"Yes...this river is more dangerous then I thought. The raiders were a strong force." Thraag says with a shake of his head. He looks at Captain Skywin and says, "I would like to travel on your ship...at least until the next port if possible."
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Reine had simply watched. Standing towards the back of the ship, with Broom and Des, Reine had been more alert for an ambush than she had been interested in the one survivor that had been so... fortunate.
"I don't like this," Reine had muttered to her two companions. But really, what Reine didn't like was how quiet the other two had become. Ever since the discoveries at the estate, both Broom and Des had seemed to become more and more withdrawn.
Nothing felt right to Reine. Nothing had felt right since waking up in that damned asylum.
She closed her eyes, sighing.
Who were they? Who had they been? What were they - what was she becoming?
Reine stopped to examine that thought.
In the past, it would have ridden on a wave of fear.
Fear of the unknown, fear of loss, fear of fear itself.
But now?
None of that.
Where before she'd have had to make an effort to control the fear, to mask it with rage, in hopes that the rage would be strong enough to beat back the terror, now Reine just felt the pool of power inside of her roil as more fuel flowed into it.
Reine was different now. So very different.
So, too, were those she'd begun to think of as friends.
At the very least, as fellow survivors.
But even now, Reine felt their detachment.
From Desdemona, that was almost normal. The small noblewoman had regularly drifted into and out of periods of aloof distance, but she'd just as often come back. Sometimes in terror, sometimes just when something grabbed her interest, like the books in that bookshop.
But Broom? That one had been a bundle of curious, weird, friendly energy and enthusiasm since the moment Reine had first met? - re-met? - her. To see that one stare into the distance so passively, rather than throwing herself into every mystery, or obsessively cleaning and repairing every surface of the boat? It was well-nigh heartbreaking.
Reine shook her head, shaking herself off of this train of thought.
"I'm going to join the others up front, see who this mysterious 'survivor' is. You two, stay and keep an eye out back here."
When Broom didn't leap at the opportunity to explore a mystery, and Des didn't immediately take umbrage at being told what to do, Reine sighed again.
She walked away from the two small women, towards the bow.
She arrived just in time to hear the survivor declare his wish to stay aboard their ship.
"You mean you wouldn't prefer to swim?" she asked him. Her tone was sarcastic, and yet musical at the same time. To the stranger - like almost everyone who first met Reine - her voice sounded like it should be that of an angel. And though her face was that of a very lovely (if pale) human, the set of it was hard, and her eyes looked Thraag over like she knew he'd stolen something.
There was something frightening about her, though she made no overtly threatening move or gesture. Even the smile that crossed her face was... it didn't seem welcoming, so much as that of a cat who had just welcomed a mouse into her front room.
"I know I wouldn't want to make that swim, anyway."
"Yes...this river is more dangerous then I thought. The raiders were a strong force." Thraag says with a shake of his head. He looks at Captain Skywin and says, "I would like to travel on your ship...at least until the next port if possible."
Skywin gave Thraag a hard smile. "I won't throw anyone who isn't a pirate out in the middle of the river but I usually charge for a trip. You were a guard on Monte Azul? You can work for your passage."
"You mean you wouldn't prefer to swim?" she asked him. Her tone was sarcastic, and yet musical at the same time. To the stranger - like almost everyone who first met Reine - her voice sounded like it should be that of an angel. And though her face was that of a very lovely (if pale) human, the set of it was hard, and her eyes looked Thraag over like she knew he'd stolen something.
There was something frightening about her, though she made no overtly threatening move or gesture. Even the smile that crossed her face was... it didn't seem welcoming, so much as that of a cat who had just welcomed a mouse into her front room.
"I know I wouldn't want to make that swim, anyway."
Skywin closed her mouth as Reine spoke up. "Or at least I would offer that, if I didn't already have folks on board who can handle themselves." The halfling boat captain looked at Reine, Lachen, and Hannah. "What do you say, folks? We can put in at the shore almost as easily as Riverton on Kallas Lake."
"I am not much of a swimmer, as my earlier demonstration showed. I would be happy to work for passage." Thraag says.
"It's your ship, Captain," Reine said, and she actually sounded like she meant it. "Your decision to make. I'm just a passenger. I apologize if I gave any other impression."
