Mission 8: Sleep with One Eye Open

Exalted: Grass Spiders
Grass Spiders On You Organizational Info Charms
Chapter 2
10: A Proper Sendoff 11: The Rat that Caught the Canary 12: A Proper Introduction 13: A Pearl Necklace 14: The Spider and the Slug
The Circle With No Name
Ash - CS Fay - CS Mesa - CS Opal Zealot - CS

Suggested Music: Enter Sandman by Metallica

The Job

Client: The Three Gods of Great Forks
Target: The Sandman
Type: Mock Assassination
Target background: There has been a string of recent odd events that have led to some minor buzz around the dark, paranormal corners of The Scavenger Lands. Rumor has it, God-Bloods have been suddenly losing their powers. Most notably their ability to channel and respire essence. What began has a few rumblings as seemingly crazy God-Bloods emerged claiming they had lost their powers has turned into a region wide commotion as more and more prominent God-Bloods have begun losing their powers. Heaven, the Sidereals and otherwise, have completely denied involvement in the strange occurrences, but have refused to aid or share information with those in Creation attempting to solve the case. While troublesome and relatively suspicious, it is standard policy for the agents of heaven to leave the dwellers of Creation as far out of the loop as possible. This was going smoothly until some of the gods started to get upset their sons and daughters were being stripped of their powers. Things have now reached a tipping point in the investigation as one of the Sidereals involved was found murdered, though no suspects have been found.

While disturbing, the Grass Spiders have mostly distanced themselves from the petty squabbles of The Gods, The Sidereals, and the mortals actually affected by these odd happenings. Nothing that suited the Grass Spiders more eccentric interests had popped up, but all that changed last night. Last night, one of the Three Gods of Great Forks discovered that his favorite son would be the next to lose his abilities. The Grass Spiders have been contracted to stop it.

The Three Gods of Great Forks have taken the liberty to quickly and expertly track down and kidnap two of the previous victims which gives us some information on what happens and what can be done to stop it. Nazareth and Samsara discussed and explained the metaphysical properties and phenomenon that must be present for The Sandmans plan to function and what can be done to stop it, other than their plan the Scavenger Lands as a whole is at a loss to stop him.

The Sandman attacks the God-Bloods through a series of seven consecutive dreams, once the God-Blood has the first dream there is no stopping the next six. When the God-Blood awakes from the seventh dream his or her ability to channel and respire essence is lost forever. There seems to be no connection between the victims and their attacker, making tracking the so called Sandman so far impossible. Samsara and Nazareth had devised a plan to fight the Sandman in his own dream. This will be the task of The Grass Spiders.

The sequence of dreams has a progressive and clear path that makes the dreams somewhat predictable, but no less controllable. Each dream begins at a location with The Dreamer and The Sandman present (some dreams feature other people, some dreams are only the two of them) in the dream The Sandman always kills (or is obviously responsible for) the death of the dreamer. Furthermore, the dreams seem to lengthen as the dream sequence progresses, making the first dream rather short and the last dream quite long. The seventh, and last, dream is the most personalized to The Dreamer of all dreams. The dream takes place in someplace dear to The Dreamer's childhood and always involves a death by his deepest and darkest fear. In some cases this has been as simple as a fear of snakes or spiders, in others as abstract as a fear of being forgotten, it all depends on The Dreamer.

The Grass Spiders will attempt to recreate the seventh dream of The Dreamer before it happens, in that dream they will make it convincing to both the Sandman and to The Dreamer that the dream is real. However it will all be an act played out by the Grass Spiders. The Dream they have acted out will then be planted into the head of The Dreamer, and if Nazareth and Samsara are correct, result in the death of the Sandman in the actual dream. This of course is even more tricky than it sounds. The Sandman must believe that the dream itself backfired on him, not that there was some sort of outside interference.

