Dreamers of Death (comic story): Difference between revisions

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== Summary ==

== Plot ==

=== Dreamers of Death ===

Inside a [[dreamscape]], [[Karith]] battles an army of [[Kroad]]s to save his fiancée [[Lyan Berrace|Lyan]] who has been tied to a stone archway. No sooner has he broken through the hoard is Lyan being menaced by a [[devil bird]] which he is forced to slay in order to rescue her. As Karith and Lyan embrace in the company of her parents, [[Garret Berrace|Garret]] and [[Camilla Berrace|Camilla]], the four of them are awoken in the [[Berrace's Dream Room|Dream Room]]. [[Professional Dreamer]] [[Scylla]] greets her clients as they wake and humbly combats their compliments of her work as a dreamer by stating that she was working with an excellent cast.

Elsewhere, the [[Fourth Doctor]] and [[Sharon Davies]] land on [[Unicepter IV]] and the Doctor wastes no time in tracking down his old friends Garret and Camilla. He is surprised to learn that it has been over six years since their last meeting and that Lyan, whom he remembers as being a "little minx", is now a grown adult who is soon to marry Karith at the next [[Two-Moon festival]]. When Lyan mentions their adventures within the dream world, Garret explains to the doctor that a native animal known as the [[Slinth]] was found to possess [[Telepathy|telepathic powers]] which they could harness through a [[Dream headset|headset]] to create a fully-controlled dream story. Upon Lyan's insistence Garret agreed to hire another Dreamer, [[Vernor Allen]], so that the Doctor could experience the dreamscape for himself. However, before their dream session, Garret received word that [[Lord]] [[Veith]], his dreamer [[Enox]], and two others had been killed during their dream session from an apparent electrical fault. Vernor arrived with his Slinth, [[Miki]], and Sharon showed an instant interest in him - disappointed that he would not be joining them within the dreamscape.

Strapping themselves into the headsets in the Dream Room, Vernor informed the group that they would be dreaming of [[The First Landing on the Bliss-World Ansillar]] where they would be playing members of the survey team. Within the dreamscape the Doctor found himself in awe at how real the planet of [[Ansillar]] seemed, exclaiming that the environment even smelt like another world. The group were met by a welcoming committee consisting of several alien creatures, including [[Nymph (Dreamers of Death)|flying Nymphs]], but the man riding under a canopy took the group by surprise - Lord Veith.

Back in the Dream Room, [[K9 Mark II]] sensed that the group's [[Pulse|pulse-rate]] was reaching a critical limit and that their breathing had quickened, and so he severed the Doctor's dream headset from the main controls. The Doctor then decided to cut the dream off by its source by removing Vernor's headset - bringing the group back to consciousness in the real world. Although Miki turned ravenous and attacked Vernor, the Doctor managed to pull the creature off and allowed it to escape the Dream Room.

After turning on the [[Vis-News]], the group watched as the [[Newsreader (Dreamers of Death)|Newsreader]] reported that there were a number of reported fatalities between Dreamers and their clients, and that the Slinths were believed to be responsible and should be treated as vermin and destroyed. The Doctor concluded that the Slinths were acting as psychic vampires and feeding off people's dreams. A further news report revealed that a giant creature was wreaking havoc on the [[4th District|4th]] and [[5th District]]s. When the Doctor, Sharon, K9 and Vernor raced outside they realised that hundreds of Sliths had combined together to great the body of a giant [[the Devil|Devil]] in an attempt to generate more psychic energy to feed on from [[fear]] and [[terror]].

The [[Unicepter IV Military|Military]] arrived and attempted to shoot the beast with [[Thorsen-303|their weapons]] before it could cross the river, but the creature simply soaked up their fire power and grew even larger. The Doctor warned the [[Captain (Dreamers of Death)|Captain]] to cease fire as the Sliths were absorbing the energy from their weapons and would soon be big enough to cross the river and destroy the city. Having absorbed the power from a nearby pylon the beast became almost unstoppable, even when Vernor began firing at it using an old-fashioned weapon from a museum, and began to make its way across the river. However, the Doctor realised that it was avoiding the water due to the amount of electrical energy it was producing and, with help from K9, managed to tie a cable around its leg and blast it with water from a nearby fire truck's hose. The beast was electrocuted and the Slinths fell away from the whole which allowed the military to easily take care of them individually.

A few days later it came time for the Doctor to say goodbye to the Berrace family once more, but Sharon surprised him by revealing that she planned to remain on the planet with Vernor. The Doctor and K9 returned to the TARDIS with Sharon requesting that he come back and visit her sometime.

== Characters ==

* [[Karith]]

* [[Lyan Berrace]]

* [[Camilla Berrace]]

* [[Scylla]]

* [[Newsreader (Dreamers of Death)|Newsreader]]

* [[Captain (Dreamers of Death)|Captain]]

== References ==

== Continuity ==

== External links ==