Ursina noticed some magic on the body of the Bag Lady. The Bracers on her arms were the indicated item. Ursina took them and immediately put them on her own arms. Paullus was searching through the pallets and found some coins and jewels, along with a pearl tooth. Erevel found twelve bite-sized pieces of jerky stored under another pallet. Ciprian noted a harrow deck on the table. He was leafing through it noting that the Foreign Trader card was unusual. It depicted a veiled figure in yellow bearing an armful of misshapen rubies.
Suddenly two arrows came flying out of the stairwell at Paullus and Armania's eagle. A quick look by Paullus saw four Apostles standing on the stairwell, two having fired their short-bows.
The battle was joined quickly, Ursina blessed the party, Erevel charged one of the bow holding Apostles while Ciprian moved to attack the other. The giant eagle flew over the top of the battle to attack from the rear. Armania fired Acid Darts into the fray. Paullus and Gavril shot arrow at the enemy, Gavril had picked up one of the short-bows used by the previous Apostles.
The Apostles attacked back but they were out-manned and soon started falling one by one even inflicting serious damage with their crowbars. After the last enemy fell the party now found itself with two more short-bows and arrows. They healed up and after one last look around for magic or hidden items moved to the western hole in the north wall.
Gavril and Erevel led the group into the room. Cracked pillars bent at broken angles supported a sagging ceiling. While most of the walls looked ready to fall apart, the northern wall had done so, creating a massive gap open to the strange weather beyond. Along the north wall was the obscuring fog of three Oneirogen. Opposite it, the wall in the best repair was laden with parchment pages covered in stark lines of coal and chalk. A hall stretched to the west. While the room may have once held multiple rooms it was now all toppled brickwork. At present, it had more in common with an opium den as smoky breaths of weak figures filled the air. Dusty pallets slouched against walls and rock piles.
Gavril and Ciprian moved to examine the wall of parchment pages. Ciprian noted that the pages fluttered in an unfelt wind. The pictures depicted scenes of chalky mist filled with impossible, ominous shapes. Gavril wanted to burn the pages immediately but Ciprian began the task of removing them from the wall, noting that the backside of each page was covered with text. The text was not magic but appeared to be different pages of a book describing some magical spell or incantation. It would take many hours to sort them into the correct order.
The Oneirogen did not move as the party roamed around the room. There was no way to enter the hallway without going into the fog of an Oneirogen. The fog spewed by the unseen bodies drifted to the north wall and outside into the mist, where rain still fell and loud animal noises were still heard along with shadows of misshapen creatures.
Gavril took a flask of Alchemist's Fire and threw it into the western most fog. He heard it break on the floor. The middle Oneirogen then moved, along with its fog toward the noise. Ursina blessed the party again, while Ciprian moved into the fog to attack the moving Oneirogen. Faintly seen through the fog the creature was hard to hit but it didn't seem that the creature could see any better in its own fog.
Now another Oneirogen moved south toward Gavril, Paullus moved up to attack but fell asleep on entering the fog. The final Oneirogen moved toward Ciprian's back. Erevel started to move toward the final enemy but fell asleep also.
Armania cried out that all three creatures were now active as she pulled Paullus from the fog and slapped him awake. A full fledged battle was now at hand, With the fog intervening there was much swinging and missing as neither the heroes nor the creatures seemed to target each other well. Paullus fired arrows into the fog, with on and off success, Erevel woke herself and clambered up to attack one of the enemy. Ursina waded into the fog to attack with her mace.
The battle waged on Gavril moved to attack the western most enemy, Erevel the eastern most. Ciprian and Ursina were battling the middle one and Ursina had the last word as she killed the creature. As the fog dissipated Ursina and Ciprian noticed that the mists outside started to thin.
Gavril continued to battle the western Oneirogen and Ursina joined him. Armania move up to try and engage but fell asleep entering the fog. Erevel and Ciprian finished off the eastern Oneirogen and as its fog dissipated the outside air became even more clear and most of the horrendous noises were silenced. Finally the last Oneirogen hit the floor and the air outside became clear of the yellow mist that had been besetting the Asylum for days. It was still overcast and raining but the noises and shapes were gone. The rain seemed normal but the gray clouds loomed like a low ceiling in a dark room.
After gathering their wits and applying some healing Gavril peered down the western hallway. A door led north but the hallway continued. Moving in Gavril heard nothing at the door and opened it to a ruined patient room, seemingly completely collapsed. Further ahead there was a shattered door lying on the floor and an opening north that led to the same type of collapsed room.
At the end of the hallway the area opened up into multiple toppled cells, the chamber looked as though it could collapse at any moment. Thousands of parchment scraps covered the walls, as if in a pitiful attempt to plaster the countless cracks. The flickering of dozens of candles illuminated the artwork’s subject matter: innumerable forlorn, surreal landscapes stretching into bleak infinities. The multitude of visions transformed the room into a threshold of nightmares. At the center of the room lay four stained mattresses and numerous pillows, heaped together to form the pallet-throne of the leader of the leader of the Apostles, a gaunt man with a ponytail of long and exceptionally straight hair who sat cross-legged upon the pallet like a Keleshite mystic. He wore multiple patient's gowns that had been shredded and stitched to create a layered robe. His arms and much of his chest were exposed, revealing lines of charcoal and yellow chalk that streaked his flesh, the most prominent of which appears to be a yellow flame on his forehead.
As Gavril and Erevel entered the room, Ulver's eyes went wide and his mouth fell open. A voice like a tempest wind hissing over broken glass sheered from his split motionless lips. "You're supposed to be dead. I already killed you. Why aren't you dead?!" With that, Zandalus yanked upward, as if a puppet on invisible strings.
Gavril entered and attacked forthwith and Ciprian tried to intimidate Ulver with his bardic performance. Ulver took a step back from Gavril and hit him with a Ray of Enfeeblement, sapping Gavril's strength. Ursina blessed the party and Armania cast a web on Ulver and the southwest corner of the room. Erevel rushed forward but stopped short of entering the web. Paullus fired an arrow into the fray.
Gavril and Ciprian pressed into the web to attack Ulver just as the web started to burn from the dozens of candles spread around the room. Ulver cast Mind Thrust at Ciprian overloading his mind with psychic information which caused damage and a bleeding condition.
Erevel and Ursina joined the fray in the attacks against Ulver while Paullus fired another arrow into the burning web. Gavril and Ciprian again attacked just as the whole web burst into flame doing damage to all in the clutches of the web. Ulver cast magic missiles at Ursina causing bleed damage also.
Finally the attacks of the party dropped Ulver to the floor. His wounds and orifices began spewing clouds of thick yellow smoke. Ciprian moved to brush the yellow flame from Ulver's head. Armania wanted some token to show that Ulver was dead, Gavril suggested his head and cut off the head trying to stop the fog. Ursina and Ciprian were still bleeding and just as the party was starting to relax a figure appeared from the fog. The figure was familiar, a gaunt, human but too lean and far too flexible. Tatters of cloth fluttered freely, a sickly fog clinging to him, as he shambled toward the party.
DM's Notes: The party earned 800 XP for the night and now have 8497 requiring 503 XP to reach 4th level.
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