It burns. It's hot you can barely breathe and it really really burns. But you know the only way forward is through and so you grit your teeth and push pass the pain. When you emerge on the other side you find yourself completely unharmed, not a burnt hair or singed piece of cloth among any of you. 

You now find yourselves in another circular room but instead of tall creepy guardians there is an alter made of what appears to be pure emerald standing in the center of the room. All of your belongs are arranged neatly on the alter in four orderly piles. The air is cool bordering on cold and welcome relief from the fire. The temperature is such a change you turn back to face the flames and find they are gone, a smooth stone wall stands behind you. There is no turning back now. More statues and busts adorn the walls of this chamber, none are familiar. 

Looking closer at the alter you see it is also adorned with glyphs and symbols that are intricately woven into the surface. 

On the other side of the room is another arch way adorned with a glyphs and symbols. Beyond this is another set of stairs that leads further down into the ground.

"See? Like nothing. Wasn't so bad!"

Daventry moves to the altar. "This is new. Anything you can make of these runes?" She looks ready to put on her sailing outfit, feathered hat and all, but looks over the runes herself a moment.

Int: 4 (nope!)

You can roll Lore if you want to try and read the runes. I'll accept rolls from Ludolf and Daventry on this one.

“Are the runes new as well?” Pardot asks as he gears himself up.

Triäsa steps over to her belongings, relieved that she managed to push through the curtain of fire. "Are we in the Dreamlands now? Or is this some sort of foyer?  I presume your dreams have suggested a path for us to take once we have arrived at wherever we are supposed to arrive to?" she asks Daventry. Slowly she examines her things, starting to collect them. 

LotFR: 57

Daventry shakes her head, then looks to Triäsa. "Foyer's more appropriate a description, yeah. We've 700 more downward steps to travel. Though in my dreams before, I usually go straight to the steps, so this room and it's altar aren't really clear in my memory."

She gets her things and is ready to continue once the others are. 

Ludolf carefully studies the new set of glyphs and symbols before checking and grabbing his gear, then nodding and following Daventry further down.

LotFR: 10

Unfortunately the runes and glyphs along the alter are a bit of mystery to our more experienced party members. It is clear that the runes are some sort of language but neither of you are capable of reading these. They do look familiar, very much like the ones found in Daventry's old book.

You press on. Gathering your things you head down the stairway that is very much like the one that came before just exactly ten times longer. 700 steps you descend straight down into the ground and when you emerge from the polished stone stairwell you find yourself in new, strange surroundings. 

Perhaps in another circumstance you would call this area a meadow but this is far from the rolling green beauty of Greenmeadow as it is twisted and perverse. Instead of a lush green, the ground is nothing but a burnt brown-orange wiry grass that cracks and breaks loudly as you take a step. The sky is a similar red-orange that blends into the horizon creating a rather disturbing monotonous landscape.

The only distinctive feature around you is straight ahead. A large wooded area that seems highly out of place for there are tall oak trees of a deep lush green. The distance is hard to judge; it could be a few hundred feet or perhaps a few miles, it might be shifting and moving or blurring... actually no it's perfectly crisp... There is a soft phosphorescent glow from highest of the trees.  You turn and look back at the stairway and they way came to find they are gone. The rolling brown-orange grass stretches' into emptiness as far as you can see. 

But your surroundings are not the only thing different. You each look a bit different, it's subtle but a shift none the less as your Dreaming self has arrived fully in the Dreamlands.

Feel free to describe your Dreamlands self. Any/all changes are possible however you would appear in your dreams, an idealized self. 

You've arrived.... but the question is now what?!?

Interestingly enough, Pardot looks nearly the same. With his connection to nature, he's come to realize over his life that ideal is exactly as it is. Things are as they are for a reason. The one small difference is that his medium-light brown hair is a couple shades more ginger.

Pardot also looks to Daventry and says, "Is this is as it was when you were here before?" Still clearly concerned and not quite trusting this place.

There is a bit of a threshold that you pass, a moment of darkened shadow, a transition through the darkness to the light on the other side. As Daventry walks through the darkness, there is but a brief moment where you see nothing but the glowing blue runes that once adorned her, though covering almost every inch of her like a spectral skeleton wrapped in shadow. With a blink, the image is gone. Then, she steps into the light of the orange desert, and you see her ideal.

Daventry stands as she has since Sune's blessing in stature, healthy and hale, clean and composed. Her hair is a shining auburn color, and her eyes a vibrant green, the colors enhanced from her the blonde hair and plain hazel eyes she has had since that day. But instead of regular leathers and a buckler, she looks more equipped a knight from a storybook, gleaming polished half-plate in silver and gold covering her chest, a light chain kama skirt around legs covered in fine silk, and reinforced boots and gauntlets that match her breastplate. Her shield is a polished steel kite shield, with the image of a strange tree on it. Her sword is much the same as in the waking world. When she turns to respond, you notice her accent, the hallmark of a northern country girl, is completely gone. Instead she speaks more like a Cormyr noblewoman... or perhaps how a girl from the swamp would dream a Cormyr noblewoman would sound.

