>Nerdfat
kek
Can you check out the other rooms, now that the seed was purged?

>>805016
Check your hand, is it still missing? Go quickly look around a bit. Maybe you can find some dream bullshit to get your hand back in the dream, so when you wake up it'll be unharmed.

A second possible reason to look around would be to help Tim get over his issues with dating other people.

>>805016
count your fingers real quick.

>>805016
He had been affected for so long that he had a actual Nightmare Seed in him, unlike everyone else's dreams you had visited. Damn, if you didn't help out when you did, he might've turned into some sort of creature, like what happened to the priests that were chasing the Archbishop out of the temple!

Check your eye to see if it's still missing or if it somehow came back. Also, check your hand to see if it's still missing. If both are missing, then at least you and Bri both match even more than you did before and you can both be pirates better now. That's good, right? Right? .....hey, cut me some slack, I'm trying to be positive here!

Anyways, now that you've gotten rid of the Seed, you're now free to help the way you've done before in previous dreams! So let's go find Tears in Twilight! Er, I mean, let's go find TiT! No, damnit, Tim! I meant to say Tim! Let's go find him!

DO NOT GO yet, you need to find Tim- Or Cain, or anybody- and see if they can't put in that new eye. Do self surgery terminator style if necessary- This is an opportunity you'll never get again and can't let pass; if you keep on losing bits of yourself at the rate you are without making up lost ground, by the time that professional arrives and starts actually making you prosthetic parts, it'll be as if Xuv made you 'immortal' anyway- you'll be unable move or sense anything.

His eye is physically gone. His hand is only subconciously assumed gone. Putting the eye in his socket won't grow one in real life. If he can convince his dream self that his hand is fine, his real hand might still work.

>>805037
If losing his hand in a dream can cause it to wither away in real life, then there's a chance regaining his eye in a dream will cause it to regenerate in real life too. I mean, he did eat Xuv in a dream and that's still a thing.

I'm not discounting there's a way to regain his arm though, but it'll involve lots of dream logic and magic.

Punch the skeleton. If it doesn't break, take it with you. Maybe you can build a stronger mental construct out of what's left of this tank.

Kaktus 2017/05/31(Wed)10:26 No. 805267 ID: 65a774
File 149625158378.png - (24.33KB , 686x526 , 114.png )

>He had been affected for so long that he had an actual Nightmare Seed in him, unlike everyone else's dreams you had visited.
You’re pretty sure time isn’t the factor, but that he was pulled down into the catacombs when he tried summoning Xuv alone. Luckily, he’s the only one who’s been down there… right?
>Damn, if you didn't help out when you did, he might've turned into some sort of creature, like what happened to the priests that were chasing the Archbishop out of the temple!
Hmm, the priests might have been part of the expeditions going into the catacombs, so your theory still holds… the question is, who else is infected like that? Who else has been down there?

>Count your fingers real quick.
Five… you have five fingers on your left hand and a stump for a right hand…
>Check your eye to see if it's still missing or if it somehow came back.
It’s still gone. You’re pretty sure you won’t magically just regrow anything you’ve lost like that.
>If both are missing, then at least you and Bri both match even more than you did before and you can both be pirates better now. That's good, right? Right?
Are you suggesting that you should lose your leg next so the two of you match even more?
>.....hey, cut me some slack, I'm trying to be positive here!
Well, it’s not working very well…
>Punch the skeleton.
You try to punch the skeleton, but the whole thing just collapses into a pile of ash and charred bone shards before your fist even connects with it.

>Can you check out the other rooms, now that the seed was purged?
As you walk out of Tim’s study, you don’t find yourself in the corridor you expected to be in. Instead, you’re standing in the middle of a busy street, located in what you believe is the Scholar district of the capital.

Kaktus 2017/05/31(Wed)10:26 No. 805268 ID: 65a774
File 149625159507.png - (17.96KB , 686x526 , 115.png )

Before you can wonder too much about how you got here, a loud screech interrupts any thoughts you might have had. There suddenly seems to be a giant monster terrorizing the city! The people around you start screaming, wave their arms in the air and run around in little circles… then a few of them stops and points towards the sky.

