To (Denver, Ranma, Simon, Monroe, Paula), Ebony Valkyrie pages: As you go
about your normal day, you find yourself napping, or daydreaming. Through
the haze of your drifting euphoria, you see a powerful man, dressed in the
elaborate gard of Native American medicine man. He is standing on the back
of a giant turtle, along with the spirits of many powerful warriors. He is
calling out to you in a voice that causes the ocean to rise and crash.
~Come! Come COME!~ he cries. ~The dark one has returned! In the name of
the Middle Brother, let not another life be taken!!~'.


Long distance to Ebony Valkyrie: Monroe ooos, always wanted spirit magic.
He relaxes to see what course the day-dream takes.


To (Denver, Ranma, Simon, Monroe), Ebony Valkyrie pages: With a sweep of
his powerful arm your view expands, revealing a panoramic seascape. For
those of you who know this area, your attention is drawn to a winding
coastal road the heads northward. For some of you more earthy type, you
see a meandering trail, leading up through dense forests and rugged
terrain...

To (Denver, Ranma, Simon, Monroe), Ebony Valkyrie pages: Again the
powerful voice intones, ~Come! COME! Let not another life be lost! The
lives many, and the future of all, implores you forth!~

To (Denver, Ranma, Simon, Monroe), Ebony Valkyrie pages: You are being
guided to what appears to be a lone indian reservation ,nestled along the
northeastern coastline.

You paged Ebony Valkyrie with 'Lacking any knowledge of the tribes of this
area, Monroe doesn't know how to identify it. However, he still goes with
it.'.



Shaman's Hut -- Interior

	 Upon entering this rustic dwelling you are at once struck by it's
sheer unimpressiveness. It is small, boxy, and slightly unkept. It's most
striking furnishing is the portable television sitting on the arm of an
old chair. There is an entire dedicated to military decorations from the
First World War, the Second World War, the Korean War, and Viet Nam. You
also see several frames containing medals and assorted commendations. Tall
shelves cover the back wall, heaped with old canning jars, cigar boxes,
and other assorted clutter. There is a giant buffalo head mounted above
the door behind you. 

			 ***> +Views & Places Set <*** 

Contents:
Ranma(#1191PXJKc)
Flying Buffalo
Obvious exits:
Out <O>


Ranma is talking to the older man.

Flying Buffalo arches his eyebrow as one more person steps into the hut.
"Greetings, man called Monroe! You have come... On behalf of my people,
you have our gratitude."

Monroe looks somewhat disoriented, but nods a little.

You paged Flying Buffalo with 'This is still the dream, yes?'.

Flying Buffalo gestures for you to both sit. There are soft indian
blankets laid out on the floor.

Flying Buffalo pages: You THINK so... But it is hard to be sure.

Monroe sits comfortably - he opens his mouth to say something but then
shuts it again. He looks somewhat surprised at his own clothing, though
surely that's what he usually wears.

Ranma sits down, tucking his legs under himself.

Flying Buffalo leans back in his wheelchair, eyeing the two of you with an
appraising eye. "For many generations my poele have lived peacefully in
this villaged. Most of us have taken vows to 'the Old Way'. Our life is
struggling, but filled with much pride and honor. Our man work the fishing
boats, and the woman go about their lives as they did in the times our
great forefathers..."


Monroe looks out the door slightly when he talks about the forefathers,
but says nothing.

Ranma nods as he listens.

Flying Buffalo picks up one of the magazines heaped on the shelves behind
him. It loks like a Sears Roebuck catalog from 1934. "A few days ago, five
of our men went out in a canoe, and only two returned.. The men were badly
hurt, and very scared. The spoke over and over of..the dark on.."


Ranma says "What is this Dark one?"

Monroe looks to Ranma and then back to the man, like he was just an
audience member and not a participant in the conversation.


Flying Buffalo flips casually through the catalog, then tosses it back
onto the shelf. "The dark one is a great menace that has plagued out
village for many generations. It has been know to disappear for many
years, only to return when it has been all but forgotten. It live in the
water, scares away our fish, and kills to feed it's terrible appetite."

Monroe looks out the door and says "In the ocean?" It's almost not a
question. He seems surprised that he said it at all.

Ranma looks a little nervous, "Lives in the water?"

Flying Buffalo nods his head. "Yes."

Ranma says "You want us to go into the water?"

Flying Buffalo says "I would like you to destroy the dark one, and make
the waters safe for our fishing boats."

Monroe blinks slightly. "How?"

Ranma says "Yeah how?"

Flying Buffalo shakes his head. "How ever you must..."

Ranma says "Why us?"

Flying Buffalo says "he must not be allowed to grow any stronger. The more
he feeds, the more dangerous he will become."

Monroe nods slightly and rubs the tuft-goatee on his chin. He looks a
little dazed.

Ranma says "Yes, but why us? We don't know you or even live around here."

