"This has indeed been done before. I would not have called you here to try out some experimental spell. In a mundane circumstance, you would be able to interact with the dream world the same as you would this one, although the makeup of the world is dependent on the dreamer and the extent of the control that they have over the dream. I have also heard that time flows differently in the dream realm. From what I have read, one may spend what they believe to be hours, or even days in the dream realm and return to their physical body to find that barely more than a minute has passed in this one."

"As for what you should be wary of, when your consciousness is in the dream, it can be harmed just as much as your physical body can be harmed in this world. While I have not heard of anyone being slain because of their activity in the dream world, I have heard tales of those who ventured into the dream world and were harmed to the extent that their consciousness was forced back into their body and that their mind had suffered some damage. Your physical bodies will be vulnerable when your consciousness is in the dream world, but we will be present to assure no harm comes to them."

With your questions answered, you're all led to a chamber with a bed in the center, in which the priestess is tossing and turning, trapped in nightmares. On the ground is a circle of runes written in chalk around the bed, with five smaller circles connected to it for you all to sit in. After you take your position within the circles, the clerics begin chanting and casting the spell to allow you all project your consciousness into the dreams of the priestess. After a minute, you can feel yourselves standing up and are able to move about, but you turn around and see your bodies still sitting in the circles as the clerics cast the spell.

As you move closer to the priestess, you all are instantly teleported to a different world. The sky is grey and devoid of any heavenly bodies that might be used to determine the location or time of day. You stand in the middle of a desolate forest, with gnarled, dead trees and dead plants as far as you can see. In the distance, you hear the roars and growls of terrible beasts.

Stella takes a deep breath, hands going to the hilts of her blades to double check she has everything in this dream world. Obsidian gives an annoyed mreow and weaves around her legs as she looks around. "Pick a direction and walk?"

Despite assurance of protection for their physical body, the tiefling had Souperb stand outside with the priestess, tasked with simply observing proceedings. Mostly. In any event, once they all arrive in the dream world, Courage cannot help but roam around the immediate area trying to examine the threes and "earth", curious to see if the substance held the same consistency as its more earthy counterpart.

Nature: 16.

Regardless of whether it does or not, the tiefling man cannot help but chuckle to himself.  "Simply fascinating! It reminds me of Chaos Matter in a way. Oh, hm... I wonder if one were to but exert their will a little..." He trails off muttering to himself until someone grabs his attention again. Not that Stella's question hadn't done so... but, that was only for a split second before it was back to studying the surroundings, completely unconcerned for the hostile feeling environment.

The sensation of his consciousness being pulled from his physical form is something so strange and... weird to the goliath. Before they approach the priestess' writhing frame, he takes a second to look back and look at himself, then over to the clerics who were casting the spell itself. He had put faith in them that they would protect their bodies in such a vulnerable state, and moves towards the prophetess with the others.

Now they all stood in a dead forest, unknown to them, with the sounds of beasts nearby. Yvan frowns at the sight of the forest itself, but reminds himself it is only a dream. At Stella's suggestion, he says, "Are we going to try avoiding the beasts or... heading towards them?"

Vastra moves around a bit, getting used to the feel of moving as a projection of her consciousness, even flying around and touching her comrades to see how it feels. "Hmm. It all feels the same as it does in the real world. Wasn't expecting that. I suppose the question is whether we believe those beasts are pursuing our trapped priestess or possible servants of whoever is responsible for this nightmare world. If not, we can attempt to get out of this forest and search for her, since there's no need to fight every random monster here" 

Courage startles at the contact initially from Vastra. But, it is just the shake up needed for him to start really paying attention to the others, and slowly catch up on the conversation. "Seek out the source instead of the symptoms... Not a bad idea. But, is not entirely bad idea to face the local random monsters. It may drain some resources, but will help us get better oriented in this realm if we have something to practice against. By the nine, it might even shine some light onto just what we're facing." Courage contemplates aloud.

"All of that said, I'll follow you guy's lead as always. In all my time I haven't had much experience dealing with this sort of thing. The closest I've been to a realm like this was... Limbo.. or, whatever you lot call that mess of chaos." Courage scowls and spits off to the side. Then he looks to the rest, seeming to wait for anyone to officially set the course.

Stella frowns. "May as well follow the beasts at least for a bit. They're our best lead right now, I think. If that proves fruitless, we can try something else."

As the others spoke, Yvan's eyes scanned their surroundings once again before his eyes landed on the irritated Obsidian, weaving himself between Stella's ankles. His brows furrowed in thought, then an idea came over him. "Alys," He says gently over to the silent wizard (probably trying to regather herself after being transported). "Since it looks like we're going to be following the beasts, do you think Hoodini could scout ahead for us? Maybe we could get an idea of just what these things are and if they happen to be pursuing the prophetess?"

Much like the others, Alys had to look back at the priestess and the events with mixed feelings. It was quite surreal. She'd steal a glance up at Yvan to check on him before her eyes would look to her mentor, Vastra, as well for reassurance through the next step. It was all so new. She'd follow along, wide eyed.

