"Magic? What magic? All I sense is what we bring with us. Which should, of course, have included a light. Never mind, we'll make do. I mean, I don't need it, and I doubt Kisasi and Smaranda do either, but the rest of you..."
With a few quick words and a flick of his wrist, Thistle conjured up a ball of yellow light, which he carefully placed on top of Mihaela's head, after gesturing for her to bend down a bit. He was originally going to give it to DAY-LIX-EE-AH, but changed his mind. Yes, Mihaela was definitely the better choice.
Smaranda follows Kisasi, looking carefully around. Her bare feet stir up the dust on the stone floor.
Mihaela ducks and is slightly surprised as the ball of light beams from her head. "Uh.. thanks?" she says, amused. "I guess I was fumbling around too much wasn't I?" she says sheepishly. Following the Dhampir, she apologizes, "It's too dark here, I am not of much use for observing things as well as the rest of you." She motions for Delixia to follow.
As they creep in, she listens for any unusual sounds.
Perception:
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You enter the crypt and with the light floating atop Mihaela' head see a an empty stone chamber. There is a stone mosaic inlaid into the floor depicting an owl sitting atop and open book. A statue stands against both the East and West walls. A pair of doors stand in the North wall.
"It seems as if someone has been here recently, likely the professor, but not for a long time before that. You see that dust laid down thickly on the mosaic? Cather Laperzin once laid out a treatise on Thassilonian ruins that postulated that if you have an accurate and precise measuring device, then you could calculate how many years had passed from the dust layer alone. Of course, he then had to invent a new system of measurement with something called milliweetons to measure it, and it wasn't very practical. This owl and book look interesting though..."
Thistle wracked his brain to think of any information he might have on the owl mosaic or the statue.
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The dusty footprints proceed to the northeast door. Beyond the door lays a small stone chamber and another flight of stone stairs leading further into the earth. The flight of stone steps leads down into the cold earth to a large crypt lined with empty niches—no dead are interred here. It appears that no one but professor Lorrimor has been into this chamber for several decades, and his tracks remain obvious in the dust and dirt of the floor.
You all follow the faint line of tracks to a single large sarcophagus that sits in the deepest part of the crypt on a slightly raised dais. The sarcophagus is made of stone and has a simple stone slab for a lid.
The dust stirred up by the group's footsteps causes Smaranda to go into a fit of coughing, bent over and using the sarcophagus as support. The noise of the coughing and the echoes coming off the stone walls cause her to miss any other noises that might signal peril.
Thistle looked up from his inspection of the mosaic as he heard the clicking noise behind them. He was about to ask what the creatures were when Kisasi spoke up.
"Centipedes? They sure grow them large here, don't they? I've never seen any that big before. I lave seen an earthworm nearly as long as my arm before, though. They have all kinds of weird creatures in jars at the...oh, I say, Smaranda re you all right?"
There was too much dust here, the air stale and difficult to breathe. Smaranda moves past the gnarf, heading for the exit and fresh air, desperately trying to still her coughing. She almost steps on one of the centipedes and stumbles, turning the movement at the last second into a powerful downward stomp.
Mihaela gasps and immediately draws her dagger. It barely makes a sound as it is pulled out and readied. She steps forward, holding her dagger at ready to bring them into the light. "What's that?!"
Thistle leaned over so that he had a good look at one of the centipedes. He pulled his crossbow off his should, aimed, and fired. the shot looked good, but with the centipedes engaged in combat, it was hard to tell. Maybe he should have just augmented his friends' combat abilities instead?
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With a stomp, a thunk, and a whack the bugs quickly are left nothing more than a smear at the top of the stairs.
Turning back to the sarcophagus you find that it is not fully sealed by the lid and the the lid is sitting just slightly ajar. With the light from above Mihaela' head you can seat several objects glinting inside.
You find a dozen silver arrows, four sun rods, six transparent glass flasks filled with a clear liquid, ten arrows bundled together, five other arrows also bundled together, two arrows laying loose, seven brown glass vials with severely faded labels, four scrolls, and a thin darkwood case decorated with an image of a scarab with a single eye glaring from its back.
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Identifying the objects with the sarcophagus.
You can identify the following using Detect Magic:
The darkwood case has two magical aura's emanating from within it; a faint aura of necromancy and a moderate aura of divination.
You can identify the scrolls using Read Magic:
Scroll of Hide from Undead x 2.
Scroll of Protection from Evil x 1.
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A thin darkwood case decorated with an image of a scarab with a single eye glaring from its back—the same design that appears on the cover of the Manual of the Order of the Palatine Eye among the books in the professor’s collection. The darkwood case contains three objects of interest—a spirit board with a brass planchette, and four iron and glass vials containing tiny, churning clouds of vapor. The vials sit in velvet-lined indentations to the left of the spirit board and planchette, along with six empty indentations.
