Re: [DL] Greatest Fear? [On the longish side]

["Zimmerman,Ethan R." <ERZIMMERMAN@stthomas.edu>]

JSilver545@aol.com wrote:

> Okay, I've got a new player and he's got an interresting nightmare that,
> unfortunately, he may need to face real soon... Y'see, he's very heroic
and
> very much wants to rid the world of the evils of the reckoning. His
nightmare
> is that when he dies he'll come back as harrowed! Now, of course, here's
the
> problem- what do I do for that nightmare? It seems just too bland and
basic
> to make his nightmare completely parallel what's really happening....
Anyone
> got any good ideas?

It depends on what it is about coming back harrowed that frightens him. Is
it the feeling of being pulled away from heaven? Or is it the worry that
he'll do terrible things as a harrowed? How would he feel if he had to
choose between letting the manitou take over his body while he heads off to
the pearly gates and struggling with the manitou to keep it from killing off
hoards of innocent people. Would heaven let him in if he gave control over
to the manitou?

I see images of this hero looking back at his body, seeing this malevolent
being inside. He turns and walks towards the pearly gates where his family
and loved ones wait for him with arms outstretched. As he walks, he hears
the screams of those people he left behind in the world of the living, each
dying horribly at the hands of his former body. He turns, torn between
heaven and earth. The loved ones waiting for him in heaven urge him to come
towards the light.Telling him that it's his last chance, he won't be able to
return to heaven if he turns back now.
    The hero then has a choice. Return to his body and the living hell of
constantly battling the manitou and possible eternal damnation, or continue
on into heaven.
    1)If he chooses the former, he finds himself staring down a gun barrel
(or whatever) aiming at a fellow posse member, ready to squeeze the trigger.
And he's back in the real world.
    2)If he chooses to continue into heaven, he passes through the gate,
turns back and sees himself gunning down the innocents of earth. The pearly
gates shut, and the manitou continues killing. The scent of smoke drifts
over to the hero, but it's not coming from the manitou, it comes from behind
him. The hero turns and watches the cloud landscape (it's heaven remember)
dissolve into burning pits of sulfur. He tries to force the gates open as
his loved ones change into horrifying demons, but the manitous maniacal
laughter drowns out the rattling of the gates that won't give.

Just a thought.

E. Zimmerman