The Dreamlands

[Keeper]

Springtime

"So according to the papers I found before we went to that play if we see anyone talking about a 'Buttercup' we are to stop responding and run the other way." Sirius adds as they walk. Of course he did research.
He's going to let Khannie lead for now. Even if the path they went on has resulted in the path that is going to get all their feet muddy.

[Earl of Purple]

Springtime

"How literally are we talking about a flight of stairs? Because if one of those rocks is levitating, it might count. Mary's right, they feel like they're staring at us." Agate really hopes that kind of punnery isn't how this place works. She's also visibly nervous and keeps on looking around and staring back at the rocks. Her pistol is pointing up, ready to be brought to bare against anything they might encounter.

[Rebonack]

[Springtime]

"Well, at least it isn't as weird as a Labyrinth," Khannie reasons.

Which goes without saying.

This place is like... a really vivid dream. There's still SOME sense to it. Just a fantastical sort of sense. A Labyrinth is completely surreal nonsense.

"Yeah I heard about the Buttercup thing a couple years ago. That wasn't really going on in the part of Inside where we live," Khannie recounts. "So, like, if someone calls you 'Buttercup' you just tell 'em your name isn't Buttercup and you're fine."

See?

Easy!

So long as you know the secret it's no big deal.

As for the staring stones...

Is that a pun? Goodness, Khannie hopes it isn't. That would be dumb and horrible. They can just keep going and pretty soon they're be out of-

Khannie squints as a cluster of rocks (some of which are floating) that just came into view as the road rounds a bend. Those look suspiciously similar to the closer of rocks (some of which are floating) that they just passed.

"Wait, are those the same rocks from before or just rocks that look like 'em?"

[bc56]

Springtime
"I'm not Buttercup. Got it."
Mary examines the rocks. They're just as creepy as the last set. "How about I go back and check?" If she arrives from up ahead then they must be going in circles. But there hasn't been a branching path, so... if that is the case, what's going on? How will they ever escape?
But first things first, she has to test whether they're really going in circles.

[Keeper]

Springtime

"That's easy to test!" Sirius trots over and slashes at the rocks with his fancy metal claws.
"If we keep going and pass a rock with claw marks we know it's the same rocks."

[Earl of Purple]

Springtime

"No, Mary. We should stick together. This might not be a Labyrinth, but it's also not friendly. You go around that corner and you might wind up on a totally different path to the one we're on, especially if we are going around in circles without noticing it." It's not friendly but Agate did deliberately stop short of calling this place dangerous or hostile. It's not giving her those vibes; though they may encounter things which are dangerous or hostile.

Agate smiles at Sirius' attempt to help; now really it's just a matter of finding out if they are the same stones. And if the hovering staring stones count as a flight of stairs.

[Rebonack]

[Springtime]

A flight of stares, maybe.

"I'm gunna agree with Agate here; this place isn't anywhere to get lost alone in. We're gotta stick together if we're gonna get outta here," Khannie says, holding up an arm to stop Mary from walking past her. "Sirius' idea is safer. Too bad we don't have breadcrumbs for making a trail or something."

Little does Khannie know that a trail of breadcrumbs is EXACTLY what they need. As a powerful symbol of mundane mortal civilization bread is antithetical to the Dreamlands.

And then Sirius slashes a rock.

"Rude!" yells the rock indignantly.

[bc56]

Springtime
If the rocks are what they're looking for because of a pun, Mary will be so angry.

"I guess it was a bad idea." Mary agrees. They'd best not split up.
"Holy crap a talking rock!" she's as surprised at the indignant response as anyone. "We didn't know you could talk, rock," she tries again, after the surprise fades.

[Keeper]

Springtime

Sirius squints at the talking rock. He looks like he might pounce if it moves funny.
”…are you some kind of fairy Gotsumon?”
Gotsumon would absolutely be the one to join fairies. They can be absolute troublemakers.

[Earl of Purple]

Springtime

"Do you know the way out of this place?" Agate is a little nonplussed at the talking rock, but at least it seems... not as overtly hostile as those pixies.

[Rebonack]

[Springtime]

The rocks MIGHT be what they're looking for because of a pun.

Honestly that isn't the least sensible thing one could find within a dream. And this place definitely runs on dream logic most of the time.

Khannie is, likewise, pretty surprised when the rock starts speaking! Or at least says one word. She doesn't supply more questions since everyone has their own. She'll just keep an eye on the goings on while everyone is distracted by speaking stones.

So. Mary gives a... sort of apology? Kind of? Sirius and Agate both ask questions.

"No. Yes," replies the rock.

Khannie frowns a bit. "I guess it talks, but not much?"

[bc56]

Springtime
"What is the way out? Will you tell us?" Mary asks. She doesn't expect the rock to say. After all, it just got slashed by Sirius. "Please?"

[Keeper]

Springtime

Sirius does not apologize to the fairy rock. The pamphlet was quite clear to NOT do that.
So instead he just glares at the rock suspiciously. It's going to tell Mary "no" and then not answer again, isn't it?

[Earl of Purple]

Springtime

Agate frowns at the rock refusing to answer. She'd threaten it, but she's not sure it feels pain- it didn't scream or yelp when Sirius scratched it, just called him rude.

[Rebonack]

[Springtime]

"No," replies the rock.

"Ugh," Khannie groans. "These things are a waste of time. They're probably just, like, an elemental or something. Or a barely alive spirit."

"No," the rock says again, a little more urgently this time.

