The party of heroes carefully follows the slick cliff-side trail up and away from the falls.  Soon back on firm ground, surrounded by trees.  The walk up is far more difficult than it was coming down as several members of the party feel it most heavily in their lungs and the burn in their older legs.

For several hours Inas leads the group back through deer trails, mercifully the trail is mostly heading slightly down.

Astral flits from person to person, asking an endless list of questions.  She has all the curiosity of a small child, while at the same an daunting intelligence.  She apparently was born fluent in a dozen languages, while at the same time, having a childlike innocence of how things work in the world about her.  She asks about your families, what you do, what you are good at, if you are married, have children, where you got that scar, just about anything.  And she implores Saliq to show her some illusions, for Folke to sing a song and play a tune, for Inas to tell her about this plant, that tree, for Marissa to tell her tales of the sea and how to steer a ship, and Rath to tell her about all the religious tokens he wears and what it feels like to heal someone, and who is Rose?   It good that she flies from person to person, for cute as she is, she is also somewhat exhausting.  When she finally settles behind Marissa's hair and goes to sleep, everyone, even grim Inas, can't help but smiling.

As night falls, the party sets up camps and takes turns on watch.  Sleep comes easy under a clear cool sky.   In the morning, everyone feels refreshed.

Several days go by in such peaceful, natural travel, and by the third day, the party begins to be able visually to see their comrades are becoming younger.  Whatever curse of magic of the passages of Woe and Sorrow has, it is not permanent and begins to wear off.  In the ten days it takes to return to the outskirts of Stormhaven, everyone has returned to their normal ages.

Just outside the city, for fear of what might face Astral within the city walls, it is decided to skirt Stormhaven and make directly for the swamp that borders the great city.  Following the river, it splits to the west before part heading into Stormhaven, the westward flowing part, called the Elsir River, cuts through the Foundry.  This shambling part of the city lies outside the main walls and with reason, the smell.  It is a dark place, full of those who work hard and long hours, tanneries, butchers, clothing makers with vats of dies, the smell of animals, blood, dyes, chemicals, boil thick in the air here.  But it is a place to pass through unnoticed.  Slipping round the north of the city, the party again skirts past the Glades, with all their strange customs and superstitions and make their way directly to an abandoned pier.  Finding a small skiff is not a problem and soon the party is deep within the Witchlight Marshes.

Eventually, the cabin of Elexi comes into view through the thick mists.  Inas once again proves you just cannot confuse a master Ranger in the wilds.   There are lights inside the house, and a bit of smoke comes from the chimney, but all is quiet.  No one seems to be moving around inside or out of the home.

"He must know we're coming," Rath offered in a low voice. He was wary, less trusting of this warlock than the others were. "Who wants to knock?" If any volunteers, Rath would accompany them, vigilant against all threats.

"I'll knock," Saliq suggested, before glancing at the hut, expression thoughtful. "It might not be a bad idea to make are little dragon friend invisible... at least for the moment. Until we are sure."

"Shouldn' go alone.  Just in case."

Inas makes to accompany Saliq.

Marissa remains in the skiff, just in case.

"Be still and be quiet, little one," Marissa whispers as the others head toward the door. She is tense - aware that she might be frightening the little drake, she tries to relax.

Focusing a small prayer, she seeks to detect any evil that may be emanating from the shack.

Saliq moves forward, followed by the others, first knocking on the door, but finds all is quiet.  And the door is unlocked and opens slightly when knocked upon.  Despite her curiosity, Astral ducks down and remains quiet.

Moving inside, the house looks much the same as it did before, all is very quiet, and a quick look around seems normal till you enter bedroom of Elexi.

Elexi is there, but he is pinned to the wooden ceiling, he appears to be slightly squashed as if some great pressure is pushing him up, though he is facing the floor.  He is surrounded by a transparent green haze.  His eyes are open, but it is hard to tell if he alive in this current state.

Marissa detects a strong aura of evil all around Elexi, be it him or the fog, it is hard to tell.

Marissa hisses.

"Ware the house," she cries to the others, caught between her duty to the dragon and her friends.

With a curse, she gets into the skiff and makes ready to retreat back toward Stormhaven.

Folke had joined those in the house, having spent the extra time with Elexi on their previous visit.  If anyone would be welcome, it should be he and Saliq.  The skald's disquiet grew with each step through the small house, until at last they found their host magically restrained against the ceiling.

"What is it holding him?" Folke asked aloud.  He looked for some sort of device or emanating point that was generating the restraining field.  "Can we try to dispel it?"

Inas looks at the others, waiting for them to tell him if there is anything he can do in this rather unusual situation.

PM

"I can try," Rath grumbled. He glared about, not liking this circumstance on small bit. "Say the word, Musfara, and I'm on it. What the hell did this?" Rath already had a pretty good idea, of course.

A thought came to him, and he shifted his gaze.

[OOC: DM - what's the ceiling and roof made of? I'm thinking we can "dig" him out from above.]
This message was last edited by the player at 20:35, Sat 28 July 2018.

Curious, Marissa asks, "Astral, can you 'feel' anything emanating from inside the hut?"

The ceiling is wooden, too flat to be the roofline, so maybe an attic exists.

Astral whispers, "I can't sense anything, but you are all tense, which is scary".

"Let me do it," Folke replied to Rath, drawing forth his harp.  "I think I'd have as much power as anyone in the group, for this anyway."  He eyed up the position of Elexi versus the bed below, some practical considerations dawning on him.  "I hope the floor doesn't hut too much."

"Stay back, everyone," he warned.  "I don't know exactly what will happen if I successfully cancel the effect."  And once he was satisfied everyone was behind him, Folke plucked a short sequence of chords aimed at the field restraining Elexi.  The tune reverberated beyond what any normal instrument would produce and seemed to war with the greenish fog.


OOC:

Cast Dispel Magic using harp.

Saliq raises an eyebrow at Folke's claim to have as much power in the group as anyone but simply takes a step back.

"I admit I don't immediately recognise the exact magic at play," the illusionist confessed. "Best let Folke try."

Folke begins to play notes on his harp, and immediately, the green mist sends out a tendril that wraps around the bard.  To everyone in the room, it seems like a serpent that wraps itself around Folke in coils.  To Folke, he feels like something physically punches him in the face, and in fact, his nose begins to bleed.

Luckily, this is no fledgling skald, Folke continues to pluck the strings of the harp, and in moments, a golden light envelops the green mist, slowly burning it away until none is left.

As the last of the mist vanishes, Elexi drops to the ground.  A quick check finds him alive, but unconscious.


ooc: BTW, for this dispel, rolling low was a GOOD thing, so those were awesome rolls Folke, nice job!! You could have dispelled the magic of a 18th level wizard with those!
This message was last edited by the GM at 00:57, Mon 30 July 2018.

Marissa hears the notes played by Folke. When the music stops, she waits with bated breath.
This message was last edited by the player at 11:47, Mon 30 July 2018.

In reply to Marissa Ehridol (msg # 17):

Since her spell would still be in effect, with the dispelling of the magic, the evil she could sense also disappears.

Marissa disembarks with Astral affixed to her shoulder. "Are you putting on weight, luv?" she asks, her voice teasing. Entering the hut, she looks at the others gathered around Elexi.

"I'm happy to assist, if need be," she said to the room.

A quick check of Elexi shows him to be seemingly uninjured.  After a few minutes, his unfocused staring eyes blink, and he looks around, finally sitting up.  When he notices Astral, his eyes well up and he rises only to bow his head towards her, he mutters, "I am so sorry little one".

Inas is concerned that while Elexi's immediate peril appears resolved, danger still lurks.

"Sorry for what?  An' what happened here?"

Rath suddenly had his trident in hand and a ferocious glare. "What's the hell is that supposed to mean, Warlock?!!"

Marissa, too, makes ready her weapon, pointing the tip of the spear directly at Elexi.

"Speak, wizard, we've no patience for riddles."

Folke spared Elexi more condemnations but stood with a quizzical look on his face, the harp hugged loosely in his arms.  He'd not thought of it in that sense until the others had spoken, but now worried their interpretation might be correct.

Despite the demands to speak, Elexi continues to kneel, with teary eyes.  After a moment Astral flies over to hover just before him.


"It is you who sent me comforting dreams when I was born into a cage, with evil around me.  And you who sent me dreams of the faces of my rescuers, so I'd know them, and know hope was coming.  My sire already forgave you, for whatever small part you played in his life.  Long ago.  He used to say that until you forgive someone who truly did you a bad turn, you don't know the meaning of the word, or the joy of forgiveness.   More importantly, he would preach, good souls must always forgive themselves when they do wrong.  That was the most difficult part to learn. Every day, for otherwise, the guilt of past actions would poison all the good they could do in the future.  My sire believed in forgiveness."

A few moments after the little dragon speaks, Elexi looks around, blinking away his tears.

"Master Bard, thank you, your skills are great for my sister has some power, I'm afraid she won't look kindly on your kicking her out of here. Let me put on some broth and stew, we should talk.....and thank you all for saving the little one"

"I am proud of you, child," Marissa said kindly to the dragon. "And I am humbled by your wisdom. I think, when all is done, you'll have taught me far more than I will ever teach you."

Rath wasn't mollified, but he shut up and listened to whatever the warlock had to say.

"My pleasure," Folke nodded to Elexi, although he felt a tug of dread at having incurred more direct attention from the Morde Witch.  Food would help with that, and he moved to help with preparations for the meal.

"I'd say we both have stories to tell.  All the more reason to sit at the table over dinner and good company."

Like Rath, Inas relaxes and waits to hear the warlock's tale.

"That was remarkable magic my friend," Saliq said to Folke, looking and sounding like a touch of jealousy was fighting against admiration. The latter won and he smiled ruefully. "Remarkable."

The illusionist took a seat and waited for the tale telling to begin.

Elexi hurries about setting up a decent table of hot tea, stew, vegetables, cheese, and even sweet wine.  He has some dried fish that he offers to Astral, who is at first somewhat suspicious, but finds she likes them quite a lot.   He tells her he sire loved them as well.

Once everyone is seated and has eaten and had drinks, he begins.


“As you’ll remember, my sister and I once were very close, and lived in peace in this swamp.  This was long before all that mess with Syrix and the Mistress, and my sister finding she was drawn to dark magicks.    We were alike then, both powerful within the Glades, but beyond its border, we both could float through dreams of others, sending dreams, or even just looking in on dreams.  It was how we came to know the world, and how I still do, it was how I found Astral.  But I’m limited to just that beyond these borders.   My sister wanted more, she took to travelling and seeking ways to increase her powers, she increasing used her ability to send evil dreams, nightmares, or dreams of greed, or lust, driving those she wanted to do something for her into her will.   We fought over it and I won, banishing her from the Glades.   And so, in time, she took an island as a home.   Kylindra to me, but the Morde Witch to the rest of the world.    Once I was assured you had rescued your young charge here, I decided to distract my sister from seeking you out.   Long has she sent her senses to my swamps, looking for a weakness, a way in.  I had guessed she wished to torture me with some nightmare or another, so I left open a small crack.  She noticed it at once, but nothing happened till last night, when she not only sent me horrific dreams, but had real power behind them.   She has grown far stronger than I am, to do that to me here.   At least she was distracted, and used some of her energies here.   She will know someone broke her spell, someone powerful.   Astral will remain in danger until she is destroyed”


ooc: sorry for the slow post,  this past weekend was a big street festival and Friday through Sunday, we have a lot of traditions for meeting up with friends and usually staying out way too late for good sense.  Great fun though.

As the party wonders what next actions to take, Astral flies down to grab another bite of dried fish and says,  "Let's go kill that evil witch".

Saliq smiles ruefully at the tiny dragon. "It is not quite so easy Little Wing. She has formidable magic, magic of which we understand very little."

The illusionist glances at Elexi thoughtfully. "You speak of dreams... could you allow us to enter the world of dreams and carry the attack straight to her? I admit I am merely human but my Art draws on dreams, fancies, imaginings. I would dance at the chance to walk in a true dream."

"I wonder, can only one imbued with the art walk in someone else's dream, or can they somehow 'bring' another who is not talented into the dreamscape?"

Elexi looks up at Saliq and laughs, "Little wing, I like that, wish I had thought of it."  Then he grows quiet a moment.  "She's your responsibility, can I speak plainly in front of her?"

"Of course," Marissa replied. "We expect no less."

Elexi nods, "I will say again, your best chance to kill my sister is to do as i proposed before you left.  Kill me.  She and I are deeply bound in our strange powers, it will greatly reduce her to end me, and completely unnerve her.  I have given you permission and the means to do this, and I still think its the best plan.".


He closes his eyes,

"So said, Saliq, that thought intrigues me.  I'm not sure it can be done, but I believe it can, but I'd have to come with you.  And, it has many dangers.  A death in the dreamworld would leave your body alive, but without a mind, or soul, or whatever you think makes you a person.  Things would be quite odd there for you, spells would be different, what you think a strength here may be weakness there.  Again, it intrigues me, but I advise against it".

Rath stood up, weapon at his side, looking miserable but striving to cover that with a stone-faced expression, eyes on the warlock. "Take the dragon for a walk, Ehridol."

Inas is motionless, but his eyes drift to rest on Marissa.

And then he waits.

Saliq looks very grim but firm. "I think we should explore the dream option. I am not a master of my art but I am not an apprentice either and...," A slight rueful smile tripped at his lips. "I would not be who I am if the chance to adventure in dreams did not appeal."

His eyes flicked to Rath and Marissa. "I will go as the group goes, but those are my feelings my friends."

"Rath, whether you will or won't and despite your best intentions, shielding the child will do her no favors. But my vote is with Saliq, although for different reasons. We've seen before how magic can rebound in unexpected ways. Given what we saw upon our arrival, it seems a simple explanation that the Morde Witch has become greater than her brother. If that's the case, her inability to slay him quickly strikes me as odd and in truth, I find the timeliness of our arrival a bit too convenient. If killing her brother were her true intent, he would have been dead long before our arrival...at least so I believe given Master Elexi's claims toward her strength. Perhaps instead she seeks to lure us somehow into some magical trap...like a dream perhaps."

Rath slumped and his eyes fell from the warlock, down to his own hands. He went from angry to subdued in the time it took to get out six words. "It wasn't ... I wasn't ... it wasn't Astral I was gonna shield, Marissa." He looked at the little dragon, feeling its eyes on him, but this time he didn't turn away. His voice was choked. "Guess if I can't do it with you watching, little dragon, I shouldn't be doing it." Rath didn't quite sound convinced.

He turned to Saliq. "I don't get it, Musfara. What are we going to do, exactly?"

Elexi remains silent, eyes closed, clearly choosing not to interrupt the discussion.

Astral meanwhile is glancing from one person to the next, looking very intrigued, but she usually is.

