Searching the room you are able to find the following on the stairs leading up:
4 backpacks mostly contain ordinary adventuring gear (rope, lantern
oil, flint and steel, rations, etc.). However, one of the packs contains a spellbook– likely the creature's – and an unmarked vial , a scroll case with a scroll and a handdrawn map of the city bearing some interesting markings.
On the creature your detect magic finds the following:
a magic cloak
bone ring
a wand
Other stuff on the creature includes ebony hairpin and gold ring.
Lanarial closely studies each item, attempting to determine the nature and properties of each. He also checks the mundane items to replenish or supplement his own gear... He looks over the map but is not familiar enough with the town to make much sense of the markings.
Alledueces takes a look at the map and compares it with the one in the parties possession already to try and decipher what its intended purpose was and what locations are marked on it. Then examines the dagger which he had failed to use effectively against the skeletal mage.
Hey Lanarial, can you take a look at this magic dagger Nhilune gave me too?
Alledueces casts read magic and watches as the magical incantations rdecipher themselves so that he can read them plainly.
With the combined ability of Lanarial and Alledueces you are able to determine almost all of the properties:
a potion of cure moderate wounds
a scroll of surmount affliction
cloak of resistance +1
bone ring (still unsure)
wand of alarm (26 charges)
also there is book containing the creatures collection of spells
(2nd—scare, spectral hand; 1st—chill touch, decompose corpse, interrogation, jump, cause fear, magic missile, ray of enfeeblement
and ray of sickening 0–acid splash, bleed, detect magic, mage hand)
Alledueces you recognize the details on the map to be that of Cassomir. There are several locations that have been marked with the double vulture of these the Pike and Tankard Inn seem to be one of the marked locations. On the map you also see that one building has been circled with a word in an unknown script scrawled beside it. You are certain that the building marked is the site of the Grave Street Mortuary.
Lanarial looks to Nhilune, then offers to carry the spell book for them. It bears further study later!
"Who is the worst wounded of us? Drink this potion - it will cure your wounds!" he says to the group. He then describes the properties of the items to the others, offering them up for anyone else to use if they desire. If no one takes them, he will tuck the bone ring, scroll, and wand of alarm into his backpack.
"We should go to the Grave Street Mortuary," Dargorath remarks as he peers at the map. "Looks like the troubles coming from there."
He goes to Elliana and taps her with Nihlune's wand.
Dividing and stashing the newly procured items you see that the steps head up and end at a door.
As the group decides what to do Lanarial looks at the dagger and tells Alledueces that the dagger has a minor enchantment.
Thank youElliana say's still holding her stomache she get's up giving a deep breathe If we are going we should go now
Moving up the stairs you hear each footstep creak against the old weathered steps. The door is not locked so you decide to open it.
Pushing the door open you are greeted by dusty air and fight hard to stifle back a cough.
You see a warped table surrounded by wooden chairs stands in the center of this room. The furniture and floor are both covered with a thick layer of dust. A mass of dusty cobwebs shroud most of the south wall. The ceiling is blackened and scorched from a long ago fire.
Lanarial says, "Maybe we can rest here for the rest of the night. Heal up a little. Restore our arcane abilities. I'll take the last watch - I can study my spell book then." He will look about the room to see if it is, indeed, a secure place.
"You would rest in the middle of enemy territory?"Dargorath gives Lanarial an incredulous look."Lets just backtrack, and go back to Cassomir. We can head to the Grave Street Motuary in the day."
Alledueces looks in the room with curiosity. He casts detect magic and takes a cautious step into the room looking to see what is there.
"Too late!" Amigail whispers loudly at Dargorath and Lanarial. "You forgot to account for the inquisitiveness and perseverance of halflings." Amigail steps after Alledueces, thinking, Especially when that halfling's looking to avenge a friend.
The room has two exits that you can see. One door is within a few feet of you on the north wall. Beyond that and straight ahead of you is another door on the western wall.
