Session 16  (1/14/26, 1:33:29 ~ 1:54:05) [Kris] On the other side of the waterfall: Leslie, you fall into the water and feel yourself get plunged in; your whole shoulder’s burning from the bite marks. Then you gasp for air, and find yourself standing on rocky ground. You crawl up onto the ground and feel the water kind of sheen away very quickly.  You feel yourself falling back into some sort of memory, some sort of past moment. You are still in your succubus form, when you see there are a couple crates sitting in this little waterfall area. You notice that in the memory, it looks more like a steaming hot geyser somewhere.  And you see Gloriosa sitting on the crates. [Leslie] …I think I am just staring at her, kind of dumbfounded. I shake my head and look at my shoulder. Is my shoulder still—? [Kris] It doesn't look like bite wounds anymore; it just looks like these strange distortions from dream magic. And Gloriosa, you see she looks over at you and she's— you see her start taking off her clothes. She smiles at you and starts throwing off her clothes and heading into the water, into the steam geyser. She's like: [Dream Gloriosa] Are you coming, Fox? [Leslie] Uh… [Dream Gloriosa] Are you too scared for this? Come on, we’re friends. [Leslie] [wheezing] …of— course, of course not. Okay. Yeah, I’m— I'm stripping. [Kris] Yeah, she just starts throwing off her clothes and wading into this hot spring. Your brain is trying to comprehend it; part of it is your memory, part of it is your current self. You're not really— it's all blurring together.  But you see Gloriosa. She is this demon-looking devil. She's very humanoid, kind of tall, or like decently— I don't— would you say she's taller than you? [Leslie] She's a little bit shorter than me. [Kris] Yeah, she’s a little bit shorter than you, with long red hair, intense-looking eyes, fangs, and she starts wading into the water and going to the other side of the hot springs and just like:  [Dream Gloriosa] Goddamn, that was a crazy mission. Nice to unwind. [Leslie] Yeah, I would— I would say that again. Uh, my shoulder still hurts. I've heard the hot water is good for that. [Dream Gloriosa] Yeah, for sure. You really took a beating, Jesus. I mean— Lucifer. [Leslie] [laughs weakly] Yeah, I’ll— um, note to self, don't do that again.  [Dream Gloriosa] Yeah, I don't know. You know, usually your seductive charm kind of works on the guards, but they just like— they just started stabbing. It was crazy. [Leslie] Yeah, I think Leslie kind of coughs at that. Yeah, you know, off day. Now I know what they're not into. [Kris] She laughs at that. Her laugh is really loud, just unabashed — if you hadn't heard it before, you might have been surprised or scared by it. But she laughs really hard, and then you see her swim under the water towards you. [Leslie] Okay, wait, so I'm still in the water. [Kris] Yes. [Leslie] Okay, okay. So I probably tossed my clothes out of the water. Um, okay. I think it takes me a moment to register — I take a beat to process what's happening, and then I think I'm swimming away, I'm kind of expecting her to come and try to catch me. [Kris]  You start swimming away, and she pops up at the spot where you once were, and she looks a little disappointed.  [Dream Gloriosa] Are you heading out already? You just got in! [Leslie] Uh… I— [Dream Gloriosa] I'm just gonna peek at your shoulder.  [Leslie] Oh! Yes, of course. Um— he is shaking his head for a moment and— yeah, okay. I'm swimming back over. [Kris] You swim back over. She's giving you a strange look, and she takes a peek at your shoulder, and pokes at the wounds a little bit with one of her claws. [Leslie] Yeah, he winces. [Dream Gloriosa] Okay. Not into that? That's fair.  [Leslie] Yeah, maybe— maybe another time.  [Dream Gloriosa] You know, not bad for a third date, if you would call it that… Sorry, I didn't want to push that. You don't have to call it a date. She kind of shakes her head and just laughs. I'm joking with you. You know how it is. [Leslie] No! Uh—  wait, out of character, is this something that Leslie remembers happening? Or is this new? [Kris] You remember like one brief excursion out to the Demon Wastes in some sort of jungle? It seems like things are kind of muddled. You remember this being much later in the timeline — the time you guys were in a hot spring together. So this feels like something that actually happened, yes. [Leslie] Okay. Okay. No, no, it's not the sort of third date I imagined, but certainly much more exciting than anything I would have come up with. [Kris] She thinks on that, and she's leaning on your shoulder a little bit in the hot water. You could hear the sound of footprints approaching, just very distantly. They almost feel too far away.  