Anavare: A Ruptured Dreamscape (GEP)

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==Anavare: A Ruptured Dreamscape==
From time to time, clumps of protomatter with an uncanny resemblance to real landscapes drift into well-traveled ethereal byways. Most evaporate too quickly for interested cutters to glean much about them. In fact, many of these clumps are almost completely "melted" dreambergs from the ruptured dreamscape called Anavaree. Anavaree exists adjacent to the curtain marking the boundary with the Border of the Prime Material Plane, but it lies far from commonly traveled worlds and dreams.
Anavaree births 1d4 dreambergs into the Deep every 24 hours. These dreams take on "reality" by collecting protomatter; however, most of the drifting dreambergs completely dissolve within 1 d 100 hours of their creation. Before their dissolution, dreambergs measure 30–120 feet in rough diameter, and contain 1 d4 elements associated with the dreamscape (aside from the dream's principle and her named pets, as described below).
Curious bashers who trace a dreamberg's path with a successful ethereal tracking proficiency check find the source of the dreambergs after 1d 1O0 hours of travel: a ruptured dreamscape. The rupture appears as a tattered 10- to 80-foot diameter opening (the size of the rupture fluctuates) on the part of the Wall of Color that borders the Prime Material Plane. Dream bergs break off from the dreamscape within and are thus birthed through the rupture.
Gazing into the rupture, travelers view an idyllic landscape past a golden haze. Grass, trees, and even small lakes are dimly perceptible through the aperture. Small birds fly from tree to tree, and their songs penetrate dimly through the gap. Those taking some time to study the scene intently observe movement within the trees from time to time, but the haze and distance make it impossible to identify more.
Travelers who sidestep the rupture and pass through the curtain onto the Border enter a place that doesn't correspond to the pleasant view through the rupture. Instead, the area is a barren prime world that appears lifeless. Only red sands and rocks stretch in every direction, and particularly curious berks who become material rapidly discern that this place lacks enough air to breathe, or even enough air pressure to keep a body's fluids from bleeding through his eyes, ears, and other orifices. In short, this is not a world meant for life.
Those hovering on the edge of the rupture are soon launched back into the Deep, and there take on their old physicality (unlike the newly formed dreamberg, which takes on reality from ethereal protomatter). Moving inward, visitors to Anavaree encounter various elements of the dream described below.
==Inside Anavaree==
Those who bodily enter the dreamscape undergo a subtle transition. Where before they were solid beings tuned to an ethereal state, visitors to the dreamscape become elements of the dream, translated into their dream-selves as described on page 56. 'Course, other than feeling a bit strange when first they cross over, visitors to Anavaree are likely completely unaware of their true state and possible danger. 
Inside, the views afforded through the rupture proves true, save for the fact that the golden haze has receded in all directions, forming a cavity some 600 feet across. Gravity reasserts itself, and a golden light shines down from an otherwise unblemished blue sky. A cool wind blows, bringing the scent of flowers and pine, with birdsong a joyous counterpart.
===The Trees===
These stands of pinelike trees rise no more than 10–20 feet on the outskirts of each copse, but they gradually grow taller toward the center of the copse, where some individual trees rise to heights of 100–200 feet. The undergrowth in each stand of trees is thick and exceptionally difficult to pass through. Besides many incredibly colorful birds of every type, each stand of trees holds a group of dreamborn primates.
The primates look much like ordinary monkeys save for their bright green hue. No set number of creatures lives within each copse, as their numbers vary in a dreamlike manner. Whenever a group of visitors comes within 10 feet of a copse of trees, there is a 25% chance that a monkey pokes its head from the top of a tree. It merely screeches half of the time, but otherwise it lobs a massive pinecone at onlookers. Onlookers who catch or retrieve the pinecone can engage in a short game of catch with the primate before it once again happily disappears into the trees.
Aggressive berks who slay the creature out of hand create a dangerous resonance within the dreamscape. Dark clouds quickly gather, and the light from above dims. Now every time the visitors approach within 10 feet of a new copse of trees, ldlO primates emerge. Each of these primates is swollen with dreamstuff, possessing lOx normal Hit Dice and commensurate THAC0, saving throws, and other modifications. These "enhanced" primate champions attack visitors until they are slain or until the visitors leave the dreamscape or die themselves (those who die in the dreamscape suffer effects as described in "Adventuring within the Dream" on page 56)
Besides the primates, each copse has the potential to contain far more inhabitants. Those with a desire to explore find more interior space than is apparent from without, after the manner of dreams, including overgrown towers, mountains, and new races of dreambom forestlings, to name just a few possibilities.
DREAMBORN PRIMATES: AC 8; MV 9; HD 1+1; hp 5 each; THAC0 19; #AT 1; Dmg 1; SZ S (3' tall); ML fearless (20); Int animal (1); AL N; XP 35.
ENHANCED PRIMATES: AC -2; MV 12; HD 10+10; hp 60 each; THAC0 9; #KI 3; Dmg 2d6(x3); SZ M (6' tall); ML fearless (20); Int animal (1); AL N; XP 1,400
===The Haze===
Visitors pressing into the haze leave the dreamscape behind and become only so much material for usual dreams unless they make a saving throw vs. death magic. Those making the check realize that to press farther into the haze is to lose themselves forever to the things that dreams are made of. Those who fail the check suffer that very fate.