"My idea is that we travel through dreams to strike the Morde Witch directly in her mind. It is probably not a front she'd even consider us using but we have seen with our own eyes what such an attack can do. Elexi would be our guide through this dreamworld and we the adventurers."

He paused, then added: "Even should such an attack fail by invading her mind we might be able to come across the crumb of a weakness, some key to defeating her. And... I admit as an illusionist it appeals to me deeply to visit the land of dreams."

Rath grunted. "Right. What could go wrong?" Where Musfara led, Rath of course would follow.

Folke had sat still and thoughtful while the drama played out around him.  All that had moved was his eyes, that and a slight twist of his head now and again to take in everyone around him.  The import of the discussions were significant, and it seemed the skald was trying to sort out his own feelings on the matter.

"What would we need to learn from you to be effective in the dreamlands, Elexi?" he asked the swamp mage.  "Could you teach us to defend ourselves, to understand how our powers work there, before we go after your sister?"

He looked at the others, concern etched in his blue eyes.  "It is the stuff legends are made of, but we must also face reality.  We know how to fight and win in this realm," he waved his hand around loosely, encompassing the whole of the world in the gesture.  "We are strong here.  In the dreamlands, are we as impressive an enemy?  I fear we are not, if only because none of us has been there and knows the ways of that realm.  And don't forget this would be home soil for the Morde Witch, who roams there regularly."

"We should not give up what advantages we have simply to try the unexpected.  Let us do so only once we know it gives us the best chance of success."

Inas looks uncertain as he says, "Yeah, I agree with Folke.  If I can't use a sword in this 'dreamland,' I'm probably no good at all.  An' there's no way we could ever be as competent there than this witch."

Elexi, who seemed almost asleep, opens his eyes.

"You seem divided, and I cannot, and should not, interfere.  But you should know a little of what Saliq proposes.  First, I've never done what you ask.  Second, even great wizards have a hard time thinking about much less travelling to other planes. However, the Plane of Dreams, is one of three layers of the Astral plane,  that strikes me as interesting.  Finally, what Master Inas and Folke say is true, some of your advantages may be different."

Marissa frowns.

"As a neutral party in our discussions, you certainly offer quite a few opinions, Master Elexi. According to what little lore I know, a trip to the astral plane is hardly a jaunt, and filled with perils that even such as we barely understand."

Looking at her companions, she said, "I stand with you, whatever we decide. They say that with great struggle comes great reward, though, truth told, I'd find more comfort sailing through the shoals around Stormhaven than to make this journey. But, as I said, I stand with you whatever the consensus. There is too much riding on this for us not to be of one mind."

Elexi simply nods to Marissa's statement and rises, to return with a bottle of sweet wine, which he leaves on the table,  and then he turns and leaves by the back door.

From your stay there earlier, you know there to be a dock out back and a hammock tied across two of the dock poles.

Rath glared after the warlock. "I don't like him, and I don't trust him," he said in a low voice. He probably didn't need to say that at all. It was no secret. He thought about the ramifications of dream-space, or whatever it was. "My dreams are ... pretty rough as it is," he muttered. "Not sure if that makes me weaker or stronger in there."

That wasn't helping to get the group to a decision, but Rath didn't have much to offer.

Marissa sighs, caresses Astral's chin. The hide is supple and soft, nothing at all like what she expected. As the dragon graces her with a telepathic purr, she turns to the others and says, "Let us decide. I would follow the dream trail, though it frightens me and I do not trust the warlock. What say, each of you?"

“I’m with Musfara,” Rath said without hesitation. “If any of us goes, I think we should all go.” He glanced at Inas and Folke. “But if Saliq goes and you don’t ... well, I’m still going with him.”

"I want to go," Saliq said once more, then smiled ruefully. "But as I've said there is a streak of selfishness to that. I am an illusionist and they are dreams. However if we vote against I will stay with the party. I am not going to desert my friends even for a dream."

He winked at Astral. "My friends include you Little Wing in case you were worried."

Inas looks offended at the suggestion that he would back out.

"We don't split up.  If more wanna go than don't, I'm going -- no questions asked, no ill-will.  But I vote no."

"And what of you, child," Marissa asks of Astral. "Would you travel this ephemeral journey with us, or will you stay here, under the protection of the Swamp Master? Never think for a moment that you don't have a choice in this - it is, after all, your fate we are at least partially deciding."

The little dragon looks around, having been asked such a question, she suddenly is the star of the show and looks it.

"I go where you all go".

"Ha!" chortled Folke.  "We are a group of sheep.  All it takes is one to pick a direction and the rest do nothing but follow."  His grin was full of teeth.  "Let us hope the wind is blowing the front sheep in the right direction then."

"You know my opinion, but we are even less strong if we split up.  All or none, in my books."  The skald glanced at Inas.  "I think we're going to be taking a nap."

Rath counted up the votes. It sure looked like numbers favored the dream-realm approach, with the dissenters coming along despite their reservations.

Still didn't answer Rath's question, though. "So, what the hell are we actually doing?"

"I think waking the swamp mage from his nap is in order. He'll know more of this than we do."

With the vote close, and teetering back and forth a few times, it slowly seems to lean more towards the will of Saliq.   At Marissa's suggestion, a small wood carving on a nearby table, it is a lovely carving a tree, leans over to allow its many branches to be feet, and skitters out the back door like a strange spider.

A few moments later, a bleary eyed Elexi comes in from the back, he has a mostly dead pipe in one hand and the little tree on his shoulder.

"Dreamland, eh?" he chuckles, and then coughs a few times, "Okay, uhm, it'll take me a few weeks to set that up,  I'm weaker than I thought after sis's attack, she may have poisoned me....no,no, I'll live, just need to recover a bit". With that, he says something in what sounds like an attempt at language, familiar but different to you. And collapses on the ground.  As he hits the floor, a little ripple of strong magic flows outwards through the entire room.

A moment or two of confusion follows, but almost immediately, Elexi rolls over and laughs deeply.

"Master Saliq, I need you conjure a great illusion of all of you, heading towards town to do, well, whatever you would do.  Make it look real, use all your skills.  I've made this place invisible to everyone, even my sister, she saw my last little act, and so we have some time, if she was watching, she thinks me too weak to try anything for weeks.  She'll likely guess you'll choose to go over sea rather than wait.  Either way, we have a bit of time to play with.  If you want go by the plane of dreams,  I do need a nights rest, but will be ready in the morning. "

A characteristic rueful smile plays across Saliq's lip. "I'll do my best Elexi. My friends do you mind if I watch you a little to get your likenesses?"

The illusionist turns to the rest of the party, studying each in turn for many moments, drawing in every colour on each member's clothing, the way they let their arms hang and the angle they held their heads. Astral is not immune to this examination as Saliq studies her closely.

Finally he stands back and with strange gestures and arcane words conjures up a doppelgänger party, his face a mask of intense concentration.

"I'll have them creep away, sticking to the shadows with phantom Inas in the lead," Saliq says, voice strained with effort. "Phantom Little Wing will be 'hidden' beneath phantom Marissa's cloak. Everything should look just as if the real versions of ourselves are trying to slip away unnoticed."

---

OOC: Saliq casts Spectral Force.

Inas, watches, obviously concerned.  But he says nothing, so it is impossible to tell if he is concerned about Elexi's welfare or the path that the party has chosen.

Maybe both.

Elexi watches Saliq's illusion.

"Amazing".

He scampers over to a cabinet and comes back with a sealed clay jar, and pops the top off. He pulls out five shriveled berries, like smallish prunes.  He then opens a cabinet that is full of neatly folded blankets and gives one to each of you.

"Eat one of these berries, then go upstairs, and remove all your worldly belongings, the less you have on you, the easier the transition will be.  Wrap these blankets round you and then come back down.  we will have a little time to talk before we go over..."

Rath had only glared when Elexi had coughed and collapsed. Any suffering the warlock experienced did not bother Rath at all. When he sprang back up, Rath only glared harder. He would trust nothing the warlock did or said.

He absorbed Elexi's proposed plan, sceptical, but Musfara seemed to think it was a clever scheme, so Rath shrugged and didn't argue. He put on a self-conscious smirk as Saliq looked him over to weave his illusion, but went back to glaring after the wizard was done.

At Elexi's last suggestion -- that they eat weird fruit and leave their gear behind -- Rath snorted derisively. But, if the others complied, Rath did so as well.

Inas agreed to this course, but is clearly uncomfortable at the prospect of giving up his belongings and leaving himself apparently defenseless and helpless.  He seeks reassurance.

"So . . . if we take nothing from this world, what can we . . . do?  Do we try to dream a sword that we can then use?  I'd kinda like to know what to expect before I start this process."

Elexi nods, "You have the idea master Ranger, although, don't limit yourself just to swords.   Everything on the dream plane is semi real, made of dreamstuff, and with a strong will and imagination, you will learn to shape it to your desires.  Some places and things there are more firm, some less so, it will be fun but a trifle disorienting at first.   You can alter stuff including your own bodies.  When you cross over, the dream plane will choose a form for you, partly from your own mind, but in time you will be able to change that form, even back to yourself but I do not advise it, as my sister might be watching for your shapes within that realm, or have agents on the look out.  You will need to seem as ordinary denizens of the plane until you make your assault on the witch.  I and my friends will guard your real bodies and all your items with our lives, if you survive this mission, it will all be here just as you left it.".

Inas looks thoughtful and slowly nods.  "So, strength of will, coupled with imagination, is the real weapon?"

"Something that each of us possesses in spades, Master Inas," Marissa said. With a relieved grin, she adds, "I was wondering the same. Happily, I can imagine some pretty terrible weapons. Have you ever heard of a claymore mine? Well, neither have I, but it sounds like fun!"

ooc: Pardon the liberties taken. Just struck me as kind of a neat idea. Feel free to edit as you see fit, Master GM Bard.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:08, Sat 25 Aug 2018.

Saliq was looking thoughtful. "You say our forms will be different? I admit I perhaps am used to such changes more than the others but that will be intriguing to see."

Rath clapped his hands together and replied with mock enthusiam, "This will be great! Can't wait to strip naked in the real world and then let you all to see what this dream plane thinks my form should be based on my own mind!"
This message was last edited by the player at 00:39, Sun 26 Aug 2018.

"Sounds like fun," Inas says without enthusiasm.  He grabs a blanket and heads to the stairs.

As one by one the heroes go upstairs, some more reluctantly than others, there is strange excitement-fear that runs through the group.  As various items of power and memories are set aside, rings of power, weapons of power, musical instruments of power, amulets, spell books, and clothing, the party becomes more and more exposed. The items stir memories of how they were acquired, of past times, and how they've been used to stay alive, it is un-natural to be heading off on a quest without them, and yet, a bit like a rebirth.   A time travel back to earliest days of adventuring, when luck, and gristle, and being too stubborn or brave to run away made the day.

You find the blankets are very thin but really soft and dense, they are much larger than you'd expect and can be wrapped around you many ways, toga style, tied into robes, even making a hood if desired.  They are comforting and seem to make you feel just a little giddy.

On returning back downstairs, the main room has been transformed.  Trees have grown up  in the room, sprung right from the wood floors and between them hang six hammocks.  There is a small table with glasses of wine and beside each one, a shriveled berry. There is an amulet with a tiny stone-like cube on it, and five very small glass looking coins, mirrored on one side. Elexi is already lying in the one closest to the kitchen, smoking his pipe.

"Have a drink, a berry, and pick a spot.  Get really comfortable.  It won't take effect for a few hours, and during that time, I will tell you a bit about the plane of dream.  The amulet is for Saliq, its made of dreamstone.  If you make it to my sisters home, it should open the door, she doesn't know I have one and they are extremely rare.  One coin each, they are looking glass coins, very valuable for trade in the more solid areas of Dream.  Before you drift off to sleep, put these under your tongue."

As Rath quickly peeled off his armor and left it, along with the rest of his gear, in a heap on the floor upstairs, he considered for a bit etching a glyph of warding over the whole trove. In the end, he decided against it. His magic would probably not be potent enough to stop anyone or anything willing to make a foray into the Warlock's shack intent on looting; and it might just hurt an innocent.

Losing a small fortune of potent magical items was, actually, one of Rath's lesser concerns.

He propped Devilsbane up at an angle and hung his holy pendants - the coin of Avandra, the blue sun of Pelor, and Melora's shell - from its tines. The shell brought dark, vague almost-memories of his time in undeath ... that hunger-wracked condition that he didn't so much remember, but had memories of moments when he could remember it. What dreams of that time he would he find brought to life today?

He clutched the blanket around himself. Downstairs, he ate the damn berry, drank a glass of wine quickly before pouring himself another to nurse more slowly, and chose a hammock near Saliq. He kept his eyes on the Warlock. It was going to be rough getting into a relaxed state with that monster hanging about.

With little to no fanfare Saliq did as instructed, divesting himself of his ring and other possessions and even the enchanted dagger that had been with him since his earliest adventures. for a long moment he held the Jambiya Moonblade thoughtfully before setting it safely aside. Even more traumatic was putting down his spellbook - it felt like cutting off an arm.

The illusionist seemed far preoccupied with what he might find in the dreamworld - and what the dreamworld might find in him. He did find a moment prior to turning in to whisper a Sehanine, the Lady of the Moon and patron of all illusionists. Who better than to watch over a dreamer?

Marissa wrapped herself toga style, keeping her legs free in case quick action was needed before they fell into slumber. Her spear lay at the side of the bed, a dagger and the curved blade of her scimitar lay comfortably along the contour of her hip.

Before taking the drought, she asked, "Master Elexi, what of the young one, is she to take the potion as instructed as well. I am not comfortable with her being in such a vulnerable state."

If being armed with wits was the key to surviving the dream plane then Folke should be confident, but he was far from it as he stripped off all his hard won gear.  The harp worried him most of all, as he lovingly packed it away in the soft leather case he used to carry it about.  Finally he stood there fresh as the day he was born, swaddled only in a blanket he fashioned into a cloak of sorts.  This stinks of madness.  Vain madness.

When he came down the stairs he held his tongue and simply found an empty hammock to clamber into.  He took the berry in his mouth and tentatively bit down with his teeth, wrinkling his nose at the tart taste, and took a large swallow of wine to wash it down.  In his other hand he picked up the looking glass coin, idly twirling it across his fingers and he waited for their final adventure to claim them.

Inas disrobes, and removes all objects from his possession.  Wrapping the blanket about him, he sits as he might around a campfire, waiting to hear the story that Elexi has to share.

As everyone settles in, the room is very quiet, and the drink and berry, don't make you feel drunk or even sleepy, but relaxed and almost weightless.  Time seems to pass but how much is hard to tell, you can smell the sweet smoke of Elexi's pipe, feel your heartbeat, but little else.


Marissa feels a tug or two at her hair, and then Astral digging down under her neck.