Look! Up there! Is it a bird?
Is it a wyvern?
No… it’s…

Kaktus 2017/05/31(Wed)10:26 No. 805269 ID: 65a774
File 149625160654.png - (14.26KB , 686x526 , 116.png )

Super Archmage Tim the magnificent, here to save us all!

… … …really? That’s what his dream is about?


>Now that you've gotten rid of the Seed, you're now free to help the way you've done before in previous dreams! So let's go find Tears in Twilight! Er, I mean, let's go find TiT! No, damnit, Tim!
Well, it seems like you’ve found the super TiT, right up there in the air, getting ready to fight that huge monster. You know, something tells you that he isn’t really in need of help right now… after all, his problems isn’t really something that needs to be solved right now… not likes Bri’s or your sis…
>Maybe you can find some dream bullshit to get your hand back in the dream, so when you wake up it'll be unharmed.
Seeing that the Super TiT seems to be only able to throw around a bunch of fire, you don’t think he can help a lot with your current predicament. In fact, is there anyone who would be in Tim’s dream that can help you?

>>805267
>Are you suggesting that you should lose your leg next so the two of you match even more?
No! That's not what I meant!

>Well, it’s not working very well…
Hey! I said I was trying, I never said I was good at it!

>>805268
Is it just me or does that sorta look like Bri? Hopefully, this isn't one of those stories where the monster climbs a tower while holding a single really pretty person captive. Because those stories usually involve the captive being a girl and if the giant monster is supposed to be Bri.....then the captive is probably supposed to be you, since he feels Bri is taking you away from him. He better not be dreaming of you in a dress, damnit!

Well, he was complaining about how, ever since the Sakkilians showed up, you don't hang out with him anymore. This giant monster is probably his way of making Bri and the other Sakkilians go away? I mean, he should be more accepting of them, since you're gonna marry Bri, but as long as he doesn't actually try to attack any of them in the real world, I don't see any reason to interfere with this dream.

Helping him find a date is something that can also be worked on in the real world.

>>805269
And there's the flying boob right now.

.....get it? Cause his name is TiT? So he's a flying boob! XD

.....yeah, I'll stop trying to make jokes.

>is there anyone who would be in Tim’s dream that can help you?
No, so let's wake up and start learning how to do things with your non dominant hand.

This had to happen after you just promised your sister that you'd help with paperwork! It's going to be so hard to read anything you write with your left hand!

Is there any problem a giant monster *can't* help you solve?

You must cool Super-TiT's flames and confront the dragon yourself! 'Twas beauty that killed the beast.

To be honest I'd say you've done enough by purging the nightmare from Tim, it might have been amplifying his problems anyway. I'd say just stick around for a bit but don't interfere, maybe even try to wake up because I'm worried that the blood ritual might've had an effect on Cain and also your hand probably needs medical attention.

>>805267
>he's the only one who's been down there
Belseth might have been there, and the Archbishop. You'll have to ask them.

>>805269
>is there anyone in Tim's dream who can help you
Hmm... do you know where any doctors might be in the Scholar district? Or heck, ask one of the bystanders where you can find a doctor. Or someone who makes prosthetics. I think if you got an artificial hand in your dream, your real hand would work fine in the waking world.

Its time to wake up. You've saved Tim from the nightmare. Any amateurish attempts at saving Tim from his ego via dream shenanigans may leave you with someone that isn't Tim anymore.

Plus, you need to find out how much this ordeal really cost you.

I'm not sure if his eye is that red because of a corruption motif or if it's actually his eye color, and you still have body parts to reattach, so DON'T WAKE UP NOW. You're in a scholarly district, finding somebody who knows medicine or anatomy should be easy.

Now that I think about it, even if you could get your hand back in here, you shouldn't do it!

Think about it. Not everyone believes you've got some sorta dream magic power. Your hand will be proof that you did go into Tim's dream.

So, it's time to wake up and get back to the real world.

>>805381
So you're saying Kronos should give up his hand just to prove he has dream magic?

