Medicine Lodge Vision

Varden: As you run through light forest, screams drift over the hill in front of you. The stench of burning flesh hits you as you crest the ridge, the tents and wagons of the entire circus engulfed in flames. A man in red jade armor, flames crackling on his skin, prowls the carnage, stabbing any bodies that are still moving. A woman in black jade glows bright blue-green as she roots through a chest outside of the burning wagon of the circus owner. A third man in jade, more difficult to see, is tossing dead bodies, impaling them on a row of pikes that line the road. As you get closer, you see the face of your mother on one of the bodies, hanging in air next to the rest of your family. The jade men are joking to each other. They don't have long to live. Varden knows this is a memory from his past, when his family was killed by a group of dragon-blooded looking for him.

Adrios: The sights and smells of the Little Market in Nexus surround you as an argument breaks out several stalls to your right. This gives you a perfect opportunity to pick the pocket of the man you've been following. You take one look around before making your move, and stop dead in your tracks. You don't know who she is, but as your eyes lock, you are struck dumfounded. You must look it, because the dark skin of her face erupts into a pearly smile, and you suddenly know you were supposed to find each other. Adrios knows this is a memory from his past, the first time he saw Vravanu Koya, a mortal woman who he fell in love with. She was later kidnapped and mortally wounded during a rescue attempt.

Jorias: In darkest night, you kneel on the bare rock of a high promontory. As you upend a ceramic bottle of lamp oil over your head and coat your naked skin with its contents, you can hear the ocean crashing below, but it is too far away to see. The only light comes from a torch held by the only other man up here, the lunar Jaguan. He faces you, lifts the torch slightly and asks if you are ready. You are terrified, nearly out of your mind. You reply as instructed: "The night station is called fear." Jaguan calmly, almost casually, tosses the torch into your lap. Your screams split the night as your flesh burns.

Gutts: You watch the horses graze as you approach the tent. Anxiety and regret fill your belly, joining the strange pull southward that you've been feeling for weeks. You return the guard's salutes as you enter the tent. A young, but white-haired, man sits at a simple table, his features perfect as always. He is uncharacteristically engrossed in a book laid flat on the desk, and seems not to notice you. "Griffin?", you hear yourself say. He looks up, but even startled he seems calm as ever. He closes the white, feathered cover of the book and stands to greet you, smiling. You continue, saying something that's even harder than the battles you just won: "I'm leaving". Gutts realizes this is a memory he has largely put out of his mind.

Guen: You feel eyes upon you suddenly as you walk through the jungle, the morning mist causing the pale dawn to dance. The gaze from above is curious, meaning you no harm at first, not until you slowly turn to look up at it. Once you lock eyes with the panther, you can hear its heart beating, feel the rushing of its blood as if it were in your veins. You are part of each other. Your blood must become one. It is inevitable. The panther's curiosity turns to realization that to be united, one of you will have to die. It pounces from the tree, spreading its jaws to lock around your throat. But the tusk of the mammoth you killed the night before is in your hand, and it moves too slowly. It's body still twitches reflexively as you rip loose its beating heart and drink. Guen remembers this as the day he slew, and thus became, his totem animal.

Stag: The most opulent throne room you have ever seen is largely dark. You sit on a throne made from the sculpted bodies of five dragons, carved from each of the colors of jade, their heads looking in at you in deference. Your Immaculate Order robe is sacrilegiously open and the only light comes from the gorgeous redhead on your lap. Your magic is having its usual effect on her and she rides you with wild abandon, fire in her eyes, and starting to flicker on her skin. She turns her head skyward as she climaxes. For a brief second, reflected in the white jade dragon head above her, you think you see her eyes flash with a sickly green light, but then your own climax washes over you. The woman seems very familiar to you, but you can't place her. Stag, of course, remembers this as the time the Empress took him in the Imperial throne room.