Jonny and Solomon: the tiger is kind of gone at this point, and you guys could walk towards this iridescent sheen of the waterfall. [Jonny] I'm going in! [Solomon] Yeah, shall we check it? Shall we check on Leslie? [Kris] Leslie, you see two silhouettes outside of the waterfall, starting to walk in. [Leslie] Okay, um— I think I was in the middle of moving to lean my head against her as well, and then I see these silhouettes, and I kind of— I think I don't mean to push her, but I push off of her to swim away. Um, I'm just trying to— if it seems like— if it seems like the silhouettes are about to get here, I'm just trying to get distance before they pass through the water. [Kris] Yeah, she was about to just put her hand on your head as you lean on her shoulder, and you suddenly dart away, breaking away from her. She looks at you, and she looks like— there's this sad expression that’s crossed her face, but it kind of quickly goes back to a grin. [Dream Gloriosa]  Damn, okay. Sorry, I'm getting too touchy, right? It's all good. [Leslie] Okay, wait— I’m looking at her and kind of sputtering— I'm looking at the waterfall, are the silhouettes still—? [Kris] Yeah, Jonny and Solomon, you're walking along the cave wall, and there's just this roaring water coming down. Are you gonna try to move through the water? [Jonny] I'm going into the water.  [Solomon] I call out for Leslie. [Leslie] But before or while that's happening, I'm kind of sputtering like, “There's— there's someone coming, we should, um—”  and then I think, probably Solomon calls out. [Kris] Yeah, you hear Solomon call out ‘Leslie,’ and you see Gloriosa, your partner, she kind of looks out to the silhouettes, and is like: [Dream Gloriosa] Okay, if you need to head out, just… kiss me goodbye, at least? [Leslie] [Leslie suffering noises] Um, yeah— I think I wait a beat too long, but I'm swimming — I'm trying to dart towards her to give her a kiss. [Kris] Okay, give me maybe a Finesse or Sneak roll if you're trying to do this before they arrive. If you don't care, you can just do it. [Leslie] Okay, I’m doing— I’m doing Sneak… ohh… seven. [Kris] Okay, you're gonna achieve what you want to do, but something's tricky. I have a thing that could happen — I have a small obstacle that could happen, but you won't be spotted kissing her. [Leslie] Okay. Um… [Kris] Unless you want to roll on the dream table instead! [Leslie] Okay, um … oh wait — was that an actual offer? I kind of do want to roll on the dream table. You should know at this point I want to take every opportunity to roll on the dream table. [Kris] Okay, take one stress and roll on the dream table. [Leslie] Double fours … okay, which one's four?  [Kris] Delusion…okay. You manage to dart away then dart back when she says that fast enough, and you lean in to kiss her and she just kind of turns her cheek, offers you her cheek. She seems like she's gotten mixed signals from you — she's letting you just kiss her on the cheek, and you lean in and kiss her real quick.  As you do that, as you kiss her on the cheek and pull away, she's just kind of smiling at you, like: [Dream Gloriosa] Alright, Leslie! That was pretty good.  [Kris] Suddenly, Solomon and Jonny, you walk in, and the two of you are standing — uh, there's no water anymore. There's this kind of burst of steam as the water and the geyser kind of flows away, and you see Leslie is standing in front of this woman who's all chained up. Solomon and Jonny, you walk into this chamber past the waterfall where Leslie is standing. His mouth is kind of closed, almost like he was puckering for something. There’s this woman with like, this— I think Jonny has seen her in the files, Gloriosa.  [Jonny] Yeah, I snuck a look at the files. [Kris] She’s wrapped in chains, and there’s some sort of iron muzzle over her mouth, and something covering her eyes. She's almost, like, Hannibal-Lecter-style, being chained back and just trying to fight the chains.  