Monroe murmurs, "Nor do you know me...us, pardon me."

Flying Buffalo says "Why should it NOT be you? Each of you is special in
your own way..otherwise you would not be here."

Ranma says "Maybe, but how did we get here?"

Flying Buffalo waves a dismissive hand. "Are you so eager to leave, wh n
you have not even considered the task set before you?"

Monroe murmurs softly, "What else can you tell us that might assist us?"

Flying Buffalo smiles down at Monroe. "Have you ever had a really bad
dream? One that defied your capacity to rationally cope with it's
ramifications?"

Monroe looks mildly at Flying Buffalo. "No."

Flying Buffalo tries to explain. "For example, you try to run, but you
cannot move, or if you do, it is in slow-motion... have you ever had a
dream like that?"

Ranma says "So this is a something from a nightmare?"

Monroe nods slightly to FB, confirming.

Flying Buffalo says "It is infinitely more than just a nightmare. But it
is roughly comparable to that, should it be allowed to draw anymore
strength."

Flying Buffalo says "As the nightmare feeds on you own fear, your
vulnerabilty to it increases. Such is what could happen here, if the dark
one is not stopped."

Ranma says "So if we aren't afriad of it it can't hurt us?"

Flying Buffalo says "teh more you try to hide from it, the more it will
ultimately control you fate."

Monroe nods a little. "I'm afraid that it would be beyond our reach, under
the sea." he says, very practically, in an almost dazed manner. "It is not
a matter of hiding from it."

Flying Buffalo says "I would seek it out myself, but as you can see..
*gestures to his wheelchair* ..I'm am not up to such tasks anymore."

Ranma says "We will have to call it out of the water."

Flying Buffalo smiles and nods to Ranma.

Monroe rubs his chin. "And then what? We give it the bayonet?" He sounds
half-serious, half-incredulous.

Ranma says "No. We would have to banish it."
Ranma says "What gets rid of a nightmare?"

Flying Buffalo Reaches on to the shelf behind him and pulls down an old
bayonet, handing it to Monroe. "Not at all a BAD idea..."

Ranma says "You want us to kill a nightmare?"

Monroe looks at it like it was a snake.

Flying Buffalo pages: The bayonet looks like it was made for a Civil War
Era rifle.

You say "What usually gets rid of a nightmare for me is waking up."

You paged Flying Buffalo with 'Hey, just my speed.'.

Ranma points at the bayonet, "With that?" He ponders, "Yes, but how do you
wake up a nightmare?"

Flying Buffalo gazes soberly at Monroe. "Sometimes, wanting to wake, and
finding it more difficult than you anticipated, is a nightmare in and of
itself."

Flying Buffalo gazes over at Ranma. "What is the 'nature' of a nightmare?"

Flying Buffalo says "Define that, and you on your way to facing your
opponent."

Monroe turns the bayonet over in his hands, inspecting it. "It varies with
the nightmare and the dreamer, I would imagine. I cannot count myself
among those who understand dreams."

Ranma says "Its nature is that it isn't real."

Flying Buffalo nods to Ranma. "But it can 'seem' real, which is more than
enough to kill."

Ranma says "It is something you yourself create. You give a nightmare
power over you."

Monroe says easily, "Yes, but whose nightmare is this?"

Flying Buffalo's eyes sparkle at Monroe. "Indeed! That is the most
important question, isn't it?"

Ranma says "How do we find out?"

Monroe places the bayonet very carefully on the rug before him. "I would
say that it's mine." he says finally. "Though in here that may not be
true, in reality, my guess is that it's mine."


Flying Buffalo reaches back onto one fo the shelves and comes down with a
bowl o ffruit. "Can I offer you something to eat. I rarely have visitors,
so I'm afraid that I'm rather lacking as host."

Monroe shakes his head a little. "My thanks." he murmurs. "But no."

Ranma shakes his head at the fruit at the older man, "So maybe this is
your nightmare and we have to wake you up."

Flying Buffalo shrugs, his brows furrowing. "That could be a possibility.
As they say, 'Waiting give the devil time...'"

Monroe pauses. "No - I think I can wake up. When I say it is mine, I mean
that this whole area is the dream, and the nightmare just happens,
ironically, to have taken a much more literal form. This is a dream about
a nightmare." He sort of smirks to himself, an inner joke perhaps.

Ranma turns to Monroe, "Ok. Wake up then."


Flying Buffalo watches Monroe closely.

Monroe nods slightly. "All right." he says somewhat reflectively. He picks
up the bayonet and regards it for a long moment, musing. "Disperse, ye
rebels." he says, another personal joke, apparently. He then taps the tip
against his finger, but he has underestimated the sharpness, and cries out
a little, a bit of blood dripping down, He brings the finger as if to put
in his mouth, and a single drop slowly falls, but as it falls, it fades,
and so does he, like a TV being switched off, static, and then darkness,
and then nothing.