Critical Notes:

• Both The Sandman and The Dreamer must believe that the dream is following its normal course of action, the intent is for The Sandman to believed he failed on his own or that the Dreamer built a resistance to the dream manipulation. Letting the Sandman know assassins are involved would result in certain failure.
• The Grass Spider's already know (or think they do) where the seventh dream will take place. A small cottage in the woods that The Dreamer spent his summers with his Grandmother with frequent visits from his father. Oak is already working on constructing this 'set' for The Grass Spiders use.
• The Grass Spiders have been provided with two kidnapped previous victims, some information might be able to be extracted from them. However they are being held captive and may be somewhat less than forthcoming with information.
• The Grass Spiders have no direct access to The Dreamer, as he must be kept in the dark to the plan to alter his dreams in order to save him.
• The Dreamers gravest phobia appears to be a fear of heights. Since the Dreamer is unreachable it would be difficult to confirm otherwise, limited contact is available through Infallible Messenger with The Gods of Great Forks, but responses may be limited.
• The Dreamer can or cannot be included in The Dream, depending on the plan. Though most plans would probably require someone to play the part. Associates are available for it or one of The Assassins could play the roll, again depending on the plan. However, The Dreamer must survive the dream (at least longer than the sandman assuming the dream will end when the sandman dies.)
• The proximity of this mission to The Range Homes makes almost the entire associates village at the disposal of The Circle with No Name. However, most other Grass Spiders are away on mission or otherwise occupied or this mission would have been given to a more senior circle. Oak and Rizuka have both expressed that they would be impressed with the circle if they can actually pull it off. (This is believed to be the organizations first dream assassination.)
• The Dreamer has 5 days until his seventh dream, the mission must be completed before then.
• Anton has expressed that he believes it is possible that The Sandman is somehow involved with The White Veil Society, though no proof exists of a connection. Even The Grass Spiders extensive spy network has no leads on The Sandman's identity, his anonymity may be a telling sign of his secret origins.

Expected Threats:

• None. Team A is setting the stage so they are in control of any dangers, anything they subject themselves to is obviously a different matter.
• There is significant risk to The Mark during the mission. The Mark will respond to threats as the actual target would, if confronted directly The Mark will fight back.

Team A - The Assassins - Mesa, Zealot, Fay, Opal

• The Asassins will be carrying out the hit themselves, they need to set the stage and execute the assassination according to the mission parameters. Hopefully without actually killing Ash of course.

Team B - The Mark - Ash & Rizuka

• Ash is the unlucky Team member who gets to be the mark, meaning he will be assassinated during the mission. Of course the plan is for him not to quite actually die, that's where Rizuka comes in. They both must be kept completely out of planning for the mission to be successful.

Team C - The Architects - Oak, Naru, Ravenous Moon

• Given the need for specfic locations to be included in this mission, the Architects will be in charge of changing and shaping The Training Grounds (Not the bar) into whatever The Assassins need.

Team D - Cello

• Cello will be responsible for transferring the Dream into the mind of The Dreamer at the appropriate time once it is ready.

Mission Status

Job: Complete
Dates: Resplendent Earth 18 - Resplendent Earth 22, R.Y. 768
Kill: After extensive planning and set creation, the group staged the Dream on a series of increasingly narrow pillars connected by progressively more narrow rope bridges. Each pillar contained a room of The Dreamer's Grandparents cabin, the known location of the Dream. The Dreamer would start safely on the largest platform, while The Sandman (Ash) and The Dreamer's Grandparents (Fay & Zealot) would be having tea on the last platform, the narrowest platform with a crumbling support structure. This will create a commonly felt feeling of helplessness in The Dreamer as well as provide opportunity for The Sandman to taunt and mock The Dreamer throughout The Dream. The Dreamer would be forced to face his fear of heights and travel across the platforms to save his Grandparents. Mesa convincingly made his way across the pillars and finally arrived on the final pillar with The Sandman. A fight broke out between the two, eventually leading to The Sandman gripping onto the edge about to fall only moments before the pillars collapse. As the pillar collapsed he made a final effort to grab the leg of The Dreamer, falling to his death. (A specially designed pit that Ash would fall through and be caught by a spider web to break his fall.) The Dreamer and his Grandparents then hurried across the rope bridge to safety, The Dreamer almost did not make it but was saved from a fall by his Grandmother as the bridge collapsed. The Dream was successfully implanted into the mind of The Dreamer and his powers were saved from The Sandman, though it is thought no actual harm would have come to The Sandman as a result of his death the string of recent supernatural events involving The Sandman has come to a halt.
Quote of the night: "Don't turn it off, turn it up." (The Circle with No Name)
Exp. Awarded: Base - 5 EXP

