Dream Station TDM

[dreamstationmods]

You dozed off. Or passed out. Or perhaps you were experiencing a more... permanent 'sleep'. Whatever the case, your eyes were shut and now they're not as you awaken sitting on a train. Around you, others in similar situations. At your feet sits luggage. It has a name tag on it with your name. Inside are some of your clothes and small personal belongings.

Out the window you see that the train is rolling into a sration. Cherry blossoms line the track leading up to it. A beautiful, scenic town lay beyond those gates.

Welcome to Dream Station.



Home Sweet Home:

As the train rumbles into the station and stops you step out onto a platform. A perfectly normal looking station, all things considered. There are people waiting. Guides here to help the latest batch of residents. People who live in this world. Either due to being born here or having been brought here sometime before and agreeing to help newcomers.

The guides explain to you the situation you are in. You otherworlders are common here in the city of Dream. Your guide reassures you that it's fine. They have accommodation for newcomers. And you are brought to the Sleep Tight Apartments. While outside it looks a little small, it's actually quite expansive inside. Must be magic of some kind.

Your apartment will be a one bedroom with a kitchen, living area and bathroom. But don't worry. There will be ways to expand later.

For now you are given a cellphone with an app installed on it for the local social media, Sleepr. As well as a Nightmare Tracker that will alert you when Nightmares crop up. And finally a little banking app where you will find you already have an account that has a decent amount of money for you to spend for the month. Don't worry about rent or bills. That's all covered in return for you helping with those Nightmares.

If you refuse to help... well. Best find your own accommodation and a job, friend. They can't help anyone unwilling to help in return.

There's a lot of new faces so maybe you should get to know your neighbors or get a walk around your new neighborhood.


This Is A Beach Episode:

The Dream Beach is open for business! Come lay out a towel and get some sun. Or go splash in the waves! Seashells are a plenty and there are designated fishing spots. Just don't swim too far out.

Hungry? Thirsty? The boardwalk has plenty of delicious options from icecream to fries to ice cold lemonade.

For those seeking something fun to do, there are paddle and pedal boats available for rent. And some diving to see the beautiful coral reefs. As well as a boat that will take you on a little trip out to an island resort!


The Resort:

I mean, you're basically all on vacation from your regular lives already in the wonderful world of Dream! That said, who doesn't love to spend a little time with their feet up in a nice resort?

Come out and stay in an ocean front room with complimentary continental breakfast and free room service. There are lots of little souvenir shops to check out, run by some bipedal frogs? They don't accept money here. But they'll glady trade their wares for any seashells collected on the beach. Lots of fun tropical themed goodies and swim gear galore!

For the adventurous sort, there is plenty to explore including a forest with hiking trails and a supposedly haunted cave. Legend says some tourists got lost in there and never came back out. They were looking for a treasure apparently. But... maybe don't follow their example and get lost in there?


The Nightmare Fuel:

So remember you were told about Nightmares? Seems they're cropping up throughout the city. Some are taking the form of shadowy crabs about four feet tall that are stealing from people and carrying them off in their little crabby claws. Give them a beat down or just trick them into dropping their stolen goods.

Others look like reverse mermaids. Fishy heads atop human legs. These ones are causing problems for the local restaurants and shops by slipping on in and stinking up the place. You can fight them if you want, but they'll be just as easily dispersed by herding them to the beach where they will return to the waters. They don't seem very threatening, just confused.

However while those two aren't very dangerous, there are some very aggressive bipedal seacreatures with the heads of crocodiles and some very sharp claws that have taken to lurking around the island out in the woods. These ones won't leave peacefully. You'll have to fight them or run away from them. Watch out they don't catch you. Those teeth and claws aren't just for show!

Comments

[iamnotgod]

Webmind was not used to making himself a trip hazard, but he rather suspected he weighed more than these four-foot-tall nightmares did, which was enough to work with for the moment.

One crab in particular, trying to grab for the much smaller droid as a consolation prize, got two robotic hands to the carapace and a firm "No.", before the haggard-looking victim from earlier finally caught up to them and seized the last of their belongings back themselves.

The person looked remarkably like an badger, if somewhat larger than those found on Earth. But the ferocity with which they dealt with the crab - now that the Nightmares no longer had the advantage of surprise - was all badger, or as much as Webmind was familiar with the species overall.

"We may need a place to detain these creatures," Webmind concluded, before the badger (who hadn't offered their name as of yet) could jump to the rest of the dazed and surprised Nightmares in turn.

"Assuming they do not simply disappear once they have been thwarted."

He did recall such a thing happening with monster crabs, on a certain voidtrecker mission - his first true mission as part of that team, in fact.

[jedi_scrapper]

Cal returned the belongings he had gotten to the person who'd caught up with them before focusing back on the crabs. "I don't know how we can practically capture all of them. Perhaps we could just follow and make sure they don't steal anything else until it seems like we might be where they came from?" Cal wasn't actually sure what the right idea would be here, and wasn't committed to that idea if Webmind had any plans to detain the creatures.

BD returned to Cal now that the crabs no longer had anything to zap away. He gave a cheerful beep to Webmind that was a mix of a 'thank you' and an 'I had it.'

[iamnotgod]

The Nightmares seemed somewhat surly, but they appeared to know they'd been outfought, and not keen to try their luck again so quickly.

"That does have the side benefit of showing us what other kinds of Nightmares we can expect, if they happen to congregate in the same space instead of choosing to self-segregate by type."

To BD, at almost the same time, he transmitted: It is better not to have to launch a rescue mission; we are not in THAT much of a hurry for data.

It was strategically better to stick together for the time being.

[jedi_scrapper]

Cal nodded. "And if they stick to themselves we can at least see where to expect these to come from. So either way they work, following seems useful." He just kept an eye on them, not interfering unless one or two decided to split off from the group.

BD's reply was nothing more than a rude sound, more joking than actually offended or intending offense. And Cal could only shake his head while following the crabs, the smell of the ocean increasing as they approached, but also the smell of various foods, which made Cal's stomach growl. Yeah... he might have to take a break once the crabs were handled to try some of these.

Once they entered the boardwalk, Cal went to high alert. There was a lot more happening here which meant more temptation for the crabs. He gave a quick Tug on one's claw when it seemed to be reaching into a vendor's booth. The crab snapped the claw his direction in irritation, but fell back in line. Which was, well, something.

[iamnotgod]

Now that they were retreating from the Nightmare District, they ended up drawing more than a few glances from bystanders.

Webmind did his best to walk behind them, parrying any twitchy claws when crabs tried to reach sideways.

"We are almost there," he noted redundantly, which seemed to make the crabs move faster. At least they wanted this to be over?

[jedi_scrapper]

Look, if you were a klepto crab being herded by two droids (one of whom has a penchant for zapping) and a Jedi, you might want to get it over with too.

Cal grinned back to Webmind. "Thankfully! I know I'm ready to grab a snack once I'm done Nightmare-sitting."

[iamnotgod]

Webmind nodded, though he couldn't, precisely, commiserate.

"You will have to let me know if there are foods you do not recognize - or that you can categorize by taste but do not look the same as they do for you at home," he elaborated.

Both could be useful data - and just nice to know, really.

[jedi_scrapper]

Cal continued watching the crabs but grinned as he did so. "Well, if I recognize anything, I'll be pretty surprised. Part of the fun of visiting different planets is seeing how much is different and how much is the similar."

Not sure what comes next, tbh. I didn't come here to be a mod!

[iamnotgod]

Well, Cal had said he hadn't known Earth; that certainly cinched the notion, right there.

"What are your preferred flavorings, then? Savoury, sweet, those kinds of categories."