8th of Heartfire 4E201
The library had more of the sleeping orcs in it, as well as some of Vaermina's priests. Thankfully, they were fighting each other as well as us, so they didn't pose much of a threat. After we defeated them all, I asked Erandur what we were looking for in here. He told me about the book we needed, called The Dreamstride. Apparently it was a book of alchemical recipes, and had Vaermina on the cover. I had to climb around the ruined library, and nearly fell a few times, but I found the book. The book was about using something  called Vaermina's Torpor to enter a state known as the Dreamstride. I asked him if it was some sort of potion, and he said it was. The priests apparently drank it to enter the Dreamstride, which let people use dreams to travel various distances in the real world. I told him that seemed impossible, but he said that the phenomenon was well known is lore concerning Vaermina. He said that he had never actually seen it himself, so he wasn't sure how it was going to go. I sighed a bit and asked if that meant that I was going to be his test subject. He said that it wouldn't work on him, since he was a priest of Mara. It apparently only worked on priests of Vaermina, or the unaffiliated. I told him that it sounded dangerous, and asked how he could be so certain about it, and he agreed that there was some risk involved. He then swore on Lady Mara that he would do everything in his power to keep me safe. I swore a bit too, under my breath, and asked where we could get some of this stuff. He said that there should still be some in their laboratory, and hoped that there was a bottle still intact. I doubted it, based on the sorry state that the library was in, but I didn't tell him that.

The hallway to the laboratory and the laboratory itself had more of the sleeping orcs and priests. We defeated all of them, and he asked me to look around for the Torpor. There were so many potions and ingredients left intact despite the damage, and I collected ingredients as I looked for the Torpor. There were even a few nightshade flowers. I found the Torpor, and took it up to Erandur. He was relieved that we found a bottle intact, since the laboratory was in shambles. He then asked me to drink it. I hesitated for a moment, then uncorked the bottle and drank it.

I will never ever ever drink any of this Torpor stuff again. After I drank it, I felt so dizzy that it nearly made me sick, and when I opened my eyes, I was somewhere else. Everything looked hazy, and there were two priests standing in front of me, talking about some orcs breaching the inner sanctum. I then realized that this was the past, decades ago, and I must be in Nightcaller Temple still. Whose dream was this then? The only other person who had been around me was Erandur, so I thought it might be his since he had once been a priest of Vaermina. But, they called me Brother Casimir, and asked if I had made my peace with things, I said I had, and they told me that I must go and release the Miasma, while they stayed there and guarded the Skull of Corruption. I tried talking to them, but I started walking away from them, as if I were not in control of my actions. It was like I was being dragged along behind someone, powerless to get free. There was fighting going on everywhere, but thankfully Brother Casimir was unharmed as he ran to release the Miasma. He pulled the handle on a carved figure, and the Miasma was released. Then, suddenly, I was myself again. I fell to the ground in a coughing fit, then looked around. Somehow, I was on the other side of the barrier we had been trying to get past. So it really did work after all! I could see Erandur on the other side, oblivious to my being over here. I noticed that  the barrier was coming out of what looked like a soul gem, so I carefully grabbed it. The barrier vanished, and Erandur came over to me, seemingly very excited that the Torpor had actually worked. He said I had vanished right before his eyes after drinking the Torpor, and appeared again on the other side of the barrier. I told him that it was like I was actually there, and he got a bit envious of my experience. He lamented that he would only get to read about it through his studies of the Skull. I told him that we could discuss it later, but right now we needed to keep moving. He agreed, and we both made our way to the inner sanctum where the Skull rested.

On the way there, we fought more of the "awakened" as Erandur called them, and I picked up more potions and alchemy ingredients along the way. It seemed each priest carried at least one potion and one ingredient.
In a sleeping area, I found some clean and undamaged robes of Vaermina, and put them into my bag. They weren't enchanted or anything, but they looked pretty. Went into the dining hall, more awakened, though only orcs. It was dark in there, so I had tripped over one of them, causing him to wake up and start swinging at me. They didn't stay awake for long. After that, and a trip down a hallway, we found the inner sanctum. Unfortunately, the two priests from the dream were there, and they were not happy. They seemed to recognize Erandur, and called hin Casimir. So it was his dreams I was in! They called him a traitor, and said that he had left them to die before the Miasma took him. He argued, saying that he was just scared and wasn't really ready to sleep. They said they'd had enough of his lies, and that they couldn't allow him to destroy the Skull. Erandur then said that they left him no choice, and the fighting began. We managed to defeat then, and Erandur lamented that he had known them, and they were his friends. He said that Lady Mara must be tormenting him, but I reminded him that they were trying to kill us. He nodded, and said that if they had, that the fate of Dawnstar would have been sealed. He thanked me for my wisdom, and remarked that I had a unique way of looking at things. He then went up the stairs to remove the barrier around the Skull, using a ritual he'd been given by Lady Mara. I looked around for treasure, and found a chest with some nice things in it. He was still doing the ritual, so I sat down on the steps and had something to eat. My stomach had been rumbling for hours it seemed. I was just wondering what Jenassa was doing when I heard a woman's voice all around me. She said that he was deceiving me, and that when the ritual to destroy the Skull was fnished,  Erandur would turn on me. She the told me to kill him quickly before he finished the ritual, and to claim the Skull as my own. She then added "Vaermina commands you!" So this voice was the daedric lord Vaermina? I wasn't sure what to do. Erandur had been pretty level with me so far, after he told the truth about everything. But, he had killed two of his friends to get to the Skull. I decided to let him finish the ritual, since daedric lords were bad news. If he attacked me after that, then I would defend myself. I had taken down dragons, so I figured that I could defeat a priest. He destroyed the Skull, and didn't turn on me. I was glad that I didn't kill him. He asked me to forgive him for not seeming more relieved, since this place had taken its toll on him. I asked him if he was going to be alright, and he said that he would eventually. He told me that he would stay here in the Temple, near the shrine that I had built, atoning for his past sins. But, if I ever asked him to, he would come with me on my journey. We walked back to the entrance of the temple in silence, both seemingly lost in our thoughts.

Jenassa was dozing on the bench when we got back to her, but woke up when she heard us. She half reached  for her weapon, then realized who it was. I told Erandur goodbye and wished him the best of luck. I told him that I would come visit the next time I was in Dawnstar. Jenassa gave him a small nod, and we left the temple to go back to Dawnstar and get some rest. On the way back, I told Jenassa all about what had happened, even the part about Vaermina trying to get me to kill Erandur. She seemed surprised, but said that it was probably best not to trust a daedric lord that gave people nightmares. I was so tired that I kept stumbling in the snow on the way back, and Jenassa kept having to catch me. When we got back to town, I decided to go to the jarl to tell him that the nightmares were over, and then go to the inn and get some much needed rest. The jarl just thanked us, and said not to bother him again unless it was important. I grumbled under my breath, and then we made our way to the inn. I rented a room and stumbled after the innkeeper as he led us to it. I was too tired to even eat anything. I had a feeling that I wasn't going to wake up for quite a while.