Thod runs Carrion Crown - Trial of the Beast
Game Master Thod

Wren moves to support Kevin, concern in her eyes.

"Don't you worry, dearie. You and I are best friends and we will always be so and I'll look after you like I do with Plumie," Wren gives Kevin a seductive yellow-teethed smile.

Wren looks around again.

"Should we finish exploring the village? I'm not sure we got *into* the church. Maybe there are people in basements or attics. After all, they have to have gone somewhere."

"I believe we can find out some basic information from the graveyard here, then possibly return to Lepidstadt to question the witnesses. We can also pick up supplies as needed and submit our findings to the court, when it proceeds."

After Wren finishes and gives him a smile, Kevin fishes his flask from his pouch and takes a drink before giving the elf a quick once over. He quickly looks back to his drink and takes a rather long pull before checking out the mage yet again. The swordsman seems to study his flask for a moment before shaking his head and putting it away.

"The ghost glanced South, beyond the village, and called for 'Brother Swarm' when it was destroyed; perhaps we should go looking in that direction...?"

Hmmm...an impass? Wren wants to explore the village more. Galadan wants to catalog the graveyard, and Mr. Hastur wants to move south to find Brother Swarm? So many options.

Wren stands paralyzed with inaction for a few moments.

"So many options, such a neat puzzle. Tell me, anyone, did Stitches live here? Or just near here? Does anyone remember? Maybe there is yet another place we should look?"

Kevin shakes his head at Hastur. "You want to go find this "Brother Swarm" you can go by yourself or wait until the morning. I am not going to get cought standing around with my dork in my hand again."

It seems Stiches might have lived in the burnt down hut.

The decision to proceed is yours. Maybe Andrea can act as tie-breaker.

Well we have to go somewhere..we already searched the graveyard..so I suggest we check some of the houses for clues before we face this brother swarm and that we take the holy water from the font.

"Is there still holy water here? I had thought it dried up, since the temple is abandoned. But perhaps there is. I have been wrong in the past."

Galadan turns back to examining the tombstones, trying to find the tombstones of the children that had been killed.

"I am not sure that we are entirely prepared to face any more of these ghosts. They are spawn wraiths. And if Brother Swarm was the other one that I saw, he is a full wraith."

Galadan's tone is serious. "They are incorporeal, so releasing them will be difficult. Not impossible, given the magic we currently possess. But, as Kevin has discovered, their touch is deadly to the spirit. It is one of the reasons I would like to return for supplies, a wand of cure light wounds or the like would be helpful I think."

"Like this?"
Andrea holds up her other cure wand

"It doesn't have a lot of charges though"

The graveyard is undisturbed. The dates of the death of the six children spans 2 weeks. Not a single one died the same day. But all died in a very short time span - and just before the village was abondoned.

'Aldous' shrugs.

"We need to try and sort this out tonight; Stitches will be put on trial for this mess tomorrow..."

He then sighs.

"I don't really want to do it, either, but I don't see any other option if we want to keep Stitches from being destroyed..."

Wren will make notes on the graveyard in her travel spellbook.

"Yes, we must keep pushing if we are going to save my good friend Stitches."

Wren still has an urge to explore more of town in more detail, including whatever burnt building might have once housed Stitches.

"Yes, like that one. Though I think we should save those charges for when we need healing. Not to use against the wraith and its spawn."

He rummages through his bag again.

"I may have some things in here that are helpful."

He pulls out a few vials, handing them to 'Aldous' and Kevin. One is a potion of hide from undead. The other is a potion of veil of positive energy. I'll let you decide who gets what.

He then looks over the gravestones again. "The first one. Do we know anything about the circumstances of his death. Wherever he died, or was killed. That is where this whole thing started."

"Well, we could ask the Planchette..."

Kevin snorts. "Bullshtein! There is no fargin way I am goin to be part of using that somanumbatch again! You cork-soakers can put your own dorks on the line if you want but this icehole wont be bailing you out when that shtein item calls up another martha fargin ghost!"

"To be fair, I think it only attracted one that was nearby anyway..."

Wren goes to find and inspect the Church (also looking for holy water, as Galadan suggested) and then finding and searching the home of Stitches.

"Come along, dearies, we have much to do and we can't do it standing in a graveyard."

