The greatest treasure ever made by elves, the Dreaming City of Dreta Phantas, lies in the hands of their mortal enemies, the dark elves.
Perhaps the best use of Dreta Phantas in your game is to set the player characters upon the task of restoring the stolen city to the surface world once more. This quest involves many individual adventures within, above, and below Ptolus.
Dreams sent by the Dream King over a period of time make the player characters aware of Dreta Phantas and make them feel drawn to the place.
To get there, they learn they must find the Urthon Aedar and penetrate Goth Gulgamel to get to the area of the Spire that holds the ancient Entropy Sphere. Any Urthon Aedar can shape the energy of the sphere into a portal that leads directly into the center of the Dreaming City. (PCs who know of the Tourbillion’s transport function might choose that route instead; see page 453.)
Once inside the city, the PCs learn that the Urthon Aedar believe they guard the soul of the world. (This is not true, strictly speaking; the soul of the world still resides unbeknownst to everyone in the Vallis moon guarded by the Lords of the Seven Chains. However, if the Seven Chains ever were broken, the soul of the world would transfer to Dreta Phantas for safekeeping.) The Galchutt want to destroy the Dreaming City and the soul of the world to finally be free.
Dreta Phantas and its treasure are not safe in the clutches of the dark elves, who one day will manage to penetrate the weakened city. To safeguard it, the PCs must restore Dreta Phantas to the surface of the world—and to do that, they need to reunite the Dreaming Stone and cask of frozen dreams in the heart of Dreta Phantas. They can find the Dreaming Stone in Thoggidrum’s cavern (page 454) and the cask in the hands of Savvan the demon lord in the Jewels of Parnaith. Once the cask and stone are reunited in Dreta Phantas, the Elder Elves will be able to magically return their city to the area around the north end of the Moonsilver Forest where it belongs.
The final step in helping to return the Dreaming City to the surface is to destroy the fortress of Ul-Sinistar and the magical anchor it harbors that keeps the elven city in place below ground.
Once Dreta Phantas is returned to the surface, elves from all over the world respond to its return and step forward to join the Urthon Aedar in protecting it. These legions can keep it from once again falling into the clutches of their enemies and better protect it against the will of the Natharl’nacna.