The smile Reine directed at Skywin was truly apologetic, and did not seem at all freighting. Which, in and of itself was something of an oddity.
But the newcomer didn't know that.
Hannah shrugged, but her smile was genuine. She'd default to Skywin's judgement, but she'd at least provide her two coppers. "I'm sure he'll be of use. I wouldn't want to abandon the poor soul in the middle of nowhere, regardless of dry land. He's been through enough, what with his prior employment sinking.".
Skywin nodded. "Alright then, if you think you can use him." The halfling captain turned back to Thraag. "Alright. Free passage to Kallas Lake. If you want to hire on all the way to Cassomir we can discuss pay there." She gestured at Reine, Hannah, and Lachen. "You listen to them, they're in charge of security. I don't want the Starling to end up on the bottom of the river with the Monte Azul."
Sellen Passage Transit Day 7
Lachen and the girls had spent the majority of the day setting up the ritual for the excursion to the Dreamlands. The ritual was centered around an item they'd found in another book that been converted into a clever hiding spot: a miniature staircase masterfully carved from horn and ivory.
The professors had explained they would chant the spell while the travelers walk the prescribed path laid out with chalk around the staircase. The ritual will then make the staircase large enough to traverse- or at least the group will perceive it as so, the scholars weren't sure- and their bodies will fall unconscious in the material world as their spirits travel into the Dreamlands.
Hannah didn't know what to expect, so she wasn't entirely sure how to prepare for the journey to the Dreamlands. By all logic, she would have just fallen asleep in the ritual circle while her mind traveled to the outer planes. But that also didn't reconcile with what she had heard of travel there. Of course, those stories could have been just that. Stories.
In the end, the priestess did what she usually did at the beginning of a journey. She would have taken her bath in the light of Sarenrae, but when she queried Skywin about moving a tub to the foredeck and the reasons for it, she was quite adamantly refused. Something about inordinate distraction of the sailors who all had work to do, damn it.
Belowdecks would have to do, and it did. She spent extra time performing her devotions to Sarenrae to make up for it. But that also meant that she arrived at the appointed time and place freshly washed, brushed, and neatly attired; just as if she were going down to the shops.
"How exciting, the Dreamlands. I've never been to the outer planes before."
I know a thing or two about the outer planes, but most of my knowledge concern the Hells.I certainly dream, but I wouldn't have bet there was a plane for that. Are nightmares in another plane or just seen as bad dreams ?
"Why are you wanting to go to this Dreamland? Would any spells we cast still remain on us as we go? Anything you can tell me about your goals might be beneficial for me to aid you in your goals." Thraag says.
Reine gave Thraag a look out of the side of her eye. She wasn't terribly happy about this entire endeavor, nor was she completely sold on the idea of bringing the stranger along. They'd gotten to know a little about him since he'd come aboard, but he wasn't exactly family yet.
That said, she wasn't super excited about the idea of leaving him behind while they were all sleeping, either.
It was somewhat unsettling to her that neither thought - nor the thought of going into the dream world in the first place - actually frightened her. Again, the fear was just a stream that flowed into and through her, without touching Reine's own psyche.
She wondered if that would be true in the dream world as well. There was a small part of her that might have hoped it wouldn't be. She'd gotten used to being afraid. To using that fear to power her anger, and the anger, in turn, to power her through the insanity and danger that had surrounded them since waking up in that damned basement.
But, Reine thought, the group had met (and lost) many people along the way, hadn't they? People they'd trusted - had to trust - with their lives and sanity, within minutes of meeting them. Seconds, for some of them. In those cells.
She would have - should have - shuddered with remembered terror, recalling those first few moments regaining consciousness in the cells below the asylum. The screams. The bloody-
She cut the thought off. Not because of any echoes of remembered fear, but because it didn't help her to relive it. It had become like watching a play. Seeing it happen to someone else. She could still feel disgust. Remember the despair, the confusion. All of it.
She could even remember the fear, kind of. She remembered it had been there. Remembered how it had affected her.
But she didn't feel it anymore.
She did remember how quickly she'd had to trust the others, trapped in that place. People who, as far as she knew, she'd known for less than a minute, as they worked to free one another.
Thraag had been here significantly longer than they had had then, hadn't he?
