By the Skinstitch of their Teeth

Erevel led the party up the stairs to the next level with Gavril close behind.  The rest of the party trailed along on the staircase.  As she reached the top of the stairs Erevel could smell the room before seeing it.  The overwhelming stench of bleach, ammonia, and other unidentifiable chemicals filled the air.

The chamber seemed a veritable museum. Dozens of books, jars, and glass containers of various sizes lay on nearly every horizontal surface.  Some of the largest containers were draped with a thick brown cloth. But her sight was drawn to two hulking things which seemed to be a patchwork of rotten cloth and grotesque skin, with stray bits of straw poking out the seams.  There was a buzzing drone coming from the area of the creatures as they went about browsing the shelves and checking out jars.

Gavril, standing behind Erevel decided to delay awaiting her action.  Armania cast Greater Invisibility on herself and moved up the stairs to look into the room ready for an attack.  Ciprian moved up the stairs, which creaked as he rounded Erevel.  He continued to move into the room hiding behind the table in the center of the room, where he identified the monsters as a Skinstitch.  They resisted electricity, could repair themselves and had no mind.  One of the monsters looked in his direction and swatted at his torso as the buzzing drone continued.  Paullus, or Agna as she preferred to be called, moved up next to Ciprian and threw Alchemist's Fire at the creature which seemed vulnerable to the fire damage.

Erevel now charged at one of the Skinstitch, her slashing sword finding purchase in the straw stuffing.  Gavril followed but missed with his attack. The buzzing drone was louder near the monsters and the stuffing jutting out of gaps in the sewing and the mouths and eye-holes of its component faces, gave it a horrifying, ragged look. Suddenly from its torso a large swarm of wasps emerged and covered Erevel and Gavril damaging both with thousands of stings.

The other monster also led loose a large swarm of wasps that flew at Agna and Ciprian again doing damage and causing both to become nauseous while Agna felt less dexterous at the insertion of the stingers.  The Skinstitch attacked Erevel with a longsword but missed badly.  Finally Ursina cast Haste on the party and moved up the stairs into the chamber.

Armania cast flaming sphere on the closest swarm, but the diminutive creatures fluttered around the flames.  Ciprian feeling unwell headed down the staircase to try and escape the swarm. Agna, while puking on the already sticky floor, headed up to face the second Skinstitch as the fire continued to burn it.  Erevel laid a mighty blow on the monster and it fell to a heap of rags and straw on the floor.  Gavril attempted to attack the swarm, which had not initiated his mania, but all that he found were a few wasps on his blade.  One swarm spread to engulf Erevel and Gavril again while the other followed, at least partially, Ciprian down the stairs.  The remaining Skinstitch attacked Agna poorly while Ursina cast invisibility on herself and hunkered down.

Armania moved the Flaming Sphere onto the remaining Skinstitch where it did extra damage and then she threw magic missiles at the monster.  Ciprian cast Good Hope on the party and identified the swarms as Hellwasps, which were immune to fire.  He then urged the party to find any area affecting spells that they had remaining as those were the only way to damage the swarms.  He then began a Bardic Performance and moved up into the far end of the laboratory.  Agna slashed the Skinstitch and it too fell into a pile of rags and straw.  Erevel, disappointed tried to attack the swarm to no avail.  Gavril headed to the corner and looked under the brown cloth at a jar which contained the eviscerated and dissected flesh and bones of an old man.  

Again the swarms attacked with damage and Ciprian took some dexterity damage as Agna and Gavril continued to take more dexterity loss.  Ursina crawled up another of the cloth covered jars finding a jar with the the upper torso and head of a ghoul along with the spine, head, and one wing of some other creature.  Armania declared that she would summon the Bralani to cast Gust of Wind and Lightning Bolt.  "Try to get the swarms in alignment," she called out.

Now the party moved around the room trying to line up the swarms while still taking damage and becoming Nauseated at times.  Agna, Gavril and Ciprian kept taking dexterity damage while the others hid under tables or relied on their invisibility.  The Bralani came into being and cast Gust of Wind at one of the swarms, but the diminutive creatures merely had trouble moving against the wind.  Agna, Erevel, Ciprian and Armania found themselves in one corner where they were covered with a swarm.  Ciprian tried to successfully demoralized the swarms and then started Dirge of Doom to drive them away from fright.

The swarms retreated to a far corner away from Ciprian.  The Bralani fired lightning bolts into the fray while Ciprian cast Blistering Invective, using the meta magic wand to twist the damage to acid.

"Try opening a window," Ciprian hollered.  "These swarms are dangerous!"

Erevel opened the shutters and then smashed the glass of a window.  Immediately the swarms both flew out the newly opened window into the sky.

Meanwhile Ursina had been looking at another jar which had been covered with a brown cloth.  The jar was labeled "Number 61" and inside floated, something like a drowned sheet caught in an unseen current, resembling some strange, amorphous sea creature. A humanoid face that seemed to mouth silent words appeared within the gracefully roiling folds of itself.

