A glistening pool lay before the party in the valley between three dunes. A small wooden hut stood near the water, and an immense tree shaded the pool and the hut, with large, lumpy fruits hanging near the ground.
No activity was observed. Paullus sent Barnabas to scout the area. Barnabas returned saying that only scorpions and small creatures were seen. No people or creatures were evident.
Armania moved forward and looked at the entire scene through the gem of seeing, no differences were observed through the gem. Ciprian circled wide around the hut and ended at the northeast where he approached cautiously. Erevel and Gavril moved closer toward the hut, noting that the fruit vaguely resembled human heads.
The ancient hut was made of flimsy slats of wood sealed together with mud, and had been sunbaked
into a uniform grayish color. A wooden bench stood near the door and the shutters to the only window were closed. The door to the hut opened an out stepped a man dressed in desert garb, a turban and robes. He was holding a thick leather bound tome under one arm.
"Erevel and Gavril, good to see you again," the man stated. "Where is Ciprian? I see all the rest of you."
"Now I see you. Being just as wary as usual."
Ursina detected that the man was evil, and as she realized this he said, "Ursina, not trusting anyone. This is your normal behavior. How can I help you now?"
"We have brought gifts. Maybe you have some use for them," Armania stated.
"I remember you accompanied Lowls when he presented me with gifts a few months ago. It seems though that you do not remember your previous experience here. Please put the gifts on this bench."
Armania, Gavril and Ciprian placed the seven items on the bench, signet ring, feline tail, ghoul skull, green stone idol, Night Hag Heartstone, Captain's Tricorne and a webbed red foot.
"Generous gifts all. Please come closer to the hut I have a present for each of you."
After the group moved closer to the hut, and the Mad Poet, he offered his ominous leather-covered book to each hero one at a time. As each hero took the book, the Mad Poet asked which the person relied upon most: might, quickness, health, clear thought, understanding, or influence. The party member then found themself holding a duplicate, while the real Tome remained in the Mad Poet's hands.
"Anything that you would like to know about Lowls. Given your generous gifts, I could certainly answer," queried the Mad Poet.
"We would like to know where Lowls is going. What he is searching for and what his goals are," Ciprian responded.
The Mad Poet then started a lengthy response, Lowls seeks a city called Neruzavin. To learn of its location in their world, they must seek certain writings in the Necronomicon. The Dreamlands Necronomicon is of no use to them — he riffles the pages in his book to show that it appears blank. He explained to the party that they could peruse the genuine Necronomicon at a university of the occult called the Mysterium in the Qadiran city of Katheer.
He provided the same information to the count that he just shared with them, so Lowls is most likely headed to Katheer to obtain the Necronomicon. He warns the group that Lowls isn’t what he seems, and that the Great Old One Xhamen-Dor has infected him. He surmises that Lowls intends to use the Star Stelae in Thrushmoor and Neruzavin to mark Golarion so that it can be brought into Carcosa. Doing so would help fully waken Xhamen-Dor, and Lowls would become the great old one’s champion for completing the task.
Lowls was headed first to Cassomir to see his old friend Miacknian Mun. Mun may be willing to help Lows find or read the Necronomicon.
"Would you like to get a taste of the future — and perhaps of their past?" the Mad Poet inquired. "I would allowing you to speak with the King of Neruzavin.”
He invited the group to step to the waters of the oasis, gesturing grandly with his free hand over the clear waters. Ciprian identified the large tree as a Jinmenju a large plant that was immune to poison, paralysis and mental attacks.
When the whole group had stepped forth to the edge of the water, they saw a reflection of the last time they were here at this oasis, when the Mad Poet made the same offer to Lowls. In the reflection, Lowls shoved the stupefied heroes into the pool. The party members reflections writhed under the water and their faces went blank and distant. A thin mist leeched from the heads of their reflections; the mist contained images of Lowls greeting the them in a busy market, arriving at Iris Hill, and performing various unsavory tasks at Lowls’s direction, and finally Lowls admitting them to Briarstone Asylum. The mist coiled beneath the water, rose to the surface; when it broke the surface, the heroes suddenly regained all of their lost memories in a dizzying flash.
The blank-faced reflections remained under the water while the memories coiled to the surface, but as
soon as the heroes recovered their memories, the reflections lunged from the water to attack.
Acting on surprise as the heroes were slightly disoriented from the recall of their lost memories, the Animated Dreams attacked. The tactics used were similar to the characters themselves but they somehow seemed stronger.
When the battle began for good opposing Bardic Performances were begun, Blistering Invective was cast from each side. Magic Missiles and Flaming Sphere were cast. A lightning bolt did damage to five of the six apparitions but also caught Paullus.
The dull hum began from the Jinmenju after which everyone on both sides was shaken. Bless and Haster were cast on each side as the apparitions mimicked the heroes behavior. Ciprian determined that the enemy were Nightmare versions of the party, with regeneration and Feign Death. Keeping that in mind, when the first enemy fell he yelled to not believe the death and keep attacking the downed foe.
Paullus fell to the attacks from his counterpart and disappeared from the battlefield. Ursina and Ursina traded Infliction of Wounds in a slow dance away from the water. Ciprian used his new musical staff to create a wall of sound directly through three of the enemy. Gavril and Gavril were trading attacks with Red Destiny, while Erevel and Erevel were both raging.
New attacks continued and Armania fell and disappeared from the field of battle also. She joined Paullus on the deck of the Sellen Starling wondering why they had gotten into this fight in the first place. The two were both silent reminiscing on their newly recovered memories.
As each apparition fell the hero would attack with a Coupe de Grace to ensure that if the nightmare was feigning death it would feign no more. In one sequence the evil Ciprian flanked Ursina with Ursina, where he was then flanked by Gavril. Ciprian joined the fun by flanking the evil Ursina and a line of attacks thundered across the oasis. At last all the evil Animated Dreams had fallen and been dispatched.
After defeating their dream reflections, all of the four heroes left in the Dreamlands experienced the same weird event in their minds. After the deluge of memories returns to their minds, the members heard a bizarre series of clicks and high-pitched hoots intermixed with crackling mechanical static as images of a faraway desert city flashed in their head. The cacophony settled and the heroes recognized this as a language that they suddenly and inexplicably understood. They again see images of Count Lowls drowning them in the Mad Poet’s Dreamlands oasis, being led through the receiving doors of Briarstone asylum in a catatonic state, and then suddenly waking up in the asylum’s basement. The images and sounds coalesced into a sudden shout of “Wake up!” As the mental sensation began to fade from their startled minds, the heroes heard a strange voice overlaying the clicks and static that says, “You are now free, but to remain so you must find me.”
DM's Notes: The party earned 6933 XP for the night and now have 104,621 requiring merely 379 additional to reach 10th level.
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