There were so many people who'd been killed, or worse. Those who'd been scarred emotionally, psychically, forever. Some had chosen to be a part of their path - at least for a time - others had merely been standing too close to them. Put in the path of this destruction by pure chance - or so it had seemed - while they were simply trying to live their lives.
People who had deserved to know more about what was happening to them than they'd been told.
People who'd deserved more warning than they'd been given.
People like Thraag.
Reine sighed, then spoke.
"We're chasing a bastard," she said to Thraag. "The guy we told you about - Lowls - he put some of us into an asylum, tried to sacrifice us to a power from beyond this world, and then left. We think he either used, or is using the Dreamland to get to something dangerous. We're gonna find him, and... she trailed off.
"Make him pay," was what she eventually ended with.
"But I don't know any more about how this dream travel and Dreamland stuff works than you do," Reine admitted, "Just that we're gonna do it."
Geography
The Dreamlands' semi-permanent core is formed from slumbering desires, and the dreams of especially powerful individuals, like the Outer Gods and Great Old Ones. It can be entered via the obscure occult ritual known as the Dreamlands excursion, and is less accessible than the Outer Planes but easier to travel to than individual dreamscapes. A dreamer that enters the Dreamlands' core for the first time descends a spiral staircase that emerges from the side of a great tree into the Enchanted Forest.
Traits
The Dreamlands has its own traits that differ from those of the rest of the Dimension of Dreams. Various regions of the Dreamlands can have their own unique planar traits; however, the following traits are the most pervasive throughout the Dreamlands.
Normal Gravity: Gravity in the Dreamlands is similar to that on the Material Plane.
Flowing Time: In most places in the Dreamlands, time appears to flow normally, though in some areas, time does strange things. For example, in Celephais time stands still. The effects of time also vary depending on whether the dreamer is in the Dreamlands physically or in his lucid body. Someone in the Dreamlands in his physical form ages normally and experiences time normally, but a dreamer in a lucid body can spend years in the Dreamlands while he sleeps for only a few hours
in the waking world.
Finite Shape: As a portion of the Dimension of Dreams, the Dreamlands has a finite shape and size.
Divinely and Magically Morphic: Who or what powers can transform the realm to their whims is beyond the knowledge of the most erudite sages. Divine beings and powerful dreamers alike can alter the landscape of the Dreamlands.
Mildly Chaotic-Aligned: Creatures who have a lawful alignment take a –2 circumstance penalty on all Charisma-based checks attempted in the Dreamlands.
Important Information
First, each time the PCs enter the Dreamlands, they manifest dream bodies that resemble their waking bodies. These lucid bodies have all the same spells prepared and all their usual gear, but spells and items used in the dream world are not expended in reality.
Second, the PCs should separately track items they gain in the Dreamlands. The PCs do not keep these items in the waking world, but retain them whenever they return to the Dreamlands (even when they arrive in an entirely different part of the Dreamlands or much later than the last time they visited). That is, PCs in the Dreamlands have their usual gear, plus any gear they acquired within the Dreamlands. In the event of duplication of items worn (such as a paladin with splint mail as her usual gear who donned a breastplate of command in an earlier Dreamlands
encounter), a PC arriving in the Dreamlands must choose which item is worn and which is neatly stowed in a pack or bag at the time she enters the Dreamlands.
Third, dreamers do not normally incur any lasting penalty for injury or death in the Dimension of Dreams, but the Dreamlands exert a tight hold upon visitors’ psyches. Mental ability score damage and drain incurred in the Dreamlands remains upon waking, and a PC who dies in the Dreamlands immediately awakens with a random lesser madness.
"Well, I am as ready as I ever will be to go in." Thraag says as he gathers up his sack and moves to the beginning of the path that was arranged to enter Dreamland.
Lachen explains what he knows about the Dreamlands plane.
It's not very much but it's better than nothing.
The ritual proceeds and the group found themselves suddenly standing in a windswept desert underneath a blistering sun. Heat shimmers roil the air on the horizon and there was nothing but pale, rolling dunes and blue, cloudless sky in every direction but one.
The only structure in sight was a partially ruined limestone caravanserai made of thick stone, cracked and crumbling with age. The stone building was the same pale tan color as the sun-bleached desert extending to the horizon in every direction.