Wren goes to find and inspect the Church (also looking for holy water, as Galadan suggested) and then finding and searching the home of Stitches.

"Come along, dearies, we have much to do and we can't do it standing in a graveyard."

I have already 'crated up' the holy water that Thod mentioned.

"What can you tell us about wraithspawn Galadan..how powerful are they..and what happens if we destroy their creator"

Knowledge (Religion) with Monster Lore
1d20 + 8 + 3 ⇒ (17) + 8 + 3 = 28

"The spirits of the spawn are tied to the creator. It may be that we can deal a decisive blow, once and for all, to the wraithspawn by destroying the wraith that created them: this Father the board was rambling on about."

"If we can determine where the first child fell... I believe we can pinpoint where this wraith claimed its first victim. And perhaps where it is still hiding."

Wren nods along with Galadan.

"Intriguing point, dearie. I'm not sure I agree with the science of it, but if we keep searching, I'm sure we'll find out more."

Killing the master Wraith isn't the easy solution you hope it is:

A humanoid slain by a wraith becomes a wraith in 1d4 rounds. These spawn are less powerful than typical wraiths, and suffer a –2 penalty on all d20 rolls and checks, receive –2 hp per HD, and only drain 1d2 points of Constitution on a touch. Spawn are under the command of the wraith that created them until its death, at which point they lose their spawn penalties and become free-willed wraiths. They do not possess any of the abilities they had in life.
Wraith are stronger - drain 1d6.

Lifesense (Su)
A wraith notices and locates living creatures within 60 feet, just as if it possessed the blindsight ability.

Sunlight Powerlessness (Ex)
A wraith caught in sunlight cannot attack and is staggered.

Unnatural Aura (Su)
Animals do not willingly approach within 30 feet of a wraith, unless a master makes a DC 25 Handle Animal, Ride, or wild empathy check.

I think the latter needs to be used on Plume from now on.

And yes - due to the Sunlight Powerlessness I needed to wait for the sun going down before they roamed.

"We need to seach the houses " Andrea says for the fourth time.."I think we can deal with the spawn children if they come at us singly..now that we are prepared for them..once we have laid them to rest then we can take down their creator""

"That is what I was afraid you would say. We are not prepared for this. At best, we are relying on Desna's charms. Kevin is already struck and weakened. Aldous cannot be struck. If your wand of healing had more charges, we might be able to face four more wraithspawn and a wraith."

Galadan nevertheless shoulders the heavy mace he is carrying.

"Very well... lead on, fearless Andrea."

"Lead on? That's what you have to say? A fargin wraith and his demon kids are around her some where and we are just going to poke or nose into every place we can just waiting for one of the bastages to bite it off? Incase you were asleep for the past half hour, I almost got killed by a little tart waanting to play a game! What do you think is going to happen if we run into two of them playing tag? Or worse yet, daddy wraith whom is now pissed of becuase we killed his little strumpet! What then? I tell you what then, I will gladly hand this bloody cursed axe to one of you can get you soul sucked!

Wren stops and is quiet for a moment.

"Maybe we shouldn't go further in our condition. Maybe we should go back and give what we can to the barristers and hope for the best. As Galadan has mentioned, a wraith is a terrible opponent and with my lack of sleep, I would be next to useless against it."

Wren holds up her loaded crossbow.

"I have but two shots with this, but few helpful magics to bring to bear. What I could do with a night of rest, my friends. I do not wish to die facing something that I believe we could better handle if we were more prepared but nor do I wish to risk Stitches' fate either."

Wren lowers her crossbow.

"However, I now feel the risk is too great and our chances of success are minimal here, but our chances of saving Stitches are better if we return now than not at all. I must reluctantly counsel our return with what information we have and hope for the best...or even for asking for a delay in the proceedings so can come back here rested and do a better and full examination."

Wren stops babbling for a moment for those who wish to rejoinder.

Andrea shakes her head..."I can understand your fear..both off you but we cannot let this evil go untroubled.It must be destroyed..and if you are not prepared to help then I suppose I will have to do it alone."

She turns and moves towards the closest house gripping a wand in each hand..

Obviously running around Korvosa for three years with Neil Spicers Pharasmin Cleric has rubbed off on me more than I suspected

Galadan calls out before Andrea can get too far.

