Nightmares

It has been...an increasingly strange day, I must admit. How can I travel from the lows of being injured to the highs of being so close to Lakashtai in the matter of a few hours? With fights and a spiritual awakening inbetween no less? I wonder if tomorrow will be so eventful!
 
We made our way up to the Shrine of il-Yannah at the top of the tower. The Enlightened Havakhad met us and spoke to us about various things, including Terfel's apparent latent psionic ability and my own movement down the Path of Light. I had no idea that Terfel has any psionic ability but it does not come from Dal Quor. It should be interesting to see how his abilities develop. I am not sure if I can help him as such, given that mine are directly from Shana, I can always try at the very least. Whilst the discussion with this wise man has assured I have not strayed from the Path, that perhaps I have disconnected somewhat with Shana and my people. It has been good to reconnect in Overlook but I should try to connect more to Shana withotu having to abide here. I made my prayers and meditations and my spells seem to change in response to the stimulus. Less fire and rage and more psionic, a more delicate way to influence this world for the better. Something subtler. However I approach this must be align with the Path. I have not strayed but I may be dawdling towards a side path if I do not pay attention.
 
Rejuvinated, we headed back down to find that Warden had been conversing with the seagulls, much to the concern of the rest of the kalashtar. The seagulls were apparently very informative, advising Warden that the herons were incredibly suspect. They would do minimal bird activities but more or less just watch everything. Dax decided that we needed to check to see if these birds were really what they seemed. She used her ladder to reach up and grab one. Unlike any other bird who would protest - to put it mildly - a lizardfolk picking them up, the herons barely moved at all. She decided that to perform the autopsy, they would need to somewhere quieter. We had made ourselves far too obvious here and did not want to impede on our welcome. Terfel had found out that the lovely Lakashtai was not particularly known around Overlook. It seems a strange thing - how could anyone miss Lakashtai? Perhaps her parents were not heavily involved with Overlook. There could be a lot of reasons for that. Who is to say that every kalashtar must reside beside the rest of the kalashtar?
 
I am getting side tracked. Dax took the bird and we walked from Overlook to the next district. Only when we crossed over into the next did the bird get upset in any way. Whilst it was acting peculiar for a bird, Dax made quick work in putting it out of its misery. The autopsy provided no clues, unfortunately. The bird was a bird was a bird. The feathers seemed to be slicked in a black oil but Dax theorises this is allows water fowl to keep dry. It makes sense, especially since these birds are native to swamps and the like. It is still somewhat...unnerving, the behaviour of the thing!
 
After disposing of the carcass, we decided to follow the lead to Hareth's Folly, I think the name of the district is. Such a comparison to Overlook and High Walls! The architecture varies wildly in nature, drawing on inspiration from seemingly all directions and all places. It feels rather exotic in nature, even if I am not sure where many items of the architecture hail from, exactly. Bridges and ropes seem to clutter the sky like a bizarre tapestry. Wandering through, we managed to get to the place known as the King of Fire. Naturally, there was a lot of fire motifs. It is what is known as a casino which is a house in which people get drinks and play games for money. We had barely stepped inside when we saw her.
 
Lakashtai. Long raven hair and some of the prettiest green eyes I've seen. She seems to draw in your mind to her - she is powerful, that is certain. Perhaps I shouldn't be that surprised if she was able to rouse Daine from his coma but it has been a while since I have met another kalashtar that seemed to draw attention in such a way, effortless, mesmorising. She spoke briefly with Terfel as they played a game but I confess I wasn't paying attention to what they were talking about or doing. I only started paying attention when Terfel indicated we should leave.
 
