Strange Dreams

After their previous adventure, Princes of the Apocalypse, the group went their separate ways for a while, but the connection to Vecna stayed with them, even in their dreams. One night, they all experienced the same dream, though each person had slight differences. Went looked at as a whole, it all makes sense.

Dream 1:

Your dreams are troubled this night, images flicker from one place to another, until finally settling on an ominous location you don’t recognise. The darkened sky burns with a blood red aura, throwing its strange light onto the shattered remains of trees, roads and distant mountain ranges. In the distance, a lone castle is silhouetted, or what remains of it at least. You turn to find the source of light and instead find yourself looking at a doorway. An arched doorway, the door made of translucent, solid diamond and bearing a glowing sapphire in the centre, embossed with the sigil of a hand, palm forward, the fingers curled except for two which point upright. In the centre of the palm, a symbol of an eye. The symbol used by the Cult of Vecna.

Behind you, left, right, you seem to be in a maze where the walls are made of a translucent purple crystal. Perhaps fifty feet away, you spot movement through the wall and rush over to the faint humanoid shape, nothing more than a shadow through the crystal. It starts moving away as you approach so you call out, trying to catch its attention, “Wait! Who are you?!”

It continues walking and you try following, but lose sight of the shadow. You travel the corridors, turn corners to find dead ends or more diamond doorways. Confused on what to do or where to go, you look around in search of an exit and find one in moments. One of the glowing blue sapphires has expanded, the entire door now glowing and pulsing softly. 

You step through and find yourself in the middle of the maze, three other separate doorways on the four sides of this large room, the floor to ceiling walls of purple crystal casting thousands of disorienting reflections. Your companions appear at the other doors and, as one, you decide to meet at the centre of the room. Only a few feet away from each other, there’s suddenly a flash of incredibly bright light and you’re all thrown backwards, the flash causing you to awaken.

Dream 2:

“Wait! Who are you?!”. You find yourself pulled into a dream by the voice of someone familiar. You look around to try and find the source of the voice, but instead find yourself standing in the middle of a massive city in complete disarray. The peasants are rioting, the buildings are burning, guards race to control the uprising but these are not normal guards, instead undead wights strike down the peasants without a care. Looking up at a balcony, an undead knight in black armour watches on with amusement. Noticing your presence, the knight leaps from the balcony and starts approaching, slowly drawing his black great-sword. 

This is beyond you, so you turn to run and find yourself somewhere completely different, facing an arched doorway, the door made of translucent, solid diamond and bearing a glowing sapphire in the centre. The sapphire is embossed with the sigil of a hand, palm forward, the fingers curled except for two which point upright. In the centre of the palm, a symbol of an eye. The symbol used by the Cult of Vecna.

Behind you, left, right, you seem to be in a maze with the walls made of a translucent purple crystal. Perhaps fifty feet away, you spot movement through the wall and, still feeling the steady advance of the knight behind you, you rush over to the faint humanoid shape which is nothing more than a shadow through the crystal. It starts moving away as you approach, so you call out desperately trying to catch its attention, “Stop! Help me! Wait!!”.

The shadow continues walking and so you turn around to face the knight, drawing your own weapon. The knight is a terrifying combatant, incredibly skilled it knocks you around as if you were nothing. You parry, dodge, then decide to run. At the end of the corridor, the glowing blue sapphire on the doorway has expanded, the entire door now glowing and pulsing softly. You rush through and find yourself in the middle of the maze, three other separate doorways on the four sides of this large room, the floor to ceiling walls of purple crystal casting thousands of disorienting reflections. Your companions appear at the other doors and, as one, you decide to meet at the centre of the room. Only a few feet away from each other, there’s suddenly a flash of incredibly bright light and you’re all thrown backwards, the flash causing you to awaken.

Dream 3:

“Stop! Help me! Wait!!”. You are pulled into a dream by the voice of someone familiar. You look around and find yourself floating in a vast void speckled with distant silvery lights. All around you are the floating remains of enormous stone corpses. Hearing a roar behind you, you spin to face a monstrous behemoth resembling a horned, serpentine lobster. You have a brief moment to marvel at its size before being swallowed whole by the gargantuan creature. The darkness embraces you and you wait for the burn of acid as you reach its stomach, but instead a soft light illuminates the doorway you find yourself standing before.

An arched doorway, the door made of translucent, solid diamond and bearing a glowing sapphire in the centre, embossed with the sigil of a hand, palm forward, the fingers curled except for two which point upright. In the centre of the palm, a symbol of an eye. The symbol used by the Cult of Vecna.

You reach out and touch a hand to the glowing sapphire and are instantly transported to the other side, the sapphire is now a ruby, a glowing red light instead of blue. Behind, left, right, walls made of a translucent purple crystal form corridors that lead off around you. You explore for a time, but everything looks so similar, every wall the same, every doorway the same. About to give up, perhaps fifty feet away you spot a shadow through the crystal, movement through one of the walls, so rush over only for it to start moving away as you approach. You call out desperately trying to catch its attention, “Wait! I can’t find my way out! How do I escape this place?!”.

You continue trying, again and again you pass through the doorways, from blue to red and back again, corridors lead off in so many directions that you begin to find it hopeless to even try to find an exit. But then you see something different. At the end of a corridor, the glowing blue sapphire on a doorway has expanded, the entire door now glowing and pulsing softly. You warily step through and find yourself in the middle of the maze, three other separate doorways on the four sides of this large room, the floor to ceiling walls of purple crystal casting thousands of disorienting reflections. Your companions appear at the other doors and, as one, you decide to meet at the centre of the room. Only a few feet away from each other, there’s suddenly a flash of incredibly bright light and you’re all thrown backwards, the flash causing you to awaken.

Dream 4:

“I can’t find my way out! How do I escape this place?!”. You are pulled into a dream by the voice of someone familiar. You look around to find yourself in a corridor, the walls made of a translucent purple crystal. At each end of the corridor are arched doorways, the doors made of translucent, solid diamond with one bearing a glowing blue sapphire in the centre, the other a glowing red ruby. Both gems are embossed with the sigil of a hand, palm forward, the fingers curled except for two which point upright. In the centre of the palm, a symbol of an eye. The symbol used by the Cult of Vecna.

“How do I escape this place?”. You consider the question and start investigating the area, making mental notes, dropping small items to mark previously discovered areas, and before long you have the puzzle of this maze all worked out. The doors teleport you to other sections of the maze, the location dependant on if it was a sapphire or a ruby that was touched to pass through the doors.

Your path finally leads you to the middle of the maze. Three other doorways are noticeable on the four sides of this large room, while the floor to ceiling walls of purple crystal cast thousands of disorienting reflections. Imparting your knowledge to your companions, they each appear at the other doors. As one, you decide to meet at the centre of the room, but only a few feet away from each other there’s a sudden flash of incredibly bright light, throwing you backwards, knocking you back into the corner of this disorientating room.

Your companions are gone, instead the God known as Vecna levitates in the centre of the room. You’ve seen him in visions before, but being up close to him is terrifying, the sheer power of this being emanates almost visibly, the terrible sensation of evil urging you to run while you still can. The skeletal lich, wearing his kingly vestments, hovers in place with his desiccated head thrown back in concentration. His wrinkled eyelids are closed, with one drooping over its empty socket. His shrivelled lips are pulled back to reveal rotted teeth. He spreads his arms, one with a missing hand, and murmurs in a profane-sounding gibberish while a light-less orb swirls in front of his chest, growing larger with each passing moment.

Perhaps sensing your presence, the single eye starts to open, the head slowly tilts in your direction, but the fear of being discovered has you immediately awaken.