===The Pool===
Crystal clear water holds multitudes of colorful fish at play. Visitors approaching within 10 feetof the edge of a pool stand a 25% chance to be greeted by a dreamborn mermaid, who rises upon a rock tosplash onlookers that fell playfully. Those who ignore the mermaid or respond positively are none the worse for wear. Under no circumstances does the mermaid respond to any questions other than naming the dreamscape (Anavaree) and extolling the virtue of the clear waters and the treasures of coral that lie within it Sods who respond aggressively by chasing the mermaid or slaying her out of hand provoke the same discordant resonances engendered by the murder of a primate, substituting mermaids for monkeys.
As with the copses, the pools potentially contain far more than is apparent on the surface, including staggering depths not initially indicated from the surface, sunken ships, drowned cities, and new races of dreambom fishlings.
DREAMBORN MERMAIDS: AC 7; MV 1, Sw 18; HD 1+1; hp 5 each; THAC0 19; #AT 1; Dmg 1d6 with dagger; SZ S (6' tall); ML fearless (20); Int very (12); AL N; XP 65.
ENHANCED DREAMBORN MERMAIDS: AC -2; MV 1, Sw 18; HD 10+10; hp 60 each; THAC0 9; #AT 3; Dmg 3d6 x 3 with massive coral sword; SZ S H (16' tall); ML fearless (20); Int very (12); AL N; XP 1,400.
===Ana's Playground===
The core of Anavaree is Ana's Playground. Swings, slides, a sandbox, and various blocks, dolls, and other toys are situated atop a low grassy hill. A truly massive purplish dragon, lost in slumber, curls around the periphery of the hill. Upon the hill, two figures play.
One of the figures appears to be one of the green-hued primates that haunt the trees, though this one has particularly human features. The other figure is that of a small human girl, possibly eight or nine years of age, dressed in strangely reflective garments. If she spots the visitors, the girl laughs aloud and calls down from the hill, "Come and play with me and George, but don't wake the dragon; he likes to sleep!"
The girl is Ana (Pr/ 'i? human/0-level/NG), and she is the principle of the dreamscape. When she smiles, the sun brightens, and when she laughs, rainbows dance. On the other hand, her frowns bring clouds, her tears bring rain and cold winds, and her anger causes lightning to touch down. The thing is, Ana doesn't know that she dreams. She hasn't really given her situation much thought, after the fashion of one caught up in a dream, and when first asked, she simply declares Anavaree her playground.
Further probing questions cause Ana to consider her situation seriously and question how she came to be in such a place. Frowns are likely not far behind, because the story behind Ana's state is not a happy one.
Ana's physical body exists in stasis upon the face of the red, dead world described above. She is the only survivor of a technological colonization attempt from another world that fell from the dark of space to smash and bum on the red sands. Within the depths of a massive crater, now long cooled, Ana's stasis chamber-by some miracle of chance or fateremains mostly undamaged and functioning. However, the woman inside suffered some physical damage and now possesses only the mentality of a young girl, a young girl in enforced sleep stasis who continues to dream. The trauma of the crash, the deaths of the other colonists, and the terrible damage sustained by her mind subconsciously jolted Ana's dream persona into this dreamscape. The sleep-stasis capsule keeps her body alive while she dreams. In fact, this unnatural combination of factors eventually caused the Ana's dreamscape to rupture into the Deep Ethereal. The childlike woman remains consciously unaware of the deaths of everyone she holds dear. She has played unconcernedly in this dreamscape as a child for years uncounted.
If Ana begins to grow distressed by answering questions that reveal the story above (related through the eyes of a child, of course), the green primate named George-an enhanced dreambom primate as described above-attempts to calm his playmate. However, the purplish dragon (Ana's pet and dreambom guardian called Grumpy) also has a cumulative 5% chance to wake with every distressing question posed. (The dragon wakes automatically if Ana is in any way threatened or harmed.) If the dragon wakes, it protects its mistress with all its powers.
If Ana becomes distressed enough, she may subconsciously alter the dreamscape completely. The players have two obvious ways to end Ana's dream, if they so wish it. One way is to find and rescue the woman from her sleep stasis capsule on the red planet; when she wakes, the dreamscape bursts and is gone. Another way (possibly attempted by brash or evil visitors) would be to slay Ana's dream persona quickly enough that Grumpy, George, and the other residents are unable to protect her (after all, she thinks of herself as a child, and thus possesses the statistics of one). Such an evil act kills Ana's physical body and immediately bursts the dreamscape, dissolving all the elements within to mere nothingness. The visitors are violently expelled from the dreamscape and randomly flung across the Ethereal, thrown into other dreamscapes, demiplanes, or across the Border into the Inner Planes or prime worlds as the DM desires.
ANA: AC 10; MV 9, HD 1-1; hp 5; THAC0 20; #AT Nil; Dmg Nil; SZ S (4' tall); ML average (10); Int average (10); AL NG; XP 15.
GRUMPY, DREAMBORN DRAGON: AC -11; MV 9, Fl 30, Jp 3; HD 23; hp 160; THAC0 l; #AT 3 or 1; Dmg 1d10+12/ldl0+12/ 3d10+12 (claw/claw/bite) or 24dl0+12 (breath weapon); SA affect normal fires, pyrotechnics, heat metal, suggestion, hypnotism, detect gems; SZ G (100' long); ML fearless (20); Int exceptional (15); AL N; XP 24,000.