Eberron - Rising from the Last War

(Joyce) #1

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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.

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