S03E07

## The Dreamlands, Part 1

### Summary:

The Dread Company reach Minnie's cabin, but instead of finding Maedalyn Dyre, they find themselves in a bizarre land beyond comprehension.

### Characters:

Christor, Maxir, Minerva, Percy, Torrhen

.

## The Dreamlands, Part 1

The Dread Company pressed on, injured by their conflicts with Aldford's guards, wildlife and the assault by Ser Jon Hallan. The waters of Greyrocks Swamp were getting deeper and colder as the sun began to set. Christor, Maxir, Minnie and Torrhen came to and could see in the distance that Ser Percy and Whistler were approaching and moved to join them. The now reunited group headed to Minnie's cabin and the hope of a final confrontation with Maedalyn Dyre.

## Minnie's Cabin

The cabin itself sat on a fetid little island, propped above wet ground on short stilts. The party approached in two groups, with the stealthy Torrhen and Minnie taking a boat around and under the cabin, while the not-so-stealthy Ser Percy walked right up and knocked on the front door.

As Torrhen and Minnie rowed closer, a wide, dark silhouette could be seen in the water below. Minnie took a dead rat from out of her sleeve and carefully dropped it into the muddy green swamp. The shadowy figure below made a surprisingly quick move, snapping at the dead rat, and then it dove down into unknown black. Beneath the cabin, Torrhen discovered a blade on a spring trapping the building's lower hatch. Even knowing it was there, he hurt himself a little disarming it.

Percy knocked and announced himself loudly. All anyone could see was a single lamp inside and some lazy smoke streaming from the chimney. So, Percy turned the handle and walked right in. Torrhen and Minnie infiltrated through the floor at the same time. There was no one in the cabin. The group carefully searched, finding a fresh fire in the fireplace made of strange foreign plants, having only died down a few hours before. Everything else in the cabin seemed generally unremarkable. Someone had been living there for the past few months, reading Minnie's collection of magical tomes (especially those relating to magic from North of The Wall), but very little had been disturbed.

It was then that Christor and Maxir, still standing on the porch, looked out to see the horizon disappearing in a shocking wave. The world was washing away into white right before their eyes.

## Colours and Visions

Before long, the existence they knew was completely gone. They stood on a characterless void, the sky a nothing grey, the land a nothing white. They looked down to find shapes of glowing colour on the ground below. One colour felt warm and tingled, another hurt viciously, still another healed one's wounds.

Green humanoid shapes of transparent, fluid energy (just like the ones they had faced at High Heart) appeared and attacked the party. The fighting was harsh and often desperate, but the group used the power of the coloured shapes to their advantage and won the day.

With the green spirits gone, Ser Percy could feel, but not see, the idea of a hill in the distance. He bid the Dread Company follow him and they did, passing into another reality - this time in the form of a sunny glade.

In the centre of the glade materialized the form of Minnie's enormous pet turtle Old Mitch. Mitch spoke to the party in an odd language. Remembering his studies as a boy, Ser Percy recognized it as the ancient tongue of the Valyrian Empire. He translated, "My friend is an Elephant. Don't eat the core."

With that, the turtle coughed and spat out a hand-sized fruit. Minnie and Torrhen identified it as an Apple of Tyrosh, a fruit from the island nation of Tyrosh with a sweet flesh and a poison core. The group took turns eating the fruit, finding it pleasant, but they left the core. When the last bite of flesh was eaten, the turtle shifted into the form of a large tiger.

The tiger spoke in another foreign tongue, which no one could identify. It spat out a glass bottle, filled with a clear liquid. Percy snatched up the bottle and gave it a sniff. It had a sweet, pleasant aroma, so he just touched a drop to his lips. Even that small interaction was enough to make him desperately sick. He dropped the bottle and it cracked on the ground, slowly dripping out. The fragrance wafting about, Minnie and Torrhen realized the fluid was the Tears of Lys, a strong poison from the island nation of Lys, often used by assassins.

When the last drop of the Tears of Lys was spilled, the tiger changed into an elephant. It spoke in the common tongue of Westeros, "You will find refuge in the daughter city, should you survive." And then the elephant disappeared into evaporating tongues of smoke.

Percy and Maxir pressed on, leaving the glade, but the others stayed behind to examine the area. Torrhen found two sets of tracks, adult women in expensive slippers. They had left burns on the plants in the area. He deduced that it must be Maedalyn Dyre and her accomplice, the witch known as Maggy the Frog, who won a fight with spirits by burning them away. He followed the tracks to a hastily buried necklace with a prominent red ruby. Torrhen gave the necklace to Minnie to examine. Minnie took a deep look at the jewelry and then casually tucked it away.

## A Familiar Circle

Leaving the glade, the group could see a mound in the distance ringed by a circle of standing stone. It looked remarkably like the ruin of Andalwhere, the ancient spot where the group had met with Barrish Cherrane to discuss their possible involvement with the Eight Future Kings. And as they drew closer, they found it looked exactly like Andalwhere, with Maedalyn and Maggy's tracks leading right into the circle.

When the Dread company entered the circle, they found themselves again in a sea of white nothingness, faced only by a team of copies of themselves. They were intrigued at first, looking to speak with their mirror-selves. But the pack of doppelgangers attacked, their eyes glowing a deep red. The fighting was bitter and difficult, but they found that whenever they killed their opposite number, a flow of energy passed from the dead copy and healed them. It was a slow and brutal conflict, but eventually, the true Dread Company overcame their bloodthirsty doubles.

## The Black Goat

Passing through a shift in reality again, they found themselves in a bizarre, alien throne room. Before them sat a figure on a throne, an enormous man, fifteen feet tall with the head of a goat.

The figure whispered in a low tone, "I am the Black Goat of Qohor. I have watched you. You are now trapped within the dreams of The Dead One, but there may be hope for you still... were I to help you."

"What, oh godly goat one, would you like in exchange for your help?" said Ser Percy, master diplomat.

"I could guide you across the Plateau of Leng and through cold Kadath to Discordia and The Dead One herself," the Black Goat said, "but I demand a sacrifice of blood."

"Um, Mister Goat?" Christor said meekly. "If you help my friends get out of here, I could, um, stay behind."

"No, no, no!" Percy interrupted. "That's a terrible deal and we won't stand for it." And he began to negotiate.

Maxir could see what Percy was doing and stepped in, attempting to amuse the god with his confrontational style. The Black Goat of Qohor was amused by the group's audacity. He attempted to break the will of each of the Dread Company, giving them disturbing visions of their greatest emotional failures. But Percy was unmoved, and he actually haggled with the god. They promised that they would build a shrine to the Black Goat, and in exchange, he would guide them to where they needed to go."

The Black Goat smiled and stood from his throne. And they all moved on.

## Experience

Christor, Maxir, Minnie, Percy and Torrhen each earned 12XP and 3 Glory

.