Quote from LAXGunner >>

Randal Dex save: 17.

Randal is able to turn his head and close his eyes, avoiding much of the dust and opening them just in time to slip away from the other creature’s attack.  He hears Tess shout, but instead of attacking with his rapier, he sings a soft lullaby, attempting to lure the creatures to sleep.

(Sleep affects 12 hitpoints)

(OOC: Thanks! Nearly forgot my own cunning action too, but once I realised that I could get there in one turn I thought it was probably worth a shot)

"I'm Lyla, this is Tess, and I think you've met Randal?" Lyla quickly points out each of the others. "The Ireen you were talking to isn't real, and in what I think is the real world you've fallen under some sort of sickness. We might have too, given that we're now meeting here. Beware the area where we mysteriously can't speak or hear." She gestures to the area. "You might need to walk further forward to communicate. Do you have any combat experience?"

Lyla then takes a hold of Naran's hand and basically drags him through the silent area (not forcefully, but given that he seems dazed, she assumes he won't resist and doesn't want to leave him behind).

Assuming he comes along and has 30ft speed, she leaves him at that point to cunning action dash to melee range next to Randal, where she slashes at the creature on the ground (before Randall's sleep). 

Attack: 18 Damage: Unable to parse dice roll.

((OOC: Seems you also forgot to add Sneak Attack. I'll remind you that it also triggers when an enemy of your target is within 5' of it (as Randal is this time). Unfortunately, it's not enough to make any immediate difference, but I rolled for you on your sheet here and added it to the damage dealt. The result was 4, added to the 8 for a total of 12.

Also, Tess wouldn't be able to hear anything, nor cast spells that include V components while still in the silenced area. For simplicity's sake, I'll assume she went out of it on her first turn, and so her second turn went as planned.

Lastly, I forgot to mention, but Randal's readied action should have triggered if he chooses to use his reaction for that. Your last post offered otherwise, so I just want to confirm - does Randal use his reaction to attack with his rapier or not?

I'll narrate the round once Randal answers. This was the first time, so I'm checking, but going forward I won't be mentioning that readied actions can be triggered unless the trigger is too vague and requires some interpretation. The same would go for any class features that allow reactions, except Opportunity Attacks when an enemy leaves your reach which, in case it's relevant, I'll tell you when you can take them.))

(OOC: Sorry, Randal does not use his reaction to attack, opting instead to try to put the creatures to sleep.   The dice did not drop in his favor though) 

Lyla dashes again, but this time, there is no resistance, and she can quickly cover the distance and stab the creature in what would be his belly. No blood pours out, which comes as little surprise, and yet the creature screeches in pain. It locks its eyes on Lyla, clearly about to exact revenge, when suddenly a wave of lethargy washes over him, and the lethargy turns to tiredness, to which the creature succumbs, falling on the ground, asleep.

Meanwhile, Tess' blue-white flame passes right by the flying creature, nearly missing it altogether. However, unlike packed earth, it seems that the loose dust that makes its body is highly flammable, and the entire creature bursts into flames in a flash. However, a moment after, when some of the flames die, it is still flying in the air. And despite being within Randal's spell's effect, it does not seem affected in any way. Instead, it inhales again, and expecting more dust, you close your eyes to protect them.

This time, however, you don't feel dust washing over you, but warm air. It is pleasant, relaxing even. Randal and Lyla open their eyes in confusion, wondering what happened, but the answer quickly reveals itself. Not far from them, Tess now lies asleep, in a similar manner to the sleeping creature in front of Randal. The creature seems irritated that only one of you succumbed to his greatest trick under his sleeve, then spews out what you assume is a string of unknown curses towards you, but it remains in the air.

Meanwhile, Naran remains where Lyla left him and watches the strange events unfold. It seems he is about to do something, perhaps run towards you, but suddenly Ireen's translucent figure appears next to him again. She tells him something, but you can't hear what it is. For the moment, Naran seems torn between believing Lyla and trusting Ireen.

Randal blinks as the creature’s breath washes over him, and as he opens his eyes and sees Tess lying on the ground, he lets out a string of curses toward it. “Are you going to sit there and blow air on us all day? Bore us or knock us out with bad breath? Come down here and face me”

(Wis Save 13 or it takes 3 psychic damage and has disadvantage on next attack roll)

(Tess sleeps peacefully for the first time in a while..)

"Why is everyone here so obsessed with sleep?" Lyla asks aloud in frustration.

Two daggers go whizzing up towards the flying creature.

Attack: 18 Damage: 6

Attack: 7 Damage: 1

She marches back, swatting away Ireen's translucent figure as she grabs Naran by the arm, and walks him out of the silent area. 

In response to Randal's magic-laced words, the creature furiously dashes towards Randal with its claws in front, ready to slash at Randal, but before it can reach, two daggers bury deep into its face, and the creature suddenly bursts into a small cloud of dust and dirt. Once it settles, the creature is no more. Lyla's daggers, however, lie on the ground below, not far from the sleeping creature.

The moment Lyls comes close, Ireen's translucent figure disperses again. Naran allows Lyla to pull him at first, but the moment they're out of the silented area, he shakes her hand off. "Stop. Who are you? You say this world isn't real, what do you mean by that? What else can this be?

