

tegerioreo wrote: Everybody except Gaius and Vaermina: leave.

“Yes, go, shoo! Vaermina has important business to conduct.”

“Now. Mortal,” she begins, “Vaermina was being subtle so you would not have noticed this, but her earlier statements about your ‘nightmares’ were what is known among beings of great power as an ‘un-truth’.”

“Actually, I gathered-”

“In reality, I knew nothing of these nightmares – an occurrence most unusual for an omnipotent being like myself. To put it in the crude terms of a lesser creature:”

“Someone is screwing with us. They are giving you boring, stupid nightmares instead of my perfect, terrifying ones.”



EmperorAgon wrote: Ask about the possibility of another daedra or other being capable of sending nightmares. I’m pretty sure that whole “Only I can send nightmares” thing is a blatant, arrogant, and egotistical lie.

Your blood heats to a slight simmer at the insinuation that your nightmares aren’t terrifying (or at the very least, reasonably apprehensionifying), but you hold your tongue on the matter. “If you’re not the one behind these nightmares, demon, then surely you know who is?”

“Few entities are capable of infringing upon my sphere like this, and even fewer would have the gall to try. But Vaermina has her suspicions.”

“Are you a vampire?”

“No.”

“Are we in the province of Morrowind?”

“No.”

“… Vaermina has exhausted her suspicions.”

“… Has it ever spoken to you?”

“The cultist?”

“The dream. A mask can hide a face, but a voice betrays the actor.”

“Never, I’m afraid. Neither the nightmare nor the monster have ever made any attempt to communicate.”

“A shame. Though in his silence, our dream-thief has left an unwitting clue: the curious calling card of one who values their anonymity.”

Additional resource credit:

Squiggles – nightmare mural