Alledueces notices a set of footprints leading from the door closest to you to the door where you entered from.
Elliana sigh's following after the curious Halfing I will keep an eye on him, catch up when you can
Burnt flesh, anyone else smell it? it's getting stronger. if you feel comfortable going on i do as well. but we should be careful. Elliana whispers having her scythe at the ready, to swing at whatever threat appears
Amigail shakes her head and then takes a deeper breath through her nose. Though she can't smell anything, she doesn't doubt the paladin speaks the truth. The woman warrior gets her falcata and buckler ready for yet another battle.
"Do you think we should just head back down the sewers?For all you know they're burning the building to catch us in it.""Dargorath backs off to the sewer entrance.
"I smell it - and it's getting stronger. Heads' up, everyone..." Lanarial checks the location of the wands, deciding to pull out the wand of magic missiles they found. He holds it in his left hand and the longsword in his right hand, ready for whatever they come upon next.
As Dagorath turns to head back down the steps the rest of you in the room watch as six ghostly child-sized hands wreathed in bluewhite flames appear in the middle of the and rise into the air. Suddenly four of the hands fly out and strike at each of you.
Amigail, Elliana and Alledueces you cry out in pain as the hands burn you. Before you can react the hands disappear.
.
Alledueces racks his brain trying to figure out what just happened. Unseen caster? Set off a trap? Is it a haunt? Some sort of ghost?
Alledueces figures that it was not a trap and thinks it is likely a haunt.
A tormented spirit is tied to this place... We should not linger here for long . It is only a matter of time before it has regained enough strength to strike out again. Tracks seem to come from the closest door. I wonder if that was the skeletal Mage?
"So much for resting up...quickly before it strikes again!" the elf says as he moves to the next door. He looks around the room to see if perhaps he can determine what the spirit might be tied to...
"I say we get the hell out of here and go to Grave Street Mortuary in the morning. I'm a hunter, not some kind of exorcist."Dargorath swears.
Neither am i, Let's go. i'll talk to the local pharasmin priests to see if any of them can sort this out Elliana agrees, leaving the room
Wer'e here now... there's no telling what we'll find here. Are they holding captives that will die if we leave now. Is the cultist leader hiding behind one of these doors waiting for us to leave so he can make his get away? Is there something here that can stop or slow down the disease? Is there a letter showing a connection to a local merchant?
It's hard I know... I'm scared too. we've travelled along way through horrible dangers to get here... and we're all injured... and infected with something that's killing us... but the answers as to how to save the entire city could be behind any of these doors...
...
"We're not going to be able to save the city if we die here tonight." Dargorath states bluntly."There are other leads - like the Grave Street Mortuary."
Elliana starts to head back down the sewer with Dargorath leading.
Alledueces you pull up a chair from the table and see the house is definitely above ground and from the smell you are getting from outside you already know what section, The Admiral's Fen. The uneven streets and building can be seen from where you are.
While group splits up in different directions Lanarial opens the closest door and sees a kitchen. His attention is immediately drawn to four children standing in an exit to this building. When they catch sight of the elf they begin to shout towards him loud enough for the rest of the group to hear them, "Can you help us? Our friend, Nat, he's lost in this house!"
Amigail's about to weigh in on the intra-party conflict when the children call out to Lanarial. Nothing like desperate, needy children to bring people together, Ami thinks. You'd have to be heartless to just walk away when a child is missing.
Just as quickly as that thought crosses her mind, another replaces it. She approaches one of the children and tries to place a hand reassuringly on his/her shoulder to comfort the child (but she's also checking to make sure these aren't more haunts).
"Why are you children out at night?" she asks. "And where are your parents?"
"If your friend is in the house, he's probably dead by now."Dargorath answers bluntly. "We were in there and that place is haunted. Some of us got burnt."