"All dragons can travel the astral plane, and dream as well, without any help from me, they frequently do so, I've tied her to you Marissa with a silver cord, so you'll be together when you cross over.   Saliq, once there, she'll be in her natural form, unlike you all, so you'll need to reshape her, she'll be real so you must keep her size, maybe a gray cat, or silver badger, something like that.  Her normal shape will be noticed, and you are best not noticed."

"Your crossing will be peaceful, and remember, few ever die on the plane of Dream, for  real.   It can be scary, and funny, and odd, but mostly its, well, fantasy.   You will encounter many bubbles, shimmery, in the air, growing up from the ground.  They are someones dreams, if you touch them, you might get sucked into them, I would avoid that. Its fun, but only for the experienced."

"I've given you some money, there is a large city that has existed for time beyond records.  Make your way there, and find a guide to take to entrance of Isle of the Morde Witch.  That will scare any of the locals, so you'll have to take what you can get"

"Now, before you go over, think about your dreams, not the kind that are of this world, not your aspirations, but of the fun ones.  Did you fly, were you so small and quick you could hide in a nutshell, were you strong like a bear?  Dream will determine your form, but sometimes you can nudge it in one direction or the other.  Soon, you'll fall deep asleep, if you have a question or two, I'll try to answer, but once you sleep, sweet dreams.  And....well, while you are there, please never mention me".

Fun dreams? Rath struggled vaguely under the blanket of relaxation to catalog his dreams, to find any memories of fun. There had been falling (and even flaying), but no flying. No hiding in nut shells, that was certain. He had won that pissing contest (he smiled faintly at the memory under the effect of the berry and the wine) but even that had ended badly, with everyone, Rath included, scrambling up towers in terror as he flooded the sewers and streets of Stormhaven.

Always in the background were the thoughts of the flitting figure in white, which seemed to have infiltrated even his memories of dreams dreamed years before he had encountered the Mistress.

"A cat please, Master Saliq. Orange short-haired tabby. Cats are good luck on a ship, and help keep the rats at bay."

Saliq raised an amused eyebrow at Marissa and the tiny dragon, then gave an elegant bow. "Very well, a tabby then. From Little Wing to Little Paw I suppose."

The illusionist straightened up and attempted to sort through his own dreams which was easier said than done. He had so many. He had in fact dreamed of being a dragon more than once, though in the circumstances that might be an unwise form to take no matter how tempting. And the dreams where he sat upon the Badishah's throne in Al Alayai Herat would certainly be thought ambitious rather than fun. The same could said for those dreams of mastering any given spell or finding untouched beneath the desert sands or in some air filled cave beneath the brine the lost library of one of the ancient mages.

Flight perhaps? Yes, that had often featured in his dreams. Permanent good looks? True he could wear different faces but only for a moment. Immortality? There were so many dreams...

Inas's expression did not change as he closed his eyes.  Relaxing and stretching his mind, it went to a familiar place.

He imagined his view from high, as if he were a hawk.  The speed; the aggression; the majesty.  Soaring through the open sky, swooping below the forest's canopy; freedom and power all at once; predator to many yet fearing little.

A faint smile crept onto the ranger's face.

Content that Saliq would paint Astral an orange flavor, Marissa closed her eyes and pictured in her mind's eye the sterncastle of a three masted brigantine. Bedecked in dress regalia, she stood near an imaginary helmsman and surveyed her waterborne realm with a fierce eye and attention to detail. Shouting orders, she pushed her crew to make way and set a full sail, wondering all the while if that was an appropriate dream.

Not wishing to dump an entire rum-runner into the party's dream, she instead reverted back to her normal weapons and armor and with a small smile, she drifted off.

Folke lay relaxed in his hammock, staring up at the ceiling and thinking furiously about happy dreams, songs and anything else he might to influence his dream state.  The problem was, skalds knew a lot of stories, legends, and so on.  He didn't even need his imagination, just his memory to have innumerable choices.  But how to choose?

Eventually he began to tire and his mind softened, thoughts meandering on their own without direction.  And the saga of the Rheingold began to unfold in his head, starting from the gods killing Brother Otter, to the capture of the red gold treasure, and the birth of Sigurd (for whom the dragonslayers were named) and his seducing Brynhilde the valkyrie, and his eventual death.  Portions of the lengthy tale wove back and forth in a jumble through his thoughts, the otter, Sigurd, Brynhilde, and the cursed golden ring...as he drifted off he held no strong image in his mind, just a swirl of the Rheingold characters.  Who knew what the dream world would make of him?

You hear Elexi talking, and slowly, the words no longer reach your ears.

You feel the hammock, the effect of the drink and berry, till you seem to float on a cloud.

You try to concentrate, to even remember what you are doing here and now, but it all slips in and out of your mind and hands.

White puffy clouds billow around you, move you, lift you up and let you drop. From time to time, you see each other, somehow, you are connected, even when you can't see the others, it is joint adventure, as so many have been.

Some dreams are stronger than others.  You awake and it takes minutes to realize they weren't real, this one is ten times that, real, but a dream.

You feel elated for awhile, then very sick to your stomach, dizzy and hot, and itchy, then sudden relief.

No longer floating, but solid, the ground below your feet is soft and spongy, like a mushroom, the air around is like clouds but thick with tiny strands of many colors, like spun sugar, or cotton candy, or webs, it even tastes of candy, and many flavors if you try it.

Standing within the narrow vision of the clouds, is a....

large street dog,  a golden lion,  a tiny dragon,  a swan,  a giant owl, and a dolphin.

ooc: welcome to Dream

PMs

The big dog circled anxiously, taking in all the smells and being overwhelmed by them until he managed to sort them out. After snarling and letting loose a loud bark just to test his voice, he moved a short distance from the group and lifted a leg for a long, long time. He sniffed whatever he just saturated, let out another "Rooooof!" and rejoined the group.

"Just to be clear," the dog said, "I never had this dream. I don't know where this came from." He grunted and looked over the others. "You look regal, Musfara. And you ... uh, you smell real pretty, Folke."

The golden furred lion rose to it's haunches and padded forward,getting a feel  for the unaccustomed power in it's limbs. It turned great amber eyes to the others, then let loose a long yawn, exposing an impressive set of teeth.

Then it roared, a great rolling sound echoing from some immensely distant savanna - a sound of the king of beasts announcing his presence.

After a long moment as the echoes died away Saliq finally spoke. "Well... I did not expect this. I think it will take a while to get used to. Are the rest of you okay? Rath I know your voice and I think I can guess Little Wing, but who is who?"
This message was last edited by the player at 13:32, Wed 05 Sept 2018.

This message was deleted by the player at 17:20, Wed 05 Sept 2018.

The owl unfurled its wings and tested them, bringing them up and down experimentally, and without sufficient force to allow the bird to take flight.

Marissa opens her mouth in an ever present grin. Soft clicks and squeals break her silence, then she dives below the spongy surface going deep, deeper deepest before breaching the surface in a great leap.

"I rejoice," she cries out in a language all of you understand. "Come fly with my, Little Sister and feel my joy!"

The swan that was Folke spread its wings wide and took a few quick steps toward the dog, letting loose a furious honk at Rath's comment. The volume of which somewhat mollified the skald, and he settled down and preened a few feathers along his wing until it looked neat.

"This is not what I had in mind either," he said through his orange bill, tilting his head sideways to get a good look at the others.  "Although, I look rather pretty too, I suppose."

After a moment, Folke tried a bit of flying, waddling a few steps to get rolling and then leaping aloft with powerful strokes of his broad wings.  In the air he soared gracefully though without much speed, his bulk preventing any rapid twists or turns.  As he came back to the cloud for a landing he settled into the frothy surface much like a pond, not alighting so much as coasting to a stop across its surface.

"This will clearly take some getting used to.  I'd best not be a swan maiden, either!"


OOC:

I chose a white bird from the character pics as the closest thing I could find.  Not a swan, but you get the idea.

As each person speaks for the first time, they find they still have a small coin in their mouths, and the necklace with the box on it is still where it was as well.


As MarissaDolphin takes off, first swimming, then flying, the idea that this is a dream plane is made clear, for dolphins can't fly, can they?   Her squeaks send ripples of color echoing out through the strange mists.

Astral Squeals herself with a joyous laugh as she flies after the dolphin.  When they return Astral puffs herself up and roars, and a tiny electric flame issues forth.

In a flash, the mist flashes to fire, like silken webs, burning away in all directions, everyone is mildly singed (1hp each), and almost immediately, wisps of mist rise from the ground to replace those missing and soon the landscape is as before.  Save a few burnt feathers, hairs, and whatnot.

However, in the moment it was burned away, the group could see a landscape that went on forever, in rolling mounds of white, like an endless snowy landscape.  With two exception.  In one direction,a darkness lied, perhaps a change in landscape or large area of water.  In another direction, there were spires, at least five of them, and from the distance, they must have been quite large.
This message was last edited by the GM at 00:40, Fri 07 Sept 2018.

Saliq gave a roar of pain at the singing of his mane and swung his tail in agitation. "Be careful Little Wing, it seems we have much to learn about this place. Now, let me try and make you a cat."

The leonine illusionist pads around the tiny dragon studying her from all angles as he thinks his way carefully through the magic he'll need to use.an he even cast spells in this form?

The owl spreads its wings wide, and holds them in place.

For her part, as Saliq works on Astral's form, Marissa tries to find others that might suit her: first a giant manta ray, after that a great white shark and following that an octopus...just to see if she can.

Rath loped over toward Inas-Owl and Folke-Swan. "Did you see the spires? I'm thinking that's the dream city we're supposed to go to." The dog looked in that general direction. "Here, though, I'm not sure it matters so much what direction we go in."

Saliq concentrates carefully on Astral, trying to conjure up the image of a tabby cat in place of the glittering dragon. None of his spells are really meant to accomplish such things but the lion hopes that perhaps here in this strange place they will work.

---

OOC: Saliq casts Spectral Force 'on' Astral.

01:31, Today: Saliq Musfara rolled 23 using 1d100.  Magic!

Marissa managed to change to a manta ray and even a shark, but finds it is exhausting to make those changes and quickly springs back to the shape of a dolphin.

Astral looks rather sorrowful for burning up the dream world, but is delighted when Saliq turns her into a cat.  She immediately leaps around, purrs, and then hisses, all in the name of fun.  For Saliq's part, he feels his spell went awry but still worked somehow.  It is puzzling but the results are good.

After some practice, the party all finds they can alter their own shapes with a great effort of will and concentration, but it is very tiring to do so and even to maintain the new shape, springing back to their dream given form is much easier.

"The city sounds good to me," Folke answered Rath, nodding with a sinuous bobbing of his long neck.  "Once we're all finished cavorting around," he amended, as Astral played at being the cat, missing only a ball of yarn to complete the effort.

"I wonder what other beings we might meet, and whether they will all be as fantastically whimsical as we are.  Or whether others control their form differently.  I would hate to reach the city and be a handful of animals amongst a city of humanoids."

"We should take extra care until we understand what we are getting into."

When the swan looks back down, the cat is playing with a ball of yarn.

On a whim, Rath tried to think the yarn into a mouse.

"Who knows how long it will take to get there. Maybe we'll have time to get used to this place." The dog looked to the lion for direction. He circled wide from the group, took another piss, and then rejoined the others, ready to head for the distant spires.

Marissa took point, leaving Astral in Saliq's capable care to scout ahead. At consistent intervals, she retreats to give a status report to the group (perhaps 15 minutes but no more). The effort is two fold: Safety first and getting used to her new form second.

The owl flies along, testing its ability to fly as well as its other "owlish" qualities.

But it makes no noise.  Apparently, Inas is not inclined to "hoot."

A very wise owl indeed...

The strange group of animals makes their way, well, in a direction they think heads towards the spires they glimpsed.  The rolling hills give way to flatter ground and the fog thickens to a point the group must stay very close together not to get lost.  Sounds do no even carry in it.  After what seems an hour or two of travelling in that manner, the fog thins again, although you can only see a few hundred feet, the landscape before you is dramatically different.  Thousands of strange trees of varying size create a dazzling forest before you.  The trunks vary from a few feet wide, to almost 20 feet thick, some are no taller than the height of a tabbie cat, others rise so high you cannot see the top, and they are made of everything, all colors and textures, furry tree trunks, purple bark, cold silver, orange leather.  Stranger yet, they have no leaves or limbs, at the top of each tree, is a silver shimmering blob that moves like a bubble.  In fact, is a bubble, for as you watch, some lift off from the tree and float upward joining hundreds of other such bubbles already floating there.   Looking carefully at any of these shimmering surfaces, you can see movement within, all manner of people, places, and events can be barely glimpsed.

Rath frowned at the bubbles (as much as a dog could frown). "Other people's dreams?"

"Quite possibly," Saliq answered, turning a large golden age towards Rath. In as much as it was possible the lion grinned. "I know we've had some strange adventures, but this is wondrous is it not my friend?"

Rath woofed agreement. "Yep, wondrous. It's weird and nothing's trying to kill us at the moment." If a dog could smirk, this one was. "So, yeah, just weird is more wondrous than weird and violent."

He sniffed at the swan, by instinct, before pulling away. "What's the plan here? We go to the city? Ask around after the Witch?" Rath was a bit out of his depth in this place.

At Rath's mentioning of the "witch", a small patch of the mist ahead of you tightens and darkens in the shape of a spider, the size of a tiger.  It immediately turns and scurries with great speed back through the forest.

With a roar Saliq pounces after the spider, jaws agape, paws pounding through the most as great muscles sprang into life beneath golden fur.

Rath winced at his blunder and, paws scrambling, took off after Saliq and the spider-thing. He put his will into dream-running ... putting great effort into trying to move effortlessly, like the wind, though the dream-scape. He hoped it didn't turn into one of those dream-slogs where running was practically impossible.

The owl also tears through the sky in pursuit of the spider, talons outstretched for the grab

Somewhat distracted by the dog's curious sniffer, Folke was scuttling away when all of a sudden the chase was on!  Caught web-footed, he strove to flap his wings as fast as he could to catch back up with the rest.  If the spider was an informant they had to stop it.  He wasn't sure how, although he knew swans had a rather nasty peck with their bill, but he was sure they'd figure something out.

The strange dream-bubble forest makes it a challenge to run through without touching any of the bubbles, as they continually pop up in strange places and wiggle back and forth before floating up and away.  Those in the air cause their own grief to avoid for those flying.  But in a few minutes, the barking, growling, honking, chirping, meowing, and silent crew of animals has overtaken the spider, and quickly tear back into the cloud-stuff it was made of.

Still having a general idea of the direction you saw the spirals, the odd group moves off, taking its time to avoid contact by the bubbles, but often mesmerized by what they see reflected in liquid silver surfaces.

