Aenian begins cleaning up the remains of the outsider enlisting some help from the less squeamish, "Picked up from where? Were you with the apostles?"
"The apostles?" Ilki asks, looking confused. "I was in my room and the ground shook hard. Everything came down, the ceiling, the walls. I was nearly crushed -- took a hard hit on the head -- but survived. When I got my senses back, I wandered the remains of the ward, but then was jumped by ghouls. I still don't really believe it... what happened?"
Ven shakes his head at the man, "We don't know what happened, but it's not safe here - you will need to stay in the chapel. If I may ask, why were you in the asylum in the first place? And how did you know about the dog?"
Ilki shies away from the first question, looking embarrassed. "I had some issues the doctors were working on."
He points at the esipil, "The ghouls captured that thing. I have no clue where it came from. They kept it locked up, but it tried to escape a few times by changing form."
Ven nods and then turns to Aenian. "We had best make for the northwest tower as soon as we can. Are you ready?"
He motions for Winter to join them. "Will you be returning with us? If possible, I would appreciate any healing you can provide before we begin."
"I will come with you, if you will have me," Winter nods. She continues in a hushed voice, "Things are growing desperate here. We need to find some means of escape as soon as possible." As if to punctuate her statement, the ground rumbles.
Ven nods his thanks to Winter. He then straps on his backpack and loads his crossbow. "Let's move out."
Aenian heads out with Ven and Winter back to whence they came.
After healing up, you head out through the north barricade and your recently-excavated tunnel. On the far side, you hold your breath against the stink of the decomposing ghoul bodies and open the door at the north end of the messy corridor.
A row of wicker rocking chairs faces this room’s tall windows, staring into the mist licking the outside of the glass. A heap of broken planks lies in one corner, the wreckage of a wooden stairwell that still partially clings to the wall above. Through the opening fifteen feet above you, you can see the upper part of the stairs still remain (mostly) intact, leading to the upper floor. The broken stairs left behind an assortment of holes and studs.
Grisly remains of ghoul victims -- little more than bones and bloody rags -- lie around the chairs.
Aenian looks up dubiously at the holes and studs and says with a sigh, "Time to climb ..."
;
Ven helps Aenian up and then climbs up himself .
Using the available handholds and aiding each other, you climb up onto the remaining stairs, and then up into the tower heights. The wide chamber's broken windows look out across a sea of churning saffron
fog. Inside, dusty crates of every size crowd the room.
Standing by the windows on the west side of the chamber is a man, dressed in yellow-stained rags, spewing forth gouts of the yellow mist from every orifice. You can barely make him out through the mists but for the occasional wind breeze.
Ven moves up to the cover of one of the crates and trains his crossbow on the man in yellow. He studies the man and attempts to determine if this is an oneirgen similar to Dr. Losandro.
Aenian stalks over to the man, Red Destiny in front of him. "Alright mist-boy, tells us about Zandalus before I run you through."
The man turns to face Aenian, his face flinching in surprise that quickly turns to hostility. He says nothing but a great gout of sour yellow fog spews from his mouth. He starts towards Aenian, fists clenched.
Ven summons his dark half. "Some how I knew we'd have to kill you."
He blasts the man with a magic missile.
; +1 bleed
Ven finds it difficult to actually pinpoint the oneirogen...
He blasts the man with a magic missile.
"The hard way, then ...", Aenian sighs as he jams his rapier forward at the man thing's chest.
Ven drops his cross bow, draws his quarterstaff, and moves into the cloud bank after Aenian. He will try to move to a flanking position.
As soon as you close on the man and are exposed to the strong mists surrounding him, you feel your consciousness spasm.
You both move in and flank the man, resisting the fog's pull to sleep. Aenian stabs but with poor aim. Without a word or sound, he swings fists empowerd by otherworldly strength.
;
;
Winter closes into melee, claws extended. She also keeps awake against the fog.
Ven attempts to drop out of his dark half and then uses his quarter straff to assist Aenian with his next attack
; unsuccessful
Aenian stabs, piercing the man through the torso. He doesn't register any pain from the wound. Ven barely keeps from tripping over his own quarterstaff.