Within the dreamworld, the elf took a second to focus on her breathing. Her blue hues latched onto Courage methodically prodding the earth and examining his surroundings. Absorbing this new reality through his experimentation gave her a renewed logical sense of her surroundings. It helped seeing Stella and Vastra so naturally and confidently adapt as they do. Alys would be inspired to take another breath as she'd gravitate towards Yvan's voice. Instead of allowing her ears to focus on the sounds of the beasts, she focused on the conversation unfolding amongst the group.

Portents: 15 | 5
Alys would touch her forehead to activate her third eye for sensing invisible creatures and objects.

Yvan would find Alys peeking out from behind him, glowing rune on her forehead. She had the base of both their cloaks in her hands, fidgeting with them as she was grounding herself in his, and the others presence. Hearing her name, the wizard would look up at the goliath with a small smile before dipping under him arm to come forward in front of him. She'd drop the fabric in her hands to reach up to Yvan's furs, parting it to find the hidden familiar.

Hoodini's eyes would blink lazily at Alys before trying to give her a blank stare. "Yvan asked nicely." She'd say sweetly. The owl would visibly perk at Yvan's name, then give a brief, but mini glare at her for 'using' that against him. Hooter's swivels his head, puffs out his feathers giving the barbarian a brave look. You could swear he saluted before fluttering off.

Chuckling, the elf would shake her head before smiling up at Yvan. "I think it was a great idea." She'd reach a hand out for his. "Help keep me on track while my eyes are in the sky?" Her head would tilt. When he'd accept, her blue hues would cloud over white while her vision went with Hoodini.

Alys offers an apologetic look, but a confident smile that she was okay and ready to proceed forward. "I should be able to provide any updates as we go."

Perception: 22

Hoodini sees four unnatural beasts with clawed hands dangling in front of their hind paws. They also possess wings like those of bats. They are being led by a creature with a pale, froglike appearance with clawed hands, no eyes, a wide mouth, and a snout ending in pink tentacles. You don't see the prophetess with them.

"Four unnatural beasts with clawed hands, dangling in front of their hind paws. They've got bat wings too. Their leader is froglike with clawed hands, no eyes, a wide mouth, and a snout ending in pink tentacles." Alys would describe out loud. "I don't see the prophetess though." She'd admit

Stella nibbles her lip and nods. "Okay. Do we want to go say hello anyway? Or try to get out of the forest?"

"Yea, that ain't creepy at ain't all." Courage deadpans, before then cracking a grin. "Still tempted to have a proper scrap with them. But again, if wanting to conserve resources 'n all that, or worst yet, in hindsight, alerting something we'd rather not, then... guess avoiding them would be for the best." He furrows his brow in thought for a moment. "Bout' that exit then. Think yer Owl friend us a good path out, or we thinking have'm follow fer a bit. See where they go?"

"We just woke up, so resources shouldn't be that much of an issue. And I'm tempted to do it, simply for the knowledge."

When Alys offers her hand to him, Yvan accepts with no hesitation, returning her smile with a soft one of his own. After she delivers a description of the beasts themselves, the corner of his lip twitches. "Knowing what they do could prove... advantageous for us for any future fights, but who knows what we actually would fight when we find the priestess... I'm wondering if they would lead us to her. I feel like they're... going somewhere, following that frog creature and all. Maybe we should stay behind them, at a safe distance, as Alys and Hoodini watch from above, like Courage suggested."

Alys would listen to the others thoughts, agreeing with most of them. When she'd hear Yvan speak up next to her, hand still in his, she'd nod. "I think I like the idea of following them to see where they may go?" She'd say out loud before adding. "At least we know we're willing to fight them if they happen to discover us."

"Sounds all good to me. Kinda kicking myself for not having made that alteration to my armor for more stealth oriented missions, but.. bah! So long as we're keeping our distance, and this world doesn't haven't any odd tricks for them to exploit and us to fall into, we aughta be fine. Let's go!" Courage proclaims, and following a sharp nod to boot, looked to Alys after for further instructions. Courage would march in lockstop after Alys and Yvan, but would try to be ready to take up a more forward position at moment's heartbeat.

Though just before the group truly start marching along, he'd take out some normally specially treated energy bars from a pouch and imbue them with a bit of his magic. "And here you two go as usual. Probably unnecessary, but better safe then sorry." He says, offering Alys and Vastra one each to further bolster their vitality.

---> Casting (4th level)Aid on Vastra, Alys, and Courage, increasing Max and Current HP by 15.
--->If Stealth roll is needed at some point: 12.

Alys sniffs, happily accepting Courage's snack offer with her free hand. She'd begin nibbling on it immediately. "MmmMmm!" Noises of satisfaction would leave her lips as she'd start swaying her hips a little. She'd bump Yvan a couple times before chuckling and just leaning on him. Humming to herself, her skin would just feintly begin to glow. It couldn't be more obvious the elf was excited for an impromptu snack in the dreamworld.

Stealth: 7 Guidance: 4

Alys leaves a bit of a trail of crumbs as she goes.

Vastra accepts Courage's snack and attempts to be subtle as she follows the creatures

Stealth:20

And Vastra doesn't do too good of a job because she's going about in a bright fancy cape. Having noticed the party, the monsters attack!

Vastra:10
Moon Beast:15
Leng Hound1:9
Leng Hound2:22
Leng Hound3:10

Courage Initiative: 20