At one point, dark clouds fill the sky, coming from nowhere, and there is deep rumbling, lightning and the mist around the group grows black and sticky, but in just a few minutes, the strange storm moves off.  Like as not, a nightmare of some kind.  A couple of times, high above, the streaking forms a dragons can be seen, gliding across the land, high above the bubbles.

Occasionally, you see little creatures, more insect like than animal, that scurry along, up and down the trees, seeming to actually drink from the bubbles.

With the travel, and now chase, you feel like you've been in the dream plane now for four or six hours, and are getting both thirsty and hungry.   You might be part dream, but you are part real as well, not knitted together merely from mists and imaginings. It isn't bad yet, but you begin to notice it.  For the prey amongst you, you begin to barely notice that the others smell, well, a bit tasty.

Continuing in the direction you believe correct through the odd forest, your enhanced senses pick up sounds and smells ahead.  Fear, blood, fast movement.  Even as you process this, four rabbits, large as horses, two white, a blue, and an orange one come dashing past you, the orange one has a copper spear in its side.

In their wake, four giant slugs are moving quickly along the ground, and riding them, are at least eight fey warriors, like man sized pixies with green skin, and carrying spears.

It is unclear if they have noticed you.

Marissa pauses in the chase, tries to halt the others with a word.

"I would not assume them allies," she observes quietly to the others. "For all this may seem presumptuous, I've yet to meet a being with green skin who was friendly."

The owl lands on the lion's broad back and cleans its wing with its beak.
This message was last edited by the player at 15:17, Thu 20 Sept 2018.

From a distance, Rath sniffed the air. "And given our current state, I wouldn't assume those rabbits are rabbits. Which means we probably shouldn't eat them." That last comment held a trace of disappointment.

He growled. "I don't like this place. I don't know what to do."

Saliq tried to turn his head to look at the owl but quickly gave up due to basic body mechanics.

"I agree we should be careful but we will have to eat something," Saliq growled. "Anyway I think we should introduce ourselves without giving too much away. We'll have to interact with the locals some time."

"Right," Rath nodded. "You're the lion. I think you should do the talking. I'll smell them to see if they're afraid of you." He smirked. "I can smell fear, you know."

As the group discusses what to do, one of the slugs notices the odd group, and after a twitch of its antennae, the rest notice too.   Slowly and smoothly, they slugs glide over to within twenty feet of the group, and stop there.

The swan stayed somewhat behind his larger companions, nervously settling and resettling his wings as the slugs approached.  Like Rath, Folke didn't know what to do here and while learning was always a great adventure there was a purpose to their visit that should not be delayed.  He feared to make a serious mistake that would end their quest abruptly, all because he didn't know how to act.

So for the moment he let Saliq the Lion take the lead.

Saliq gave a leonine yawn and padded forward, before sitting down on his haunches and giving the slugs and their rivals a majestic stare. "Greetings fellow travelers. What land is this?"

Rath followed Saliq, staying several paces behind him and on his left flank. When the lion sat, the enormous dog did not. He stayed vigilant, watching the slug-riders and, perhaps more insightfully, sniffing at the breeze.

One of the green skinned creatures, speaks, "Um, Clerry, I think they are real...", there is a buzzing of words from the others all seeming to agree."

"Odd, the Blue Lady don't let no one but us hunt here in her woods,  you,  Lion, what are you doing in the Lady's forest, you got permission to be in here?"

Marissa looks on without saying a word.

The owl strikes a regal pose and watches intently from his perch atop the Lion.

"We're not hunting," Rath muttered. "And we're as real as you are, for whatever that's worth." He then clamped his mouth closed and looked up at Saliq with apologetic puppy eyes. "Sorry. You do the talking. You're the lion, right? Damn, I can't seem to stop talking. Wouldn't think a dog would have that problem. Oh, for Pelor's sake. Anybody got a muzzle?"

Saliq gave a long, leonine yawn, before fixing his golden eyes on the greenskinned types. 'As the hound said we are not hunting. At least, not yet.'

He grinned at the slug rider. 'We are however lost, and a little help would be most appreciated.'

The one called Cleery responds,

"Real, well that is interesting.  You are trespassing, lucky for you, the Blue Lady doesn't pay us to hunt real creatures, just ones that escape the dreams.  Dari, see if you can find those hares, we need to put them to sleep before they cause trouble."


"If you are going to the city, you need to seek our the court of the Blue Lady and ask for her forgiveness.  I'm serious, they can be very formal about certain things."


"You are headed in the right direction, you'll reach the dream sea in a few hours, beyond this forest is a land of stones, that's a dangerous area, stay alert, but the sea is easy is you can afford a ferry.

"What is the process of a ferry?" the owl inquires.

Rath found himself salivating, and his stomach growled. He realized that in the real world, he could conjure a feast, and he wondered it that would work here as well. After leaving the slug-riders, he hoped he would remember to try the spell.

Marissa's interested in moving on from these folk. The thought of a sea voyage of some sort seems appealing to her current nature. She does take a moment to seek out the orange feline to make sure she's alright. Communicating in her current form is difficult - all clicks and trills - so she remains silent.

The one green skinned person says, "Got 'em, they are about 300 yards over that way, huddled behind a tree, they think they've shaken us".

Oddly, he never moved so how he knows that is another oddity of this place.

Cleery nods, "Gotta go, just pay the ferry man, they all go to the city port no matter they claim, and pick an honest one...".

With that, the slugs move off silently in the direction the dream hares are hiding.  In moments, they are lost from sight.

"Might was well eat before we tackle those stone lands." Rath paused, sat on his haunches, and tried to figure out how his divine powers might be focused through this dog-form. He tried to put that aside and find the core of faith and doubt that always made itself evident when he cast these spells. Pelor's light was certainly far from this dreamland, so he sought aid from Avandra. Would Lady Luck at least feed them?

OOC: cast create food and water, if possible.

07:28, Today: Aldo Rathmus rolled 13 using 1d100.  rolling for spell casting in dream lands.

Rath-dog prays and a feast comes forth.  A little odd but not scurrying mice, exactly.  Plates of raw meat, raw fish, bowls of fresh water, seeds and vegetables.  Strange, but oddly tasty given your altered forms.

Saliq paws his platter of (very) raw cutlet for a moment before beginning to chew. In deference to the squeamishness of the less predatory members of the group he pushes his chosen plate a short distance away so they don't have to watch a large lion cheerfully eat.

Having devoured his fill he returns and laps at one of the water bowls.

The owl finds a small carcass and devours it.

Happy enough with the results of the spell, assuming the foods were more substantial than mere dreams, Rath scarfed down his food eagerly. Compared to what he had seen feral dogs eating in the streets of Stormhaven ... well, this was a royal meal.

He was ready to move, wondering idly what dangers there were in the stone lands ahead. On a whim, he tried to raise his hackles (whatever that meant) and tested his will — concentrating to conjure a spiked collar and maybe glowing red eyes to make himself look more fierce.

After a quick meal the odd assortment of creatures heads on through the dream forest, doing their best to avoid bumping into any of the bubbles.   It is slow going as the bubbles are everywhere and unpredictable.    After a time though, the trees begin to get smaller and further apart.  The land begins to be hilly, and covered with a vast array of plant-life, and insects.   The plants themselves come in a host of sizes and shapes, and all of them move.   Some actually squeal if you step on them, others jump, leap, or slither out of your path.  The insects buzz and fly about, creating an annoying mash of noise and make vision limited.   They are quick though and never try to bite or land on anyone.    It is a dizzying landscape, both beautiful in its strangeness and also off putting in its alien and confusing tapestry.  After far too much of that landscape passes, the party realizes with some relief that the insects have thinned, as have the plant-life.   Even as the relief settles over the group, you realize that you have actually passed into a field of large stones with paths that lead between them.

Rath sniffed things out in advance of the party, checking for odors that might give some clues about what lurks in the area.

[Are the rocks large enough to block the field of vision, or is it just ground-level rocky terrain? If the rocks are large, maybe Inas or Folke could fly over them to guide us through the paths?]

Marissa has difficulty justifying 'swimming' through a rock field to herself. It takes several missteps (is a misstep a thing when swimming?) before she finds a relative comfort zone. Once she does, however, she swims in dance-like fashion reveling in the grace and sleek beauty of her new form.

"This is fun!" she said in a series of clicks and squeaks. "I don't think I've ever felt so free. Astral, it seems to me this is much like flying. I envy you that joy, child."

The owl takes flight at the edge of the stone field to get a "birds-eye" view without entering it.

Belly full of the vegetables Rath had provided, Folke alternately waddled and glided along with the group as they made their way past the dream bubbles, through the sentient plant field filled with weird insects and finally came upon the stone field one of the slug riders had mentioned.  As the group tried to divine its nature Folke took off with e running start and joined Inas in the air to survey what lay ahead.  Like the owl, he stayed short of the imagined vertical boundary of the stones, using the advantage of height to suffice.

What the owl and swan see from high in the air is a gigantic circle of stone rising from the mists of the dreamworld.  They form a great cauldron of sorts, and within it lies a great ocean with water that ripples in a million colors, so dazzling it looks almost like lightning arcing across the surface of the water.  Far out in the center is a floating city, three great spires rise for a thousand feet from the ocean, one red, one blue, and one green. A jumble of multicolored buildings and tents fill in the space between these towers.

"Magnificent," Saliq growls when he hears the description of the land (and sea) beyond. "I wonder if it is too wide for us to cross under our own power. I could become a gryphon - or a sealion!"

"Seems like I could swim the sea," Marissa said. "I wonder if sharks swim in there - any indication whether it's salt water or fresh?"

“Can dogs swim?” asked Rath. “Maybe we better pay the ferryman. Or maybe we better get across this and to the water before we worry about it.”

That said, Rath took the lead and advanced among the stones, his nose busy, occasionally looking up to Owl-Inas and Swan-Folke for guidance.

The owl returns to what seems to be developing his preferred spot on the lion's back.

"Can't tell what lurks under the water, and no tellin' what those stones can do besides hold it back.  Could be safe to traverse, but I bet not.  Regardless, for these an' a lot of other reasons, I agree with the dog -- we should do what we were advised an' try to pay the ferryman."

"It seems we have little choice but to get through these stones," Saliq growled, padding forward. "Be careful friends!"

As Rath moves forward, soon followed by the rest of the herd, a similar experience is shared.  This is no dream soil, but real rock and stone.  The effect of that is not good, each party member has so far felt like themselves, just polymorphed into a strange form.  But on real soil, you begin to feel oppressed, heavy, pushed down, in fact, neither of the birds can even fly, and the dolphin must squiggle forward, and you feel more like your form than yourself.  Rath begins to feel less Rath and more dog, and it is so for each of you.  It takes great concentration to keep your mortal wits about you.  But it is only about 100 feet to the top, and then a 100 feet down to the beach.  Slogging forward, minds concentrating on each step.  The path you are following winds between huge stones that seem to crowd in on you as you move forward, eventually creating only a single way forward.  As you get near the crest, the path splits three ways between large arches of rock.  Written on the rock path before you, and it takes effort for each of you to read the words so foreign they seem:

two of the paths ahead welcome you to the dreamsea, the third goes to nightmarelake,
choose and enter one by one, the paths are different for each traveller

Left, center, or right, even with all your enhanced senses, there is no clear way to determine which are the safe paths.


ooc:  Each person pick a path and roll a d6

Saliq shook his head from side to side, trying to clear his mind. He felt so... so... but the thought ran away from him before he could find the right words.

With a leonine snarl he summoned deep reserves of willpower and pushed himself on down the left path.

---

OOC:
02:11, Today: Saliq Musfara rolled 3 using 1d6.  Ominous roll.

Rath circled and whined, indecisive, until Lion-Musfara strode forward. He couldn't get words out of his mouth. The huge dog gave the others a forlorn, almost guilty look, then approached the leftmost arch, lifted his leg against it for a long, long time, and then, with one last look back at his companions, he followed Saliq at a quick trot.



20:44, Today: Aldo Rathmus rolled 1 using 1d6. ominous roll.

Marissa spouts dry air from her blow hole, then begins to wriggle toward the left hand path.

d6 = 3

Saliq is the first through an arch, and he stands at the crest of the far side of the rocks, the view before him is breathtaking.  The sea is huge, and flickers like lightning of a hundred colors.  The great bowl of rocks that edge it reflect the water, and all about a small beach.  In the middle, floating far out to sea, a city of colors and spires.   Saliq though, being a weaver of illusions, is struck by something.  This is no ordinary sea, but the basic stuff of dreams.  Looking up, he sees thousands of thousands of the dream bubbles rising and heading out over the sea. And he understands that when the dreams are done, they will dissolve and rain down into the sea, to be absorbed and reborn as new dreams.  How many dream forests there must be, and other lands that produce the dream bubbles in other ways, it is strange and wonderful to imagine.  Moments later, Rath, and Marissa move through to join Saliq.  Not long after, all the rest step through.   There are several paths down to the dream sea, on a rock nearby is another message, "Nightmares are Dreams, welcome brave travelers to the Dream"

Saliq reluctantly drew his eyes from the aweinspiring sight of the dream sea and scanned the beach for a sign of the ferryman and his both.

Rath half-coughed, half-barked. He looked to his companions. "I thought everybody got their own path. Gotta say, I'm glad we're together." He cocked his head and sniffed. "You are real, right?"

The owl tests its wings to make sure it still has its bearings.

Once everyone has moved the far side of the hill, and begins to make the way down to the beach, your minds begin to be clear and you feel light and airy again.  The fliers can fly, the swimmers swim.  You clear the rocks without encountering any of the potential dangers that you were warned of.

As you approach the beach, you can see at intervals of about 100 yards, there are wooden posts driven into the sand near the multicolored water.  Each post has wooden hammer hanging from it by a cord.

Having no hands presents certain issues for Marissa as she considers the conundrum of the hammers.

Saliq appears to be staring off over the 'water' at a spot in the distance, to the right of the city. "Something curious about that spot... and yes I know everything here is strange but there is a spot out there that feels off somehow."

"I smell her," Rath growled. "The Witch. The scent -- carried on the wind."

OOC: Clarification on the posts, please. Do they line the path that we're taking to get to the sea, or are they lined up on beach parallel to the water's edge?

In reply to Aldo Rathmus (msg # 166):

ooc: The posts line the edges of the sea, they seem to go all the way around or at least as far as you can see.

The owl takes to the air . . .

OOC: Looking for any sign of the ferryman.

Flying above the Dreamsea is a feeling of wild rush and freedom.  The sea has swells and waves like real water and creates the same kind of air movement above it, allowing an owl to soar on an updraft to great heights with little effort.  For above, the miasma of colors actual paint pictures, as if it was one giant dream bubble, perhaps the place where gods and great dragons dream.  Inas sees no vessels on the sea at all, but looking over where Saliq the Lion was staring, his sharp owl eyes do confirm some small area on the sea that seems stagnant, and less vibrant.

