Physical Conditions - Dust (TIP)

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The Quasielemental Plane of Dust is an open, empty place swept by howling winds and stinging fragments of particulate matter. Those who hope to survive in this plane must address numerous concerns.
==Getting Here==
Apart from the Doomguard, few nonnatives are insane or self-loathing enough to make their way into the quasiplane of Dust. After all, what sane person seeks out a land where ultimate disintegration is the only sure fate?
No one is certain just how many portals allow a body to reach the quasiplane of Dust. The only thing that can be said absolutely is that there are fewer today than there were yesterday. These structures seem to be subject to the natural decay of the quasiplane to which they lead.
It is widely believed that the Doomguard maintain a number of portals that only they can access. Whether or not this is true is difficult to say, but convincing evidence supports such claims.
A large gate fashioned from a mysterious, crumbling structure stands in a remote comer of Elysium. It is abandoned and almost forgotten, although the portal still works. The problem is, no one knows what type of key might open the gate. Numerous theories have been put forward, but none have panned out. Some say that the key to this gate is no key at all.
In the midst of the vast battlefield of Oinos on the Gray Waste rests a large iron ring. It is old, rusted, and looks as if it might crumble into dust at any moment. Depending upon the current status of the Blood War, this gate may or may not be approachable. As often as not, it lies in the middle of a battle ranging from a skirmish to an epic clash of armies. To trigger the magical portal, an individual only need break an enemy's sword over his knee. This can be problematic for creatures without knees, but most others find this requirement simple enough.
Only rarely do vortices lead to the Quasielemental Plane of Dust. They're most commonly found at the heart of great deserts, ringed by unending siroccos. Other large collections of sand or gritty soil can sometimes spawn such vortices. On the grim prime-material world of Athas, for example, vast seas of powdery silt lie waiting to consume travelers. More than one conduit to the Quasi- elemental Plane of Dust exists within those desiccated wastes.
==Hazards==
The quasiplane of Dust is indeed a dangerous place. After all, the very nature of the plane causes matter to gradually break apart.
===Disngration===
With each passing hour, the detrimental nature of this realm erodes all nonnative living and unliving matter. This process begins the instant an individual arrives in the quasiplane and continues until magically halted or the poor soul's complete destruction occurs.
At the end of each tum spent in the quasiplane of Dust, a nonnative must make a saving throw vs. breath weapon. Failure inflicts 2d6 points of damage, while success halves that. When a visitor's hit points fall to 0, she breaks up just as if she had been annihilated by a disintegration spell. Likewise, nonliving objects must also save vs. disintegration or crumble to dust.
While on the plane, normal healing magic does not restore hit points lost to this process unless accompanied by restoration, negative plane protection, or similar spell.
===Breathing and senses===
While there is a very thin atmosphere here, nonnatives cannot breathe it without magical aid. Indeed, it's so thin that nonmagical flames won't bum. Even if a fire could ignite in the plane of Dust, surely it too would decay and crumble-like everything else here.
While no natural light exists and flames won't stay lit long enough to be of any help, little else prevents one from seeing well enough here. With some manner of magical illumination, vision works more or less normally to a distance of about 90 feet. Beyond that, however, the drifting dusts make vision impossible. Infravision functions normally, although it is limited to a maximum range of 60 feet.
===Other Dangers===
But now you say, "I have magics to protect me from the disintegrating dusts and the lack of air, so the quasiplane lies before me open to exploration." Well, then, you are a fool and more than a fool. The plane of Dust has destroyed countless mortals who thought just that.
COBWEB. Here and there, floating particles of dust collide and stick together. Occasionally, these form into strands or strings and then into structures that greatly resemble cobwebs clinging to dusty comers.
Cobwebs composed of quasielemental Dust are very sturdy, held together by the negative energy that saturates this place. As such, no physical force can break them apart. Powerful spells like disintegrate can destroy the web, but anything less fails to have any effect.
When a creature comes into contact with a cobweb, an immediate saving throw vs. paralysis is required. Failure of this roll indicates that the web has snared its victim.
Once this happens, only a spell that breaks up the energy of the web, like negative plane protection, frees the trapped explorer. Disintegration can also be used to destroy the web at this point, but it stands a good chance of injuring or killing the ensnared individual (only a saving throw vs. death magic can save the poor creature).
Once a being is caught in the cobweb, it begins to feed on his energy. At the end of each round, the imprisoned body will be diminished in some way. The following chart can be used to determine the effect of the web minute by minute. 
DIE ROLL	ENSNARED BEING:
1 	loses 1 point of Strength
2 	loses 1 point of Dexterity
3 	loses 1 point of Constitution
4 	loses 1 point of Intelligence
5 	loses 1 point of Wisdom
6 	loses 1 point of Charisma
7 	loses 1 experience level
8 	ages 10 years
DUST DEVILS. As the thin winds drift through this realm, they engender frail storms of elemental Dust. From time to time, these currents feed on each other to become stronger and stronger, building until they become a swirling vortex.
Once formed, dust devils wander randomly about the quasiplane. Sometimes they drift slowly, matching only the pace of a walking man. Occasionally, they pick up speed and race along with the pace of a galloping horse.
When a dust devil comes into contact with solid matter, either living or unliving, it instantly bombards the material with the concentrated destructive power of this place. This acts exactly as a disintegration spell.
NEGATIVE POCKETS. In addition to the other sorts of elemental pockets found elsewhere, a traveler can stumble upon a pocket that has drifted from the plane of Negative Energy. These black vortices are all but invisible against the darkness of the quasiplane. Those who enter such pockets have their lives drained away just as if they had surrendered to the embrace of a vampire.
==Moving About==
Gravity loses all will in the Quasielemental Plane of Dust, although a foolhardy traveler falls toward the plane of Earth if he moves into the Tumbling Rocks. For the most part, however, an explorer just floats around unless he has something to push off of or can cast some manner of flight spell.
(A cutter can also move around by taking the eternal plunge, as detailed under the description of the Elemental Plane of Air.-the Editor)
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