Spirit Planchette
Aura moderate divination; CL 9th
Slot none; Price 4,000 gp (brass planchette), 10,000 gp (cold iron planchette), 18,000 gp (silver planchette); Weight 5 lbs.
DESCRIPTION
A spirit planchette is typically found in a wooden case along with a thin wooden board printed with numerous letters and numbers. Nonmagical versions of these divination tools can be purchased in curiosity shops (typically costing 25 gp); while these items can be used as alternative components for augury spells, only magical spirit planchettes allow users to communicate with the other side. Three types of spirit planchettes exist—brass, cold iron, and silver. Each in turn allows an increasingly potent form of divination effect to be utilized. A spirit planchette requires a board to move upon, but this “board” can be made up of letters scribed upon any smooth surface—it need not be a prepared board for a spirit planchette to work.
To use a spirit planchette, you must rest your fingers lightly upon the planchette’s surface and then concentrate on the planchette (as if maintaining a spell with a duration of concentration) for 2d6 rounds while the planchette attunes itself to the ambient spirits of the area. After this time, the planchette begins to slowly slide in random patterns across the board—at this point, questions may be asked of the spirits by any of the individuals involved in the séance. The consequences of each question asked of the spirits depends upon what type of planchette is used for the divination, as summarized on the table below. The spirits reply in a language understood by the character who asked the question, but resent such contact and give only brief answers to the questions. All questions are answered with “yes,” “no,” or “maybe,” or by spelling out a single word from the letters arranged on the board. The spirits answer each question either in the same round the question is asked (in the case of a yes, no, or maybe answer) or at a rate of one letter per round (in the case of a single word being spelled out). A spirit planchette may be used once per day—the maximum number of questions you can ask with it depends on the type of planchette being used (as detailed on the table below). Communication with spirits can be a dangerous task, for many spirits are jealous or hateful of the living. Every time a spirit planchette is used, the user must succeed on a Will save to avoid being temporarily
possessed and harmed by the angry spirits. In some areas where the spirits are particularly violent or hateful this Will save takes a –2 penalty. The DC of this save depends on the type of spirit planchette being used. Anyone who fails the Will save becomes confused for a number of rounds (depending on the type of planchette
being used), and no answer is received. The spirits in the area are not omniscient—the GM should decide whether or not the spirits would
actually know the answer to the question asked, and if they do not, the answer granted is automatically “maybe.” If the GM determines that the spirits are knowledgeable about the answer, roll d% to determine whether the spirits speak truthfully or whether they lie.
Haunt Siphon
Aura faint necromancy; CL 3rd
Slot none; Price 400 gp; Weight 1 lb.
DESCRIPTION
These glass vials are held within stylized cold-iron casings etched with strange runes, necromantic designs, or other eldritch markings. Within the vial roils a small wisp of white vapor, churning as if caught in a miniature vortex of air. To capture a haunt’s energies within a haunt siphon, you need only twist the metal casing to open the vial in the same round that the haunt manifests (a standard action)—this can be before or after the haunt has acted. You must be within the haunt’s area of influence to use a haunt siphon. When you activate a haunt siphon, it deals 3d6 points of positive energy damage to a single haunt. If it deals enough damage to the haunt to reduce the haunt’s hit points to 0, the mist inside the haunt siphon glows green—if it does not reduce the haunt to 0 hit points, the haunt siphon is still expended and becomes nonmagical. It may take multiple haunt siphons to destroy powerful haunts. A haunt that is neutralized by a haunt siphon takes a –5 penalty on its caster level check to manifest again after its reset time passes. A haunt siphon that neutralizes a haunt can no longer be used to harm haunts, but it can be used as a grenadelike splash weapon that deals 1d6 points of negative energy damage with a direct hit. Every creature within 5 feet of the point where the haunt siphon hits takes 1 point of negative energy damage from the splash.
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Gathering all of the found items from within the sarcophagus you proceed carefully back out of the crypt. With a brief thought Kisasi decides to secure the doors into the crypt as they had been when you initially arrived.
You carry your newly acquired items back to the Lorrimor home where you are met by Kendra at the entryway. "I was just getting ready to lock up. What have you all been up to this evening?"
Smaranda is sure that Miss Lorrimor would not approve of their skulking about and - technically - their thieving, so she says nothing. She is relieved that they managed to acquire the items without too much trouble, although she kept out a watch on their way back for any townspeople that might have spotted them.
