Maia Clearwater is from a little village up in the Lake District, which had more than its fair share of monsters, fae and other beasties. In other words, there *were* occasionally monsters under the bed, which she stabbed.She thus quite naturally found her way to the local Lucanites, with whom she developed a fervent belief that the
sacred visions and dreams of the priests were Not To Be Disturbed. Given that monsters tend to ignore little signs to that effect hung on the bedroom door, she preferred to use a big sword. When she got older still she discovered there was a name for these people: the Mercy Guard, also known as the Red Foxes of Luca.
in the summer of 1295 she felt somehow commanded to go to Grantabrugge, where she got involved with dealing with a Fae plot to take over an area of the Dreaming and co-incidentally mine the dreams and turn them into alchemicals. While in the dreaming Nyeti/Leith caught her attention by giving a couple of Nightmares nightmares of their own, and that was the beginning of all that.
Over the next few months, Maia stood guard over various sleeping Lucanites, stuck her sword into quite a lot of fae (including the now fabled giant hamsters), cursed a few people, and sent a variety of dreams both pleasant and nightmarish (sometimes both). Her game of escalation with Leith (involving, among other things, lizards, an Inflict duration Lust effect as a test of self control, and a casting of the miracle Blind Spot) eventually forced them to admit there might be a "thing" between them. They were last seen making plans to leave the city and go travelling in the Seven Shires, possibly to the relief of the denizens of the Wessex Arms.
And definitely to the OOC relief of Jim, who had to deal with a few interesting ref calls...
A selection of dreams sent by Maia over the year, with permission from the players of any characters still extant:
- The Boring Sordanite Dream, used to attempt to punish Sordanites by forcing them to enjoy it:
You sit in a boring, plain office with no furniture other than a desk. There is mist outside the window so you can't see out, and the room is silent. You spend all your waking hours doing filing and bookkeeping. (A further enhancement suggested by Willow was that the walls should have wet paint so they could watch it dry)
The same dream of dining together in the same restaurant, all details identical.
A room full of chairs. There is only one comfy, plush leather chair with plenty of cushions, one of which has a feather embroidered on
it. All the others chairs are "interesting" in some way- a chair with spikes, a chair with only one leg in the middle such that effort must be
spent keeping it upright, a chair made of bricks, a chair made of ice, a chair that is just slightly too small, and one of those ancient armchairs
that threatens to eat you bum-first when you sit in it. He tries each chair, savouring the experience, then lounges among the cushions, a glass
of madeira in hand.
- To Bathory and Althea on their wedding night:
A large undead monstrosity holds up a banner that says "CONGRATULATIONS BATHORY AND ALTHEA Love, Maia xxx". You hack it to pieces and then dance around its disintegrating corpse, waving the banner around. Then you kiss, and the dream fades out.
There is a very large chaise longue, covered in spikes. Lots and lots of spikes. You sit on it and it deforms under your weight, starting to surround you, and you feel the spikes sink into your skin. As you wonder how you are going to manage to get up again, someone else sits down next to you and you feel the pressure around you ease slightly.
Then another person sits down, and another, and you find by that point that whatever you do on the chaise longue (and you do some quite energetic and interesting things), the spikes do no more than tingle gently as you move across them.
You sit down at a table at which is set a cheeseboard, a silver knife, and a glass of port. Savouring the different flavours, you enjoy the variety of
traditional cheeses of the Seven Shires, and notice that the port glass remains full however much you drink. The very last mouthful of cheese is made of dry, fluffy mould which sticks annoyingly to the inside of your mouth.
- To Arturo, on the same night:
You sit down at a table at which is set a cheeseboard, a silver knife, and a glass of port. Savouring the different flavours, you enjoy the variety of traditional cheeses of the Seven Shires, and notice that the port glass remains full however much you drink. The cheese is delicious to the last mouthful, but at one point during your meal a small white rat runs across the table and steals a mouthful of stilton from the tip of the knife.
- To Keric, shortly before he and Larch managed to admit their feelings for each other, but after he was Very Confused about Bathory and Althea:
You sit at a large oak desk, with a leather-bound book on it. The book is titled "Sex Education for the Underinformed". You turn the pages slowly, examining the instructional pictures and captions carefully. There is nothing too racy, but there are definitely explanations of things two women might do with each other involved.
You are going about your normal day-to-day business, but attached to your collar is a large, jingly bell. It jingles at *really* annoying moments, and it's stuck to the collar, which is stuck to you.
- To Arthur Drake, after his arrest but before his execution:
You fall to your knees before a great, shining sun, and hear a booming voice in your head telling you to approach it, for it will grant you great power to save the innocent from the corruption fo the supernatural. You take a step forward, and then another, feeling the heat of the sun on your body. You step forward again, realising as you do that your skin is starting to blister and burn. But you can't stop moving towards the sun, and finally you watch yourself melt and burn away. Then, only then, is there oblivion.
Her final character sheet, for interest's sake, is below. She got Blind Spot with the very last XP she earned, which was totally not a gift from Luca encouraging her to take revenge on Leith at all.
Warrior I 15 15
Melee I 6 21
Armour I 6 27
Health I 6 33
Spiritual Awakening 20 53
Warrior II 15 68
Melee II 6 74
Armour II 6 80
Fitness I 6 86
Devotion I 10 96
5x miracles 5 101
Spiritual Blessing I 10 111
Warrior III 15 126
Melee III 6 134
Two-Handed 10 144
Blind Fighting I 3 147
Fortitude I 6 153
Health II 6 159
Devotion II 10 169
Spiritual Blessing II 10 179
Induce Emotion 2 181
Question Spirit 2 183
Blessing II 2 185
Humble 2 187
Separation 2 189
Armour III 6 195
Fitness II 6 201
Fortitude II 6 207
Health III 6 213
Fitness III 6 219
Devotion 3 10 229
Appropriation 3 231
Spiritual Blessing III 10 241
Converse With Spirit 3 244
Cursing 3 3 247
Warrior IV 15 262
Armour IV 6 268
Devotion IV 10 278
Blind Spot 4 282