Astral Plane 1

A series played using Dreamstone Soup. This post is published under the CC-BY-SA-4.0 licence.

Concept: An astral traveller adrift in a swirling storm of elemental forces. They must use their will to calm the storm and bring a new world into being.

Lifestones: 5 | Dream points: 50

A vast shadows fell over me, blocking the light of the silver sun far above me. I turned and saw a gigantic wall of water towering over me, already beginning to topple under its own weight. I took a deep breath, focused my thoughts into a blade of brilliant white light, and prepared to strike my opponent.

Difficulty 20 | Spending 5 Dream points | 1d20 = 5 + 5 = 10. Fail (lose 1 Lifestone).

I swung my blade toward the crushing mass of water, but my opponent deflected it with the sheer weight of its form. The blade was smothered and snuffed out as my mind was consumed by the all-consuming need for air. The silvery light of the sun dimmed. I was being pushed further and further beneath its reach. I tried to empty my thoughts in the hopes of creating the ballast to lift me to the surface.

Difficulty 10 | Spending 5 Dream points | 1d20 = 10 + 5 = 15. Success.

I felt myself floating closer and closer, the light increasing until I broke the surface. However, I kept rising and soon the silver light was filling my field of vision. I looked away and tried to find another landmark to draw myself toward. All I could see was the light of the sun, which was now beginning to chill my skin with its icy glow. I reached deep into my heart, hoping to stoke the embers of my inner fire. I'd need its heat to withstand the white sun's icy embrace.

Difficulty 10 | 1d20 = 14. Success.

I felt the heat fill me as my heart flared, the inner fire consuming me. Spectral flames extended about me like a corona. I bent space around me to lens the light of my soul, making a searchlight to seek out refuge. I felt myself come to a halt, my ascent stalled somehow. I reflected on my circumstances and wondered if the opposing poles of heat and cold, myself and the star, were in a state of equilibrium. I reached out with my beacon again, hoping to draw matter to me.

Difficulty 15 | Spending 10 Dream points | 1d20 = 3 + 10 = 13. Failure.

The astral bent around me and motes of dust, droplets of water, and gusts of wind answered my call, but larger quantities of matter and energy were sluggish to respond. The earth remained immobile and beyond my graspm, however, I felt a growing swell of heat and moisture; the former drawn to my inner fire, the latter drawn to the echo of the tsunami. I tried to steer the water toward the silver star, in lieu of earth we have ice.

Difficulty 15 | Spending 6 Dream points | 1d20 = 14 + 6 = 20. Success.

Slowly but surely, a shell of rapidly freezing water was encasing the silver star. I watched the ice sphere that was growing thicker until a sizable planet floated before me. Even with my inner fire enhanced by the ambient heat, the planet remained mostly solid. As is rotated, oceans and rivers thawed on the day side, only to freeze again at night. Curious as to how lunar forces might complement this, I put out a call for suitable candidates.

I was taken aback when a disc of purest night began to eclipse my ice planet. I came to know that here in the astral, shadow itself is an element that can be manipulated. I watched my moonless shadow pass aside and my icy diamond return to my field of view, marvelling at how the tidal movements had shaped the temporary oceans. I reached out with my mind and tried to inspire life in the depths.

Difficulty 25 | Spending 15 Dream points | 1d20 = 14 + 15 = 29. Success.

Beneath the frigid waves I felt the stirring of new life! Even on an icy world orbited by a moon of darkness, the astral was seeding new life, new minds. I waited patiently to see how it would develop. Vast crystalline beings with metabolisms so slow they measured on a geological scale. I heard their dreams first, and then their songs as they grew consciousness of each other. I sought to join them when I heard them sing their search for a source of their people. Knowing my inner fire must remain to preserve the balance of this world and its life, I tried to detach myself from it, to permanently cast myself in their image.

Difficulty 20 | Spending 9 Dream points | 1d20 = 2 + 9 = 11. Failure (lose 1 Lifestone).

The inner fire would not relinquish me easily, as soon as my mind was free, I felt it seared by the flames that had once embodied me. The solar winds of my new sun buffeted me and sent me spiralling toward my shining world and it tenebrous moon. As I drifted further, the pain of my sun's heat began to lessen and I found I was slowly gaining more control of my descent. Not one moment too soon as on the periphery of my view I saw my shadow approaching. I tried to speed up to avoid becoming ensnared in its gravity.

Difficulty 10 | 1d20 = 10. Success.

I skirted the shadow's edge but evaded its grasp. I fell to the icy world and my life began.