Randal picks up Lyla’s daggers and returns them to her. “I don’t know what this place is, maybe the shadow of the real world, maybe a dream, maybe someplace else” Randal responds to Naran “But that was not the real Ireen.  Do you remember me?  We met on the bridge a few days ago?”

Randal glances over and sees Tess sleeping peacefully, moving over to shake her awake.  “Come on, let’s get away from here before that one wakes up or she returns.”

“Wow… oh Randall..  hi… magical sleep.. It was so peaceful.   I once had to use.. .”. Tess says, abruptly stopping on noticing Naran.   She stands up and brushes some of the red dust off of her white and ivory clothing. 

Lyla nervously waits for Naran's reaction to the information - or rather, the lack of it. Meanwhilst, she continues talking to Randall.

"What if there are answers somewhere here though? Maybe Ri is also here, or others affected by whatever is going on. Besides, even if we left, where would we go? Back to the inn? We could try, but I'm not sure whether that would lead anywhere else. Not that staying here gets us anywhere either, but it might be worth investigating. What do you think?"

The last question in particular is asked openly to the whole group, in case Naran or Tess also wanted to weigh in.

"We... met?" The confusion on Naran's face is genuine. "I do not remember you. How do you know Ireen isn't real? Why should I believe you?" Naran takes another step back. "And where is Ireen? She was just here with me a moment ago. Wait, I know!" You now spot fear in Naran's eyes as he backs further away, but keeps his eyes fixed on you three. "Fire out of nowhere, sleeping creatures and Ireen disappearing with the wind, you must be evil sorcerers! Stay away! Stay away! Please leave me alone and return Ireen! We've done nothing wrong, please let us be! We won't disturb you!" 

Randal holds up his arms in a “just wait” gesture to Naran.  “We are no sorcerers, and we mean no harm.  We have done nothing with Ireen, she is one of my friends as well”  Randal is visibly confused himself and turns to Lyla and Tess “I don’t understand.  If we haven’t met, then he is not the Naran that fell under the sickness. What is this place?  I definitely mean to explore more, but we shouldn’t stay here.  Should we visit the square?  Or Dromi? And what do we do with him?” he jerks his head back toward Naran with his last question.

"Well, that or he's lost his memory. Maybe we should visit the cemetery, and the house we thought we were sleeping in?"

Lyla turns back to Naran.

"Sorcery?" she asks with delight, "That sounds like fun. Perhaps unfortunately, I don't have any of the skills needed to be a sorcerer. Ireen was the one who, as you put it, disappeared with the wind, so unless you know how she could do that to herself, I'd bet that wasn't the true Ireen, or at least not the one we know."

“The cemetery sounds good to me, a chance to retrace our steps. I would be interested to see if the headstones are the same here”  he shoots a sympathetic glance at Tess. 

Shifting his gaze to Naran he tries to find out more information about where they are “If you don’t remember me, Naran, what do you remember?  How long have you been here?  Where are all of the others, preparing for the festival?”  Persuasion to try to calm Naran and get him to answer questions: 18.

It doesn't appear as if Naran trusts you nor has calmed down, but for now, he remains where he is and answers: "How long have I been here? I was born here, never left Rivulestice in my life. That's over two decades. I remember most of what happened during that time, at least what's important, I think. I hope. But I don't remember ever seeing you. The others... I don't know. Preparing for the festival is a reasonable assumption."

"There's certainly something very strange going on in this place.   Naran,   I am Tess.   I was born here. my mother died,  or went missing.   I left very young.    If you want to accompany us we want to find out if the cemetery is.. different somehow, now.    the last thing we remember we were sleeping in a house over near there, and we woke up in the Tree Inn.  What do you know about Sier?"  Tess says.   SHe brushes herself off, not using any magic, and gets her staff where it was lying in the dust.  She nods at Randall.  "lets go to the cemetery.  maybe we will meet others on the way."  

"Sier? The Elf? He lives in that tree. That's all I know." Naran answers. He refuses to go with you but does not say anything more. He keeps his distance and watches as you leave for the cemetery until you're out of sight. Crossing the bridge now is as easy as crossing a bridge should be, with no slowing forces or interactions of any kind. 

You walk for a bit but see nobody around. You don't even get to the shrines, however, before the world around you begins to change. Everything gets gradually blurry, and the buildings around you start to lose shape, merge to form high walls, and then close around you from all directions. Moreover, you're no longer walking on the rocky ground of the main road in Rivulestice. Instead, you're lying on something that's relatively soft, through which you can feel a harder surface below. 

Your eyes aren't open, and the sun doesn't shine directly in front of you. Instead, your eyes are closed, and even though you can tell you're not in complete darkness, you're not in broad daylight either. Even the smell changed. Well, there was no smell before, but now you can sense a faint smell of dust. You slowly realise that lying in your bedroll, you've woken up to a new day, in the house in which you remember going to sleep. The stone walls, ceiling and cold floor verify that you're definitely not in the inn.

The 1st of Oruthia's Jurisdiction over the Summer (first day of the first ninday, the Summer Solstice and Oruthia's Festival, or the Summer Festival).

Lyla looks at the others, confused, as she stands up and moves to pack up her sleeping gear.

"Was that a dream? And did you both have the same dream, or experience the same thing, whatever it was?"