Those who inhale the steam of the Lake of Golden Dreams experience visions. Many are meaningless hallucinations, but enough true visions are had to lend credence to the tales about the lake. Any living character who spends an hour on the shores can spend two healing surges to take in the vapors. The character then makes a DC 25 Arcana check or History check. A successful check grants the character a piece of information about the past, as if the character had performed the Consult Mystic Sages ritual. Alternatively, at the Dungeon Master’s discretion, the character can glimpse a future event instead—perhaps a person who will cross paths with the party, a location the adventurers will one day explore, or some other portent. A character can receive only one vision per day, and consecutive uses on subsequent days cost one additional healing surge. Healing surges spent at the Lake of Golden Dreams to experience visions do not return until the character takes an extended rest at least four miles away from the lake.
At the foot of the Smoking Crown lies a strange wonderland of odd rock formations, boiling pools, and bubbling mud, eventually giving way to a steaming lake several miles wide. The Lake of Golden Dreams is the most visited location in this area, for the vapors rising from the scalding water are said to grant visions. Mystics, seers, and lunatics make their homes along the lake’s shore, rotting their minds by sampling the unhealthy mists.
In addition, the lake might conceal a submerged city. Where the blistering water is not too deep or cloudy, one can see remnants of old walls on the bottom, with dark cave mouths leading deeper into the earth.