The Yellow King

The Huge creature unwound a oozing neck, opened its dark maw and bit and grabbed Armania.  Then it attacked Gavril and Erevel with its tendrils.

A howl went up from the three party members in the Baths area altering the rest of the party in the hallway to their situation.  Ciprian cast Haste and moved to the doorway but stayed in the hall not wishing to rush in just yet.

Back in the Baths, Gavril studied the huge monstrosity and attacked with Red Destiny hitting the monsters head but finding that less damage was done than expected.

"It has damage resistance of some sort," he cried out.

Ursina cast bless on the party and also stayed put in the hallway.  Erevel took a five foot step toward the creature and swung away, finding her damage also reduced.  Paullus moved up into the room and fired arrows at the creature.

Armania, finding herself grappled by the mouth of the hideous monster, used her wand of scorching ray to inflict damage.  She then found herself swallowed whole in one prodigious gulp.  The rest of the party in the room stood aghast as Armania disappeared from sight, being only a bulky bump within the ooze.  They were also shocked as the monster then healed some of the damage that had been inflicted.

Tendrils again lashed out at Erevel, Gavril and Paullus doing some damage.  Gavril now took a step forward and again attacked with Red Destiny, finding that limited damage was inflicted.  Ciprian tried to identify the oozy mass but could not get a handle on what it actually was.  He then cast Good Hope on the party to increase their effectiveness.  Ursina cast prayer on the party as he was concerned given the healing abilities of the monster.  Erevel again attacked but found that the vile creature was immune to critical hits.  Paullus fired arrows but they rang off the walls behind the creature.

Armania now found herself in pitch black and hurting from the vicious ooze of the gullet.  She fumbled around for her dagger which she used to slice open the creature from the inside.  Out onto the floor she tumbled covered in slime.  She crawled away into the hallway invoking an attack of opportunity.  The hole she cut in the creature immediately healed over and there was no evidence of her escape.

Again the creature healed damage and now it attempted to bite and grab Erevel, which it did effectively.  Gavril took off for the hallway inviting an attack from the creature.  He made the hall and headed to the east.  Ciprian barrelled into the room and attempted to attack with his mace, which was also affected by the damage reduction.  Ursina applied healing to Armania who was wiping the filth off as she prepared a lightning bolt.  Erevel continued her attack with her Great Sword but again its damage was limited.  Paullus fired more arrows which again did limited damage.  Armania cast her Lightning Bolt and was greatly disappointing as it also did less damage.

"I was sure electricity would affect it, look at the ooze like consistency," she resignedly stated.  "How do we kill this monstrosity?"

Now it was Erevel's turn to be swallowed whole into the dark maw.  She found herself inside the slimy gullet taking damage from the acids therein.  Paullus and Ciprian took the brunt of the tendril attacks as they were the only characters left in range.  Ciprian headed for the hallway in retreat also followed by Paullus.  

Gavril had moved further east and found the hall turning north the same as the west end hallway.  Ursina continued to apply healing and Armania and he also fled to the east.  Ciprian called out that Erevel had been swallowed but the party seemed ready to abandon her.

Erevel meanwhile drew out her dagger and cut her way out of the slimy mess, tumbling onto the floor and crawling out to the hall to the west where he saw Paullus. 

"Let's get out of here!" she exclaimed passing him by.

Ciprian led the larger group through the hall to a larger hall leading north which contained three empty tubs just like the other side of the caravanserai.  There was a door leading south which Gavril approached.  The door was slightly ajar, wedged open by a book laying on the floor.  Through the sliver of the door Gavril could see a table and stool.  The table held more books.  No noises were heard through the doorway.

Not knowing what the monster was doing behind them, Erevel and Paullus headed through the secret door to the storage room where Erevel opened the far door revealing the courtyard.  Paullus and Erevel both entered the heat of the courtyard closing the door behind them.  

"I really hope that thing cannot squeeze through the doorway," Erevel panted, "I don't want to try and take it down again!"

Armania, assuming the hallways were flipped images, used the gem to try and find a secret door.  There is was in the same relative place opening to a storeroom.  Ciprian decided to move into the newly discovered room while Ursina was busy doling out more healing.  The office contained a low table, stool, bookshelves and several dozen ledgers.  A steep staircase on the southern wall
ascended to the only second floor the party had noted. Ciprian noted that the ledgers all looked the same, the same shape, size and writing on the cover.  He could not make heads or tails out of the symbols on the covers.  The ledgers were brittle to the touch and crumble when not handled lightly, but each contained hundreds of pages of cramped handwriting.  This writing was utterly indecipherable, even after Ciprian had cast comprehend languages.

As Armania again glanced through the secret door she saw the door on the far end open and Erevel entered.  Paullus was no where to be seen.

"He is staying out in the courtyard.  I think he has had enough of this caravanserai," Erevel said jokingly.

After everyone felt well enough again the party all entered the former office just as Ciprian started up the stairs.  Erevel and Gavril fell into step behind him and the others, except for Paullus followed.  At the top was a tidy office sparsely but tastefully decorated. Framed paintings of landscapes hung on the walls, including a many-spired city with marble walls and brass gates; a windswept waste beneath a distant, ominous mountain; and a gloomy port city constructed primarily of basalt.  Standing behind a desk is a man dressed in tattered yellow robes examining what appears to be another ledger.

