Nymphlopedia

Entry 48: Dream Nymphs

So after a lot of terrible encounters with the Hallow, Vince knew not to trust a place by its looks. Tania and Sonata on the other hand were pretty much born with that knowledge.

Right. A place that looked somewhat like some kind of kid's blanket pattern. Deep purple. Had a few yellow stars dotted about that glowed. Especially on the stone, but the grass also had little glowing yellow specks on it. Also, said stone was... sort. Ish. And the bushes and treetops were oddly 'pillow-y.'

Yeah... no.

"Go ahead." A soft, soothing voice echoed through the odd plains. "Take a rest. Sleep well. Close your eyes..."

"NOPE!" Vince shouted. "I have an important mission! Not going to sleep even if I didn't know it was a trap. It's totally a trap, by the way."

Oh he wasn't expecting the facade to drop so quickly-

Wait.

Nah, he should have.

Anyway, Vince remained stone-faced even as a purple-violet Nymph slithered out from the shadows and stared him right at the face. She also had a yellow star on her forehead, visible for a few seconds before her hair covered it. Also, she was giving off serious heat.

"Well what if I just knock you out! I can still invade your dreams here!"

"Woah woah woah!" Sonata said, walking out from behind a pillow bush. Vince flinched. "Why are we going straight to violence? I'm better than that, so I expect more out of my less-troubled sisteren or whatever."

"Well I don't. I'm impatient."

"Sonata?" Vince asked, looking at her. "I thought you were out gathering mythril."

Sonata shrugged. "I got bored. I got enough for you to make those shitty, shitty pants though."

"Greaves." Vince corrected.

"More like graves, all fucking clothes are the same to me, and they spell death. Pants are deadly, you know?"

"I feel that way too!" The Dream Nymph said.

"Great! Speaking of hating clothes, are you interested in joining the Naked Empire?"

"No, don't even bother with that 'We have things in common' bullcrap."

Tania also stepped out. From behind some trees, and she was munching on an orange.

Vince also finched. "You too...? I thought you were guarding the home from that Goblin Summoner. Am I, like, ever away from either of you?"

"I can't speak for Tania, but being away from me? Nope." Sonata said. "I'll be by your side for the rest of your life now, buddy."

Vince just... stared at her.

"Do you have any issue with us?" Tania asked.

"Actually, no! I just like giving people nightmares! Practicing for the people who deserve it!" Was the answer given by the Dream Nymph. "You two are on the border of that!"

"As I have said to countless Nature Spirit souls," said Tania, "I'm sorry for the-"

"Like that one right there."

She closed her eyes, put her fists together, and sank in to the ground. It took a second of looking around to see what she meant by suddenly saying 'that one,' and-

Yeah Sonata was already lying down on the bushes, fast asleep. Gasping, Tania put a hand on her shoulder and shook.

"Sonata! Wake up!" She said. "You'll-"

"Five... more minutes..." she said, snoring. "And- argh!" She also started shaking around in her sleep. "Fuck off, Nightmare Nymph! Let me sleep!

"...Yeah yeah I know that's the point, but can I just sleep normally here anyway? Leave me alone."

Huh. Based on her following thrown punches and kicks, she was putting up a good fight in Dreamland. Still, Tania kept shaking her-

And got punched in the nose pretty hard. Hard enough to make Tania almost fall over.

"Um... Sonata?" Vince asked, steadying the Last Dryad.

Sonata just snored.

Dream Nymphs.

Nymphs that are known to both give people nightmares by invading dreams and give people nightmares from the bad memories that come from fighting them in person. Wait, fighting them in the nightmares they give and give nightmares.

Preferred Environment: Dream Zones.

Environment Threat Level: Dangerous.

Environment Stats: Moist. Warm. Fantastic. Rare. Fields with glittering magenta ground, occasional yellow "star" patterns across the stone and grass. Seem to be a "pleasant, heavenly" biome, yet the atmosphere around them thanks to their rocks can cause visions, or be taken advantaged of by the Nymphs to enter dreams, for either beneficial or hostile purposes. The wildlife is also hostile.

Other Names: Nightmare Nymphs, Sleep Nymphs, Wet Dream Nymphs (most of them will take this as a heavy compliment).

Affinity: Fire.

Color: Dark Magenta.

Traditional Costume Weapon: Usually a single bracelet made of a dust-coated stone. This lets them utilize mind energy and move their projections through dreams with ease. They are rumored to be able to cast illusions even to the waking, but this is left for sufficiently powerful Dream Nymphs.

Vince's Comment: I was almost attacked by a rogue Dream Nymph! I think Sonata forming a bond with some of them pissed off a villager that wanted to attack me out of revenge? Thankfully, she came while I was having a(nother) nightmare about Lindsey, and that scared her off.

Sonata's Comment: Step 1: Be a lucid dreamer. Step 2: Be friends with one of them. Step 3: Convince one to enter your dream. Step 4: Act out your wildest fantasies by convincing their dream projection and your own "dream self" to do... whatever!
Sadly, I have not mastered Step 1 yet. Steps 2 and 3 though are pretty easy!
Step 1-A: Don't look in a mirror when you dream. Some people think our reflections always show our true form, which is kinda bullshit, that only works with illusionists like Fallacy while we physically change the way we look, kinda like a chameleon, but anyway, WOOF. That's NOT what I saw looking in the mirror there. I saw lots of things. Lots of things...

Tania's Comment: Dream Nymphs.
Nymphae Somnium.
These Nymphs are unique as far as what is known by the general public to have the ability to summon a phantom projection of their own which can enter a person's subconcious, while their physical body is off somewhere else. While they are incapable of causing direct physical harm to the body of the person whose dreams they enter, they can cause vast psychological damage and torment. Of all Nymph types, they and Mind Nymphs are close but ahead of the rest by a long distance in causing the most babbling fits of insanity to those that anger them.
Sufficiently powerful Dream Nymphs are rumored to possess people, but these are difficult to prove. I believe in them. They would explain the times when Sonata in particular has acted... strange. Laughing about things she normally would not find funny.

Closing AN:

Day 16, done! We've got a Pikmin-inspired Nymph type, another "deep ocean monster" Nymph type where I get to go all-out with being surreal (I mean water makes up most of the planet's surface and there's lots of aquatic shit we don't know about, it would be a bit more "logical" if in fiction there's more than just the standard one or two aquatic races. "Fan why are you trying to apply logic to porn" fuck you my big pet peeve is when people try to sweep erotic stuff under the rug and insist that their fanservice is artistic nudity, I will freely admit that RTLD and this are in fact meant to be sexual and again I'm gonna add more fanservice when I have the time, but I think it's obvious at this point that this is more than just "Ooh sexy monster girls sexing people with sex"), and another thing I like doing, trippy dream stuff. Day 17's gonna begin with another one of my favorite ideas, then move on to THE PART 2 FINALE, and then... well honestly the beginning of Part 3 and the end of Day 17 might come off as a bit underwhelming.

And yes, the Part 2 finale is going to have another "bonus."

Oh yeah and the main inspiration for this was Mario & Luigi: Dream Team, even though this isn't a seperate "dream world." (Maybe in the rewrites we'll actually see Sonata's dream?) In fact, the next chapter also takes inspiration from a Mario RPG because... well, look at my username. I'm a huge fuggin' Nintendo nerd.