To reach the Dreamlands, a sleeper must find an unusual stairway in a conventional dream and walk down the Seventy Steps of Light Slumber to face the judgment of powerful gatekeepers named Nasht and Kaman-Tha. If judged worthy (i.e., able to survive the dangers of the Dreamlands), the dreamer is allowed to descend the Seven Hundred Steps of Deeper Slumber and emerges in the Enchanted Wood. When a person enters the Dreamlands in this way, he leaves his physical body safely in the waking world. Should he be killed during his travels, his corporeal body will only suffer a shock. Sometimes, however, this can be fatal; "dream death" of this kind makes return to the Dreamlands impossible. Waking up causes a person's "dream self" to disappear, and the individual may have difficulty recalling anything learned or experienced during his time asleep (similar to conventional dreaming)
The Dreamlands can be entered in other ways, including physically. This usually requires passing through very dangerous areas of both the waking world and the Dreamlands. Consequently, "real" death becomes a risk. However, the visitor does receive the prolonged lifespan of a native of the Dreamlands, and the traveller's time there is no longer limited to the duration of a night's sleep on earth.
Though the term "Dreamlands" typically refers to the dimension accessible by human dreamers, other inhabited planets apparently have their own dreamlands. Reaching these other realms from the terrestrial Dreamlands is possible, but difficult.
Time flows at a different rate in the Dreamlands; each hour on earth represents a week or more there. Consequently, a traveller can spend months in the Dreamlands during a single night's sleep on earth. Fortunately for dreamers, inhabitants of the Dreamlands are either long-lived or immortal, provided they avoid injury or disease.