Play@YSDC

The orderly lead William through the Château and into one of the rooms on the second floor. He knocked on the door and showed William into the room, saying, ”Dr. Watt - here’s the patient who’s been having dreams.”

The doctor, who was sat at his desk facing the window looked over his shoulder and nodded. He appeared to be in his early 30s, of wiry build with short, greying hair. He looked over the top of his rimless glasses and waved William towards a tall-backed wooden chair in the middle of the room. Turning around, he said, “Well, soldier. Can you tell me about these dreams you’ve been having?”

"My friends and I are actually reporters, not soldiers, Doctor Watt," says William. "I only had one dream, but I'm not sure why you're so interested in it. I saw the war when I was awake, so I dreamed about it when I was asleep. It seems fairly normal to me. I was alone in my dream. There were no other people in it, except for the dead, though the ravens I saw on the barbed wire were alive. There were pockets of mustard gas, and I could smell the dead. When I stepped on a bone, it snapped, and the birds all flew away. Then there was the sound of a shell overhead in the real world and I awoke."

Watt lit his pipe as William spoke, encouraging him with ‘mm hmms’ while making notes. “And how long have you been in France?” he asked.

"I've only recently arrived," says William.

“I see,” said Dr Watt, shortly. “We’ll, you’re in luck as I have a new technique for dealing with dreams such as yours. If you’d like to strip to the waist then we’ll begin.”

"What does your techinque entail?" asks William as he begins to unbutton his shirt.

“Oh, there’s nothing to worry about,” replied Watt. He moved a screen to reveal a raised examination table. “Please lie on there, once you’re ready. I’ll just got one of the orderlies to bring in my equipment.”

He walked over to the door and opened it, so that an orderly could wheel in a trolley which was placed at the head of the table. On the trolley was a device with what appeared to be some sort of skull cap, with wires come from it, that lead back to the device, a squat metal box with a number of dials on it.

"I'm just curious how it all works," says William, removing his shirt and lying down on the table.

“Have you heard of the work of Caton or Beck?” asked Watt. “I shouldn’t imagine you have” - he waved a hand dismissively - “It’s an area of medicine not many people know about. Anyway, this machine measures…” Watt paused as if in thought, then said, ”the electrical activity in the brain…”

"I think I understand," says William. "You want to record my brain activity while I'm dreaming and see if there's anything different about it."

“Hmm, no. Not exactly,” said Watt as the orderly switched on the machine and an electronic hum filled the air.

“The aforementioned gentlemen posited that regularising the electrical activity in the brain can address many nervous conditions, such as nightmares. The War Office has kindly agreed to allow me to test their theories… ” He nodded to the orderly who took a firm grasp of William’s shoulders, pinning him to the bed as the doctor unhooked a device that looked like a skullcap with wiring leading to the device… …

"It's not dangerous, is it?" asks William.

“Dangerous?” repeated Watt. He waved away William’s concerns. “No more dangerous than any other medical procedure.” He moved behind William and placed the skull cap on his head, adjusting it slightly so it was a neat fit, with a leather buckled strap under his chin.

Can you make a psychology roll?

William has absolutely no reason to distrust the good doctor.

Psychology roll (59% skill) about Dr. Watt:
d%

Dr Watt passed William a heavy rubber brace, suggesting he might need to bite on it while undergoing the treatment, while the orderly fastened thick leather straps that were secured to the bed, around William. “Purely for your own safety,” Watt said blithely.

He switched on the machine, which gave off a steady electrical hum that set William’s teeth on edge. “Try to relax…” he said, then there was a sharp crack as the current suddenly discharged…

CON check, please.

The sudden shock is too intense for William.

CON roll (55% stat) from the electricity:
d%

William convulsed against the leather straps and then everything went black… … …

… … …

… …

In his unconscious mind, William felt himself floating up towards the ceiling like a cloud. Rolling over, he could see his still form on the table - he appeared to be breathing, which at least was a good sign, although the frantic orderly and a rather irate-looking Dr Watt appeared to be arguing over him, not that William could hear them over a howling noise from outside the hospital.

Despite himself, William felt himself drifting toward the window, passing through it as if wasn’t there, but instead of the hospital outbuildings, the orchards and the ruins of the church as he had expected, he saw a wasteland of decaying flesh under a greasy red sky that painted everything in the dull crimson of drying blood. In the sky, black dots soared like birds, but with bloody tears that fell like rain.

The howling noise drew William over the wretched landscape and in the direction of a crater in the ground. Yet as he moved closer, he could see it wasn’t an ordinary crater as the ground around it seemed to move and churn. With mounting horror, William realised it was like a mouth, a maw with rows of sharp, slicing, grinding teeth that champed together as if it wished to chew up the entire world. Worse still, he felt himself being drawn ever closer, with nothing he could do to prevent himself being devoured… … …

SAN check, please.

William manages to keep his wits.

Sanity roll (current level 62) from the nightmare:
d%

Lose 1 point of sanity, please.

Just as it seemed that he would fall into the maw to be torn apart by the gnashing teeth, William awoke with a start, fairly bouncing off the examination table. Had it not been for the straps, he may well have fallen to the floor.

“See - perfectly fine! I don’t what you why you were getting so excitable,” Watt said to the orderly, who hurried to see to William. “Give him five minutes and he can go back to his ward. Don’t forget to let me know if you have further dreams, soldier!” said the doctor.

"Right," says William, in a normal tone of voice so that his sarcasm goes over the doctor's head. "I'll be sure to do that."

The orderly tried to help William back to ward, but had to fetch a wheelchair as he was unsteady on his feet.

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