A single, wide entrance, large enough to admit heavily laden mounts, pierced the north wall of the structure and opened into a central courtyard. The northeast corner of the building was wholly collapsed. Drifts of sand and tufts of weeds indicated that the building is long abandoned.
The Briarstone survivors (and Thragg) spotted a man trudging over a nearby dune.
Lawrence Grimes might have been surprised to see a group of people suddenly shimmer into existence on top of a sand dune but by now has seen things far more surprising than that.
Having entered the Dreamland, Thraag takes a moment to focus and creates a shimmering force around him to protect from possible dangers.
Seeing the figure in the distance Thraag tenses and asks, "Is that Lowls?"
The man by the dune stops, and squints his eyes. He is wearing garments of somewhat outlandish style, although nothing that would raise eyebrows in the Taldor or Cheliax. His appearance is dominated by a dark kensington coat and a bowler hat. Equally dark and well groomed handlebar moustache brings contrast to his pale skin. And above the moustache, keen eyes observe the newcomers with interest.
The man raises his right hand from his walking cane, and touches the brim of his hat in greeting. "Good day, ladies and gentlemen!" he says, with a pleasant deep voice. His eyes dart around to scenery, to wonder whether it is actually daytime - it is so hard to tell in this place. "I am Detective Inspector Lawrence Grimes, at your service."
The hand descends from the hat to waist, and moves behind his body. "I would bid you welcome to this odd but wonderful place, but first I have a question to ask..."
"Are you friend or foe?"
And in the case of the latter, he has reached for his gun, and keeps it ready but hidden from the newcomers.
As soon as Hannah materialized, she was smiling. The sun was out, and shining bright. She extended her arms and spun in place, absorbing the rays.
Next, she took stock of herself. "Hm." Her X-shaped vestments remained in position, and no matter how the wind blew the tails, she remained strategically modest. There was, after all, a very real possibility she would have arrived in the Dreamlands without a scrap at all. She had certainly had dreams of such before. Everything was as she had left the waking world, save for very slight idealizations.
And she was glowing.
It wasn't a bright light at all, indeed one wouldn't be able to tell unless they were looking particularly closely. She just put it down to Sarenrae's blessing in the sunlight.
"Oh!" she said, noticing the newcomer. "Friend, I hope? I haven't yet met a foe who stopped to chat first. Usually they just try to eat us without so much as a how-do-you-do."
"Or kill us for sport. Or vengeance. Or..." Reine trailed off, realizing that she wasn't really helping the situation. It was still bothering her that both Desdemona and Broom (Broom!) had decided to stay behind on the ship.
Her mismatched eyes narrowed as she took in (yet another) newcomer.
"He's not the count," Reine said to the rescued deckhand that had joined them in this place (and why had he done that, she wondered). Then she raised her voice to the stranger. "Friend or foe probably depends on how friendly you're feeling about Count Lowls, and how it is that you happen to be here in the Dream Lands."
To the stranger the voice that came from the tall, pale, dark-haired wisp of a woman was very close to musical. Lovely, smooth and warm - and yet, it also carried an undercurrent of menace, somehow. Her attractive features were almost as lovely as her voice, and yet... though she clearly was not trying to give offense, something unidentifiable and undefined tickled at his senses, and stirred the hairs at the back of his neck.
Whether she did or did not sense the danger in DI Grimes' stance, the woman did not reach for any weapon of her own.
And yet, something told Grimes that she was no less dangerous, for all that.
"Lowls?" Grimes raises his eyebrows. Back on the lead, it seems.
"Don't quite know the chap, personally. But the name is linked to several cases of book thefts and murders." he says, carefully watching the reaction of the group. If these are Lowl's lackeys, he might be in a bit of trouble. But if the opposite, they could be allies.
"I was following a lead on the Count, and came across a ritual. And... ended here in the Dreamlands. Unfortunately, after that the lead went cold, and haven't heard of the fellow."
"Until you brought up the name, that is. So, what is your story with Count Lowls, and appearing so suddenly here in Dreamlands?"
"I just heard of the guy, but he seems dangerous. How long have you been in Dreamland? Where on Golarion are you from?" Thraag asks.