Leslie, you pull away from the kiss, and you feel something inside your mouth. [Leslie] Uh, I’m— I'm spitting it out. [Kris] There are silver coins coming out of your mouth and falling to the floor. [Leslie] ….wait, has the vision changed around me as well? Can I see? [Kris] Yes, you see suddenly that you are in this cold, dark, Torment-Nexus-like building, as you see these devil guards pulling Gloriosa away by the chains into another hallway. And she's just squirming, trying to get out, but she can't see or respond right now. [Leslie] Okay, I think I see this vision and I dart— I think I’m trying to press myself against like the nearest wall. Like I'm backing away in fear, and I'm trying to get distance from what's happening. [Kris] You back away. Jonny and Solomon, you see these coins kind of sputter out of Leslie's mouth, and this woman starts getting dragged away into a different hallway, as she's just trying to scream, trying to fight, but is not succeeding. [Jonny] Um, I'm heading over to Leslie.  [Solomon] Yeah, me too. [Jonny] And I’m like, Leslie what— is this your dream? This isn't my dream. [Leslie] Uh, I—  I'm not, uh— [Jonny] Are you— are you real? Are you dream-Leslie, or are you real-Leslie? I start trying to pat you on the face. [Leslie] Um, yes, I think I'm kind of absent-mindedly patting him on the face as well. “Uh, I’m not sure what this is—” and then I’m going to break away from Jonny and run after the guards, actually. [Kris] Solomon, what are you doing? [Solomon] Yeah, I've been like, hands on my hips, kicking the silver coins on the floor like, ‘what the fuck are these two doing?’ But when Leslie makes a run for it, I'm like: Wait, don't we want to get out of here? This is a dream anyways! [Jonny] And I'm also running over to Leslie going like, Hey, if you're real, and this is a dream, you need to get out of here. I don't know what was up with that tiger, but it's gone now — we can leave. [Solomon] And also— how are your— how's your shoulder!? Jesus. [Leslie] Oh, is my shoulder back? What is going on with my shoulder right now? [Kris] It still feels wounded but in a weird— rather than bite marks, it's just like these lashings, from a weird dream — almost like a poison, actually.  [Leslie] Okay. Okay.  [Kris] And you see that Tiger is led— or, Gloriosa is led down a hallway and disappears as these two come up and stop you. [Leslie] So am I able to— so are the guards outpacing me? I think I’m not responding to Jonny, and I'm calling after the guards like, Wait, where are you— where are you taking her? [Kris] You see one of the guards just gruffly says, “Treachery.” And keeps walking.  [Leslie] Okay. Okay. [Jonny] Jonny's like, What— what's happening? Who— is that your friend? Colleague? Uh, girlfriend? [Leslie] I think I just— I look at Jonny and back to where the guards disappeared, and I'm not saying anything. I'm clutching at my shoulder. [Jonny] How is Leslie's shoulder doing? Okay Jonny's like, Your shoulder — is it okay? [Kris] It looks kind of mangled, but not in a way a tiger would have mangled it there. It’s just a bit of a gnarly wound. [Jonny]  Well. That looks fucked up. I’m going to try to— whichever shoulder got wounded, I'm going to try to grab Leslie's other arm, like the non-hurt shoulder, and then try to drag him away like, Come on, let's go! This isn't real. [Kris] You start kind of dragging Leslie away — are you going after Gloriosa down that path, or back towards the waterfall? [Leslie] Jonny? Wait, is this a question for Jonny? [Kris] I guess if Jonny's leading the way. [Jonny] I'm trying to drag you, are you getting dragged or are you resisting? [Leslie] No— wait where— I think, okay— so the guards didn't, like, disappear…? [Kris] They went down the hallway and down a corner.  [Leslie] Okay, okay…I think I’m resisting being dragged for a moment, and then I kind of shake my head and am like, Right, sorry, you're right. This isn't real. Um… this was— this was the tiger, right? Lead the way, you know— you know the way out of here? [Jonny] Well, I kind of know the way we came in! We can try to follow our tracks. [Leslie] Good enough. [Kris] The three of you exit out the waterfall and as you come out, you're walking out of a pantry back into the kitchen. You see the kitchen is still covered in some overgrowth, but it's starting to wilt and across the kitchen, you could see Cherry, Isha, and Emil holding the vulture meat. [Jonny] I'm like, Oh, hey Emil! You made it back! [Kris] They look a little fucked up, but you all do at this point.