That's really dumb.

>>805382
And on top of being dumb, it would probably be redundant since Kronos got at least one broken rib while in here that will likely carry over into the waking world. That injury will lend credence to his dream magic claims just as well, and it's treatable.

However, I'm not holding out much hope that Kronos can just happen across a way to restore his hand. And if he did, I suspect it'd be at a unacceptable cost. I'm not wholly sure how losing a limb in the dream makes the corresponding limb in the waking world go dead, necessitating amputation, but my guess is that the part of the soul that goes in that limb was lost, causing it to die. So based on that guess, Kronos would need a piece of soul of equal amount to restore his hand. We can reasonably guess that that is possible since Nerfatu regenerated its eyes from eating Kronos' hand. But since the only other real soul in this dream is Tim, and Kronos wouldn't eat a chunk of Tim's soul just to save his own hand, this way would be out of the question.

Ask Tim for a new hand. Because why the hell not.

Guys, time in dreams is the ONE thing we can spare. Body parts and reliable allies are not. Make damn sure you've done everything you can to help Tim and yourself before waking up.

>>805269
This looks like a fun dream. We should stick around to explore for a while, see if we can find anything helpful.

>In fact, is there anyone who would be in Tim’s dream that can help you?
You know, that's a good question. What sort of mental image would be able to help you with that?

Tim is a mage of many talents. If this version of him is only capable of wielding fire, then there must be other versions around who represent his other magical skills. We simply need to find the part of him that knows about healing, or some other science that's sufficiently similar, such as biology. Given the amount of pride he seems to have, it's a good bet that he's powerful enough in his own mind to heal you.

Or, maybe we could get help from his dream image of someone else? Depending on Tim's religious beliefs, we may be able to find a god in her who'd be willing to lend their aid. Or if Tim himself couldn't do it, maybe his old teacher can, or the memory of someone else he highly respects. Or we might find a more abstract mental image; for example, we know he's got this thing where he's worried about finding the "perfect" girlfriend, and anyone capable of restoring missing limbs would certainly be worthy of his respect.

That aside, it looks like Tim's dream runs on silly comic book superhero logic. Stories like this tend to have silly and outlandish events full of superpowerful characters and amazing super-magic, generally paying more mind to what's dramatically appropriate than to what's possible in reality. As long as we keep the genre in mind, there's a good chance we can guide the story to find what we're looking for. To start, you could look for an ordinary, mild-mannered doctor and ask for their help, so they can tell you it's beyond their abilities and mention the only person in the world who might be able to heal you.

>>805442
And in addition to these, two additionally mentally and thematically fitting tropes could be mad science (or rather, mad magic) in, for example, the form of a renowned, brilliant but unusually "eccentric" Serpens mage visiting from the Sheije Isles to demonstrate a radical new biothaumic technique. The other trope could be recovered working greatly advanced tech, or rather, magic, from the Age of the Old Empire that could restore a lost limb. This would actually be more plausible 'cause it's happened for real, both currently and before. And it makes sense that there would be advanced magic in that lost age below the level of "gods" but greater than present day in which the knowledge of regenerating lost limbs would be.

Kaktus 2017/06/03(Sat)11:18 No. 805710 ID: 65a774
File 149651392156.png - (50.27KB , 686x526 , 117.png )

>Belseth might have been there, and the Archbishop. You'll have to ask them.
…actually, why didn’t the Archbishop turn like the others? She has bound to have been just as infected as them. Does she have a way to protect herself? …and Belseth… you need to find him soon, be it in the real world or in the dream one, as he’s bound to be in need of aid.

