The Paradigm

Dreamviles!

"Driver!" screams the Raze, Soardoc, as the boat pulls away. "Take this to Arthwan! He'll pay you whatever you ask for!"

 Emergency Departure (photo left): The party withdraws to let the githzerai sentries clean up while they get away on the Telling Sand Lady.

Gate Donjon Potion, ARCHITRAVE--A cry of "Dreamviles!" brings the PCs to the hex where the lesser dream storm intensifies. Some members of the party enter the fire storm to pull a hapless cleric from the tentacled clutches of dreamvile gricks, while others help Captain Driver load the tween-going craft.

Ithzerhex, the Eidolon's Old Barony

"Do you know of Plaifark's Calendar?" whispers Ionobolus, the Crazy Mage. "There are those who contest its authenticity, and there are those who contest that it is also... a map."

Writing on the Wall (photo right): The party discovers a cryptic quatrain crudely carved on a crumbling half-wall before the gates of Old Barony. Stranger still, the inscription is signed by one of their own.

Gate Donjon Potion, ARCHITRAVE--While a lesser dream storm of fire bears down on them, the party parleys with hooded sentries on the parapet. The weary travelers are allowed through the gates and admitted into the cross-tween town of Old Barony, currently called Ithzerhex by the Githzerai who are installed there. They meet Captain Driver, a merchant of arms and armor, who agrees to take them to Innerkeep, an outlying community of Architrave.

A River of Rocks

We have come to a river of rocks.
Focus on a point on the opposite shore.
Move always toward your objective.
Step carefully.
   --from A Walk in the Direction of the Eternal

Gate Donjon Potion, ARCHITRAVE--The party crosses a river of rocks and one of their member is lost amid the grinding stones. Ahead, a structure appears on a low rise on the horizon, as a greater dream storm of fire approaches from beyond.

The Well of the Dirk

What is it, the tween?
It is the way from dream to dream.
    --from A Walk in the Direction of the Eternal

Potion Donjon Potion, ARCHITRAVE--The party comes to a well of clear shallow water. A dagger rests at the bottom. They are set upon by Hoo-doo and the remains of Ring Reaching Reaver, and they meet Geenie, a wayward gnome.

From Raindrop to the Eternal

"I know you can get there from Old Barony, and I know you can get to Old Barony by walking between the Meridian Range and the Obelisphere. Keep the rocks on the left and the light on the right. It's the direction of the Eternal." --Raindrop, giantess of Largesack Bottom

Dagger Donjon Potion, ARCHITRAVE--After walking for days across the ruin-strewn waste, the party is swept up in a horde of kruthik which is then shooed gently away by a hunchbacked giantess. The giantess invites them to her home for greenwine tea and meat pies.

Right: Aurondil, a found stone which has spoken to certain party members

Consternation on the Wheel

Armor Lance Potion, ARCHITRAVE--The party suffers through an arcane storm of acid mist as they descend the rocky mountain slope to the illimitable and featureless plain below. At the base of the mountains, they find no signs of life or of any living creature, only a worn track in the hard-packed earth leading in the direction of the omnipresent beacon on the horizon.

Chamber of Dark Secrets

Fire Lance Potion, ARCHITRAVE--Exploring the intact temple tower, the party finds a narrow hidden stair that descends into darkness. They come to a vaulted chamber blocked by a heavy iron portcullis and feebly illuminated by a small violet light. Within the chamber, they discover sinister secrets protected by undead guardians.

Ring Reaching Reaver

Potion Gate Potion, ARCHITRAVE--After a short rest and some reflection, the adventurers return to Hailstorm Tower and convince Exus to help them in their fight against Hoodoo and the goblins of Ring Reaching Reaver.

Ambush at Hailstorm Tower

Dagger Gate Potion, ARCHITRAVE--Following Kabby, their kobold captive, through winding ice tunnels further into the under-temple, the PCs fall prey to an ambush near Hailstorm Tower. They repulse the small horde of kobolds, giving no quarter to their fleeing quarry. Then they parley with the primary resident of the blue-illuminated tower, Exus, a white dragon of imposing presence.

Conjured!

"Go, and serve Lord Levide!" -- Hoodoo, leader of Ring Reaching Reaver

Image: The party enters the under-temple through an ice-encrusted egress below the altar. Photo by Karim

Scroll Potion Potion, ARCHITRAVE--Five wakelings manifest as avatars amid a temple ruin beneath the red-shrouded clouds of Turret quinze, interrupting a binding ritual performed by the leader of a band of goblins also present at the site. Through intimidation, the party of avatars earns a quest to rid the under-temple of its current occupants and a potential reward of the would-be sacrificial victim, a gnome who calls himself Weewussy Xaweenie.