A bandaged man walks down the path towards you. He pushes listlessly at the lid of a sarcophagus. It does not move.
having Recurring Dreams: The Burial of the Dead increase
Nightmares increase
A dream about a candle flame
You dream of standing at a window. It is dark outside, and all you can see is the circle of frosted light that your candle makes on the glass. You can hear thumping, scratching sounds from outside, as if something tiny is trying to get in.
Unlocked with having Recurring Dreams: Burial of the Dead 4
Peer outside
A look can't hurt, can it?
Unlocked with having Recurring Dreams: Is Someone There? 10
(A matter of luck: it could go either way.)
Look away
You don't really want to know what's out there, do you?
(A matter of luck: it could go either way.)
A frightening blankness
You unfocus your eyes and lean back from the window. The room begins to spin gently around you, and when you try to lift your hand, there is only a sleeve full of dust. The tapping grows more insistent.
having Recurring Dreams: The Burial of the Dead increase
Nightmares increase
A dream about a market-place crowded with dead men
You dream you're at a window, watching dead men wrapped in bandages…
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Unlocked with Nightmares 6, having Recurring Dreams: Burial of the Dead 4
A dream about a market-place crowded with dead men
You dream you're at a window, watching dead men wrapped in bandages go to and fro in the square below. As you watch, you begin, absent-mindedly, to unpick one of the fraying bandages covering your own face. You wake suddenly to find your hands tugging and scratching at the skin around your jaw. It takes a long while to get back to sleep, and the next day you are hollow-eyed and wretched.
Nightmares increase
A dream about a tombstone
You dream of standing in the garden of stones. It is dusty underfoot now, and the fountain is dry. The stone next to you is cracked. Most of the inscription is missing, but you can make out a few words.
Unlocked with having Recurring Dreams: Burial of the Dead 5
Read the words
You might learn something.
(A matter of luck: it could go either way.)
A dream about a field of candles
You dream of standing in the garden of stones. It is evening, and everywhere around you there are candles. Thousands upon thousands of soft little flames. Where they are densest, they form bright blazes. Up above, a flutter of air. Something icy brushes your face.
Unlocked with having Recurring Dreams: Burial of the Dead 6
Close your eyes
Can you close your eyes in a dream?
(A matter of luck: it could go either way.)
A negative glow
You close your eyes. The light inside your eyelids is soft and red, nothing like the greenish glow of the candles. The icy breeze has gone.
having Recurring Dreams: The Burial of the Dead increase
Nightmares decrease
A dream about a field of candle flames
You dream of standing in the garden of stones, leaning on a mossy wall…
Unlocked with having Recurring Dreams: Burial of the Dead 7
In the corners around the tombs, a hundred thousand glowworms move and twinkle, like a sky full of luminous green stars.
Pick up a glowworm
Their little lights are green, acidic, individual, bright.
(A matter of luck: it could go either way.)
A warm little glow
The little caterpillar nestles in your hand, glowing softly. He comforts you.
having Recurring Dreams: The Burial of the Dead increase
Nightmares decrease
A nasty nip
No. They're not glowworms. You're looking over a parapet, down at a vast encampment. The little lights are enemy campfires, crackling with menace. Something heavy strikes you on the back, and you go toppling down…
having Recurring Dreams: The Burial of the Dead increase
Wounds increase
Look again
unlocked with Dreaming Strange Dreams: A Game of Chess 10
Are those really glowworms?
(A matter of luck: it could go either way.)
A dream about moths
You dream of standing in the garden of stones. You are near the fountain now, at the centre where the paths meet. The fountain is dry, and ablaze with candles. Clouds of little frost-moths begin to gather.
Unlocked with having Recurring Dreams: Burial of the Dead 8
Wave your arms
Distract the moths from the candles.
(A matter of luck: it could go either way.)
Do nothing
Just watch, quietly
(A matter of luck: it could go either way.)
Fire into ice
The moths are barely there. Their wings are ice, thinner than the skin on a puddle after the first frost. But the candles are no match for them. The moths' wings crackle and spark as they consume the candles, flames and all: softly, like a fire blanketed beneath snow.
having Recurring Dreams: The Burial of the Dead increase
Nightmares increase
A sad destruction
The moths shimmer in the candlelight as they settle. They consume the flames at first, but the flames fight back. The fountain begins to flow with icy water.
having Recurring Dreams: The Burial of the Dead increase
Nightmares increase
Encourage the moths
Attract them to the candles. Hopefully, they'll fight.
unlocked with having Recurring Dreams: The Fire Sermon 10
(A matter of luck: it could go either way.)