Ciprian was examining the room looking for magic.  The chamber was a veritable museum. There were dozens of books, jars, and glass containers of various sizes placed on nearly every horizontal surface in the lab which contained chemicals, unidentifiable sludge, the dissected bodies and alien-looking parts of creatures, and a rainbow of various slimes, molds, and fungi. The floor was sticky in some places and slick in others, a result of years of spilled alchemical reagents. Without their adrenaline the chemical smell was now nearly overwhelming, causing the throat to burn and eyes to water.

Meanwhile Erevel, Gavril and Ursina were looking at the same jar when the face appeared they noticed that when its face appeared and its mouth tried to make words, the unfortunate creature seemed to be pleading with them before folding in on itself once again. The next time the face came around in its constant swirl, the thing rolled to seemingly peer up at the large rubber stopper at the top of the jar.

The room was a hive of curious objects, an extended masterwork alchemist’s laboratory, and a large selection of alchemical items including a score of acid vials, a dozen flasks of alchemist’s fire, a half dozen clay amphorae, that glowed magic, a box of 22 vials of alkali flasks, and three green glass bottles of bladeguard.

Lurking in a recessed cupboard was an odd object—a sealed brass and translucent green glass bottle that contained what appeared to be a human brain.  A curved horn made from metal and ivory sprouted from the top of the bottle, and a brass nameplate was stamped onto its base that read “A. Weigs.” Periodically, the horn emitted the quiet sound of whispered lullabies, but efforts to communicate with the brain were fruitless.

Moving to join the group looking at the face, Ciprian tried to read the lips as they spoke.  "Please help me.  Let me die!" was the message he felt was being asked.

"We should open the top.  Maybe it knows something about Lowls," Armania interjected.

Ursina removed the rubber stopper from the top of the jar and heard a faint, burbling voice coming from the fluid within. Number 61 had difficulty speaking, but with patience, the group eventually learned how to communicate with it.

"We are looking for Miacknian Mun and a friend of his," Ciprian said describing Lowls.

Number 61 overheard Lowls and Mun plan here. It related that Lowls and Mun were heading to the Mysterium in Katheer, and that they were concerned about the guards there. Lowls eventually decided that bribery would be the best method to get in. Their goal was to steal a book called the Necronomicon from a part of the library called the Soul. Lowls greatly desired the book and the secrets within, claiming it would restore his reputation in Ustalav and bring him unspeakable success and fame. He kept talking about the library and the dangerous wards in the Soul of the Mysterium. He also spoke fearfully of the Mysterium’s guardian, a being known only as the Keeper. Although he didn’t know what the guardian was, he was very worried that he might end up meeting it and not be able to complete his mission in the library. Lowls also spoke about contacting his old friend, the gnoll slaver Biting Lash, in Okeno to help organize a trip to find the hidden city and acquire slaves and hirelings to serve as porters and guards, but seemed to regard the slaver with some amount of fear and trepidation. The pair then gathered a number of objects here and from other places in the infirmary before leaving the hollow ones in charge of the place.

"Do you know what they took with them?" Armania inquired.

"No, they took items but I do not know what?"

"Is there a way to the floor above?" asked Gavril

"There is a ladder just beyond me.  It is invisible but it is there."

Gavril took time looking at the area and noticed something strange, probably the invisible ladder.   At the top a concealed trap door was cunningly fashioned to look like the rest of the ceiling, but bore a few finger marks and stains where it has been lifted repeatedly over the years.

"How can we help you?" inquired Ciprian.

Number 61 pleaded with the PCs to put it out of its misery. It instructed them to get a blue glass bottle from the nearby workbench and pour it in the top of its jar, insisting that the chemical will allow it to peacefully die. Ciprian found the and poured the contents of the blue bottle into Number 61’s vat. The thing thanked them before shuddering, then stilling and slowly floating to the bottom of its container.

Armania suggested that the party spend a rest period here in the Infirmary to not arouse the suspicions of the Watch.  "Maybe the floor below could be used."

"There are those paintings there," Gavril reminded her.

"Well maybe we just need guards on watch,"

The group collected the magic items and moved to Mun's Study.

Ciprian identified the magic as Elixirs of Fire Breath and then more healing commenced before trying to sleep.

At this point Ciprian accosted Erevel regarding her actions with Gavril.

"I noticed that you kept shifting out of flanking with Gavril.  Why would you do that?"

"Merely the battle field necessities.  I always allow Gavril to flank."

"But why keep shifting around?"

"I will not be questioned by you about battle tactics.  I do plenty of fighting for this party." Erevel said and walked away slowly.

Then Ciprian moved over to Paullus/Agna.

"Paullus what is going on with you?"

"Who is this Paullus you keep referring to?" Agna replied.  "And who are you to question me!"

"Just trying to understand what is happening.  We know you as Paullus."

"Pay attention to your own concerns, we have to kill all these evil creatures before they take over the world."

As Ciprian kept trying to question Agna, she turned around and left shaking her head, "I'm done talking to you!"

DM's Notes: The party earned 1600 XP for the night.