>Is there any problem a giant monster *can't* help you solve?
Anything that doesn’t involve wanton destruction on a massive scale?
>Is it just me or does that sorta look like Bri?
…by the five, it kind of does. Is that how he sees her!?
>Hopefully, this isn't one of those stories where the monster climbs a tower while holding a single really pretty person captive. Because those stories usually involve the captive being a girl and if the giant monster is supposed to be Bri...
Wait, since when are the captive ones usually girls? As far as you know, they usually are the opposite gender of the hero… or at least the gender the hero is attracted to… and seeing that Tim is technically both genders at once, the captive in distress would be-
Oh no! The giant monster has kidnapped me, Prince Kronos, best friend of Tim the Magnificent!
-or they would be a dream version of me… yeah… at least I’m not wearing a dress…
>You must cool Super-TiT's flames and confront the dragon yourself! 'Twas beauty that killed the beast.
You’re not throwing your life away battling a dream Tim has conjured up. Besides, the beast already has a beauty… that is to say, the other you… dream you…

>Tim is a mage of many talents. If this version of him is only capable of wielding fire, then there must be other versions around who represent his other magical skills.
While he is a powerful mage, true, his specialization is fire magic. After all, his main job is to keep the Palace warm and alight under the months of darkness. So it’s a given he would use fire magic in his own dream…
>Ask Tim for a new hand. Because why the hell not.
You’re not sure how to get his attention. He’s flying way up in the air, battling a giant monster on the other side of town.
>Hmm... do you know where any doctors might be in the Scholar district? Or heck, ask one of the bystanders where you can find a doctor.
Trying to open a door marked with the symbol of life, you notice that it’s actually painted onto the wall… all the doors and windows are. Trying to talk to the bystander has a similar effect, as they just stand there like statues. It doesn’t seem like Tim is focused enough on this part of the dream for them to actually be alive.

>An additionally mentally and thematically fitting trope could be a mad scientist in the form of a renowned, brilliant but unusually "eccentric" Serpens mage visiting from the Sheije Isles to demonstrate-
-my sheer brilliance of biological and artifact magic as my giant lizard / robot monster destroy the whole city! Muhahaha! No one can stop me now!

…is that… Sisah? What is she doing here? …and why is she a mad scientist mage thing trying to destroy the capital? …and can you even trust to ask her to help you?

…well, someone might stop me if they distracted me long enough for super Tim to kill my beast, but the only way that would happen is if they played my giant ego like a fiddle… and that won’t happen.

>It’s time to wake up. You've saved Tim from the nightmare. Any amateurish attempts at saving Tim from his ego via dream shenanigans may leave you with someone that isn't Tim anymore.
You know, maybe it would be for the best to just wake up… and not to take any more risks. You’re still just mortal in here… and if that giant monster so much as look at you… well, it won’t be pretty, will it?

So… take your chance with the mad Sisah… or wake up?

Take your chance with the mad Sisah. She could build you a cool robot arm, or at least a villainous claw.

..Kind of interesting isn't it. He see's Bri as a beast that he must defeat to save his best friend. It's kind of endearing in a way given that he may think your still having problems with her... However him having issues with Sisah is a bit odd unless he's jealous of her skills given that he thinks she has a giant ego..

Anyways, time to end the dream and leave.

It could just be Tim's mind seeing a faint association and running with it, dreams can be pretty weird after all. Anyway, it's time to wake up, sorry about your hand but I don't want to take more risks.

"Hey! Tim said you can't make good robot hands!"

Your biological and artifact magic is garbage, I'll bet you can't even regrow a limb or replace an eye!

>>805710
>why didn’t the Archbishop turn like the others?
She probably never went down there. She just let her body double go instead, and got a detailed report of events from her double.

>>805717
How about add "but I think he's wrong, why don't we prove it!" to the end of that?

>>805710
She's a mad scientist. What makes you think she's just going to stop at the hand? She's going to try to turn you into a weapon by replacing everything to turn you into her slave. Which will do more damage to your real body.

Think of it like this: She just said she made the giant Bri monster, which means she told it to kidnap you as a way to lure Tim out so that the monster can kill him. Meaning Sisah knows who you are.

If you just walk up to mad scientist Sisah and ask for a replacement hand, she'll recognize you as Tim's friend and see this as an opportunity to replace all of your body parts to turn you into a weapon against Tim! She'll do this thinking Tim wouldn't possibly be able to stop her if her newest weapon is Tim's friend because Tim would need to destroy Kronos to stop Sisah, but Tim won't be able to bring himself to hurt his friend!

