The one aspect of every trod that remains constant is the Silver Path. Like a lifeline stretching the length of the trod, this silvery pathway becomes visible to travelers when they first step onto a trod. The Silver Path is a changeling's guide to his destination and affords him some protection from the dangers of the Dreaming. So long as a traveler remains on the path, chimerical monsters find it much more difficult to attack him. More intelligent monsters understand this, and many devise lures and cantrips to fool unwary changelings into leaving the path or believing that they have already strayed from it. As if this weren't difficult enough, many places exist in which the path seems to disappear or becomes extremely hard to follow.
Often travelers discover that they must solve riddles, piece together puzzles or overcome guardians if they wish to remain on the Silver Path. Those who become discouraged or believe they can find shortcuts through the Dreaming are almost certainly doomed. Nightmare realms and horrific creatures lurk within the Dreaming, longing for the taste of faerie flesh. Terrifying traps and horrible fates await the changeling who strays from the Silver Path. He may become lost somewhere in the otherworld, losing his mind in the process and becoming one more denizen of the Dreaming. Worse, he may be found (who knows how much later) huddled in mad terror near the entrance to the trod, his fae nature temporarily (or permanently) lost.