Eberron - Rising from the Last War

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The Dreaming Dark.

In the spaces between sleeping and waking, nightmares

wait with grasping c::laws. The quori spirits that rule Dal

Quor spent a thousand years seizing control of the con­

tinent of Sarlona. Now they have turned their many eyes

toward Khorvaire. The ultimate goal of the Dreaming

Dark is to control all the nations. of the world. The plane

of Dal Quor goes through cycles of light and darkness,

and the current age is coming to an end. The nightmare

spirits that rule the plane believe that by seizing control

of mortal civilization-by forcing all the people of Eber­

ron to dream the dreams they devise-they can maintain

this current age of darkness indefinitely. So the fiends of

the Dreaming Dark aren't merely hungry for power; they

are fighting for survival.

The quori can't manifest physically in Eberron, but

they have other options. They can possess willing hu­

manoids, creating agents known as the Inspired (see

chapter 6). They can also manipulate the dreams of

mortals. The Dreaming Dark can trick a priest by send­

ing dreams that appear to be divine visions, or inspire a

soldier to rebel against their lord.

The greatest weapon of the Dreaming Dark is its

ability to infiltrate other organizations. Anyone could

become an Inspired vessel, or be prompted into tak-

ing foolish action by a dream. Its agents are scattered

across the world and have no obvious connection to one

another, until they reveal their true nature and purpose.

THE DREAMING DARK IN THE WAR

The chaos that reigned during the Last War enabled the

agents of the Dreaming Dark to move and act with abso­

lute freedom throughout Khorvaire. Any direct conflict

among Eberron's humanoid populations is a boon to

TH E ROLE OF DREAMS

If you plan to use the Dreaming Dark as a major villain

in your campaign, it can be helpful to establish the role

of dreams early on. If dreams feel like a regular part of

the story, it will be less obvious when the Dreaming Dark

starts manipulating the characters' dreams. For example,

you might establish a pattern of picking one adventurer

and discussing their dreams each time the group takes

a long rest. Consider these ideas for the basic seed

of a dream:

Revisit recent events. This can be a useful opportunity

to call attention to a detail the characters overlooked.

Clearly, this character's subconscious registered the de­

tail as important!

Involve a current villain. This can help build the players'

hatred for an elusive recu rring villain!

Foreshadow the future. This could simply reflect a char­

acter's fears, but it might also convey a warning from a

celestial or other supernatural creature.

Explore the character's past. Give the player an opportu­

nity to add depth to one element of the character's story.

Reflect anxiety. An anxious character might dream about

showing up in a dungeon with no armor or at school

with no clothes. Narratively, these dreams can provide a

moment of comic relief or heighten the players own con­

cern about what's happening in the game.

CHAPTER 4 I BUILDING EBERRON ADVENTURES

this group, which wants to destabilize all of them. Many

of the intense battles near the end of the war might

have been avoided, if not for Dreaming Dark agents fan­

ning the flames of fear and hate-often by invading the

dreams of soldiers and rulers alike.

The feelings of mistrust and festering animosity

between the nations that linger after the Treaty of

Thronehold provide the Dreaming Dark with countless

points of possible infection. Refugees, expatriates, and

other displaced people provide the perfect vehicle for

the Dreaming Dark to spread its influence across Khor­

vaire, carrying its corruption into new populations.

THE ROLE OF DREAMS

All dreams occur in the plane of Dal Quor. When

mortals sleep, their minds touch the plane and shape

a shard of it. Normally, a dream is shaped by the

memories and emotions of the dreamer. But the dream

spell and similar effects (such as a night hag's Night­

mare Haunting) can influence a dream from the outside,

to a specific and often sinister purpose. The quori are

masters of using the dream spell as a weapon to terror­

ize their foes.

It's possible for an entire adventure to take place in

a dream. The trick with a dream adventure is ensuring

that it feels meaningful, even consequential, and not just

a waste of time. One of four basic approaches can help

you do that:

A real monster inhabits a character's dreams and

poses a real threat to that character's mind or body.

The goal of the adventure is to defeat that monster.

• A dreaming character is incapable of waking com­
  munication-they might be comatose or possessed.
  The goal of the adventure is to communicate with the
  dreamer and free them from whatever is preventing
  them from communicating.


• A villain has implanted some kind of psychic lock in a
  character's mind, which prevents them from accessing
  some knowledge or capability. The goal of the adven­
  ture is to remove the psychic lock, which might take
  the form of a complex trap or maze in the dream.


• The actual objective of the adventure lies in Dal Quor.
  The first goal is to find a way to break out of the mun­
  dane dreamscape and enter the wider plane.
  The second challenge in crafting a dream adventure is
  how to bring all the characters in a party together in the
  same dream, which might or might not belong to one of
  them. Consider these possibilities:


• One of the characters is dreaming, and the others
  appear in the dream as memories and impressions in
  the dreamer's mind.


• Some exotic magic-a kalashtar ritual or an eldritch
  machine, perhaps-allows the characters to share a
  dream or to enter someone else's dream. This magic
  could also allow a character who ordinarily can't
  dream (such as an elf, a warforged, or a kalashtar) to
  enter the dreamscape as well.


• Agents of the Dreaming Dark use their magic to bring
  the dreams of the characters together so they can in­
  fluence or target the whole party at once.