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"We got a lead on some items that might be of use to us, and luck was with us. We have some holy water, curative potions, and some arrows that might provide useful in the right hands."
Looking over the Brass planchette, Kisasi adds "I don't know what this is, but it seems interesting. Perhaps resting for the night will help me figure it out."
Standing just inside the study Kendra looks in fascination at the planchette that Kisasi is looking at. "Hmmmm... That is a rather fascinating object. May I take a look at it?"
"Give me some time and I will research it to see what I can make of it." Kendra gently takes the planchette from Kisasi' outstretched hand and cradles it in both of hers. Kendra turns and walks further into the study. As she does so "Would you be so kind as to lock up while I look this over." she says in a half distracted voice.
Kendra makes her way between several book cases and pulls a few tomes from each before taking a seat by a large end table. The planchette and tomes are carefully set on the table. She turns the chair towards the table and flips the first of the tomes open. She then moves to a what appears to be a writing desk at the far end of the room, opens it, and retrieves a few small soft leather pouches and what you know to be a scroll case.
Sitting down finally she pulls a crystal out of one of the pouches, utters a few archaic words, and the crystal begins to emit light like that of a touch.
Through all of this you can tell that she seems to have forgotten that anyone else is in the room with her.
Thistle was extraordinarily excited about the centipede encounter, but even more so at the cache of unknown items. He excitedly poured over them with Kisasi, noting special markings and commenting on their individual benefits against undead, especially of the incorporeal variety.
When he saw the planchette, his eyes went wide and his grin got even broader. "This is a spirit planchette. In the cloister, the young acolytes would use them as practice for communicating with the spirit world. They called it a Wee Gee board, probably because it was a lot smaller than this one. This would be known as a Mid Gee board. You can ask nearby spirits to answer simply questions, and the little planchette here moves to the answer or letters of the answer to the question you asked, guided by the spirits. Of course, you have to be careful not to influence the movement on your own, or you ruin it all. I once saw a young acolyte ask if a certain female was interested in him, and he quite clearly steered the planchette to 'YES' even though Lisette had said in the common room that very day that if Harkenen was called to serve in far off Mwangi, then she couldn't imagine a better sign of the Goddess' blessing on her."
10 +1 arrows
5 unknown arrows
2 unknown potions
spirit planchette
Mihaela takes a look at the arrows and potions Thistle struggled to identify.
5 +1 Ghost Touch arrows
2 unknown potions
"Well, these arrows are interesting, I have no idea on the potions however."
She laughs at Thistle's explanation of the spirit planchette. "Are you serious? I've never heard of a 'Wee Gee board' it definitely sounds haunted and creepy however."[b] she turns to Kendra to see what she is doing. [b]"Kendra, what books are these?" Mihaela asks.
"Oh, this is a treatise on communing with the dead. The other is a biography on the life and times of Abigail Von Hicks, a once well known spirit chaser." Kendra continues to examine the planchette as she speaks.
Kendra' concentration is squarely on the planchette, at least for know. She continues to flip through the books and compare the brass spirit planchette with illustrations in the books she has. She spends an hour or more in study. She muses out loud "Now I would just need to find somewhere were a spirit is guaranteed to be so this device can be experimented with." as she leans back in the chair.
The night passes and you awake the following morning feeling rested and hungry. Performing you normal morning rituals you sit at the dining table for the morning meal.
"So, after some study I believe I know the full potential of this planchette. This seemingly simple item is not only a writing aid for the rich but also a link to the spirit world. This brass spirit planchette and the answering board that you found allow you to ask a very limited number of questions to a spirit. The trick is finding a spirit that will actually choose to speak with you.'
"Von Hicks, who had one of these herself, stated that they do have a dangerous side to them. A malevolent spirit can cause disorientation and harm to the user if the users mind is not strong enough to resist the spirits intent."
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"Excellent! But not something to be triffled with. Still, I suggest we take it today when we explore the prison, given the reports that the place is haunted. It might just give us some of the answers we seek... or at least, the answers that the Professor sought. And they make lead us closer to why he was killed."
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You finish your breakfast and pack a small meal to take with you for lunch. Everyone gathers their gear and double checks to make sure that they have not forgotten anything they might need for today's foray into the area around Harrowstone and possibly even onto the grounds of the prison itself.
You proceed South out of town passing by homes and farms as you go. You also are able to see the path that leads to the memorial and the fountain that are located near the river. The sounds of the village proper fade in the distance the further you travel until eventually all you can hear around you are the sounds of rustling leaves, bird calls, and the movement of small animals among the undergrowth.
