The View From Here

[Carthrat]

Tom keeps to the edge of the arena, leaning against one of the trees as he watches the proceedings. "Don't see that every day," he mumbles.

[Brian]

The man in gold glances briefly at everyone, and then scowls.  "My memory," he says, turning back to watch the fight. "Please don't interfere."

[Halbarad]

Tim nods, holding his position at the edge of the arena-like area.

[Ebiris]

"Hey, carry on. Nothing to do with us," Daniel holds up his hands in a placating gesture, keeping off to the side with everyone else.

[Brian]

The man and the dragon...ling... circle, apparently oblivious to their audience, when the man suddenly lunges, stabbing his spear through the tough hide on one of the thing's necks.  His spear plunges in deeply, and blood gushes out, prompting that head to rear back and scream in pain -- the shout is loud, and distracts the man from the other head's bite, which severs the man's left arm at the shoulder.

From there, the battle is grisly, and short.  One-armed, the man is only able to mortally wound the dragon before it spits some green goo on his face, which smokes like acid, and prompts the man to scream in pain before the dragon stomps with one clawed foot on his chest, silencing him forever.  Or maybe only temporarily, actually.

The man's spirit (completely intact) rises from his body and takes up armor and a spear of gold, before fading away.  The dragon sits there like a statue for a moment, and then simply vanishes.

Sighing, the remaining figure turns to look at the group, revealing that his facial features are identical to the man he just watched die.  "What ... brings you into the dream?" he asks tiredly.

[Halbarad]

"Trying to get away from trouble," Tim says, shaking his head at the man's demise. "Pandora sent us to find you, said you might be able to help us get back to reality."

[Brian]

"Pandora?" he asks, a bit surprised.  "Today is a day for the unexpected.  I should take you to Alan -- follow me."  He turns and begins striding across the arena.  As he does so, the body he left behind fades away into nothingness.

At the opposite end of the arena is an archway identical to the one everyone passed through to get as far as they have.

[Halbarad]

Hal follows along behind, nodding. "Whatever you think is best; we're just trying to find our way back to the real world as soon as we can."

[Ebiris]

Daniel follows along amiably enough. Really, the sight of this man's poor identical twin being brutally slain by a hydra or whatever has little effect when it's all just a dream, after all.

It's no doubt some big symbolic thing, that's all.

[Brian]

"I can," he says, as the archway fills with mist.  He steps into it, and vanishes.  The mist is noticably thicker in the archway, as compared to over the walls adjacent to it.

[Ebiris]

Daniel follows the man into the misty arch teleporter thingy!

[Brian]

On the other side of the wall of mist, everyone finds themselves standing on a circular island, about thirty meters across, and edged in gold-colored bricks.  Beyond the bricks lies only the sky, and islands floating overhead suggest that there may be some distance between here and ... whatever lies below.  The island is covered in grass, not stone, and a grassy path arches to a nearby island, this completely capped with a grecian styled building.  A plume of water rushes down from overhead, landing within the interior of the building, and at a glance, that's the source of mist you emerged from.

Another pathway leads to a building that's identical, except for the lack of a waterfall pouring inside it from a spring in a floating island overhead.  The man who you followed is walking across this pathway, away from the island you're on.

[Carthrat]

Tom floats after the man, trying to gain more control over his levitation-fu, because it's really neat to go places without touching the ground.

[Halbarad]

Tim follows, using his staff as a walking stick. He does survey the surroundings with some curiosity, however; a floating island is a rather nifty concept. He does wonder how much of an effort it takes to maintain this place, though, or if it's one of the static places within the dream.

[Brian]

A few other people are visible jogging across distant bridges.  No more than three, though, and even those only glimpsed.  "This is the home of the Brotherhood of Morpheus," the man explains.  "I am Len of the same.  I recognize our Dream within some of you."  He steps into the building, which is much more dimly lit than the current area's bright daylight.

Inside, once everyone's eyes have adjusted, there's a multitude of chairs (enough for everyone) which look to have been carved from independant stumps.  One of them is behind a table (littered with papers and what looks to be a small inkstone).  On the wall immediately behind the desk is an open window to nothing, over which hangs a moist-looking clay tablet.  It's currently blank.

"So," he continues, reaching for and pulling down the clay tablet.  "Is there anything you'd like?  Maybe a drink?"  He scribbles a hasty note on the tablet with a stylus, and a response is written back by some unseen hand.  Both smooth themselves into the clay almost immediately after being etched.  Despite the fact that it was written in ancient Greek, it was legible to everyone: 'Alan, can you come to my office?  I've got guests.' and 'On my way.'