Having retrieved the last ioun stone required by Spath, the group was informed that he could only open a way to a shadow of their own world due to his rival Magnimar's magical alarms and defenses. He asked the group to be engulfed by the giant petals of a strange, alien plant species. It quietly opened onto solid ground, yet something about this new world was not quite right. They were in a garden atop a high rectangular pillar, among many others just the same. Canals cut paths between the gardens. A mountain range could be seen to the east. It was evening, with no moon to be seen. A black-clad sneak, one Korvin the Raven, asked them to discreetly retrieve his lost "package of cigarettes". They found the rolled tobacco in an unoccupied gazeebo. To the southeast, they then heard some sort of commotion.