The owl returns and reports its findings.

"I wonder if the posts and hammers are a means of summoning the ferryman?  Maybe we strike the post with the hammer, and the ferryman comes to meet you?  Because they seem to ring the water, that would provide  a way for travelers to traverse the sea regardless of the direction they come from."

Rath loped forward, approaching the nearest post and snuffling around it. He eyed the hammer and looked at his own paws. With an exertion of will, Rath tried to bend his form, to rise up on two shaggy legs and develop some hands somehow.

[OOC: just trying to change dream-forms. Not yet certain I want to hammer the post even if I manage to get some opposable thumbs.]

Moments later, what looks like a werewolf is standing next to the pole, or at least, a weredog.

Rath looked back at the others and raised his eyebrows -- a familiar smirk on an unfamiliar face. "Shall I summon a ride?"

"I'd say yes."

Saliq smiles, displaying a formidable set of teeth. "Yes, let's try it."

The were-dog grabbed the hammer and without ceremony slammed it into the wooden post.

Marissa grows weary of her limited range of motion. "Let's get on with this," she clicks and whistles.

There is a dull clack when the hammer hits the wood, but just below the post, all the animals can feel a strong vibration under the ground.   In mere minutes the dream sea begins to boil right off shore from where you stand, and at first, a white bubble begins to rise off shore, and then two antennae rise up closer in.  In breathtaking speed, a huge snail rises up and crawls upon the shore, it must be 80 feet in total length.  Even as it stop moving near the post, a door on the side of the shell pups open and a small women, looking like a distant race relation to a gnome, lowers a rope ladder and climbs down.

"My my, what an assortment, going to the city....of course you are, where else would be going, the blur..." she laughs an ugly cackle at that strange comment.  "What kinda payment are you offering? I'm Laring by and by, just call me Laring"

The great swan raises its impressive wings as it waddles forward.

"Captain Mistress Laring, I am Folke Vanirhalvt, Skald of the North, I have only a song or poem, and this to offer as payment".

The bird plucks forth a strange coin, from the depth of its downy feathers, and drops it at her feet.

Rath threw Saliq a look at the mention of "the blur." His hackles rose a little.

Otherwise, he waited to hear this strange creature's reaction to Folke's offer.

Laring takes the coin, looks it over, smells it, and then holds it up for the snail to look at.  One of its long tentacles lowers and hovers above her hand for a moment, and returns far above.

"Ha!  Travellers, and wealthy travellers no less.  I was just telling Rocket here that our luck was going to change soon, and sure enough...well, this will pay for a group to the city of Dreams alright.  If you don't mind my sayin', and its no offense, but you look like your new to Dream.  If I'm wrong, I'm wrong and I apologize for my boldness.  But if its true, you might want to try on something closer to myself for size.  More comfortable once you are aboard, I assure you!   You can even be me if you want, won't charge for it but watch out for the boys! Or at least something smallish, with hands and feet that can climb a ladder.  If you prefer animals, maybe a monkey.  Although touching the sea here is nearly always fatal for most creatures, when you are this close to it, its easy to change forms. "

By the time she finishes speaking, Astral has already changed into a small monkey, although one still with tabby cat fur, and has scampered up on top of the wooden pole and is trying to get the snails attention.

Marissa quickly follows Astral's lead, as well as her form, turning herself into a monkey and tooling off after the baby dragon.

Marissa finds it very easy to change into a monkey, and the new form is amazing, the new senses, ability to jump, dexterity, and a TAIL,  It is amazing.  She and Astral jump around and play like, well, happy monkeys.

The owl cocks its head to one side contemplating the changes.  It then attempts to change into a smallish (but proportional) monkey, albeit one that looks different from the others (so they can be distinguished).


And it must have a prehensile tail!

For his part, Rath tossed aside the monkey recommendation. With a little effort, he morphed his dream-form into a smaller werewolf -- or at least what he imagined a kobold might look like if it were afflicted with lycanthropy. After a moment's thought, he gave himself bat wings. (If he slipped down toward the deadly fluid of the dream sea, he'd want wings to carry him over the surface.)

He hissed at Folke and Saliq, to indicate that they should go first and that Rath would follow, the last to enter the snail. He sniffed the air suspiciously and, in a rare display of diplomacy, refrained from pissing on the snail.

As everyone finds a smaller form and makes their way up the rope ladder and INTO the snail shell, Laring waits and follows last, even after Rath, ships rules, well, snails rules.

Inside you find a wooden stair case leading up from the doorway to wide flat platform with many chairs.   They are arranged in rows and there are about 20 of them, but they are not attached and can moved around.  The greater bit of the inside of the shell is hollow, unlike a true snail and it is pretty dark, even with the door letting in light.

"Find a seat and sit tight till we get underway, it'll be really dark until we are fully submerged, then you are in for a show, well worth the cost of the ride for certain.  Rocket here is as slow and smooth as they come, so no worries about that."

Shutting the door leaves the space in near pitch blackness.

"So, if you aren't from here, and you have any questions, I'll do my best to answer them.  I haven't had an outsider in a long time, is it really as scary as it sounds on the prime planes?"

You never feel any movement but after awhile, the shell begins to glow, and then it seems to go clear, the great dream-sea is revealed all around you.  In it, images of great beings move about, some fighting, some working at anvils, great beasts swims past, several appear to be great dragons.

Saliq took a long moment considering what he'd turn himself into. He was not particularly fond of monkeys, though he conceeded the shapes usefulness. eventually the illusionist decided on becoming a Golden lion tamarin. At least he could retain something like his colouring!

He took a moment to adjust inside the shell, both to the strangeness of his new form and the strangeness of his surroundings. Trying to avoid the instinct to join in Marissa and Astral's play he focus on Laring.

"The prime planes aren't scary... well, I suppose having grown up on them we don't find them scary. The laws of reality are different. Most of us are stuck with the one shape throughout our lives."

Laring stares at Saliq a moment or two,  "Hmmmm....I don't know, you are too good that shapechanging thing,  you might be from Prime but, I think you've been here before, you seem more Dream than the rest.  Oh well, keep your secrets, we're being paid for a trip.  I think it sounds so scary, cause its so real.  Most of what happens here on any given day just washes down to the sea and starts all over the next day in a whole new way"

"Can be scary," Rath admitted (or confessed). He was looking at his hairy, clawed hands. "You do something ... there's no take backs. There's nothing that washes away. No sea where we come from."

He looked up at their ferry-master. "What do you mean, most of what happens? What sticks? What's real here?"

Laring nods at Rath, "Yes, yes, that's what i've heard, it is all real, no...take backs as you say.  Here, its almost all take backs, that has its own issues if you think about it. But, for you outsiders, um, it'll be different.   We have a few things we can't do, touch the sea, go beyond the rocks without protection and permission, visit the Blur, other than that, little...um, sticks as you say."

As there's no longer an issue that they "aren't from around here," one of the monkeys asks:

"What is this 'blur' that we should avoid?"
This message was last edited by the player at 17:56, Thu 25 Oct 2018.

"Never been there myself, of course, if I had been, I'd be dead now, or worse.  Never seen it up close but Rocket here is much older than me and has told me tales.  Used to be called the black rocks, or black gate. Only been around for about half a century or so, in Prime years, rose right up out the sea.  Course, some were curious and went to check it out, none of them ever came back.  After several attempts failed, the 3 Ladies forbid all citizens of Dream to ever step foot on it again.  But it just sat there, being ugly and marring the view, so they created a fog to cover it up, fog from the sea so it makes it hard to see from a distance, almost blends in, just a Blur, which is what we all call it nowadays."

Saliq had been lost in thought ever since Laring mentioned he seemed 'more Dream' than the others. Now the small golden-topaz coloured tamarin looked up again.

"The 3 Ladies?"

“Yes they rule the city, each of a tower, blue and green and red “

"Seems a good place to hide, this blur," Marissa chirps in monkey tongue. "I'm interested in seeing these towers as well. Tell us about the three ladies, Captain Laring."

"Well, I would've sworn everyone had heard of the ladies, they have ruled in Dream for time out of memory.  Immortals certainly, maybe goddesses, maybe just elementals but they wield enormous sway with everyone, even the gods. People rares see them, let alone ever meet one of them, but the city is interesting enough."

"Interesting but dangerous I suppose?" Saliq said, resting on his paws and idly moving his long tail.

"Sure, I guess, no more dangerous the average big city, just different.  Most the dream beings can't actually die here, they just die, and are reborne the next dream cycle.  Makes them fearless, even reckless.  Whereas for yourselves, I don't know, it'l be at the very least a one way ticket home, and maybe dead for real. "

Having switched from a white swan to white monkey, Folke is making patterns in the air with his tail, Saliq recognized them are arcane symbols as the Bard wonders if having a tail might aid in spell casting.

"Captain Laring, you said it was forbidden for citizens of Dream to go to the Blur, does that injunction apply to travelers such as ourselves as well?"

"Have there been many from the prime planes to visit?  Anyone . . . notable?"

The captain things for a moment, "Everyone who dreams visits us, but if you mean in the, uh, flesh so to speak, not very often.  Mostly just those passing through to get somewhere else.  All the great dragons, a few powerful wizards, the occasional god or demi-god, and few intrepid adventurers.  Mostly its just folks who end up here by accident, cursed item, or fall out of their dream.....I know, that sounds odds, but it happens more than you'd think.  We have whole crews devoted to either killing them off if they are dreamstuff creatures, or put them back if they aren't. "

There are couple of deep rumbles in the floor and walls, so low it nearly hurts your ears.

"Rocket says it is not forbidden for citizens not of Dream to go to the Blur, but you'd have to pay him quadruple to risk going there".

Meanwhile, the smallest monkey is running all over the place, leaping from chair to chair, hanging by her tail, climbing on heads and even the walls where Astral can get an handhold.  Generally having the time of her life.

The little kobold werewolf padded over to the lion-maned monkey. "Check in with the three dream queens first? Figure we need to learn more about this blur before taking on the Mo ... the, er, you know."

Saliq nodded his head in a gesture of simian agreement. "Yes. It sounds even more dangerous than the usual business we get mixed up in."

Rath turned toward Laring. "Risk, you said. What's the risk to the snail?"

"Big as Rocket is, and old too, he's still a creature of Dream, and the black rock is one of the few places a dream creature can fear true death.  There is always risk going to dark places.  Not to mention, if he takes you there and you die, well, it could hurt his reputation if word got around."

One monkey looks perturbed. "The one we seek an audience with; I would have thought that one to have been relatively new to the area . . . "

“I too think our path is revealed,  we waste our time and talents in this
Odd place.  We were not all agreed to this task but came to seek an evil
Let us go to it and face it ‘

Captain Laring looks around at those assembled, sensing a split in the decision of where to go.

"About the city of Dreams.  Off-worlders get into trouble in one usual way.  They bring with them their own sense of morality.  Please understand, the city is basically a giant market, it feeds the dream world, and the dreamweavers.  Not everyone has nice pretty little dreams, some are bizarre, some of pure evil, some are nightmares, sure their are plenty of flowers, bubbles, bunnies, flying, but what you see in the City, well, its all for the dream market.  Don't go trying to be heroes and save anybody, there is no one to save, no reason to do so.  The dream makers need the raw materials for each nights dreams, and that is where it comes from. Sorry, don't want to be a preacher, just trying to impart a bit of my limited wisdom".


ooc: seems a split on where to go, I'll wait a little to move forward.

The monkey-that-was-once-an-owl looks at the tamarin with quiet contemplation. "It's your show, Saliq.  What do you think?"

A quizzical smirk crossed Rath's face, as a stray thought crossed his mind. He left it unspoken. He could appreciate Inas' desire for the direct approach. This place was disconcerting, and the less time spent in Dream the better. But Rath was wary. The Morde Witch was a power here, and perhaps not one best tackled without a plan. He shook his little were-wolf head. Must be getting old.

Saliq looks thoughtful (for a tamarin). "I think I agree with Rath. We need to know more before we go somewhere so deadly. I think we should go to the city first."

He glanced thoughtfully at Captain Laring: "How do they make dreams?"

Laring tries to explain to Saliq that the dreamweavers are much like mages from the prime world, what they do and how they do it is unique to their class, and takes a lifetime of apprenticeship to learn.  They are considered elite amongst the citizens of Dream and have positions of power and authority just below that of the three Ladies.

The travel under the Dream Sea is beautiful, seeing the colors and images through Rockets shell, and is as smooth as if you are not moving at all.  But after seeming little time at all, the shell goes dark and you do feel that you are heading up.  Moments later, Laring is up and opening the “door” in the shell.

You are docked at the base of the great city, a jumble of buildings in a hundred colors, many are conical or look like crooked mushrooms, the three great towers dominate the larger skyline, but the mass of stalls, an endless marketplace for any creature and any object within the imagination stretches out before you.  Creatures you’ve never seen, along with others you’ve heard about, and many commonplace are scurrying everywhere.  Some large at titans, other tiny as gnats.

“Welcome to the City, if you need a ride back, just call out Rocket and tap the post and he’ll hear you.”

ooc:  The City of Dream is as advertised, amazing, bewildering and even frightening in places.  If you have something specific you wish to accomplish here, please PM me,  if you want to enjoy a bit of freelance writing of an experience in the City, please do so, you can literally find or do just about anything here whether any of it is real in the sense you consider it, that’s up to debate.   I am going to assume you wish an audience with the Blue Lady, since you came through her realm to get here, and I’ll move in that direction unless I hear otherwise. 

The city of Dream is both as strange as you might imagine, and vaguely, like every large city you ever visited.  The Blue Tower, being a destination, helps.  Otherwise, it would be easy to become lost, in more than one way.

The group of heroes from Stormhaven have been tested, seriously tested, they have seen both wonderful and terrible.  It is good they have for a person without such experiences would likely find themselves in deep, deep trouble here.

The party moves through districts, areas selling exotic foods, exotic goods, exotic sex, slave districts, weapons districts, equal parts both good and dark evil, enough to turn to the stomach of anyone, but also, lovely enough to tempt nearly anyone.

Time and again, you see people you think you know, mothers, brothers, sisters, fathers, lovers, twice Rath could swear he sees The Mistress following the group, Astral almost takes off seeing her lost father, Folke sees his old friends going into a bar then realizes they are far too young and some known to be dead, Saliq sees the teacher who first taught him about magic, also long dead, and Inas sees himself three times, himself, doing things he would never do.  It is hard to ignore and becomes an effort in just focusing on the next step forward, about NOT reacting to what is around.

As the party moves through a particularly dark area, there is a huddle of slaves being driven into pens, and there amongst them, is Ben Scritos' mom and children.  It is too much and the party moves to act, when a small dark, short figure steps between them and the slaves.

