Blue.
The sky and the leaves are all blue.
Is that a mushroom?
Yes, it's huge too.
Where am I?
[Section of Madness]
Quest information?
[The Queens Quest]
(0/1) Defeat The White Queen
(0/1) Kill the Jabberwocky
(0/1) Seal Alice in Underland
(0/50) Kill 50 Hatters
[You are the last Joker in the Red Queens Deck. Obtain victory and prevail over the White Queen's army. Win or Die.]
That's a rather tall order.
My eyes closed as I breathed in the smell of freshly baked cake, cigars, and metallic blood. There's nothing like Underland.
Last time I was here I played on the White Queen's side.
How long has it been since then?
I slowly sat up as my vision swam.
I was currently in a field filled with bodies.
Lots and lots of Red and White Guards.
Probably a skirmish between the two sides.
By how the bodies are strewn around I can tell the Reds most definitely lost.
Reds line the bodies up like a fallen stack of cards one on top of the other in a long line after the end of the battle.
The Whites still have their heads and the Reds died without weapons in their hands.
Most likely disarmed before the execution. The Whites had won in a landslide.
The Reds would've cut off all their heads.
And they would never surrender or give up their weapons.
They fight to the death because their Queen is…less than understanding.
Especially when it comes to failure.
I get up fully from the ground pushing an arm off me.
The leaves were also a sign.
Underland can feel its rulers.
And when Red is winning the leaves turn a sickly green, brown, or bloody red depending on how close you are to her castle.
Even the sky darkens to orange and eventually takes on a reddish hue.
And let's not forget that pesky fog that permeates the forest.
And for the White Queen, it turns white and blue.
White leaves if you're close to the castle and blue the farther away you get.
The sky turns blue if you're far away and is filled with fluffy white clouds. Or turns white if you're close to her castle.
I start climbing the closest mushroom and use it as a launch pad to an almost leafless tree.
Yup, I've still got it.
We're pretty close to Reds castle if the Whites are approaching this close then there must not be much of a fight left.
The final stretch is probably going on.
It also means there won't be many guards left at White's Castle.
But why are they fighting?
Usually, the winner is decided on Frabjous Day. Both sides gather and Alice plays for White and the Jabberwocky plays for Red.
Whoever wins gains dominion over Underland.
White always wins on Frabjous Day.
There's no reason to seize either castle. After the winner is decided almost everyone lives in the winner's castle or on its territory.
Except for Hatters, they are rather nomadic; they do sometimes have permanent homes but they prefer to travel.
They usually set up near White's castle around this time though. It shouldn't be Frabjous day yet.
The goal is to eventually get all citizens to live on one side. Under one ruler.
Until Horunvendush Day where Red wins and slaughters the Hatters.
What day is it even?
What changed?
What I'm being asked to do is throw the land of chaos.
Into chaos!
There is order to this madness and it's difficult to understand how the story devolved to this point.
Whatever let's just do the tasks so you can go back home and relax.
[The Queens Quest]
(0/1) Defeat The White Queen
(0/1) Kill the Jabberwocky
(0/1) Seal Alice in Underland
(0/50) Kill 50 Hatters
[You are the last Joker in the Red Queens Deck. Obtain victory and prevail over the White Queen's army. Win or Die.]
The White Queen can be defeated at any time I just have to behead and cremate her. She's tricky like that. For some reason her body is like magnetos. She comes back together if you chop her up. She'll revive soon enough after a reset of course.
The Jabberwocky is the same as the Red Queen behead him and the game will quicken it's pace and reset eventually and so will he.
Like video games or zombies.
Hatters are tricky.
They travel in groups usually and are fast runners. If I kill one they all run off to alert the others and go into hiding for a very long time longer than a game reset.
The longest they've ever been in hiding is five games.
Also, I think I should explain what I mean by game and dream resets.
When the game resets all of the chess pieces or characters return to their origins and remain there immune to attacks until this dream ends. Games are sort of self explanatory players on the board advance towards the opposing side with the intent to conquer or main. Having a game end early is not good. A lot has to go wrong first for it to end early. And I have no idea what day it is but I think this is pretty early on the timeline.
And sealing Alice?