A dream about a flock of moths
You dream of standing by the fountain in the garden of stones…
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Unlocked with having Recurring Dreams: Burial of the Dead 9
A dream about a flock of moths
You dream of standing by the fountain in the garden of stones. Frost-moths gather in your clothes and perch on your head. Their wings are as delicate and intricate as snowflakes, clear ice veined with traceries of fine cracks. You hold out your hands. You are carrying two bright candles. The moths eat the candles, flames and all, then start on your hands. You watch as your waxy flesh disappears, tiny mouthful by tiny mouthful.
having Recurring Dreams: The Burial of the Dead increase
Nightmares increase
A dream about a dark place
You dream that you are in a small dark space….
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Unlocked with having Recurring Dreams: Burial of the Dead 10
A dream about a dark place
You dream that you are in a small dark space. The darkness has a dusty scarlet quality. It is very hot and dry in here. You raise your hands to your face. Your fingertips meet rough, scratchy linen. You push at the walls surrounding you, but nothing happens.
having Recurring Dreams: The Burial of the Dead increase
Nightmares increase
A dream about a busy square
You dream of standing once more at the window, looking down on the marketplace. Ochre dust forms little dunes on the windowsill. Cobwebs clog the corners of the filthy panes.
Unlocked with having Recurring Dreams: Burial of the Dead 10
Rub at the glass
Can you see what's happening outside?
(A matter of luck: it could go either way.)
Through a glass, darkly?
You rub at the glass until you have cleared a small spot. Below in the square, bandaged people shuffle to and fro. Stalls offer tarnished silver and yellowing ivory trinkets. It's monotonous, but that's all.
having Recurring Dreams: The Burial of the Dead increase
Melancholy decrease
Nothing much
You rub at the glass to see more clearly. Then you realise that you're looking through gauzy linen. Somewhere below, the dead continue their polite quadrilles.
having Recurring Dreams: The Burial of the Dead increase
Nightmares increase
A dream about a gravestone
You dream of wandering in a churchyard. It's noon; there is a sun high in the sky. You are alone, for now. You stop to look at the tombstones.
Unlocked with having Recurring Dreams: Burial of the Dead 11
Read the inscription on a family tomb
Its grandeur is reassuring. Skulls with wings and elaborate scrollwork do not come cheap.
'Here lyes interred the body of… and his relict…'
The marble is cracked and furred with moss. You can't read the names of the family. But that's all right: one of them pushes open the top of the tomb and tells you. She must have heard you looking.
having Recurring Dreams: The Burial of the Dead increase
Nightmares increase
Read some of the smaller gravestones
Homely things, humped with moss and leaning like drunken old men.
Broken columns and empty urns
Marble, sandstone and granite tell their tales of deaths, timely and untimely. Ivy straggles around the stones. The moss is so soft on some of these graves. You lie down on one, and go to sleep.
having Recurring Dreams: The Burial of the Dead increase
Nightmares decrease
A dream about cocoons
You dream you are holding a glass jar full of glowworms. Their bright green light absorbs your whole attention. Then you turn away, and find yourself in a familiar garden. The ground is scattered with little cocoons. They are moth pupae, mummified in silk.
Unlocked with having Recurring Dreams: Burial of the Dead 12
Examine one
Well, why not?
(A matter of luck: it could go either way.)
That's disappointing
You try to peel the silk from a cocoon, but it's seamless, you can't get any purchase. Still, stroking the smooth, warm silk is very soothing.
having Recurring Dreams: The Burial of the Dead increase
The wrong end?
You peel away a scap of silk from the end of a cocoon. Whatever's wrapped up is leathery and brown and quiescent and warm. Is that a nose? Are those lips? An ear?
having Recurring Dreams: The Burial of the Dead increase
Nightmares increase
A dream about glowworms
You dream of standing in a room full of bandaged men and women. Dust falls through the air. You are holding a glass jar in one hand and a candle in the other. In the jar are several glowworms. Their light is brighter than anything else in the room. .
Unlocked with having Recurring Dreams: Burial of the Dead 12
Open the jar
Maybe something will happen.
(A matter of luck: it could go either way.)