Harrowstone is located on a barren hill south of the village of Ravengro, the stark, sagging roof of its central structure visible through a large gap in the surrounding wall. A partially overgrown track leads from the southern edge of town, winding around the base of the hill and then back up along its southern slope to the prison itself.
A sagging wood and metal gate set between a pair of stone guard towers once barred entrance into Harrowstone, but the gates now hang negligently open, creaking softly in what wind touches the ruined bars. The twenty foot tall stone wall that surrounds most of the prison grounds is covered with creeping ivy.
Despite their destination, Smaranda feels that their walk is a pleasant one. Light mists are lifting off the fields and the air is crisp. She is wearing good clothes and has a meal in her belly. She is surrounded by people who seem to accept her for now. Contended, she hums softly and kicks at pebbles with her bare feet. As they approach the old prison, she becomes more alert, her body tensing as she looks around with narrowed eyes, sniffing the air. It smells like death and old smoke to her.
Thistle happily chatters with - at - the others as they make their way towards Harrowstone. It was hard to believe that he had met them just a few days ago. They seemed like the perfect companions, even DAY-LIX-EE-AH, she of the overly stressed name.
As they approached the prison itself, Thistle noticed Smaranda begin acting all cautious and such, and decided he should take a look around as well, just to make sure they weren't about to be ravaged by a ghost or goblin...or even a squirrel. nasty things, squirrels.
"Not exactly a vacation spot, is it? I do like what they've done with the gardening, though. Makes it feel like something straight out of the forest. A dark, scary, haunted forest. Filled with killer squirrels."
Seeing everyone in good spirits, Mihaela attempts to strike up a conversation with Smaranda. "Are you from around here?" she asks.
As they approach the prison, Mihaela feels the mood noticeably darken. Even Thistle seems to be a bit less jolly than before. "Indeed Thistle, this feels a bit morose.... shall we search a bit before entering? I want to make sure nothing sneaks up on us?"
She focuses at the gate and casts Detect Magic.
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You scout the area around the main gate and find the the stone that makes up the twenty foot tall walls covered in clinging vines has eroded with the weather and the working of nature. Searching reveals that nothing seems out of the ordinary in the surrounding area.
Concentrating on the gate Mihaela speaks a few arcane words and holds her hand outstretched towards the main gate into Harrowstone.
At Mihaela's question, Smaranda shakes her head mutely. She liked this friendly woman, but she was so unused to talking about herself that she doesn't have a better answer for her right now. And besides, her birth place held few pleasant memories for the girl, and plenty of the other kind.
As Kisasi moves forward, she follows on his heels. At least this thing she can do - see in the dark places, as he put it. And there are plenty of dark places.
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Kisasi looks around and seeing no one else taking the lead moves towards and through the main gate. Smaranda and the others follow quickly on his heels.
Two old stone towers, there wooden roofs collapsed and crumbling walls thick with ivy, extend a further ten feet above the twenty foot high wall. Both towers are west of the gate you have just walked through.
A small brick manor house is overgrown with thick sheets of gray-green ivy. The roof sags ominously, and the front door hangs askew. This house sits just west of the dirt path that leads up to the front of the main building within the grounds.
A two-story stone building looms in the center of the prison grounds. Ivy and moss cling tenaciously to the walls, while above the wooden shingles of the roof are often missing entirely, exposing the wooden rafters of the upper structure to the sky. Here and there, leering stone gargoyles perch on the eaves, once functioning as drain-spouts and decorations but now seeming almost to serve a more ominous role of sentinels. Many of these stone decorations have crumbled away and lie in ruined piles on the soggy ground below. Windows in the building’s facade are narrow and blocked by grills of rusty iron bars. Stone columns support a slumping wooden balcony over the building’s wooden front doors, both of which hang askew and reveal dark glimpses of chambers within.
Smaranda looks curiously after Kisasi as the dark-skinned man retreats through the ruined gates. She moves deeper into the prison grounds, padding on the dirt path and veering left, towards the manor house. The prison itself looks imposing and ominous, and the girl is not very keen on entering just yet. Perhaps the manor house holds some records or documents to shed light on what happened here. She steps towards the manor, throwing a questioning look to the others.
Mihaela says, "At least I don't feel the presence of magic here." Seeing Kisasi step out, breathing heavily, she becomes alarmed. "Are you ok? This place certainly looks like it should be haunted." She looks toward the gate that Kisasi stepped through. Seeing Smaranda walk through the gate, she reaches out and says, "Wait..." she hesitates, to see if anything happens.
Thistle moved forward with the others, still chatting about the architecture and gloomy appearance of this place. Oh sure, he was on the lookout for spirits and haunts, but he was also in the middle of one of his favorite stories of how a knight he once knew fell off his horse because of a squirrel.