Hannah narrowed her eyes a moment at the mention of Lowls. "His lackeys took me captive, stripped me of my stuff, and shoved me in a dark hole. I think they were going to sell me into slavery!" Her expression softened instantly and she brushed non-existent dust from her vestments. "We can't let that happen to anyone else."
My memories are... faulty. I have no solid recollection of what happened to me before. I think my name is Lachen, and it served me well so far. I have nevertheless the firm belief that the Count is linked to my past. So I want to find him. And maybe this time I'll ask question first, before hitting him hard.
Reine gave a wry smile as the others spoke up.
"And he seems to have betrayed me and some former colleagues of mine after having originally hired us to do... something... for him. Wiped our memories, gave us to some crazy, flesh-flaying people in an asylum, then either approved of, participated in, or otherwise was connected to some kind of ritual that turned the place into a nightmare realm - complete with a 'tattered man' killer of some kind - and left us to die. Meanwhile, he seems to have engaged in some other nefarious activity, put an entire town at risk, and then used magic to enter this place, seeking some kind of power." Reine shrugged.
"We all have reasons to want to catch up to the man. And varying levels of interest in getting questions answered and/or satisfaction for past wrongs. It's still yet to be determined to what degree those desires are compatible."
Though her voice was still lovely, and her tone seemed to be intentionally light, there was something in her eyes that indicated Reine was not one of those particularly interested in getting questions answered.
"I'm Reine, by the way. That's Hannah, that's Thraag." She indicated each in turn. Lachen had already introduced himself. "So, 'Detective Inspector Lawrence Grimes,' what do we do now?"
"Count Lowls sounds like a nice chap, then." Grimes puts up a tired smile. "So each of us has an axe to grind with the count, but none us have actually met the man? Or at least remember meeting him."
"Sounds like we'll make perfect companions, then. Well met, all of you."
He then looks around, giving a thought to Reine's question. It is a strange land, and he has wondered around rather aimlessly so far. "As for what to do now... I was drawn here, on this place, as were you - perhaps there is a meaning to it. We should start taking a look at this... building - caravanserai it might be."
But before he turns to start walking towards the building, there was one small matter left... Grimes have tried really hard not to stare - that would be impolite of course. But this Thraag fellow... Not quite something you'll see in the streets of London.
"So, erm.. Thraag, was it? I have not been long here. I think... Hard to say exactly - time behaves funny in here. Days, perhaps. Weeks at most. But, erm... I meant to ask - what is this Golarion thing you are referring to?"
"Golarion is the planet we come from. It lies on a different plane of existence then Dreamland. Thraag explained and then asks, "Do you come from a planet or plane outside of Dreamland and Golarion?"
Grimes' eyebrows raise once again. Now this is an interesting development...
"Earth." he says abruptly.
"The world of my home is called Earth. I would gather it is in different plane from this Dreamlands. I have absolutely no idea how it aligns with your Golarion, however. But it shall be interesting to find out."
"I have not heard of that place so I cannot tell you. For now, we may want to start exploring this facility. Does anyone have an idea of where we should start?" Thraag says as he scans the building before them.
"Earth?," "Reine asked the question with an odd frown. "Your world is named after the element? Do you have living rocks everywhere? I thought that was a plane, not a world."
Then she shook her head.
"Nevermind. For now, we should make sure there's nothing waiting to jump out and eat our souls." Then she began looking around the building.
"Pick a spot and work around the perimeter, I suppose." She gave the strange man a look.
"At least one of us is going to stay behind you for now, you understand? For your safety and ours."
"Well, there is a considerable amount of rock beneath everything..." Grimes shrugs. "The scientific types call the planet Terra. We can use that if it confuses you less."
He is not entirely comfortable with the idea of one of these strangers lurking behind him, but it seems he'll have to trust them if we wants to get back on Lowls' trail.
"Very well, then. After you." he motions towards the gate entrance.
The group entered the shady caravanserai, the thick stone cutting off the harsh sunlight and immediately dropping the temperature a good 20 degrees. Through the gates to the west the group found a statue of a person with their eyes closed holding out a large, empty basin- a sleepwalker offering fresh, cool water to travelers, though now the water was gone.
As they continue deeper into the building it is quiet but somehow doesn't feel abandoned, in spite of the partially collapsed state of the walls.
