"Whew that was another blood sucker. What is really going on here?" pondered Erevel, wiping the blood ooze off of her armor.
"Is everyone fine? Does anyone need healing?" Ursina asked.
As no one spoke up the party continued searching the room. Armania found the L-shaped armoire to contain a rather disorganized and grimy eclectic collection of expensive clothing—an ample cloak, a fur coat, a frock, a couple of silk turbans, a wide-brimmed hat, and a half-dozen shirts with lace-trimmed collars and sleeves.
"Both female and male clothes appear to be here, but they are different sizes. None of them would fit me though." stated Armania clearly.
"I guess he has already replaced you!" shot back Gavril.
"Hey listen to this," said Ursina picking up a sheet of paper from the writing desk.
Journeys:
Celephais is a magnificent Dreamlands city situated in the Valley of Ooth-Nargai.
The enormous oak trees have wide, flat branches. The forest floor seemed far below, but the immense trees reach yet further upward, extending smaller branches and ordinary-sized leaves.
A ghoul necropolis underground.
Ruined city of Ib on the shores of an unknown lake seemed to be previously magnificent.
What drugs are available in the city of Dylath-Leen.
I found Captain Vadrack ashore in Dylath-Leen,
What disaster happened here in Arventon, thousands of pale-yellow statues.
The Mad Poet told me to look for a book called the Necronomicon. My agents accompanied me in this revelatory dream. The sacrifice of their minds put them into a fugue state, but they lived, unable to remember their lives or react to outside stimuli. They will be turned over to the warden of Briarstone Asylum according to our agreement.
At the end of the recitation by Ursina a brief memory was triggered in all the party. They recalled accompanying the count to a dreamlike desert and watching the count speak to an old man called the Mad Poet. As the discussion unfolded each character felt as if they were falling into a trance. Then the vision ended.
"The rat bastard!" Gavril exclaimed, "I'd like to find him just to torture him to death."
"We really don't have any reason to help or save this so called Count," added Armania.
Ciprian was searching a well worn greatcoat hung on a peg by the door. Inside he found a folded piece of parchment—a permit on Briarstone letterhead to visit an inmate of Briarstone Asylum named Ulver Zandalus, issued by Administrator Losandro.
Gavril moved to the south door in the middle of the room and heard nothing from inside. So Gavril opened the door and looked at a room the walls lined with fine wood panels. The furniture included a desk sitting under a window opposite the door, a high-backed chair, and a couple of small bookcases packed tight with scrolls, volumes, and notebooks.
There was some magic appearing on the desk and on one of the shelves. There was a lockbox with an external lock lying on the floor by the door. Ciprian tried his keys on the lock to no avail, same with the keys that Armania held. Gavril tried to pick the lock but failed. Ursina was interested in the book with magic but wary given the past history with hiding books actual content.
Ciprian and Ursina seemed to recall some of the books on the shelves, many focusing on old cults and other occult lore. No one was anxious to handle the magic book on the desk. Ciprian cast mage hand to open the book and flip through its pages to the sheet glowing magic. Ursina moved up to look at the text, it appeared to be a clerical spellbook, which exploded in her face damaging Gavril and herself.
At this Ursina grabbed the thin green leather bound book, that was showed magic, from the book shelves. This was a real spell book with these spells.
blindness/deafness, dancing lights, detect thoughts, eagle’s splendor, expeditious retreat, gust of wind, hypnotism, illusory wall, mirror image, owl’s wisdom, protection from good, and shield.
Gavril continued to rifle through the papers and notes on the desk eventually piecing together some interesting information on Ulver Zandalus and the plans of Count Lowls.
Saw a most interesting display at a gallery event featuring Ulver Zandalus’s dream art—among the works of other patients—I recognized shapes and scenes common to descriptions of the Dreamlands, Carcosa, and, most shockingly, the Star Stelae of my home, Thrushmoor.
I am now in study of the Dreamlands and began paying visits to Zandalus at Briarstone Asylum. His mute’s artistry is fascinating, the charcoal drawings of a mysterious city are compelling.
I am convinced that Zandalus explores the Dreamlands each night.
I am now certain that I might even follow Zandalus into the Dreamlands and learn what connection the Star Stelae has to realms beyond.
Success, the city infecting Zandalus’s mind is not only fabled Carcosa, but also the manifestation of the forgotten city of Neruzavin.
I must find this lost city in some nameless desert.
The discovery of Neruzavin alone can repair my academic reputation.
I have left Doctor Losandro, now administrator of Briarstone Asylum, with two gifts. The first is a copy of The Chain of Nights and directions on a rite that might excise the nightmares from Zandalus’s mind—a method that sounded like a cure for the man’s torment. The second is several of my former agents. Losandro enthusiastically accepted both the tome and the amnesiacs.
Camels
4 Slaves as porters
1 Month of supplies
1 Month of Food
Desert clothing
Water, Water, Water
There was an annotated map showing Lake Encarthan and the lands to the south. A route was drawn from Thrushmoor to Xer, traced a line down the Sellen River to Cassomir, and then marked the coast to Katheer.
Ciprian, not wishing to wait for the lockbox to be opened used his crowbar to pry the hasp off the box allowing the lid to be raised. Inside were many, many books and two scrolls. One book and the scrolls were magical. He quickly identified the book as a Book of the Loremaster, the scrolls were of Psychic Surgery.
It also held the following books: Atop the Valley’s Soul, The Codex of Three Prescriptions, Curses of the Black Lake, Dichotomous Translations of Aklo Syntax, Elements Through the Spirals of Time, Emotions of the Past, The Falling Silk, Festival of the Snake, The Forgotten Servants, The Illusion of the Weeping Ones, In Admiration of Keeping Pacts, Manual of Silence, Men and Vultures: Denizens of the Darkened Depths and Dead Skies, Monuments of the Forest, The Shadow’s Ship, Shards of Sight, Spiders of Sin and Sky, Theological Agreements of the Kingdom, Tigers and Flies, The Unified Manual of Understanding, Voyage of the Rainbow Servant, and The Wise Harmony.
Given the huge haul and no time to study the books Ciprian stuck them in the bag of holding. Erevel was chomping at the bit ready to study the remaining doors. Listening at the other door within the master bedroom she heard no sound and opening the door found a staircase going up that was dirty, dusty and draped with thick cobwebs. Since it appeared no one had been upstairs for quite some time, Erevel shut the door and headed to the last door in the hallway. This opened into a staircase going down. Ursina recalled that there was a room they hadn't explored in the first floor but also that she had seen some undead in it from outside.
A new battle raged as Paullus fired arrows, Ciprian taunted the Kuru with Blistering Invective, Armania threw a fireball at them and Ursina blessed the party. Erevel and Gavril were doing there best to get to the battle. As the Kuru moved to attack Ciprian, the southern hall door flung open and more Kuru moved into the hallway. Now the party was squeezed between two groups of Kuru in a narrow hallway. Luckily for the group these Kuru were especially imprecise with their attacks, doing little damage with either bite or club. While the battle took some time, the heroes managed to down all the Kuru easily. Ursina stole the life with Death Knell from one of the creatures.
Now the group converged on the larger bedroom to spend the evening and night. Before settling down the group did a bit of identification of magical items that they had found. One item could not be identified, the robe that Ursina found on one of the decapitated bodies. Ciprian also spent time studying and ordering the Zandalus drawings from Briarstone Asylum. They turned out to be a Book of Extended Summoning keyed to Chaotic.
DM's Notes: The party earned 1500 XP for the night. They now have 28,497 XP requiring 6503 additional XP to reach 7th level.
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