GM Aria & the Mystery Machine Investigate The Haunting of Harrowstone (Inactive)

Game Master Hu5tru

Come one and all, and sit a spell while GM Aria spins a yarn about a group of highly unlikely adventurers pull the mask off Old Man Jenkins and discover why he let his amusement park go to ruins!


GM Aria's Carrion Crown

Ravengro City Map - Detail

A: Ravengro Town Square
B: Post Poles
C: The Laughing Demon
D: Ravengro Town Hall
E: The Temple of Pharasma
F: Ravengro General Store
G: Ravengro Forge
H: Jorminda's Apothecary
I: Ravengro Jail
J: Silk Purse
K: Outward Inn
L: Unfurling Scroll
M: Council homes

Evidence for your personal convenience

Selective entries from Professor Lorrimor's Personal Journals:

Ten Years Ago

The Whispering Way is more than just a cabal of necromancers. I see that now. Undeath is their fountain of youth. Uncovering their motivation does not place me at ease as I thought it might. Their desire to be eternal simply makes them dangerous.

Two Months Ago

It is as I have feared. The Way is interested in something here in Ravengro. But what could it be?

One Month Ago

Whatever the Way seeks, I am now concerned that their goal is connected to the Harrowstone. In retrospect, I suppose that it all makes sense - the stories they tell about the ruins are certainly chilling enough. It may be time to investigate the ruins, but with everybody in town already being so worked up about them, I'd rather not let the others know about my curiosity - there's plenty of other folks herebouts who already think that I am a demonologist or witch or something. Ignorant fools.

Twenty Days Ago

It is confirmed. They Way seems quite interested in something - no, strike that - someone who was held in Harrowstone. But who, specifically, is the Way after? I need a list of everyone who died the night of the fire. Everyone. The Temple of Pharasma must have such a list.

Eighteen Days Ago

I see now just how ill prepared I was when I last set out for the Harrowstone. I am lucky to have returned at all. The ghosts, if indeed they were ghosts (for I did not find it prudent to investigate further) prevented me from transcribing the strange symbols I found etched along the foundation - hopefully on my next visit I will be more prepared. Thankfully, the necessary tools to defend against spirits are already here in Ravengro. I know that the church of Pharasma use to store them in a false crypt in the Restlands at the intersection between Eversleep and the Black Path. I am not certain if the current clergy even know of what their predecessors have hidden down below. If my luck holds, I should be able to slip in and out with a few borrowed items.

Seventeen Days Ago

Tomorrow evening I return to the prison. It is imperitive the Way does not finish. My caution has already cost me too much time. I am not sure what will happen if I am too late, but if my theory is right, the entire town could be at risk. I don't have time to update my will, so I'll leave this in the chest where it'll be sure to be found, should the worst come to pass.


Research Topic - The Harrowstone
Knowledge (history) and Knowledge (local) can be used to research the Harrowstone.

DC 10:
Harrowstone is a ruined prison partially destroyed by a fire in 4661, the building has stood vacant ever since. The locals suspect that it’s haunted, and don’t enjoy speaking of the place.

DC 15:
Harrowstone was built in 4594. Ravengro was founded at the same time as a place where guards and their families could live and that would produce food and other supplies used by the prison. The fire that killed all of the prisoners and most of the guards destroyed a large portion of the prison’s underground eastern wing, but left most of the stone structure above relatively intact. The prison’s warden perished in the fire, along with his wife, although no one knows why she was in the prison when the fire occurred. A statue commemorating the warden and the guards who lost their lives was built in the months after the tragedy—that statue still stands on the riverbank just outside of town.

DC 20:
Most of the hardened criminals sent to Harrowstone spent only a few months imprisoned, for it was here that most of Ustalav’s executions during that era were carried out. The fire that caused the tragedy was, in fact, a blessing in disguise, for the prisoners had rioted and gained control of the prison’s dungeons immediately prior to the conflagration. It was only through the self sacrifice of Warden Hawkran and 23 of his guards that the prisoners were prevented from escaping the guards gave their lives to save the town of Ravengro.

DC 25:
At the time Harrowstone burned, five particularly notorious criminals had recently arrived at the prison. While the commonly held belief is that the tragic fire began accidentally after the riot began, in fact the prisoners had already seized control of the dungeon and had been in command of the lower level for several hours before the fire. Warden Hawkran triggered a deadfall to seal the rioting prisoners in the lower level, but in so doing trapped himself and nearly two dozen guards. The prisoners were in the process of escaping when the panicked guards accidentally started the fire in a desperate attempt to end the riot.

Research Topic - The Whispering Way
Knowledge (arcana) and Knowledge (religion) can be used to research the Whispering Way.

DC 10:
The Whispering Way is a sinister organization of necromancers that has been active in the Inner Sea region for thousands of years.

DC 15:
Agents of the Whispering Way often seek alliances with undead creatures, or are themselves undead. The Whispering Way’s most notorious member was Tar-Baphon, the Whispering Tyrant, although the society itself has existed much longer than even that mighty necromancer.

DC 20:
The Whispering Way itself is a series of philosophies that can only be transferred via whispers— the philosophies are never written or spoken of loudly, making the exact goals and nature of the secretive philosophy difficult for outsiders to learn much about.

DC 25:
Exact details on the society are difficult to discern, but chief among the Whispering Way’s goals are discovering formulae for creating liches and engineering the release of the Whispering Tyrant. Agents often travel to remote sites or areas plagued by notorious haunts or undead menaces to perform field research or even to capture unique monsters. Their symbol is a gagged skull, and those who learn too many of the Way’s secrets are often murdered, and their mouths mutilated to prevent their bodies from divulging secrets via speak with dead.

Party's current trust level 19

Campaign Specific Items!

The Haunt Siphon

The Spirit Planchette