Still emiting gouts of mist, the man soundlessly attacks.
;
;
Winter steps to flank with Ven and slashes her claws at the oneirogen, leaving bloody marks on its arm.
; ;
; ;
With blinding flashes of his rapier, Aenian knocks away both fists and stabs hard once, following up with another strike later.
Aenian's riposte is precise and deadly, piercing the foe through the eye. Without a noise, he falls to the floor, dead.
The yellow mists slow and eventually stop spewing from the body. After a minute, you notice the the mist outside the windows looks lighter. The region surrounding the asylum is still awash in the thick fog, but much of the immediate area appears to clear.
Ven will search the man and then will search the area. He will also detect magic and will detect psychic significance. "Well done Aenian. Maybe this fellow was the source of all the yellow fog."
Ven detects no magic or anything psychically significant. The fog remains, though it is clearer in the vicinity of the tower.
The man's body has only the yellow-stained clothes. Examining his body, you notice that something about his physiology is strange.
Ven takes a closer look at the body.
The man's body quickly decomposes, or rather disintegrates, consumed by something within. Ven observes closely, and identifies the effects as exposure from some other planar energies. The remains collapse around a pin-prick-sized hole in the man's chest, a tiny portal to another plane. It emits one last zephyr of yellow mist before blinking closed, no longer fueled by the oneirogen's life force.
"Planar dream mist? Does this mean we need to go back and kill Losandro?"
Ven rubs his chin and again regards the decaying body.”Dr Losandro spewed a multicolored mist - perhaps it is a different type of rift. Killing her probably won’t help with the yellow mist. Dr. Elbourne said we’d learn something about Zandalus up here, but we’ve learned nothing. Perhaps we need to pay the good doctor another visit.”
"There was another of these oneirogens per Elbourne, correct? Don't think there was another path around here to one, so I'm guesing we go back to the doctor to see if he was yanking our chain to get us to kill this thing or if there is something we can learn from the other."
You climb down from the tower room and make your way back through the asylum halls until you reach the common room. It remains much as you left it the day before. The apostles and patients there eye you warily as you cross to the medical tent, but make no attempt to bar your way. They seem skittish and edgy, a small tremor causing them to glance about nervously.
Inside the tent, Doctor Elbourne smiles as you enter. In a hushed voice, he says, "I feared the worst when you didn't return after a few hours. What happened? Did you find the oneirogen?"
Ven nods at Doctor Elbourne, "Aye, we killed the oneirogen and watched its body disintegrate, but we're no closer to finding Zandalus. I thought you said that we would learn something up there? Besides one more dead psychopath in yellow, we got nothing."
"We did notice the mist around the tower lessening but not disappearing, so there must be more portals or ineirogens?"
Doctor Elbourne frowns, frustrated by what Ven has to say. "I thought for sure you'd learn something... what Zandalus has planned, or where the damned fog is coming from." He sighs, slumping on his stool.
To Aenian, he looks up, "Yes! There are more, three or four I think, sequestered upstairs with Zandalus and his cultists. Are you suggesting these oneirogen are related to the fog somehow?"
Ven shrugs, "Yes, there appears to be some connection between the fog and the oneirogens. We need to destroy the ones spewing the yellow mist.
Which one of these stairs will take us to Zandalus?"
Elbourne nods towards the tent opening, looking a shade frightened by Ven's suggestion. "These stairs behind me are blocked off, but the set just outside lead up to where Zandalus stays. Of course, I'm just guessing he's still up there... haven't actually seen the man in days." He frowns and adds, "Going up there is a sure fight. You need to make sure you're ready." He walks over to a foot locker and takes out a small bundle, then hands it to you. "A healing wand and a couple potions for wounds and disease. I hope you don't need them."
Ven accepts the bundle with gratitude. "Thank you Doctor. We're going to end this."
He turns to Aenian, "Do you want to return to the chapel or press?"
"This is our only path forward, yes? I am ready, my friend. Let me scoit ahead, though."
Aenian will drink a potion of blend, his coloration changing to match that of the nearby area (+4 stealth, doesn't require cover or concealment to hide as long as he moves half speed or less. 20 minute duration)