Meeting with Lakashtai outside, she explained that the crystal is the remains of Monan, a few fragments left of his mind as he had try to possess Daine. She intervened and killed him to save Daine. It is Daine's body, after all. Certainly explains why I could feel such emotions from it. She theorised that the crystal could
be used as a battery, some form of power source for a spell. I am not sure what spell I should use this for but given the nature of the crystal, it would only be fitting to use it for a spell that means something, some form of minor redemption for Monan in the end. Definitely explains why I couldn't awaken him anyway if there is no mind in there so awaken. Terfel initially pondered whether we could communicate with the remains of Monan to learn more of what is going on but Lakashtai rejected his hypothesis, instead advising that Daine might have some memories that may be more useful to our investigations, even if Daine remains unaware. The mind - when dealing with particularly unpleasant things - suppresses them, tidies everything away out of sight as a way to cope. It's not something that is a conscious decision but something that just...happens. It makes sense that Daine might have something that may help. Even if he doesn't, it's worth a second chance at the subject since I am not sure where the investigation would go after this. Lakashtai offers her services to look around in Daine's mind. She initially says 100 gold. When Terfel suggests a lower price, she comes to 50 gold...and a kiss from me.
 
I can't really adequately express my reaction to this but I agreed. Obviously.
 
She took the gold and advised we should head down to High Walls. We climbed back down and met up with the group of Terfel's friends. Lei and Pierce were awake but Daine was asleep in his tent. Terfel woke him up and explained the reasoning about bringing Lakashtai down, how this could bring us a lead in what exactly happened with Monan, with Jode, with this whole mess. Daine agreed before stumbling back into his tent. After a while, it became apparent he was sleeping once more. Lakashtai - graceful, elegant - started to cast her spell, going into a trance, a few fragments of words passing her lips. Groans rose from the tent; Daine was having a nightmare. It was...uncomfortable to listen to. I've heard people have nightmares before in New Cyre but it is still rather uncomfortable to think about. It makes dreaming a double edged sword for those who...well, can. Sometimes it sounds lovely, to have these strange dreams in which the familar and the fantastic intermingle in nonsensical ways. But those can easily be turned for the unpleasant, easily turned disturbing or even scary.
 
She opened her eyes before walking over, cupping my face in her hands and kissing me. It was soft, so soft, but I couldn't quite stay in the moment as I saw Daine's dream. Highwalls morphed away, time racing back to before we arrived. Daine, Greykell, Lei and Pierce were walking towards a tavern called the Manticore when Monan (or Hugul) stops him. I could see them unable to attack, Monan gloating about how he will take over Daine's mind, get rid of him and then dump his body when a better model comes along. I can feel his shock, his anger as if it was my own. High Walls slips away and we are in a place I do not recognise. Something tells me this is Cyre but I am unsure whether this is a guess or whether this is fact. An older, distinguished gentleman - Monan in disguse - appears, his grandfather by all accounts. Taunting, fighting Daine with a sword with a symbolI cannot place but Daine feels rather strongly about. Guilt, shame, anger - the echoes of unresolved tension ripple in the dream and Monan takes this to his advantage but it is clear that Daine has no patience for these mind games as he slays the man pretending to be his grandfather.
 
The dream starts once more, back outside the tavern. Daine's anger unsubsiding - clearly not wishing to lay down and be removed from his own mind. Even Monan seems to be aware of this and decides to try a different tactic. Highwalls again shifts into a rather opulant looking house. I assume this is in Cyre once more. I do not quite know who the house belongs to, exactly, but Daine is rather confused when the owner does not appear but Lei does. Monan appears to think Daine would not attach Lei which is correct. Things were about to turn for the worst before I could hear Lakashtai's voice cut through the room, clear as a bell, celestial almost. She advises Daine to look away which he takes on board. There is...horrfic screaming, screaming like I have never heard before and I have heard a fair bit in my life. I can still hear it - Lei's morphing into Monan's voice, agony in every decibel. It makes you feel very cold, when thinking on it.
 
When the scene returns, when I return to the real Highwalls with everyone around, Lakashtai is still moving away. It felt like hours in that dream but may have only been a few seconds. I think I may have swore after 'returning'. I do not hear Daine havinga nightmare anymore so I hope that he gains some comfort from this. I let everyone know what I saw and the others seemed to pick up a little more from the details than I did. They didn't say anything specific but you could see the brief changes in their face when something they recognise (or some cases, do not recognise at all) was mentioned. Lakashtai left quietly and it feels empty again, the world suddenly mundane once more somehow. She is very close to Kashtai, that is obvious. I wonder how she does that?
 
i should sleep, it is a long day tomorrow and I think we are inching closer to finding out what exactly is going on here. Hopefully.