"Ya' took yer sweet time a'coming ere, mah old friends.  Dannaught worry 'bout them, they be but illusions, if yeh come to see the Blue Lady, follow meh". \

It is Norion the Dwarf, but likely not really him, none the less, following him, in a matter of minutes, you stand before the Blue Tower.  He nods to the doorman, who opens the door and allows you enter.

"Don't go haring off toward illusion, dear," Marissa scolds the young dragon, though her heart beats furiously in her own chest at some of the images she's seen.

It is with some relief that she follows after the dwarf who might not be a dwarf into the tower of the Blue Lady.

As they entered the City of Dream Saliq had shaken off his fur and stood up, growing in size to reach his normal appearance. This was the strangest city he had ever seen but it was a city still and he'd walk these streets like a man.

'I suspect illusions have more substance to them here than they do in our world,' Saliq replied, looking at Norion wistfully. He lingered a moment, his eyes on Ben's family then began whispering a few words of magic.

Within moments a wraithlike duplicate of Saliq begins to form. When it becomes solid the real Saliq says to him: 'I'm not sure how long you'll remain... well... you but try and rescue them.' He pointed at Ben's mother and sisters, then turned and followed Norion:

---

OOC: Saliq casts Shadow Monsters.

Marissa copies Saliq's effort, if not his exact methodology, and tries to become...herself again.

Having disembarked from the snail, Rath shed his tiny were-wolf form and took the form of a man. Not quite himself -- in this state, he was unsure that what he thought he should look like was what he actually looked like to others, and in truth more than a little concerned what he would show should he make himself appear to others as he appeared to himself. So he took dream-features ... the weird, hazy face and form that one could barely remember after looking away, as in a dream. Occasionally he carried a shield and sword. Whether he was tall and lean or short and thick, bare or hairy, armored or clothed ... well, all that was in the eye of the beholder. Or, in this case, the dreamer.

It was only at bright, sharp moments during the fraught and wonderful journey through the city that his features came into focus: a distant hateful glare, and pity, when he saw his belligerent father, pushing violently through a crowd;  a sullen, resentful stare that burned with shame and desire at the displays that brought up his lust; heart-sunk yearning, as the flash of the white-robed Mistress weaved among the denizens of Dream ... only to vanish. Vanish. She always vanished. At those times, he was both the Rath that his friends knew and the Rath that they could not have known ... until he showed them his true face, in this damned city.

"Musfara," he growled. "Are these our dreams? Or someone else's?" He closed his eyes. Had he already asked that? Had Saliq already answered? Rath was not even tired, but he wanted to sleep. What happened if one slept and dreamed in the City of Dreams?

__

And he was Rath again at the dark quarter, unhappily watching Scristos' family huddled with the slaves and throwing a sad smirk toward Norion the dwarf. "They're no more or less illusion that you are, my friend," he answered Norion's warning. Like Saliq, he could not simply walk away. He raised a pendant, the old rustic sun-shaped carving, the symbol of Pelor, and he tried to call a glint of sun to bring himself to the attention of Ben's old mother, and he mouthed a blessing: "Don't be afraid, Mother Scristos! It's a dream. You'll wake soon, in your own bed."


[OOC: casting remove fear on Ben's mom. It's not a ranged spell in the real world, but Rath tries to twist it to the dream realm, and if this figure is actually a dream of the real Mother Scristos, perhaps she'll be comforted and, in turn, better able to comfort her children.]


With that, he turned to follow Norion, discontent with the choice, to the Tower of the Blue Lady. "It's good to see you, Ironaxe. Even if it's all ... all a dream."
This message was last edited by the player at 04:25, Sun 18 Nov 2018.

Norion nods to the party, winks to Rathmus and Saliq, even as the door to the Blue tower is opened.  Entering, the door shuts behind you.

Moving inside, though the tower is huge, a part of the skyline of the City of Dream, inside, is but a single modest sized room.  Clean, white marble stone floors and pillars, several comfortable chairs and couches surrounding a center fire pit, and a largest kitchen.

In one of the chairs is an old woman, human looking, wearing a simple white robe, with white hair with perhaps a hint of blue.

Though some in the party has already taken up their REAL forms, it becomes so for all, the dream shapes you may have had, melt away and you are as you always were.

"Come, sit, what can old woman do for you today?"

"I don't know," Saliq admitted to Rath. "I have a feeling I could spend an elf's lifespan here and still not fully understand how this place truly works."

As they entered the room Saliq smiled and gave a courtly bow to the woman. "Thank you for your kindness my lady. Perhaps you know this already but we are travellers from the waking world and we seek information."

The little elderly woman looks closely at Saliq, and gives the smallest of smiles,

"Well, you haven't lost your minds or souls here, yet, and have caused little enough chaos for travelers, that all speaks well on your behalf"


"If its information you need, I don't believe you could find anyone more knowledgeable in all the land than myself.  So please, what do you come to learn".

"The Blur," Rath jumped in. "We've come to rid the Dream of it. How do we get it back to our world? Or destroy it here?"

He glanced at Saliq. Maybe that wasn't the information Saliq had in mind, but it was all that Rath cared about.

Astral, usually outgoing and first to ask questions, he been once again hiding in Marissa's hair, suddenly seeming quite shy.

When Rath blurts out his question, even the little old blue women, looks surprised.

"I have long believed that the only way to destroy the Blur is to kill the one who created it.  I believe the Blur is at least partially in your own realm, it is why creatures from Dream who have gone there have all perished, or been captured.  The lady who created it is powerful in both realms.   For safety sake, I do not advise going there under any circumstances."

"I fear we have little choice," Saliq admitted. "This lady is an enemy of ours of old."

The illusionist allowed a rueful smile. "Yet... she is not the only one who walks in two worlds. We are doing so now. You say there are those from Dream who have been captured? Is there perhaps some who may be rescued?"

Marissa remains quiet, listening to the others as she tries to soothe Astral.

The old lady smiles, "Rescued, I would wish it so, but 'tis but a wish.  As you've likely heard, the Blur is forbidden to the subjects of Dream, but I can allow someone leave enough to take you there, IF you insist on going. I can offer you little help once you pass beyond the black gate, but if you succeed, and choose to stay here, I can make all your dreams come true.  That I freely offer as a reward".

"Have you no power against the Blur's creator?"

“That’s why we’re here,” Rath muttered to Inas. “We’re the power against Her.”

"I fear your warrior friend is correct, I have almost no power against this creator.  Almost none in your world, and only the power to deny her access to our own.  She forced her little black island here, hoping to again access Dream, but it does her no good.  She sleeps, but cannot dream anymore.  That alone diminishes her powers, but it is the best i've been able to do.  I will arrange transport for you if you insist on going, and provide you with a bottle of the best liquor you will ever taste.  You should drink it on the way there, it won't help you, but no matter how altered it may make you, you will sober completely once you leave Dream, so it won't do you any harm either".

"One question though, your wish to face this dark force, did someone send you here to do this? "

"In a manner of speakin'."

"We chose to do this," Marissa interrupted. "While outside offices have some vested interest in this voyage, the fact is that we are most closely linked to these events, going back quite some time. Our success...or failure with shape our world for years to come. It would be nice if the shape was a pleasing one, as we've all had more than our fair share of the opposite."

"Very well, make your wake back to the docks, I'll have the captain that brought you here waiting to take you.  The woman you seek to destroy is physically weak, anyone of you can probably do it easily, but she is strong with Dream, and with magic.  She will have guardians of course, but her greatest weapon will be using you against yourselves.  You might want to imagine how you would try to kill your band of adventurers, for if you've dreamt it, she may well sense that, I know I would.".

Rath leaned close to Inas and muttered with a smirk, "You're not going to shoot me with an arrow again, are you?"

But, in truth, the Blue Queen advice deserved serious consideration. And despite the likelihood that the Queen had awareness of all sorts of things going on in her realm, Rath wasn't comfortable having that conversation directly in front of her. His face was clouded by dark thoughts.

He said, "Let's find a tavern. Or dream one up. We need to figure this out. And I need a drink." He looked to the others for consensus. He figured someone might have more questions for the Blue Queen, but it was clear that Rath was done here.

Rath gave voice to Inas' immediate thought just as it entered his head.  As might be expected, at that moment the dour ranger did not appear to be amused.

He nods at Rath's suggestion to hunt up a dream-tavern, but he does not take steps to leave.  Instead, he looks to Saliq; this is Saliq's domain, and Inas is not inclined to rush him if he wants to stay and pose more questions.

Saliq smiles. 'A dream tavern sounds a wonderful idea and I fully agree.' Turning to the Queen he performed an elegant bow. 'Yours is truly a wondrous realm my lady and I am sad we shall be leaving it so swiftly. My greatest thanks. Is there anything I can do for you in turn?'

The little lady walks over to Saliq saying as she does, "I am glad you find it so, to be honest, many wizards and almost all those who specialize as you do, find it disappointing in some ways.  Too much a good thing and all that.".

When she is closer still, she leans over and whispers in his ear.


It takes little time for the group upon leaving the tower to find the bar district and find a nice private table at which to talk.

Leaving the Blue Queen's tower, Rath adopted a new form, or tried to. This time, instead of dog or were-wolf, he morphed into a peg-legged pirate, stubble-faced and eye-patched, with a battered tri-corn hat and a notched scimitar at his wide, embossed leather belt. Because sometimes a pirate was the only disguise one could think of.

"Arr, matey," he growled to Marissa. "Is the dragonling doing okay? I know she didn't sign up for this weirdness."

At the tavern, Rath settled in with a strong drink and gave deep thought about how to begin planning what could barely be conceived, much less planned for. He clearly had some ideas, but they were not yet forming into words.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:49, Wed 12 Dec 2018.

When the tavern is in sight, Inas returns to his normal form.

At Rath's question about the dragonling, Inas responds: "Wierdness.  Aye, that sums it up."

He sniffs the liquid in his cup with a look of uncertainty.  "Is this even real?" he asks rhetorically, before saying something more relevant.

"I don't think we should tarry long.  Word of our arrival may spread, and with us not knowin' the rules of this place we may accidentally do somethin' that makes life difficult fer us.  Like when we accidentally triggered a horde of them creatures to attack us just by sayin' the wrong thing."

“Let’s get to it, then,” Rath said, dropping the pirate affectation but still keeping the form. He drank deep and glanced at his glass, wondering what he had just swallowed. “What the hell is this? Grog? I don’t even know what grog is.” His glass, like in a dream, remained full.

“The Dream Queen said that, uh, she-who-must-not-be-named ... “ (here Rath paused to see if that sobriquet brought down anyone’s ire) “ ... that she’d go after us by getting us to go after ourselves. So, we let her. “ He glowered, sincerely unhappy, and drank again. “I can dream up a handful of reasons someone like me would turn on you. But only one that’d convince me enough to be convincing to her.” Drank again. “And when she’s convinced ... I put my trident through her.”

Rath leaned back and dared to look at the others for a reaction.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:48, Wed 12 Dec 2018.

Once in the bar, and the conversation starts, Astral switches back into a small monkey and comes out from hiding.

"Dragons, I am learning have memories from many of their ancestors. I'm young yet, but they guide me, come in my sleep, I know more than I should.  That woman, is ancient, she knows things, things that I don't need to know right now.  A look into her eyes could have tempted me, to meet my parent, to stay in the realm..."

"Which woman?" Rath asked quietly. "The Blue Queen? Or ... the other one?"

Astral makes a funny monkey face, then seems to understand, "The blue lady."

As they left the Blue Lady Saliq had adopted a thoughtful expression on his face, though it had not remained his usual face for long. Following the pattern of Rath the illusionist had donned a new form - in his case a rakish looking half elven swashbuckler, elegant rapier at his belt.

"Not a bad plan my friend," the 'half-elf' said to Rath. "I've thinking on such things." Saliq absently reached to stroke his goatee, then frowned as he recalled his chin was currently smooth.

"There is a spell I know that can plant a certain... suggestion or compulsion in a target. Generally it works best against the weak minded but it might work on a stronger willed person should they be willing. I admit I do not know if it would remain as it was in this strange place but it might be possible to plant a thought hidden away in the unconscious mind. Something like 'when you attack with your trident you will remember you are dreaming.' I understand entirely if you don't wish me to try it, but still there may be a moment when you need to awaken for some illusions or enchantments woven around you."

Rath considered. "Yeah. You better do it. Remind me it's a dream. In case I don't want to remember." He took another swig of his drink, this time leaving his glass empty. He glanced at the others with a subdued smirk. "Not much of a plan, but it's all I got. Any ideas before we invade the Blur?"

Inas just shakes his head.  "Don' know enough to have a plan, do we?"

"Well, no," Rath agreed.

Marissa grins at the interplay between her friends.

"When has that ever stopped us?" she asked with a laugh. Growing more serious, she added, "Though, in fairness, this journey is unlike anything we've done before. I feel like a rudderless ship and wish keenly for something of substance to hold onto."

Unless there are other options on the table, Rath simply waited for Saliq to make his deep-seated suggestion and then went down to the docks to summon Rocket. Since it was a dream-tavern, Rath didn't worry about the tab.

Saliq looked embarrassed. 'Um, I fear we may need to do it nearer our destination. The spell does not last that long.'

Inas finishes off his drink. "Then I guess it's time to go?" he asks.

"Done here," Rath agreed. He stood, ready to head back to the dock, where he would summon Rocket for the ride to the Blur.

Plans made, the party sets off the dock and finds Rocket and the Captain already there and waiting.  When the Blue Lady asked for something, in Dream at least, it is as good as done.
You enter the giant snail again and in no time are once again heading across the DreamSea, this time going toward the forbidden Blur.

There is no chatter or joking from the Captain this time, tension is in the air.

Folke breaks the silence.

"I am concerned about this encounter.  You know me to be cool headed, maybe aloof at times, but fair, and calm in combat.  But this witch, she helped to steal thirty years of my life, and cost me a chance with the woman I loved.  She played a part in my imprisonment.  I will try to act normally, but if my northern blood gets up, be warned, I can be very stubborn.".

Inas tries to reassure Folke, but such measures are not the ranger's forte.

"You're no different than the rest of us.  None of us know what to expect, 'cept the unexpected."

"Don't worry my friends," says Saliq who has donned his normal appearance. "Our enemy expected us to fight in the waking world. As strong as she is here I doubt she knows what to expect from us either."

Rath took a small, non-descript form to fit into the snail-shell ferry -- a blurred, indistinct form that he found harder to maintain than something concrete. But he practiced his will, perhaps as a distraction from speculating on what was to come.

Marissa spends time with Astral, teaching her as much as she was able and comforting her when the young dragon needed such attention. She says little to the others, though listens carefully to all conversation.

She is content to remain as she is in the real world.

Inas also opts for his true form -- but miniaturized, to fit in the snail.

Time travelling inside Rocket is difficult to judge, so smooth, and little changes, one could count ones own breathes to tick off the time but otherwise, it just flows on and on.