That's almost impossible. Whenever she wants to she can wake up or dream herself into Underland.
I can't seal her here nor there.
However, it specifically states in Underland.
Well, I can focus on that later for now I have to eliminate some Hatters. It's one of the slower tasks but…
They're really annoying but they don't respawn if I take care of them now. That's fewer problems for later.
Last I checked there were at least a hundred of them at service to the White Queen during her little party's . If they're this close to Reds then they're definitely having a celebration. You might be asking why not kill any of the Queens right now save you some time and effort?The game or the world resets when any of these characters die or leave.
The Red Queen
The White Queen
The Jabberwocky
Alice
They're too important to the endgame of the dream. If they leave you have to start over.
I've been here many times with different quests each evolving to become more challenging and the only way I can wake up is to finish the tasks.
Ever since I turned 13 I've had strange dreams.
Dreams that would not let me go until I did as I was told. They're long and relentless but when I wake up it's as if no time has passed. Nothing is wrong and I'm safe but I'm not. Because every night I still end up here.
Therapists and medications have convinced me that the only one who can help me is me.
There are rules though.
I can take with me only what's on my body into the dreams.
I cannot tell anyone exactly what happened in the Dreamworld of my reality. I tried a few times. It doesn't end well the characters commit suicide and regular people forget. Except one. He's an old friend practically my only friend and for some reason he remembers.
I have to complete the tasks to wake up.
I do not need sleep or sustenance to live in the Dream. (However, I do prepare food for myself or to bribe characters.)
All of the characters are like NPCs they might feel real or behave real but they are not. If I engage in a conversation with them in one dream end it and come back to the dream again they will not remember and their answers will be the same. There is only one exception to the rule and he's an anomaly anyway.
The Dreamworld changes based on its fairytale different fairytales equal different sections. I have counted seven. Madness, Greed, Lust, Pride, Vanity, Righteous, and Nothingness. I have ranked them in that order as well from low to high in difficulty. Madness is the easiest and Nothingness is ungodly hard.
It took me years to leave the Nothingness.
I am affected over time by the section I'm in. The longer I spend there the more I am afflicted with its namesake.
The time that passes in the Dreamworld is not equal to the time passing outside.
Whatever wounds I sustain in the Dreamworld do not carry over into the real world. However, items can be brought out as long as they are on my person.
Items can also be stolen in the Dreamworld as in I can wake up without them. Let's say Cheshire decided to use my backpack as a sleeping bag. If it's not on my person by the time the dream ends it's gone. Forever.
The absolute taboo. I can take people into the Dream. However, they will not remember their time there, and if they die they disappear in the real world. Too many of my friends and doctors have gone missing. No one is allowed in the same room as me when I sleep. Other rooms or people in the same house as me will not be affected but if they are in my room they can get sucked in.
I can die in the dream just not for long. I will eventually be reset as will the dream.
It still hurts and I can feel the pain.
I have only one power in these dreams. Fear. The more fear I can draw from a person the better. It gives me strength and refreshes me I guess. Staying in the dream can dull my mind and if I go too long without fear I get sleepy. Which I'm guessing is not good.
There are main characters that cannot be harmed or if you do harm them you have a very limited amount of time to complete tasks after their deaths.
Nothing and no one is real.
Suicide is impossible.
This is why I set up the candles if anyone enters they fall and light everything up the gasoline also helps I spread it on the floor for a week making sure it is absorbed into the wooden floors. The stain and the smell were worth it.
The Red and White Queens have the same countdowns you have 6 hours after their death before the dream resets. The Jabberwocky has a shorter one at 3 hours.
And Alice cannot be harmed if she feels a threat to her life the dream will either block the damage for her or wake her up. If she doesn't feel a threat it is possible to wound her but not to kill her. The dream will interfere in some way.
Like, let's say I pinned her to the ground and tried to rip out her throat. I would be suddenly killed on the spot by a sword that mysteriously appeared in her hand. Or if I built a crossbow and tried to shoot her in the neck a sudden gust of wind would blow the arrow away.
5 times.
Killing Alice is impossible I know that much.
I know the rules. I'm prepared. I can do this. Quick and easy.