Making their way the western wall the group finds a long, empty gallery that might have once held resting travelers but now sheltered nothing but silence.
Sets of curtains blocked any view of the rooms to the north or the south.
As soon as they entered, Hannah wrapped her arms around herself as if suddenly transported to winter. "I'd feel better back under the sun," she said to nobody in particular.
While they explored, she ran her fingers across the dusty wall. "I don't think anyone has been here in quite some time." She then immediately frowned. Why did that feel wrong?
"Nonsense, this coolness feels quite like home. Quite enjoyable in.." Grimes starts, but cuts off mid-sentence. He strains to hear all the little details and echoes bouncing off the stone walls, while his eyes dart around, trying to pierce the darkness.
Then he raises his cane, and points it toward north. "May I bring you attention over that way. There is indeed someone else in here" the detective says, lowering his voice.
As Thraag enters he calls upon his inner powers once more and a flush of life comes over him.
As Lawrence whispers he nods and whispers, "I hear it to."
Reine's ears also pricked at the faint sounds coming from the other room.
She caught the eyes of the others, pointed to herself, then the curtain, and held her finger to her lips.
Moving slowly and smoothly, Reine crept up to one side of the curtain and tilted her head to see if she could see anything through the gap, while she waited for the others to get into place behind her.
Hannah squeaked as the others perked their ears. She frowned and padded into the long hallway, her hand brushing a column as she rounded it, using it as cover from whatever might be behind the curtain.
Thraag follows along behind the others and tries not to be too noisy.
Tattered curtains partially obscured Reine's view of the room from the hallway outside it but she could peek through them well enough to see. The walls of the room were lined with shelves, and a long wooden table stretched through the room’s center. Although it obviously was once a shop, only dust and a few piles of rags remained on display.
Through the curtain, Reine saw a gaunt man in dark robes puttering around what looked like a shop. He was turned away from the door but from the way he was moving it looked like he was taking inventory of the nearly empty shelves.
In spite of the rest of the group's lack of stealth he didn't seem aware of Reine peeking into the shop.
Reine turned to the others and motioned, indicating 1 person on the other side of the curtain, and that they didn't look armed.
Which, of course, meant nothing.
She pointed at herself, then towards the curtain, indicating that she would go in first. Then she motioned for the others to be ready to come in fighting if (when, inevitably), the single, harmless-looking person, alone in an abandoned building on a lost plane of the dreamlands, turned out to be a terrible monster.
Waiting until the rest were ready, Reine then slipped through the curtain.
"Hello," she said, hands empty, but Power quietly at the ready, "I don't suppose you've seen any power-hungry nobles passing through here recently?"
Thraag remains where he is and listens to see how the old man will react.
Lachen waits nearby, as silently as possible, his hammer ready to strike.
Not only does she manipulate fear, maybe she is fearless too...
Reine turned to the others and motioned, indicating 1 person on the other side of the curtain, and that they didn't look armed.
Which, of course, meant nothing.
She pointed at herself, then towards the curtain, indicating that she would go in first. Then she motioned for the others to be ready to come in fighting if (when, inevitably), the single, harmless-looking person, alone in an abandoned building on a lost plane of the dreamlands, turned out to be a terrible monster.
Waiting until the rest were ready, Reine then slipped through the curtain.
"Hello," she said, hands empty, but Power quietly at the ready, "I don't suppose you've seen any power-hungry nobles passing through here recently?"
The man jumped, surprised as Reine entered the room. "Oh hello!" He glanced at the beaded curtain as if to see if anyone else was coming. "Hmm? Power-hungry nobles? Umm no. We don't get many visitors any more. Are you looking for provisions for the road?" Looking at the empty shelves, Reine gathered there would be little in the way of such provisions here.
Lachen sees nothing unusual, as he keeps his eyes focused on the strange man's hands
Grimes follows through the curtain, and raises his hat in greeting. "Good day to you, sir. Might you be the proprietor of this... uh.. establishment?"
Once again, the detective's eyes sweep the room as he enters. And while there is nothing remarkable about the room itself, the occupant is a more interesting case.
He taps ever so gently on Lachen's and Reine's shoulders, to get their attention. And with his cane, he discreetly points at the shadowy hems of the old man's robe.