Captain Larring rises and makes a motion to be silent, which everyone already is, but points to the escape hatch, and then seems to redden as if embarrassed.
then whispers, "twenty minutes, good luck, I leave you now".

The captain moves forward and up towards maybe Rockets neck and vanishes through a small passage, and just in time.

The place begins to fill with haze, not fog, but a blur of what seems real and dream. It thickens and pushes against each of you, and soon, you feel heft, and weight, and
then real self push on you. When Rocket stops and opens the portal to the black rock outside, every one of you is in your natural human form, or mini dragon, and bare ass naked, just as you were when you entered this world.

Red-faced, Marissa said, "No one say a word."

Rath scatched his neck, opened his mouth to say something, then thought better of it, and closed his mouth again with only a grunt. He peered out of the portal in the snail's shell and stepped out. As he went, he struggled mentally to change his form, but his flesh seemed solid and real now ... .

And he was naked. No armor, no trident, no holy pendants. No amulet of adaption.

"@$#%!," he muttered, one of the few orcish words he knew.

[OOC: let me know if I need to roll to assume a dream-form or if we are, in truth, stuck in our bodies for the moment.]

[OOC: What do I see?]

This message was last edited by the player at 18:28, Sat 22 Dec 2018.

Stepping out onto the black rock, you find it damp, cold, with a steady breeze that does not seem to affect the strangely blurred vision.  The rock itself is just a big rock sticking up above the Dreamsea,  from a lower level where you are disembarking, it rising only about 25 feet at its far end and can't be more than 50 feet across.  There are rough steps heading upward from the small lower platform, these end in a black square, that appears to have a metal grate for a door.

Once everyone is out, Rocket's door shuts and the snail slips quiets away disappearing beneath the sea, all is quiet, except for Astral, who has taken to flitting around and is giggling at the silly naked people in her childish way.

Saliq starts in surprise as something moves on him, realizing the small box amulet he was given is growing in size and he quickly removes it.  Minutes later, it has grown to be four feet on a side.  It has no hinges, nor nails, but is perhaps held together with wooden dowels, glue, or something else.

Saliq was blushing as furiously as the others; though he had the magic to cloak his... undignified state he was loathe to waste some of his power when they might need it for the battle ahead.

Mercifully the amulet interrupted the moment and gave him an excuse to concentrate on it. 'I believe this is our door my friends,' he said quietly.

Folke stands unabashed, in the nude, and is like a carving of man.  All curves and muscles, and seems to neither notice his own nakedness nor anyone.  Staring at the wooden box, and then glancing around at the rock, he speaks a few words of arcana, and the box quivers and then cracks, and the lid splits open.  Almost immediately after, there is the sound of a scream, or a birds call, that echoes from the Dreamsea. And there comes a bit of fog that gathers at the edges of the black rock.

"What just happened?" Rath asked with an edge in his voice. He glared at the grate, half-expecting it to pop open and, regardless, fully expecting trouble. He reached for his Devilsbane, but, of course, he was left empty-handed.

Folke's spell split open the wooden box, and it long before the party has it emptied.

Inside, is a letter in Elexi's script:

If you have found this note, you are alive, and hopefully at my dear old sister's back door.  You are on the edge of real and dream, once you cross her doorway, there will be no way back into Dream.  You'll have to find a more conventional way home.  Sorry, I've never figured out a way to sneak metal or magic items into Dream, but I'm sure you'll find some things in her castle to use.  The fancy bottle is in case you find anyone from dream stuck there, put them in the bottle and bring them to me, I can get them back home.  Good luck and please, kill her.

Inside: You find a fancy bottle with cork, five brown cloaks, five sets of soft boots, five daggers grown out of dark wood, and four wood cudgels of the same material, and one other dagger with a stone blade, Rath recognizes as the one Elexi gave to him some time ago.

Rath grunted and looked over the small trove. He tossed Marissa a cloak and took one for himself, wrapping himself in it and shoving his feet into a pair of boots as well. He took the stone dagger and a cudgel, shaking his head in dissatisfaction. "Who wants the bottle?"

After everyone has dressed and armed themselves, Rath took at look at the strange grate. He looked for hinges, a lock, anything that might indicate how it could be opened.

There does not appear to be a lock, but if checked, it swings easily open.

Marissa casts detect magic on the equipment, just in case.

"Been a long time since I fought with a dagger," she noted ruefully.

Inas hefts the cudgel, then the dagger.  He then evaluates the dagger's aerodynamics, to gauge it's effectiveness when thrown.

Seemingly satisfied, he dresses himself.

Saliq swiftly donned cloak and boots, before selecting a dagger. 'Well, I admit I miss my own clothes and equipment but at least we have something. As for the bottle I'll take that - I suppose I feel some responsibility to Dream if we find any such poor beings to rescue.'

Rath waited to hear the results of Marissa’s spell before opening the grate and peering in.

As the group dresses and hands out items, Marissa looks around with her magic seeking gaze.  None of the items, nor the box, have any clear magic. Nor does the rock, or grated door.  But the air, the Blur itself is awash in colors of magic.  The concealment of this place must have taken immense magic.

At the edge of the rock, where the sea laps the shore, thick clouds of mist and magic are growing, has been ever since Folke cast the spell that shattered the box. To everyone else, it looks like thick mist, with Marissa's spell, she sees a thin, raven haired woman standing just off the shore.

Rath has moved to look at the grate, and beyond, sees a stone passage, leading to stairs, they lead upward.

For a few seconds Folke stares at the clothing, weapons, and box, but takes a step back when the letter is read.  He does not take a robe, or weapon but turns his back to the party to look to the shore, taking a few steps toward it before stopping and looking back.

"The Blue Lady, she made me an offer, as I suppose she did in a way to all of you, if you cared to hear.  Astral, I know you heard it, and I know you rejected it. I never imagined such a thing, but  I cannot, I'm sorry to leave you all, but I trust you will succeed.  I have 30 years of my lost life to regain, my love awaits, thank you all for releasing me.  Perhaps in thirty years, I'll meet you again".

Turning, and naked he walks to the waters edge, where a shadowy woman on a skiff of a boat awaits him, with the smile of long lost love.

ooc: Having lost Folke's player, this is a game decision not to replace him, I may do so at some point or advertise for someone new and different but going into the new year, let's stick with the four we have.

Inas watches Folke go.  He turns back with a "hmph" and says no more.

"I don't know, Inas. Given a similar choice, what course would we take? I, for one, cannot say for certain."

Marissa pauses before adding, "She was lovely."

"Yeah," Rath said with a thoughtful scowl. "She's a real dream-boat. But we all got that choice, Marissa. The Blue Lady offered it up to us. Maybe we're suckers not to take her up on it."

Marissa nods in reply, though her expression is still thoughtful.

Having seen their Bard suddenly leave, the party seems resigns to move on, nearly without clothes, food, water, and very little in the way of weapons.  They at least hope their magics will still function.

Moving through the grated door, has an immediate effect on each person.  Even as stepping into Dream made them feel light, and airy, the full force and weight of their normal bodies crashes back upon the adventurers.  It feels constricting for just a moment, but then, wonderfully normal.   From within, the door behind them is solid black and shut, a quick test confirms it is tightly locked.

There is a small landing, the floor and walls of carved gray stone, the air is so moist breathing creates small clouds, and their is a smell of decay.   Their is light enough to see by coming from several spots along one wall, beyond the landing, a staircase rises away into darkness.

“I’ll go first,” Rath said and started up the stairs before he could consider second-thoughts.

"Ware the Will-o-Wisp, Aldo. This seems their type of lair," Marissa warned, one of her daggers in her hand.

Reciting his spells over and over again in his mid Saliq follows.

The stairway continues to rise for a short time before entering another stone landing. The landing itself turns to the right and a shorter staircase rises from there.

This stair ends in an archway, carved dragon runes above the door, they glow a soft red.  Beyond is a large room that flickers with light through the steamy foglike humidity.  It has many columns across the center, each carved with intricate dragon forms, and alcoves all over the walls.  There appear to be two passageways leading off the southern wall but from your position, it can tell much about these.

The runes above the door translate into,

"Hall of Heroes, Noble and Brave, Tricked into their deaths by a Cruel Brother, Remembered here with honor".


ooc: I'll upload a map soon as I can get my scanner to work.

Marissa spends a minute studying the archway and the runes.

"I wonder, Astral, do you know of yon cruel brother?"

“Her brother. The warlock. Guess we’re the heroes.” Is

Inas inspects the carved runes, trying to determine if they are of recent vintage. "The runes are carved; wonder how long our arrival's been expected?"

Rath, dagger in hand, stepped forward into the chamber. He glanced left (north) into the nearest alcove before edging south to see what lies in the alcoves in the western wall. He tried to identify the source of the light.

Rath moves forward, looking in the first alcove, their is old stone statue of a women, probably elven, quite nicely detailed, she appears to have been either a ranger or thief based on her weapons and armor.  On his way to check the two southern passages, he passes two other alcoves close enough to see similar statues of adventurers types, not himself or anyone he recognizes, they are all showing the effects of the heavy moisture and time.  He can tell a few appear empty.  The light is dim and flickers but appears to be well placed continual lights of some variety.

The passageway on the left heads due south for about 30 feet and ends in a pool of water and a solid wall.


The passageway on the right goes south and then turns to the right.  The smell is worse in that direction.

Rath moves forward, looking in the first alcove, their is old stone statue of a women, probably elven, quite nicely detailed, she appears to have been either a ranger or thief based on her weapons and armor.  On his way to check the two southern passages, he passes two other alcoves close enough to see similar statues of adventurers types, not himself or anyone he recognizes, they are all showing the effects of the heavy moisture and time.  He can tell a few appear empty.  The light is dim and flickers but appears to be well placed continual lights of some variety.

The passageway on the left heads due south for about 30 feet and ends in a pool of water and a solid wall.


The passageway on the right goes south and then turns to the right.  The smell is worse in that direction.

Astral, tucked down tight behind Marissa's shoulder, says, "I don't like this place, it gives me the creeps, and smells bad".

'You are not alone in that sentiment Little Wing,' Saliq mutters. The illusionist glances at the others, his eyebrow raised. 'Should we investigate the pool first?'

Rath nodded warily. He wouldn't lead the way into the hall leading to the water, but he would accompany anyone who wanted to go first.

The party moves across the space towards the passage with the pool, keeping a wary eye out for anything moving.

On the way, Marissa notices that one of the alcoves seems newer, cleaner than the others.  A quick look reveals a statue of a woman, carrying a lance, a dragonhunter who once had long red hair.

The passage with the water had a stone wall at the end. The water begins about 8 feet before the southern wall, and the water appears fairly clean, like decent pond water.  You can see that steps lead down into the water.  A quick, and cold exploration of that water reveals that the wall extends only a foot below the water, but there are metal bars of a portculus beneath the wall extending all the way to the floor.

The bars are too close together for anyone to squeeze between, except for Astral.

With some experimentation, the adventurers find that they can raise the bars as long as two left combining their strength, allowing the others to duck under.  It takes some coordination, and a lot of raw steel nerves, but soon the group is through to the other side.  They notice a wheel with handles on the far side that can be turned to raise and lower and lock the bars either up or down.  They are in a large room, with many features, but the one the two they most notice is a center island, with a alter on it and it appears to have someone lying on it, and, at the far side of the room, another smaller island of rough stones, more of a lair than island, and two somethings that slip into the water like long black shadows.


This message was last edited by the GM at 19:24, Fri 18 Jan 2019.

Marissa pauses briefly at the statue, a frown upon her face. "You'll want to stay away from this type, luv," she quietly said to Astral. "They're wily, and cruel to your race."

Pushing on, she helps as she can with the gate construction and readies her dagger as the shadowy figures duck into the water.

"Ware," she says, loud enough for the others to hear.

ooc: thanks. corrected for accuracy.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:58, Sat 19 Jan 2019.

With little hesitation, Rath took a few quick steps and leapt as far as he could toward that platform with the altar. Unburdened by plate armor, he was more willing than usual to take to water, even with the approaching threat. Scrambling, he swam toward that platform, intent on getting to it before the black shadows reached him.

[OOC: Marissa, I don't think you have spears. We have only cudgels and daggers, right?]

Inas pauses for a moment and appears to be thinking.  But the moment passes and he jumps across to join Rath.

The party makes the near edge of the central island just as the black serpents slither up onto the far side.   They are each about 20 feet long, more like snakes than anything, but have nearly invisible small bat like wings.  Given all the evidence, they are likely some kind of dragon.

Rath's eyes followed the dragons, and he kept his dagger ready (for what good that would do), but he put his immediate attention on figure atop the altar.

"What are they, Astral?" Marissa asks. "I've little desire to fight if it can be avoided. My dagger is hardly dragonbane..."

"Don't we have these . . . magical powers, or whatever?  Not that that sounds like a good battle against them, either."

Astral whispers back, "shadow dragons, very evil".


The two serpents are nearly 30 feet long and about 18 inches thick, and they swirl and wind, and despite their size, they are hard to see.  You nearly lose sight of them until you blink and then see them again.  In constant motion, it is hard to guess their movement plans, but very quickly, one is wrapping itself around the altar, while the other is heading towards the party.


Rath spends a moment for a quick look at the alter, the woman lying there is young, pale but not deathly pale, and unmoving.





ooc: please someone roll initiative for the party, first come first serve

"Ware, they attack!" Marissa shouts, readying her dagger. Heeding Inas call, she calls forth a spiritual hammer and launches it at the approaching dragon.

Initiative: 3

To Hit: Natural 1

Damage: 0

Saliq begins muttering a spell in the eerie language of illusionary magic. He gestures at the altar... and the woman lying on it appears to suddenly sit up and let out a long gasp!

---

OOC: Saliq casts Spectral Force.

Having little choice, Inas waits for something to get close enough for him to stab.

Rath reached out to place a protective ward on Saliq, then stepped forward with his dagger to intercept the approaching dragon. With the seemingly tiny blade extended, Rath glared at the dragon, his heart pounding, but he didn't strike until and unless the dragon seemed intent on battle ... .

Prot vs Evil on Saliq
This message was last edited by the player at 03:05, Tue 29 Jan 2019.

The two shadow dragons move, one towards the altar, the other to attack, but both stop, midway and stare for a moment at the woman on the alter, distracted by something, but almost at the same time, continue foreward..

Whatever distracted them, it gives the party initiative.  One dragon is in range and ready to strike, the other has taken up a defensive position to the sleeping woman.



ooc: round one, please roll attacks if you want to attack the shadow dragon, whatever distracted them has given the party initiative.

Saliq, there is something here, but not here, illusion perhaps? Can you detect any such thing?"

So saying, she casts detect magic as well, meticulously searching to its full range and AoE.