"It is similar, but also not. I have taken those stairs many nights. Sometimes it has been to the wasteland... sometimes Nodens was right here, sometimes there would be a gleaming city in the distance, that I could almost fly to. The grove that was there a moment... that looked familiar, I think."

She looks around, trying to find any feature within the expanse that might be familiar.

Perception: 13

And failing that, she will wish herself flight, no, will herself to fly. And see what happens...

Charisma: 18

The landscape all looks vaguely familiar but you don't note anything that sticks out more so than anything else. You catch the glimpse of something either really far away or really small moving either very slowly or very fast through the sky above you. You do recall that the city you have dreamed of seemed to be in a more mountainous region but you don't see any mountains anywhere.

You close your eyes and do your best Peter Pan impression and you feel your feet leave the ground but just an inch before you fall back to the crunchy orange grass. You feel like that might be possible but you are just not able to grasp such a grand dream.... 

Triäsa steps out into the burnt looking grass and seems to disappear for a moment.  It takes a moment, but it is clear that she is much shorter than even she was before.  (She's about 5 ft tall, now more like 4 ft.)  Her hair has reverted from its new auburn color to the plain brown that it was before.  But her hair has changed even more.  Rather than the shoulder length, slightly wavy style it now very straight and flat, and runs down well past her shoulders.  She seems to be wearing a golden-colored silk dress that falls down almost to her ankles.  It is decorated with bright pink flower blossoms.  

"Whoaaa, Dav! You look like someone out of a book!" she exclaims in a childlike voice, sounding just a tiny bit higher pitched than usual. As she smiles up at her, everyone can see a gap on one side of her teeth where a tooth is missing.  Her figure is much more slimmed, with narrowed hips and little in the way of womanly features. She is in fact a child version of Triäsa. 

"Well! Where shall we go now! Should we investigate the trees?"  

Ludolf follows cautiously down the stairs, his piercing gray eyes filled with suspicion of this place, but the he breaks out in a warm smile as he sees the child-like Triäsa. Ludolf himself has not changed that much in his dream, his three piece suit is somewhat more stylish although still fairly conservative, and he looks slightly younger and without wrinkles. "Yes, out of a book..." Ludolf chuckles as he watches the radiant paladin. "...or a dream perhaps. The gleaming city in the distance sounds about right." He adds, looking at the horizon to spot anything of interest.

Perception: 13

(Is Edgar here?)

Similar to Daventry, Ludolf does not notice anything otherwise remarkable. Just the strange forest off the distance. 

As you all adjust to your surroundings a giant raven descends from the air. At least 5 feet long and a wing span of at least twice that lands gracefully on the ground in front of Ludolf. It's feathers a perfect uniformed jet black that glisten sharply in the orange light. It caws loudly and then... speaks... "Well good-day Master. Rather unpleasant circumstance we find ourselves in here." The raven speaks with a rather pretentious British accent. "I supposed you'd like me to take to the skies and see what I can find. A typical scouting mission, eh?"

"Edgar!" little Triäsa says. "How nice that you can talk!   We do appreciate all your scouting you know. And you are so good at it." She reaches for a pocket and pulls out a treat for him.  She holds it on her outstretched palm, offering it to him. 

Ludolf smiles as the child Triäsa offers Edgar a treat. "Yes, that would certainly be helpful my friend." The old scholar agrees with a nod, pondering if this is him dreaming about Edgar himself or if Edgar himself is dreaming and actually has followed his master into the Dreamlands.

Edgar happily picks the treats from both your palms, "Always a pleasure Master Crawley and Lady Triäsa." He states simply and nods his beak before he pushes off from the ground and force blast wind runs through your hair as he takes to the sky.

Perception for Edgar. What direction are you sending him? Will you all wait where you are while he scouts or start moving?

Edgar would go for a higher altitude, hoping to spot anything that might seem interesting. 

Edgar perception: 18

Edgar flies for a bit and you all wait for his inevitable return. Ten, fifteen minutes maybe an hour or five pass before Edgar returns. He lands with a thud and chirps, "Sorry Master but there's a rather thick fog in the air. I regret to report I wasn't able to see much at all."

Daventry sighs. "I think we just have to go. It's a shared dream, and if we trust in the destination... we will find it."

She walks towards the direction of the grove. In her heart, she holds a rare faith for her, that she won't be left out, and that she hasn't misplaced her trust and led her friends astray. She will lead them to Nodens. And they will find some answers.