Which gets more frown.

"No what, you aren't an elemental?" she pushes.

"Help," says the rock.

[bc56]

Springtime
"Oh my gosh, did someone turn you into a rock?" Mary reasons. She's skeptical. It could be a trap. Faeries are tricky and they're in a faerie forest. That rock could be a faerie.

[Keeper]

Springtime

”Can fairies even do that?” Sirius asks.
Don’t fairies normally just eat your name or make you another fairy? Maybe it was a super powerful fey in their domain or something.
”How do you un-rock someone?”

[Earl of Purple]

Springtime

"Um, we could try wrapping it with paper?" Agate has no idea if rock-paper-scissors has any possible use right now, but paper beats rock, so it might work? She's also not carrying any paper, so even if it would help she can't do it herself.

[Rebonack]

[Springtime]

The obvious flaw in Agate's plan is that none of them are carrying any paper with them right now. But otherwise that's about as sensible as any other option for solving a dream problem.

"Yes," the rock replies, ostensibly to Mary.

How DO you unrock someone?

"I dunno about any of this stuff," Khannie admits awkwardly. "I probably shoulda read about all the fox stuff but I thought it wasn't gunna be important."

You're part kumiho, Khannie. The chances that you were going to be able to avoid Dreamlands stuff forever was basically zero.

"So what should we do? How are we supposed to help a rock?"

"Help," the rock repeats.

[bc56]

Springtime
"Oh no! You're coming with us!" Mary grabs the rock (she's a lot stronger than she looks) intending to carry it with them as they search for the exit. "Maybe we'll find a way to help you."

[Keeper]

Springtime

”Don’t worry Not-Gotsumon we’ll figure something out. And maybe think of a better name for you.”
Digimon aren’t good with names. They don’t often even have them.

[Earl of Purple]

Springtime

"Do you know how to make a sentence, Talky-Stone?" Agate is starting to think it might not actually understand words, and is just saying what it thinks they want to hear. She hopes not; they're going to be taking it somewhere else and it might cause trouble.

[Rebonack]

[Sprintime]

Mary has acquired one (1) talking stone.

This results in an immediate problem.

"Help."
"Help."
"Me."
"Help."
"Take."

Now all the weird floating rocks with eye-like spiral patterns on them are talking to your heroes. And there are dozens of the things. And they're all trying to draw attention.

Khannie seems vaugely concerned here.

"I dunno if we can take every single rock in the woods. Some of 'em are off the trail," Khannie points out. Sure enough, there are other stones that can't be reached from the road. Some floating in the air. Some standing upright. Others having fallen over. And the more one looks at them the more one wants to move closer for a better look. The spiral just sort of... draws the eye.

[bc56]

Springtime
Oh no. Now all the rocks are talking. And drawing attention to their... hypnotic... spirals...
...
Mary throws the rock away. "It's a trap!" she's sure of it. Either the rocks are meant to lure people off the path, or someone who stares at a rock long enough becomes a rock themselves. Either way, it's dangerous.
Of course she could be wrong, but she doesn't think she's wrong. This forest is creepy enough that either seems likely.

[Keeper]

Springtime

"Kinda rude to throw people. Think we should run?" Sirius suggests. He's just not the type to not ask first. But he doesn't really think they should stand there discussing it.

[Earl of Purple]

Springtime

Running... might not be the best idea, at least immediately. Agate, unfortunately, was looking suspiciously at the stones when they started talking and has stepped off the path to approach the hypnotic spirals. Khannie or Mary might be able to stop her before she gets far, but... they also might not.

[Rebonack]

[Springtime]

The rocks are, as it happens, very hypnotic. But Mary seems to be doing alright. So is Sirius. And on account of being a kumiho the enticing display really isn't being aimed at Khannie.

So.

That just leaves Agate.

Who steps off the path.

"Heckin beans," Khannie sort of swears as she takes off after Agate. "Stick close! Hold onto each other! We don't wanna get separated!"

Agate will find a trail of stones leading off the road to a large heap of stones that seems like a good place to lay down for a nap. The road can't be seen from here and if our heroes all step off the road they'll find that it has vanished from behind them.

Just trees and standing stones for as far as the eye can see.

And, of course, whispers of help.

[bc56]

Springtime
"What? Hey, no, no, no, get back here!" Mary yells at both her friends and reluctantly, follows after them. She's not holding on to anyone though. She was caught too unawares for that.

[Keeper]

Springtime

Sirius audibly groans as he clamps a claw on the back of Khannie's costume and tries to slip the end of his tail as close to Mary's hand as he can get. Not having hands is rough for these kinds of tasks.
"Khannie you have magical shadow powers and can conjure basically anything at will, why didn't you just conjure some shadows to grab her? Now we're screwed."
And Mary could have changed into a dragon and grabbed her with her teeth while still keeping a back foot on the road but Sirius doesn't think he has the right to lecture anyone but Khannie as her partner. Jumping in to stop evil-doers is one thing. Khannie jumps into everything all the time. He suspects this is his job to help with as her partner far more than the dynamic of protection he was told to expect.

[Earl of Purple]

Springtown

Agate is, of course, a little hypnotised. She's not listening to Khannie, or making any effort to stop or reach out to the others. She's walking reasonably quickly, though unless the Dreamlands gets screwy, she's ultimately a dwarf with short legs and Khannie or Mary should catch her. She's making a beeline for that pile of stones; it looks very comfortable.