The Aftermath

Rizuka, Oak, Mesa, Fay, Opal, and Zealot all sat around the coals of a burned down fire in the spacious range home of Ash, who was half passed out on the couch recovering from the bruises he suffered from the epic fall into the spider web. Rizuka had bandaged his wounds, which were mostly superficial, compared to his previous mission the recovery would be a breeze. Two bottles of whiskey and one bottle of wine were emptied and scattered about the floor under the sleepy Grass Spiders. Fay and Mesa were half passed out in the chairs they'd been sitting around in, meanwhile Rizuka, Oak, Opal, and Zealot had switched to freshly brewed tea in the wee hours of the morning. It was an hour until sun up, the trio was too anxious to sleep waiting to here back from Cello on the success of their mission. The Grass Spiders were not used to sitting around and waiting for results, not being in control of the situation left the three of them with an awkward feeling. Mesa, Fay, and Ash on the other hand didn't seem bothered by their lack of control.

Oak slipped a few dabs of whiskey into the cup of tea Rizuka handed him before taking a sip, "You haven't lost your touch."

"Hmm? Oh, thank you."

"Something on your mind?"

"Nothing really. Just thinking, can you believe they may have actually pulled it off?" Rizuka gave a quick apologetic glance towards Zealot and Opal, "No offense."

Oak chuckled a little louder than he meant to and slapped Zealot on the back with a friendly pat, though the weight of his hand felt like an anvil falling on Zealot's back.

"These bastards are better than they look." Oak gave a long glance over the Circle with No Name, specifically the three that had passed out already and obviously didn't appear the typical assassins one might expect.

"I'd never argue that with you. Question is, do you think we could have pulled this off a couple centuries ago?" Rizuka sipped on her tea thoughtfully.

Opal twitched slightly as she started to doze off to sleep before her drooping head woke her back up and brought her back into the conversation between the oldest living members of the organization.

"Could we? Probably not. Maybe someone in the organization though... I guess that is why Atlas envisioned our future so different than our origins." Oak set down his cup of tea on the table in front of him.

"Why is it Atlas is always mentioned when talking about our Circle?" Zealot chimed into the conversation during an extending pause between the two elders.

Opal chimed in first, having been in training while Atlas was still around she was the only member of The Circle with No Name who had actually met Atlas, though their interaction was brief. "Atlas was the senior Harvestman who pushed for expansion of the organization. His reputation says he pushed for less conventional members as well, some of our circle mates probably wouldn't have been allowed to join before Atlas' influence."

Rizuka nodded to confirm that Opal had spoken the truth about the senior member who was responsible for more changes than the young circle would likely ever realize. "That's right, this organization wasn't always as open minded as it is today."

"Though Atlas was significantly old than I, or even Rizuka, he always pushed for change." Oak chimed in and put extra emphasis on implying that Rizuka was even older than he was. Though from their appearances you would never guess it.

The conversation was ended there, hard to say if it was cut short as Oak and Rizuka were often hesitant to get too nostalgic around the young bloods. A semi-transparent blue fae flew through the closed window in Ash's house and headed straight for Rizuka's ear, pausing as it floated by her shoulder. The feminine creature leaned in to whisper quietly in her ear, she spoke briefly and too quiet to be heard by the others, but Rizuka looked pleased right away and it seemed good news arrived from Cello.

"Cello has confirmed that The Dreamer awoke this morning at the end of the dream with his powers intact, furthermore it sounds like the dream was convincing enough to both The Dreamer and The Sandman to accomplish its' intended purpose." Rizuka paused for a moment and set her tea cup down on the table as she slowly rose to her feet, Oak silently did the same. "Good job."

With that Rizuka and Oak made their way out of Ash's home and headed back to their receptive range homes where The Harvestmen's homes were huddled. Zealot and Opal exchanged a tired look of relief and satisfaction as they both rose from their chairs and exited the house; Fay, Mesa, and Ash were left passed out in their places to wonder about the results whenever it was they woke up from their stupor. Though most likely all three wouldn't lose any sleep over the result.