As the party moved further into the room with Ciprian clunking, the man looked up from his text with an expression of surprise that quickly turns to delight. It is apparent that he recognized the group but he was still somewhat befuddled.  

Ciprian moved closer and started up a conversation with the man who seemed to resemble the description of Count Haserton Lowls IV.  The man spoke politely with the Ciprian, but he appeared somewhat addled and was prone to using large words, and he spoke of specialized subjects as if his audience were experts.  It took him a several moments to come up with the heroes names and then he said.

"There is one missing though.  Where is Paullus the associate in rituals?"

"He seems to be waiting outside, maybe he is just shy," answered Ciprian who also noted the frayed yellow robe resembled the curtains in the caravanserai.

"Have you found the play The King in Yellow yet? he asked directly to Ciprian.  "Ursina so good to see you again.  Have you found any new rituals?"

Winking at Armania, he leered and said "Oh yes I recall you.  Many nights of carnal pleasure." 

"What is your name?  Are you actually the Count?" queried Ciprian as Gavril fingered Red Destiny.

“No, I am the Yellow King, an inhabitant of the Dreamlands." answered the yellow robed figure. "I consider myself a fully formed entity but also a piece of the whole that calls himself “Lowls,” the way
a human is a fully formed entity that is a single piece of the whole of “humanity.”

The Yellow King has no knowledge of, and little interest in, what Lowls is currently doing and holds himself independent of any villainy Lowls has committed.  He is genuinely interested in the PCs recent excursions in Thrushmoor and how they came to the caravanserai. You get the impression that the Yellow King, despite his ostentatious title, is little more than an eccentric academic—just as Lowls had initially been.

After the heroes told of following Lowls and their desire to find him again the Yellow King again took of on a oratorical suggestion of their, and his, situation.

“I was deconstructed from a greater whole, but that process can be reversed with you. You’re already deconstructed, I posit, and seek to be reconstructed in the inverse of my experience. In short, you can retrace Lowls’s steps to regain your memories and your whole selves. I can’t recall all of those steps—that was ‘after my time,’ so to speak, but I know the outcome: Lowls spoke with an ominous yet perspicacious prophet called the Mad Poet. This Mad Poet— an apt appellation, I assure you—has unimaginable power here in the Dreamlands, but he is fickle. Approaching the Mad Poet without the proper collection of gifts provokes his ire; worse, he might have nothing to do with you. Lowls learned some great truths from the Mad Poet; some truths so mind-shattering that I came into being as a result. I deem it serendipitous that I do not know what these truths are.

"Good gifts for the Mad Poet are scattered throughout the Dreamlands. They are rare, esoteric, and never easily gained. Lowls identified six or seven of these gifts. I recall writing them down on the flyleaf of Dichotomous Translations of Aklo Syntax, but I can’t recall what they were.  Lowls painstakingly scoured his tomes to research each gift, learning where to find it in the Dreamlands and then dreaming of that location. I recommend you do likewise.  Some of the gifts required trickery or guile to obtain; others, delicate negotiation or brute force. I don’t know the minimum number of gifts the Mad Poet will accept, but Lowls acquired all the gifts on his list. If you want to make do with fewer gifts, or if you have some problem acquiring them all, the Mad Poet might condescend to converse with you anyway. That’s up to you.

“Once you acquire sufficient gifts, return here. I’ll escort you to the Mad Poet’s oasis, and you can petition him for the answers you seek.”

Ciprian checked the books he brought with him but did not find the specified tome.  "Probably it is still on the Sellen Starling," he mused.

Additional discussion led nowhere and the Yellow King started to ignore the group as he pondered the ledger in front of him.

The heroes headed to the courtyard to meet up with Paullus and updated him on the meeting with the Yellow King.  They then explored the entry doors on the east where the only interesting find was a magical scimitar.  The double doors led to another area with a empty tub and then the rubble from the fallen portion of the caravanserai.

"Should we try and wake up now?" Ciprian asked anxiously wanting to find the list of gifts.

"Sure but first can we repair some of the skill drains that we took?" Erevel responded. "We want to use the spells or wand magic here in the dreamlands."

After some lesser restorations were used the party then attempted to wake up in the physical world.  All were successful on the first attempt.  The sun was just rising and Skywin and the deck hands were preparing to sail.  The party did not relate any of their adventure to Skywin, the sailors or the two researchers.

Ciprian set to find the book Dichotomous Translations of Aklo Syntax which he found among the journals, notes and books taken from Iris Hill.  The flyleaf had the a list of gifts just as the Yellow King had stated.  It certainly was an esoteric list and he then began investigating the collection of books trying to find what might relate to the first item, Viscount's Signet Ring.

Several days of study led Ursina, Ciprian and Armania to the books Elements through the Spirals of Time, Spiders of Sin and Sky, and Theological Agreements of the Kingdom as related to the topic.

Ciprian also found that the Aklo Syntax matched the text of the Pnakotic Manuscripts the party had found in Melisenn's gear at Iris Hill.  Maybe it would be good to learn the Aklo language.

DM's Notes:  The party earned 200 XP for the nights work.