Season 1 Episode 11: Lake Asibikaashi

Season: 1

GM: DeyDey

Hunters: Kauan, Claire, Farah

Introduction by DeyDey:

> Nestled in the mountains of Colorado, Lake Asibikaashi is a destination for camping, fishing and many other outdoor adventures. During the cold season, the Dreamseeker Resort brings skiers and winter thrill-seekers to the region. During the warm months, Camp Provenance brings scouts and their families, while on the other end of the lake rich people party the summer away.
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> Logging, hunting, fur trade and the Oneirological Apperception Research (OAR) facility provide local residents with plenty of work and income year-round. The town prospers due to tourism and providing raw materials for construction companies.
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> Rumors abound of a massacre that took place generations ago at the mouth of the valley, where many Arapaho members were slain in their sleep while escaping a greater conflict. Locals mention witnessing spirits wandering the forest at night.
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> The town is famous for the legend of the Spider Woman, Asibikaashi, said to inhabit the island in the middle of the lake and a protector of the people of the area with her webs of warding, both in the waking world and the world of dreams.
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Our hunters arrive separetely at the city. While Kauan enjoys a savory brunch, Claire has a vision about a mysterious stranger having a car accident; in the scenario, the stranger dozes off at the wheel, hits a tree and, despite not being hurt, bleeds out of his stomach shortly after stepping outside of the vehicle, and passes away. Farah meanwhile, hitchhiking on the passenger seat of a jolly older man, sleeps and has a premonition of her own; on a secluded, dark island, she is hunted by shadows, pinned and strangled, and wakes up asphixiating and also, somehow, actually hurt.

After being called away from their meal by Claire, Kauan goes out to greet Farah at the meetup spot, and they realize a little too late that the stranger from Claire's vision was in fact the driver that took Farah to the city, currently speeding away to his doom. On the seat, the stranger starts to feel the effects of the eerie slumber that seems to be plaguing the locals, but Claire manages to hex his van to make it have an emergency stop, while Farah and Kauan rush to the rescue. Cautiously taking him away from the vehicle, Kauan and Farah talk their way into taking the stranger, now introduced by Farah as Steve, to safety, with Kauan at the wheel of the van.

While driving away to safety and having a chat about the possibiities of fate, adhering or thwarting it, Kauan is suddenly afflicted by the slumber and passes out on the wheel. Claire desperately tries to take control of the car from the backseat, but also succumbs to the heavy sleep. Farah meanwhile, in a rush of desperation and bravery, opens both the door at her side and the one at Steve's side, and safely rolls out of the car with the unaware passenger, while Kauan veers off and crashes the car.

After a rough session of attempting to patch their wounds, the group realizes the urgency of their peril due to the danger of staying awake, decides that the center of the occurences must be Lady Asibikaashi on the island of Farah's visions and, after dropping Steve at a safe location, head out to the near Camp Provenance, a tourist spot for kids and young adults, a memory from Farah's younger, happier days, and a place where one could find a few kayaks or canoes to travel on water. Confidently, Farah walks in, searches for the place in her memories where the kayaks painted by the camp children would be and finds a few that happened to be from her own old class, and the group borrows them.

However, midway through the trip, the group is once again affected by the slumber plague; Unable to resist, Claire falls and sinks as the kayak is upturned, a helpless Kauan holds to it as a flotation device to not drown and Farah is unable to muster the strength to search for the submerging hunter. **THE WITNESS** grabs ahold of Claire and stunningly brings her up above the water, and to the nearby shore; while Kauan paddles holding fast to the kayak, Farah and Claire have a talk on the beach. After they're all together, the group converge their abilities in hope of pinpointing the location of the Spider Woman or a way to draw her out. Kauan focuses on the psychic energies of the place a sees vision of spiderwebs, people in white suits, and thoughts of both protection and intimidation; Claire meanwhile directly attunes her mind to Lady Asibikaashi, learning that the method of drawing out the Spider Woman to where she would be more open to both parlay and attack is to dream away in the centermost cave of her lair.

They decide to split the group, with the most magically attuned Claire staying awake, working to protect the other's bodies and ward off any evil intentioned spirits, while the hardened fighters Farah and Kauan would doze off, and meet the weaver in her dreamscape. Inside the limbo, a young Farah is in a train museum with her mom. The fond memories of sightseeing with her give away to the current reality that the woman she is with isn't the one from her memories, but rather Lady Asibikaashi. Young Farah and the Cow Wrangler Kauan interrogate the motives behind her attacks; despite the valid desire to protect herself and her environment, they couldn't help but notice that innocents were being target by the assaults. Asibikaashi reveals that the 'white suits', the ones at the OAR, had been long prodding and corrupting her powers, and the shades that once guarded her and the Lake were now feral and aimless. With this said, they return and Lady Asibikaashi takes on a monstrous form and attacks the pair of hunters. They attempt to fight back, or just survive, to the best of their efforts, with Farah being heavily wounded and Kauan perplexingly taking one of the stray shadows into their own body, until a desperate Kauan banishes away the creature, crumbling the dream and awakening the wounded pair to warn their magical guardian, only to be surprised by an ambush of the corporeal Asibikaashi.

While Claire stays behind and hexes the creature, Kauan attempts to bring down the Spider Woman by torching her webs and forcing her on the ground. Farah consults with her unknown memories and reveals that an ideal ending can be reached not by separing Asibikaashi from the shadow invaders but to meld them together, unite what was once lost into something new. Exhausted and wounded, they make one last stand to save themselves, and hopefully Asibikaashi as well, in a joint effort of Big Magic. Claire gathers the energies for the feat, while the two fighters stand against the Spider Woman; in a surprise attack, Kauan is targetted by a blob of acid spat by the creature, and a reckless Farah jumps into the way, taking the blow and passing away from her sustained wounds. Kauan advances and, thanks to Claire's previous hex, manages to hold their ground against the Spider Woman for long enough for the magical energies to be gathered, and they, Claire and **THE WITNESS** join together in one last effort to heal Asibikaashi, save themselves, and the city.

With the danger gone, the trio takes a moment to gather their thoughts, before Kauan faints from his wounds and Farah carries them away to safety and while also minding Claire.