Adventures in the Inner Planes (EAFW)

: Scampering blazes dove into the rolling mass of ooze that issued from the plane of magma, but the attack was in vain. The hungry paraelementals devoured them, using the energy to stoke their liquid ovens. A mighty creature of earth rose from the ground and roared its defiance at the wave of lava that threatened to overwhelm it Mighty fists of granite and obsidian smashed in to the magma bank, scatting its molten form, what remained reformed and threw itself over the earth elemental, swallowing it in its glowing cocoon. It grew from the feast, and dared the remaining fire elementals to throw themselves into its gaping maw.
: — Tales of an Unseen War
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The inner planes of earth, air, fire, and water are constantly at war with the growing power of the paraelementals of silt, magma, and sun. Elementals and creatures native to those planes constantly patrol their borders, fighting encroaching neighbors in smoky, blazing battles of sun, fire, and magma or mud-encrusted affairs of silt, earth, and water. Lightning from furious air spirits and fierce storms from the crazed creatures of rain accentuate the madness. They all draw on their servants and prime material connections to aid them in the chaos, and frequently the servants lives are wasted in a futile attempt to throw back a blazing spout of magma, or stop a never ebbing tide of silt.
The priests of Athas rarely participate in these battles. Most are simply too weak to effectively unbalance the equation. Only the powerful elemental clerics and spirits of the land are invoked by their patron planes to deal with a particular battle, threat, or invasion.
There is a strange symbiosis between the elemental planes and the Prime Material Plane. The actions of the defilers and the natural decay of an environmentally ravaged land eats at the power and the souls of elemental spirits. "Vet, there is also a connection between battles fought on the inner planes and the success of particular elements on the surface of Athas.
Recently, the Estuary of the Forked Tongue has risen almost an entire foot! Simultaneously, clerics of silt have been heard to proclaim that their patrons had won a major victory over elemental earth in the inner planes.
==Travel in the Inner Planes==
To enter the elemental planes, a character must possess the means of admission. High-level druids have an innate ability to travel to the inner planes. Clerics may be transported by their patrons, and others may use magical items or spells to accomplish a transformation to the ethereal state.
A traveler becoming ethereal slowly fades from the Rime Material Plane, and rematerializes in the elemental plane of his choice. He may leave the ethereal plane at will, and rematerialize one round later on another plane—either elemental or prime material. Once the being has entered another plane, he cannot travel again until the following round. Phase spiders and other creatures with phasing abilities are adept at this procedure.
While in the inner planes, combat, movement, and other activities are treated as if they were taking place on the Prime Material Plane—except that a traveler may find himself hopping between clouds rather than treading the deserts of Athas. A character can "fall" in the inner planes (though no damage is taken in the plane of air), drown (though not in the Plane of Water), or suffocate (but not in the plane of silt). In other words, the DM should try to make both the setting and the environment perilous, fantastic, and exciting to the players without making it unduly complicated.
Time passes slowly for characters in the inner planes. For every 10 turns that pass on the ethereal plane, the effects are as if a single turn has passed in the Prime Material Plane. This means that an attack that aged a character 10–40 years would actually age him only 1–4 years. If a spell or device is being used to transport a character to the ethereal plane, he is ejected when the ethereal equivalent has passed. Oil ofetnerealness that lasts for 6 turns (one hour) would actually last 10 subjective hours for the character.
Food and drink of some sort must be scavenged or created by visitors, but at one-tenth the normal rate required by the character's race.
Finally, many strange and fantastic creatures make their homes in the inner planes. The DM should populate his adventures with beings native to the planes, or ethereal equivalents should be chosen from the encounter tables of the appropriate terrain type.
==Reasons for Travel in the Inner Planes==
Elemental clerics and high-level druids are often beckoned to the elemental planes to help defend against an incursion of a rival element or paraelement. Every 60 days, the DM should roll ld20 for every character elemental or 17th- to 20th-level druid (since they may travel the inner planes) in the game. A roll of 1 indicates that the character's services are required on the patron plane. In the case of druids, the plane that requires his assistance will always be one for which he has spell access.
The character has 5d6 days to report. He is gone from Athas for 1 d 100 days, and the player may pick another character from his character tree.
If the DM and the players are willing, they may continue playing by temporarily transferring the campaign to the elemental planes. This is not recommended if there are other players who have no way to accompany their companions.
If the game does continue on the ethereal planes, this section will help the DM and the players to understand the nature of the elemental planes and the roles the characters will play there.
There are many reasons why the elemental powers may call on their servants to venture to the home plane of the elemental. More often than not, the cause for summoning is war. Either the element's plane has been invaded by one of its neighbors or it is about to invade another. In these epic battles, the victor often gains territory on Athas, while the loser must watch as his element is destroyed.
Another reason to travel to the inner planes is to retrieve items lost by previous visitors. Perhaps a champion of fire lost a powerful magical item in a battle with magma paraelementals, and the spirits of flame fear it will be used against them. They cannot easily travel between the planes, but a cleric or a druid and his companions may. The reward for completing the mission would be the item itself.
Hundreds of adventures can be created by an imaginative DM, and play in the inner spheres should be exciting, rich in elemental imagery, and often deadly.