As the party looked around Erevel moved to the western set of double doors. Since no sounds had been heard, she pushed open the door. A blast of cool air hit Erevel in the face as she peered into a shadowy room and hallway leading west. To the south was a basin raised on three foot high carved sleepwalkers statues.
The remaining party moved up toward the now open door as Erevel moved further into the room. As she moved past he basin she could see that it was empty. Dry, except for the dust, it certainly could have held water in the past. The floor was covered in dust with no footprints evident.
Erevel could see at the western end of the hall a wider passage continued south. To the north of that passage appeared to be a curtained doorway leading north. Erevel continued to the curtain as the rest of the party entered the hall. The coolness of the interior was refreshing after the torrid heat of the exterior desert. Ciprian closed the door as he entered last.
Erevel, after not hearing any noise from beyond the curtain, she peered into the room. The walls of the room were lined with shelves, and a long wooden table stretched through the room’s center. Although it obviously was once a shop, only dust and a few piles of rags remain on display.
Not seeing anything of interest and no beings, Erevel moved into the southern hallway where she found three more basins raised on the same carved sleepwalkers. All three were bone dry. The rest of the party moved further into the hall and Armania and Paullus moved south following Erevel.
"Have you had a good journey?" the black robed man asked.
"So far we have survived," answered Ursina.
"Do you need any supplies?" the robed man queries. "I am so very sorry for the lamentable state of my wares. I am waiting for the caravan to bring new supplies. I wonder where they are."
As the man moved slightly closer to the two heroes, Ursina noted that the black robes trailed off at the edges into smoke, as though the man was insubstantial. Hearing voices the rest of the party turned toward the door as Ciprian moved closer to the curtained doorway.
Gavril moved up to the table ready to overturn it if the needed to provide cover if needed. He also studied the man as his target. The black robed figure took to the air, flew at Ursina, touching her doing substantial damage and draining wisdom as Ursina felt fatigued. The man then flew back to where he started. Armania, having waited to see if any enemy appeared, cast haste at the sight of the attack on Ursina but Erevel was outside the range.
Ciprian moved into the room and identified the creature as an Animate Dream, an evil outsider, clearly incorporeal, with a flyby attack, which also has a nightmare curse. He then began a Bardic Performance for his party. Erevel double moved apace into the room but couldn't reach the creature. Paullus moved up and fired arrows at the creature but the they flew wide. Ursina cast rebuke on the monster, bypassing the spell resistance, dealing minimal damage.
Gavril drew Red Destiny prepared to repel an attack. The Animate Dream flew to the table near Erevel and all of the party but Armania, Gavril and Ciprian felt confused. Armania moved up behind Ursina and hit the Dream with a Magic Missile. Ciprian cast ear piercing scream, which seemed to do a small amount of damage and then he moved out of the room behind Paullus. Erevel swung her sword and hit her own leg as Paullus raised his bow to fire at Armania. Ciprian swung his mace and knocked Paullus arrow to the floor before it was fired. Ursina stood babbling incoherently.
Gavril slid beyond Ursina to attack with Red Destiny, but he then took a high amount of damage from the Dream and felt less wise and fatigued. Armania again fired magic missiles and Ciprian moved into the room trying to get at the Dream. Erevel slid north and attacked with his magic rapier, which did some minimal damage. Paullus stood blabbering incoherently. Gavril attacked with Red Destiny again and then fell unconscious as the Dream again touched him. Armania continued the magic missiles, Ciprian attacked while Erevel stood babbling. Paullus fired arrows and Ursina cast Inflict Moderate Wounds.
As Gavril lay bleeding out on the floor the Animate Dream attacked Erevel dealing the most damage yet while still reducing her wisdom. Armania again fired magic missiles and the Animate Dream dissolved into nothingness.
Ursina rushed to Gavril to apply Rebuke Death bringing Gavril back to consciousness. Healing was applied to many of the party. Using the wands was indiscriminate since the heroes know that they are not using charges up in the real life.
After the healing was over Ciprian detected some magic under a pile of rags on the table. Lifting the rags he found 6 gems, one of which was glowing magic. The others were huge emeralds. He grasped the one magic gem while pocketing the emeralds. Taking the time to identify the gem he determined it was a Gem of Seeing which would allow sight of invisible creatures and things, see past illusions and see many items, people and places as they really are. The party determined that Armania should use the gem, realizing that it would not travel with them to the waking world.
Erevel meanwhile had started down the southern hallway again, finding another curtained door at the south end. A smaller hall also led to the east. As the rest of the crew made their way south Gavril began hearing whispering apparently coming from beyond the curtain. Gavril was reticent to look past another curtain so Erevel moved up a peeked beyond the barrier. This room has two elegant wooden tables and stools of varying sizes, all lacquered in a rich black. A few plates and a pitcher are stacked on a sideboard, covered in dust. There was no one in the room though even though Armania could hear the conspiratorial whispers. Using the gem she still did not see anybody or anything thing in the room. Moving to the eastern hall, she found a secret door in the north wall which led to a storeroom, possibly off the entry courtyard. Ciprian noted that the pitcher was magical and cast mage hand to retrieve it.
Gavril stepped into the dining room and after a few seconds ghostly forms appeared throughout the dining hall, a wealthy night hag with elaborately coiffed hair made imperious demands to human servants; three surly, turbaned humanoids confer over a detailed image of the moon; and a group of hooded ghouls examine a human head made of terracotta. Their voices echoed in an overlapping, unintelligible cacophony.
The east hall turned south where another curtained door led into the dining room, Armania peered in from this vantage also, seeing the same ghostly forms even with the gem. Gavril backed out and the entire party moved into the east-south-east hallway. Midway along the hall another curtained entry led to the north.
Again Erevel looked into the room first, decorative tiles with irregular geometric shapes covered the walls of this room, distorting perspective and obscuring the room’s size. Two deep tubs, empty of water, were separated by narrow walkways and hanging curtains of tattered fabric. A third tub in the middle was filled with a viscous soot-colored liquid.
Armania looked through the gem at the tub and saw a blot of tar, surrounded by a mass of writhing tendrils and a maw which opened to a midnight dark gullet.
DM's Notes: The party earned 1067 XP for the nights work.
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