Saliq's eyebrows rose and he cast a spell of his own, calling on his powers to unveil what was hidden...

---

OOC: Saliq casts Detect Invisibility.

Rath snarled and, taking advantage of the distraction, lunged with the stone dagger.

Apparently, he was used to fighting with a trident, and the blade didn't even come close to his target.

He is dismayed at his own ineptitude.

[OOC: Hit AC11 if proficient with the dagger, AC13 if non-proficient.]

Inas hesitates, not sure if the dragon should be attacked.  But he is not about to leave Rath to fight alone . . .

11:28, Today: Inas Eoinsson rolled 7 using 1d20+1.

Hits AC 6 :)

What Saliq and Marissa both can see once they have cast out spells to seek magic and illusion, enhancing their own perceptions are several fold.  One, unfortunately, the shadow dragons are real.

The lovely woman on the altar, not such much real.  Not to type cast witches, as they come in many shapes and forms, but what is actually seeming to be asleep on that altar looks like a nasty little evil witch.  By little, it appears to be only a teenager, but withered, with frayed graying hair, long sharp nails, and peacefully asleep.   Around her, as if she was encased in ice, is a shield of magic. Likely, something to wake her if touched.  On the side of the altar, words can be seen that were once hidden by magic, but you'll need to be closer to see if you can read them.

Inas and Rath both miss the single dragon that has moved close.


The dragon responds with both a claw and bite that hit the unarmored Rath (6hps Damage).




Shadow Dragons:  Hps:   24/24     24/24    AC:-2   Damage 2-5, 2-5, 3-12



PC       AC    HP   AP  0  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10   Notes

Inas     10   83/83   3   14 13 12 11 10  9  8  7  6  5  4
Rath     10   67/61   2   14 13 12 11 10  9  8  7  6  5  4
Saliq    7    26/26   3   18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10  9  8
Marissa  8    57/57   3   14 13 12 11 10  9  8  7  6  5  4




Players are up, Round 2!
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:59, Sun 03 Feb 2019.

Rath lashed out and drove the stone dagger as deeply into the dragon as the blade would allow. "Musfara, I need a trident. Can you conjure me a gods-damned trident?"

Critical Hit! Maximum Damage! Let's see ... dagger vs. large creature = 1d3, +1 strength bonus ... that would be ... uh, 4 points of damage. Woo-hoo?

16:53, Today: Aldo Rathmus rolled 21 using 1d20+1.  attack shadow dragon with dagger.

Inas waves his dagger across the dragon's field of vision -- close, but no contact is made.  However, Inas's hand then reverses course and drives the dagger into the dragon's nose.

11:12, Today: Inas Eoinsson rolled 14,4 using d20+1,d3+1.  Round 2A.

11:12, Today: Inas Eoinsson rolled 17,4 using d20+1,d3+1.  Round 2B.

Saliq narrowed his eyes in concentration and began muttering in the weird tongue of illusions. He tossed his own stone dagger into the air... and suddenly it seemed to split into six itentical daggers, all of them slicing through the air and into the flank of the nearest dragon!

---

OOC: Saliq casts Improved Phantasmal Force.

Marissa casts a spell. Suddenly a bright, incandescent light bursts forth from her hand toward the eye of the nearest dragon. Her spell cast, she calls out, "Light will hurt them!"
This message was last edited by the player at 17:02, Tue 05 Feb 2019.

Inas and Rath both attack with wooden and stone daggers, this time managing to hit the slithery dragon that seems to never be where it seems to be.  Both draw blood though much to their satisfaction.  Saliq conjures up a spell and throwing a single dagger watches as it multiplies and flies towards the dark beast.  Two of his six daggers land and dig deep.  The others bounce off but ting to the ground and remain lying there.  Marissa casts a light spell that pops into existence just beyond the head of the dragon.  Immediately both the dragons hiss and snarl in dislike of the light (note their AC drops to zero rather than -2 in the light).

Angered now, both dragons attack, the one on Rath strikes three times with claws and bite (14 pts damage).  The other attacks Inas and manages only a claw (5pts damage).

Marissa's light brightens the whole room to some degree.  The mound on the far side of the water that looked like rubble is partly lit, enough to reveal a small figure bond tightly around the waist and legs who is wriggling hard against the binds. From the top of the mound, large red ants are pouring forth, and even as the first bites the bound figure, scraggly Ben Scistos lets out an impressive string of profanity.



Shadow Dragons:  Hps:   24/08     24/24    AC: 0  Damage 2-5, 2-5, 3-12



PC       AC    HP   AP  0  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10   Notes

Inas     10   83/78   3   14 13 12 11 10  9  8  7  6  5  4
Rath     10   67/47   2   14 13 12 11 10  9  8  7  6  5  4
Saliq    7    26/26   3   18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10  9  8
Marissa  8    57/57   3   14 13 12 11 10  9  8  7  6  5  4




Players are up, Round 3!

Marissa casts a spell, though the others cannot see any appreciable difference.

PM

Inas successfully focuses on the immediate task and is not distracted by his lost friend's yell.

Although he wonders: is that really Ben?



09:40, Today: Inas Eoinsson rolled 18,3 using d20+1,d3+1.  Attack (14 to hit).

ooc: Rath, I'm going to answer your question for all to see as everyone may be having the same thought.   I have not asked for a saving throw vs. illusion.  I believe everyone in the room is expecting mind tricks from the witch, so may not believe what they see, however, disbelieving it in this case will not make it go away like it might with some illusions. Your characters are free to believe or not believe and act accordingly.  It looks real enough, but your years hanging around a master illusionist, you know that is possible.

Rath reeled under the dragon's assault, swiping his that stone knife, but his eyes went wide and he spun toward the altar, sputtering a lengthy profane curse. By the time he drew his attention away from whatever it was he was seeing, it was too late -- the blade had gone wide, and the dragon was on him again.

Natural 1 on the attack roll.
6:47, Today: Aldo Rathmus rolled 2,4 using 1d20+1,1d3+1. attack wounded dragon.

Rath misses spectacularly, Marissa casts a spell of unknown effect, and Inas knicks the dragon again with his dagger.

In return, the dragons manage a claw hit on Rath, and a claw and bite on Inas for minor damages.

Elsewhere, Ben has been bitten several times and has screamed and squiggled until he manages to fall into the water, Which helps with the red ants but not with his ability to breathe as he's bound tightly and begins to bob and gasp in the water.  The ants, for their part, mostly ignore him and have begun building a bridge across the water with their bodies, each latching onto another as dozens and dozens of them begin to create a chain to the main island.

On the altar, the beautful woman can no longer call for help as the vines tighten down so much around her neck, she is surely choking.



Shadow Dragons:  Hps:   24/05     24/24    AC: 0  Damage 2-5, 2-5, 3-12



PC       AC    HP   AP  0  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10   Notes

Inas     10   83/70   3   14 13 12 11 10  9  8  7  6  5  4
Rath     10   67/42   2   14 13 12 11 10  9  8  7  6  5  4
Saliq    7    26/26   3   18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10  9  8
Marissa  8    57/57   3   14 13 12 11 10  9  8  7  6  5  4




Players are up, Round 4!

Inas switches his hand's positioning on his dagger to hold it in his fist with the blade down.  He then steps forward aggressively and slams the point into the dragon's snout two times in quick succession.  "Free them!" he chokes out as he turns to the other dragon.


19:10, Today: Inas Eoinsson rolled 17,2 using d20+1,d3+1.  Round 4A (14 to hit).
19:11, Today: Inas Eoinsson rolled 15,4 using d20+1,d3+1.  Round 4B (14 to hit).

Saliq ignores Ben and the woman, instead directing his gaze on the wounded Shadow Dragon. He intones another spell...

Abruptly the ichor leaking from the monster bursts into flames like a torch dropped onto lamp oil!

---

OOC: Saliq casts Spectral Force.

Between Inas' attack with his dagger, and Saliq's spell, the injured dragon coils up and dies writhing.

As Marissa crosses the surface of the water toward Ben, she shouts, "The girl on the altar is a phantasm!"

Once she reaches Ben, she pulls him to the surface.

"You better not be illusion, dammit!"

Saliq whispers another spell and points at the dead shadow dragon. The corpse appears to give a horrible shudder, rears its head and hisses at its living bretheren and begins shambling towards it, even as its ragged wounds continue to drip blood - a draconic zombie seemingly under Saliq's command!

---

OOC: Saliq casts Improved Phantasmal Force.

Inas studies Marissa and otherwise appears content to let Saliq's "creature" do battle with the remaining dragon.

Rath lunged with the knife, unable to pierce the creature's hide. "Of course he's an illusion!" he called to Marissa, an angry undertone in his voice. He was determined to fight alongside Saliq's zombie ... .


19:53, Today: Aldo Rathmus rolled 11,2 using 1d20+1,1d3+1. attack shadow dragon with dagger.

Even as the one dragon dies, it seems to shiver and rise again, still bloody and with a dead blank look in its eyes, it turns to attack its brethren.  Rath misses with his dagger, and Inas stands in deep concentration.  As Marissa walks out onto the water and makes her way to the struggling, she leans over and grabs the skinny thief and pulls him half way out of the water where he coughs and gasps.  A few dead red ants hang from his many bite marks that show red welts.  As she looks into his eyes, he begins to fade, and in a moments time, has vanished.  As the others watch, not only does Ben vanish, but Marissa too!

Meanwhile, the ants have nearly completed their bridge to the center island and more continue to pour out from the top of their nest.

The pretty woman on the altar has turned blue and ceased her struggles against the vines.

Finally, the shadow dragon, stares for a moment at the zombie dragon, but then lashes out hitting Rath with tooth and claw.



Shadow Dragons:  Hps:   24/dead     24/24    AC: 0  Damage 2-5, 2-5, 3-13



PC       AC    HP   AP  0  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10   Notes

Inas     10   83/70   3   14 13 12 11 10  9  8  7  6  5  4
Rath     10   67/31   2   14 13 12 11 10  9  8  7  6  5  4
Saliq    7    26/26   3   18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10  9  8
Marissa  8    57/57   3   14 13 12 11 10  9  8  7  6  5  4    GONE??




Players are up, Round 5!

Inas seems very focused on what he is doing; his lips are pursed, his eyes are squinted, and his brow is furrowed.  Very furrowed.

But whatever his is doing is not outwardly apparent.

Saliq glared at Inas in frustration at the Ranger's indifference before turning back to the battle with the dragon. He concentrated on controlling the 'zombie dragon', having the nightmarish thing snap and snarl at it's living brethren, more to distract it than wound it exactly.

Rath struggled to treat the dead-blue woman on the altar as a phantasm. Despite his knowledge, the emotion ran brutally deep. That Marissa disappeared, and Inas was motionless ... well, those were concerns too. And the dragon, seeming to Rath to have seen through Saliq's zombie-dragon phantasm, was certain to rip Rath apart faster than he could return the favor. And the red ants, real or not, might have a tasty treat once the dragon was done with him.

"Godsdamn it. Pelor!" (Rath raised a hand, wrathfully, calling out to the sun-god in anger. His voice cracked with raw passion, a last bit of forlorn hope breaking through despair.) "Pelor, bring your godsdamn light out of your godsdamn arse to this godsdamn shadow-show and for once in my godsdamn life show me what's real!" 

[OOC: Casting dispel magic, centered on the platform. I know I risk dispelling Saliq's illusion, but I don't think the dragon was buying it anyway and if I can uncloak Marissa or free up Inas or get rid of that army of ants, it might be worth while.]

Rath's prayer echoes with the passion of his words and power.

Several things happen at once, Ben, the Ants, the undead Dragon, and the vines and woman on the altar all vanish.

Marissa reappears standing on the water, but immediately splashes into it, along with a suprised sleeping Astral.

Remaining on the altar is a young girl, perhaps fifteen with long curly red hair, and seemingly peacefully asleep.

The live shadow dragon remains, and attacks Rath, hitting him with claw and bite.

And finally, there is a disturbance in the water where the party first entered this chamber, and staggering up onto the center island is a smallish man,  Elexi, who stares at the altar and says, "Sister, this must stop NOW!"



Shadow Dragons:  Hps:   24/dead     24/24    AC: 0  Damage 2-5, 2-5, 3-13



PC       AC    HP   AP  0  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10   Notes

Inas     10   83/70   3   14 13 12 11 10  9  8  7  6  5  4
Rath     10   67/20   2   14 13 12 11 10  9  8  7  6  5  4
Saliq    7    26/26   3   18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10  9  8
Marissa  8    57/57   3   14 13 12 11 10  9  8  7  6  5  4




Players are up, Round 6!

Seeing Rath take yet another blow from the Shadow Dragon Saliq mutters yet another spell and gestures towards the Shadow Dragon... and nothing appears to happen.

---

OOC: Saliq casts Phantasmal Killer.

Rath saw Marissa drop into the water, with a moment of alarm before he realized that she was probably the strongest swimmer of the company. His own wounds were wearing on him -- long scratches and deep punctures welling up blood through his robe -- and the dragon appeared, as yet, untouched. Nevertheless, he fought on to give time for his companions to act and with all his strength behind it, punched the dagger between its scaly plates up to the hilt.

The crazy old warlock Elexi then showed up. "What the hells are you doing here?" he spat, angrily.

Attack shadow dragon, hit for 4 damage.
10:03, Today: Aldo Rathmus rolled 20,4 using 1d20+1,1d3+1. attack shadow dragon with dagger.

"Nice of you to join me, little one," Marissa said to Astral.

As she treads water, she shouts 'Halt!' to the remaining dragon. Her voice is very commanding.

ooc: as per the spell Command.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:30, Mon 18 Feb 2019.

Grinding his teeth in a fury Saliq splashes over to Inas and slaps him - hard - across the cheek. 'Wake up and do something about that damn dragon!' He orders, then starts wading towards the altar, determined to do something about the witch.

Rath staggered. That ... hurt. He took a breath, and that hurt, too. Fending off the dragon and failing, Rath swept his arm in an arc, an almost casual gesture, sending the dagger flying ... directly at the girl on the altar. He whirled, facing the dragon without a weapon now, and steeled himself, accepting what was to come. “Saliq,” he began to say, but he could not get out whatever words were there.

Hit AC0 for 4 damage. Use an action point for second wind to recover 3 hp.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:10, Thu 21 Feb 2019.

Marissa said to Astral, "I need you to be my conduit little one. Can you carry my healing to Rath?"

As she says so, she looses Astral to fly to Rath, then swims in his direction as quickly as she can.

ooc: how long til she reaches Rath?

Inas's eyes focus, first on Saliq, then on Elexi.  He doesn't look happy.

He lifts his dagger and says something softly:


He then charges at the dragon.  With a dagger.  And no armor.


12:56, Today: Inas Eoinsson rolled 11,2 using d20+1,d3+1.  Round 1.