Plus, under dream logic, if that happens, then you won't be able to control your actions and be unable to wake up. And even if you somehow did wake up, your real world body would be more or less a collection of dead limbs with your mind attached to it. You don't want that to happen, right?

Let's just accept the fact that you lost your hand and wake up before something happens and causes you to lose something else and make you wish that it was only your eye and hand that's missing.

Well, if she doesn't take the bait properly, Kronos can just immediately wake up before she does anything to him.

Kaktus 2017/06/03(Sat)15:34 No. 805741 ID: 65a774
File 149652925971.png - (40.58KB , 686x526 , 118.png )

>He sees Bri as a beast that he must defeat to save his best friend. It's kind of endearing in a way given that he may think your still having problems with her...
You just hope he realize that you actually love her before he goes to far…
>However him having issues with Sisah is a bit odd unless he's jealous of her skills given that he thinks she has a giant ego..
Hmm… the two of them haven’t really interacted, have they? Maybe he’s basing this on what he have heard of her?

>"Hey! Tim said you can't make good robot hands! But I think he's wrong, why don't we prove it!"
Huh!? Who? …wait, you’re the Prince!?
…no? The Prince is over there… being kidnapped by your monster.
…but… you kind of… look like him?
If I was the Prince, do you really think I would be stupid enough to go up and ask you for a new hand?
…true, not even the Prince would be that stupid. A new hand, you say? Why, if you have your old hand, I can easily put it back.
Err… it kind of got eaten?
Well… in that case… here, give me your stump!
H-hey!

Kaktus 2017/06/03(Sat)15:34 No. 805742 ID: 65a774
File 149652927155.png - (36.07KB , 686x526 , 119.png )

Within seconds, you can… “feel” your hand again. Though… it seems to be missing a few digits?
Wait… isn’t this shaped as a Serpent hand?
Of course it is! Serpent hand shapes are superior to all others! Now, it’s sure feels like the real thing, doesn’t it? …except for the part about it being made out of pure mithril?
Um… It’s good? Really good? …I think?
HA! That showed him! I’m the best when it-

Suddenly, a loud screech cuts her off… followed by a large thud as the Briannah beast falls to the ground, defeated by the mighty Archmage Tim.

What!? How!? HOW DID- YOU! YOU DISTRACTED ME!
Err… well, thanks for the hand, but I really need to go and water my wolfhound?
Oh no you don’t! You might not be the Prince, but you sure look like him! Why, if I turned you into a killer cyborg, Tim might hesitate just long enough for you to kill him!
…I don’t think I-
YES! I’ll START BY GRAFTING A LARGE CANNON RIGHT INTO YOUR-
>Kronos can just immediately wake up before she does anything to him.
You force yourself to wake up…

Kaktus 2017/06/03(Sat)15:34 No. 805743 ID: 65a774
File 149652927911.png - (37.77KB , 686x526 , 120.png )

But when you open your eyes you’re not met by the familiar sight of Tim’s study… instead, you find yourself in… your brother’s old room?

…Long time no see… brother…
…Krotots!?
Come, sit, make yourself at home. Please, feel free to get a cup of tea.

Kaktus 2017/06/03(Sat)15:34 No. 805744 ID: 65a774
File 149652928818.png - (240.87KB , 686x526 , 121.png )

After all, we have much to discuss… maybe over a game of regicide… for old time sake?

Punch him in the face.

For old times' sake.

>>805744
>story of another generation
Well, sounds like the Forgotten One isn't going to ascend just yet.

Agree to the game of regicide, and ask your brother why he's able to talk to you. Shouldn't he be part of a nightmarish fusion of damned souls? Ask him his side of the story of his actions during the war. Will he even contradict what you've heard? Or will he admit to being blinded by ambition?

I suppose there's something he wants from you, too.

So you didn't address any of Tim's problems with Bri or Sisah and still have a loose eye outside your skull. Why on earth would you wake up then?

>>805750
We can just talk to him, you know. The eye in the dream inside the sphere wasn't real, anyway.