On seeing the way Amigail respond, he gives a sigh. "Fine, fine. Tell me what your friend was doing in there, which part of the house he might be, and what you know about this house."
Lanarial follows cautiously, not hiding the sword or the wand from the children. If they are not what they seem, he wants to be ready to attack at a moment's notice. If they really are local children, then they need to learn a valuable lesson about being out late at night alone in a city...
The children cower back as Dargorath scolds them, but continue on nonetheless. They look in their faces are genuine enough. "Dead??!! I told you this was a stupid dare!" says a short skinny dark haired child.
"He's not dead! Nat is too skilled! Nothing can stop him" retorts a rather plain looking boy with sandy brown hair.
"Yeah well he hasn't sent the signal!" the dark haired child continues
From behind you watch a freckled face blond haired child push up to the front. His voice is barely louder than a whisper. "This isn't helping. Get the adults to help!" he points at the group as he says this.
We should check, they are children and it's the right thing to do The paladin speaks up
"Of course its a stupid dare.Don't you kids have anything better to do?"He scolds them. "Now why don't you tell me how Nate looks like, or I might be pulling anything that looks vaguely human into the street. And it might be a zombie."
'That should put a good scare into them, I really shouldn't be rescuing people from their own stupidity' He thinks to himself.
"I have a plan. First we heal up."He taps both Elliana and Amigail with his wand.
"Id like to see if what some sayings were true that haunts strike out at the first thing that gets to them, then require some time to get their strength back for another strike. If the theory is true, one of us triggers the haunt first, then the rest move in. The person doing the triggering should tie themselves by rope to another party member, so if they panic, they cannot run too far from the party. That person should not carry any sharp objects, so he or she cannot server the rope. The party should stay about 40 ft away, so that a rescue can be attempted should the person run into hostile, non ghostly enemies. I can volunteer to be the trigger. But first I'll need a loan of a shield, and I'd like a club." Dargorath looks around the vicinity to see if he can find a club.
Amigail thanks Dargorath for the healing. Although she admits she doesn't understand the priest's plan entirely, she's willing to give it a try.
"Point where your friend went," she tells the children, hoping to get at least a general idea in which direction to send Dargorath.
While the kids cower back at the reference to the zombie. You see they stand their ground.
"Liar! We ain't babies their is no zombies in the house! We would have heard them." one of the children blurts out.
The children look to Amigail and point to the stairs leading up from the kitchen. "He went that way ma'am. Can you help him please? It's been awhile and the house isn't that big!"
"He should have never went up! Told you it was haunted!" you hear from the short and skinny dark-haired child.
"It's alright. The adults are going to help us!" the freckled face blond-haired child smiles with confidence.
Lanarial heads to the stairs, casting dancing lights and sending them upwards to get a view of what may await them...it also was meant to impress the young ones and give them confidence in the group's abilities to rescue their friend.
"Well, here we go again. After you..."
Dargorath divests himself of his bow, arrows and dagger. "Please hold on to these." and passes them to Lanarial. He takes out his rope, ties it to Elliana. "Anyone can use this?" He gestures to the wand of CLW."Just in case I go down." After he has handed the wand over, he will move in front of the party to explore the place, motioning the party to stay in the previous room until he gives the all clear signal.
Be careful Elliana mutter's taking the Wand and holding on to the rope for further support
Dargorath casts light upon his leather armor and moves into the room. "I intend to be. If there's any sign of non haunt trouble, I'll retreat to the group. Don't come until I say it's clear, and get ready to reel me in if I bite off more then I can chew."
You make all your preparations securing the rope to Dargorath's waist and then start feeding the rope to Elliana and Amigail. You notice that while this goes one Nhilune heads over to the children and makes sure to keep them reassured that their friend will be back soon.
Everything now ready Dargorath takes the first step up the staircase. Each step is met with a loud creak against the old boards. You feed about 15 feet worth of rope by the time the priest makes it to the top of the next floor.