A dome of many-coloured glass
You open the jar. The radiance from the worms within grows and multiplies and refracts into a thousand colours. As the light touches them, the bandaged men and women collapse into little sad heaps of linen.
having Recurring Dreams: The Burial of the Dead increase
A swarm of caterpillars
You open the jar. Thousands upon thousands of luminous green glowworms crawl out. They swarm over your skin and burrow into your hair. Everything goes a bright, acidic green.
having Recurring Dreams: The Burial of the Dead increase
Nightmares
A dream about a window at night
You dream of standing by a window. You are holding a candle, and it's dark outside. You can see the room you stand in, reflected in the glass. Outside, something taps gently on the pane.
Unlocked with having Recurring Dreams: Burial of the Dead 13
Peer out of the window
Find out what's tapping on the glass.
An eye?
You peer into the gloom. It's hard to see anything out there. There's only the green glow of the candle flame. Something slender and white hits the glass, right by your eye, with a loud CRACK.
having Recurring Dreams: The Burial of the Dead increase
Nightmares increase
Don't open the window
Why would you want to do that?
Tap, tap, tap
You stay where you are. The reflection in the glass doesn't change. The tapping on the windowpane continues, soft and persistent. Shimmering hoar-frost spreads across the glass.
having Recurring Dreams: The Burial of the Dead increase
Nightmares increase
Open the window
Perhaps something wants to speak to you.
unlocked with having Recurring Dreams: Death by Water 6
A matter of luck: it could go either way.
A dream about a quiet square
You dream of standing in a square, surrounded by tall stone buildings. There are no people in the square. There are only cocoons. Very large cocoons.
Unlock: Recurring Dreams: Burial of the Dead 13
Set fire to the cocoons
Why else would you be holding a candle?
A cruel fire
You splatter burning wax on the ground. As the flames catch the dry silk wrappings, they go up like fireworks. Green flames and orange sparks fly. The cocoons begin to melt in the heat. That feels better.
having Recurring Dreams: The Burial of the Dead increase
Nightmares decrease
Wait for the hatching
Who can say what might happen?
Strange feelers
The cocoons look like bundles wrapped in silk bandages. As you watch, cracks appear lengthwise down the shells, like seams splitting. Things begin to emerge from the cracks. Soft, thin, frosty things. Something like hands, but not entirely.
having Recurring Dreams: The Burial of the Dead increase
Nightmares increase
A dream about a cramped space
You dream of lying in a warm dark space. You have been here before. Your hands are bandaged, but you can move them.
Unlocked with having Recurring Dreams: Burial of the Dead 14
Lift your hands to your face
Just to see.
A matter of luck: pretty good odds.
A dream about a sheet of ice
You dream of standing in a garden…
Autofire
Unlocked with having Recurring Dreams: Burial of the Dead 14
A dream about a sheet of ice
You dream of standing in a garden, somewhere you know well. The fountain has iced over. The surface of the pool is covered in a fine tracery of lace. Lines a hundredth of a hair's breadth divide the ice into miniscule shapes. As you watch, the ice begins to break; thousands of frost-moths are taking flight.
having Recurring Dreams: The Burial of the Dead increase
Nightmares increase
A dream about a garden of tombs
You dream of standing on the edge of a cliff. The sea crashes far beneath you. You turn inland, and you're walking through a graveyard. Tombs tower above you.
Unlocked with having Recurring Dreams: Burial of the Dead 15
Walk through the tombs
It's peaceful here in the shadows, away from the harsh winds and freezing spray from the sea.
Peace and quiet
You wander the cemetery for a while. The tombs are massive now; as if Titans are interred here. The inscriptions are too large to read. It's wonderfully quiet in the shadows.
having Recurring Dreams: The Burial of the Dead increase
Nightmares decrease
Turn back to the sea
It's looking stormy out there, but it's a more inviting prospect than this dreadful necropolis.
unlocked with having Recurring Dreams: What the Thunder Said 10
A matter of luck: it could go either way.
A dream about dissolution
You dream you are in the town square, walking in circles with all the other bandaged people…
Autofire
Unlocked with having Recurring Dreams: Burial of the Dead 16
A dream about dissolution
You dream you are in the town square, walking in circles with all the other bandaged people. As you walk, you start to unwind your wrappings. Dust falls in thick clots. By the time the last scrap is gone, there's nothing left of you at all. So who's holding the bandages?
having Recurring Dreams: The Burial of the Dead increase
Nightmares increase
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having Recurring Dreams: Is Someone There? increase
You were fortunate!
having Recurring Dreams: A Game of Chess increase
having Recurring Dreams: The Fire Sermon increase
having Recurring Dreams: Death By Water increase
having Recurring Dreams: What the Thunder Said increase