>>805751
Visual prosthesis > ocular prosthesis > an empty hole in your head.

Also remember the stink bomb he put in your cologne before you go making up.

>>805750
>So you didn't address any of Tim's problems with Bri or Sisah...
And you didn't suggest he do that, or any way he could go about doing that, did you? And nobody else did either, so he didn't. And since nobody came up with a exit strategy out of the encounter with Mad Scientist Sisah besides leaving the dream, then that's what Kronos did. If somebody had suggested a effective way to stay in the dream without getting chopped up and borged by her, then Kronos maybe could have dealt with Tim's issues. But nobody did, so he didn't.

>...still have a loose eye outside your skull.
Presumably since the eye in the orb wasn't mentioned again (and nobody asked about it again to check if it was there, for some reason,) the eye and probably the orb were both burned away in the inferno, along with the nightmare seed's influence and corruption.

>>805754
And that eye would be gone when Kronos woke up 'cause Kronos doesn't have a real, physical eye there. A regenerated hand in the dream would have maybe still worked 'cause Kronos still has a physical hand.

But why everybody else was going for a goddamn magic animated prosthetic I can't figure out. That's what Kronos would have ended up with in the waking world if he'd just woken up and not dealt with Mad Scientist Sisah, so why were those suggesters for it? Now that Kronos has a prosthetic hand in the dream, it's probable his flesh and blood hand will be dead once he wakes up 'cause it's still gone in the dream.

>>805743
Kronos, don't you dare fall for the most obvious trick in the book! That's not your brother!

The Nightmare is getting desperate because of how successful you are getting at removing it's influence from people's dreams, so it's trying to trick you into staying asleep and/or trying to infect you by throwing a familiar face at you! And you can't even tell him to prove that he's really your brother by asking about something only you and him would know because since he's part of the Nightmare, the Nightmare would also know the answer!

So don't let your guard down!

>>805758
>Now that Kronos has a prosthetic hand in the dream, it's probable his flesh and blood hand will be dead once he wakes up 'cause it's still gone in the dream.
That's not how dream logic works. Worst case scenario, he'll only have a limited number of working fingers.

>>805758
Oh okay, I'll be sure to predict the future next time I suggest something, or maybe list off actions to take for every possible eventuality no matter how far off or unlikely, just to be preemptive.

>>805760
Whether he's really Krotos or not, and if he is whether he's genuinely looking out for his little brother or just manipulating him to his own ends, or something else entirely, the fact remains that he had the power to both keep Kronos from waking up and pull him in here. That means he likely still has the power to keep Kronos from leaving or waking up. So until Krotos, or "Krotos," is satisfied that Kronos has heard his say he probably won't let Kronos leave. And that's even if this is really Krotos and he genuinely cares for Kronos because he'd keep his foolish little brother from running off before he'd heard that which is of vital importance.

Kronos, hear Krotos out. You can choose once you're out of here to discard in whole or part what he said here, but until you've heard him out to his satisfaction he likely isn't going to let you leave. And don't antagonize him or say he isn't the real Krotos or he's just trying to manipulate you or anything that says or shows you're not gonna listen at all. That's because if he isn't the real Krotos, or a corrupted Krotos, or something else that just wants to sway you to his view to do his bidding, you rejecting him may mean he'll decide it's just easier to trap you here indefinitely or even outright kill you. And then you'd be stuck in this room with a hostile being with no way to deal with it, no way to hide and no way to escape.

>>805764
No, the worse case scenario is that this hand created in the dream only lasts within the dream and doesn't carry over to the waking world in any way, meaning Kronos will lose his hand for real.

>>805750
Why would he need to dream manipulate Tim to do that..? Those are things he can just talk with him about in Real Life! No need to meddle in his brain to attempt it.

>>805743
>Krotots
Typo or not I like that. It's like he has a story involving potatoes.

Well, it's good to see brother again. We don't know for sure all of him is involved with the Nightmare. He could have ended up as Xuv did, split in two between mind and body, with the one you're speaking of the more sane one.

Speak with him, and enjoy yourself a time. Grab a cup, play a game.