"Wait but a moment, Mistress Andrea. If we are going to hunt down wraiths, at least let us do so logically. This night will go much faster if we can find our prey without searching every house in the village."

With that, Galadan turns towards the distant forest and releases a mighty "Caw!", and Black Falcon swoops to his arm.

"Animals have a natural sense of wraiths, and will not approach within a certain distance of them. So we can use Black Falcon to 'detect' these undead."

"But let's see if we can find where the children lived from their tombstones first. The family names might be written there, and those might be on the houses somewhere."

Galadan turns towards Kevin.

"I cannot fault you if you choose to return, but if you go, might I borrow your cursed axe. It will make killing the wraiths much easier."

Kevin stands watching Andrea walk away as Galadan request the cursed axe. The swordsman gives the inquisitor a withering look before turning and moving off after the young witch.

We have already inspected the graves twice I think we will have gleaned all the information we can from them

Andrea hears Kevins distinctive step following her and a small smile drifts across her lips..a smile she lets go off by the time he catches up with her

'Aldous' sighs, and follows the others.

Direction - 1 = North

1d8 ⇒ 5

The group wanders back South. You come across two houses you have passed before to take a different turn taking a more southern loop. Two more houses stand empty until you reach the burned down remains of Stiches (?) place. You turn back North with no more houses South of you. You are close to the place of the unlucky thief when a ghostly girl - Ellsa - blocks your way.

You have walked here before - but then nobody was here.

Initiative:

Galadan 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (2) + 4 = 6
Kevin 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (6) + 6 = 12
Wren 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (7) + 6 = 13
Andrea1d20 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 2 = 6
Nym 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (10) + 4 = 14
Aldous 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 = 3

Ellsa 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (7) + 5 = 12

Unseen by everyone - hidden away again in a backpack - the planchette starts moving again - but nobody pays attention to it.

WHAT
HAPPENED
TO
MY
FRIEND

Wren and Kevin ahead of Ellsa (unless Nym suddenly appears ...)

Marching order please !!

Round 1, Init 13

"Do you guys see that?"

1d20 + 11 ⇒ (19) + 11 = 30 Know (Religion) Another WraithSpawn, I assume?

Wren, acting before anyone can ruin her shot, take aim with her ghost touched crossbow bolt. Only if it looks evil, ghostly, and unfriendly.

Wren will 5' step back, chittering what she knows about the creature.

1d20 + 5 ⇒ (5) + 5 = 10 to hit;
1d8 ⇒ 5 damage.

Marching order is likely: Kevin, Galadan, Mr. Hastur, Andrea, & Wren.

It is indeed another wraith spawn.

Wrens shot unfortunately seems not truly on target. Still - the little girl senses the intention and the power in the bolt.

Red glowing eyes focus on Wren.

Kevin brings the cursed hand axe up into a ready position and looks at the others. "If I die I am so going to huant all of you!
the swordsman moves to intecept the wraith if it comes in to attack.

Kevin will put himself in the path of the wraith.

Black Falcon flaps off into the distance with a screech at the sight of Ellsa's spirit.

Galadan grits his teeth with no response as he draws his heavy mace. He charges forward and attacks the red-eyed wraithspawn.

1d20 + 10 ⇒ (20) + 10 = 30 for 1d8 + 7 ⇒ (6) + 7 = 13 damage. (half dmg for incorporeal?)

Crit. confirmation
1d20 + 10 ⇒ (11) + 10 = 21 for 1d8 + 7 ⇒ (2) + 7 = 9 damage. (half dmg for incorproreal?)

Ellsa rubes forward - trying to reach Wren but is stopped by Kevin.

Attack 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (15) + 5 = 20 touch
Damage 1d4 ⇒ 3
Con Drain 1d2 ⇒ 2 Fort. DC 15 to negate

Fort Sv : 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (7) + 4 = 11

Kevin screams as the wraith touches him, his voice trailing off as he returns the favor with all of his might.

Power Attack: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (20) + 7 = 27
Confirm Crit: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (20) + 7 = 27

Damage: 1d6 + 3 + 4 ⇒ (6) + 3 + 4 = 13
Crit Damage: 2d6 + 6 + 8 ⇒ (1, 4) + 6 + 8 = 19

Kevin, all I can say is, that was a beautiful time for a crit with a ghost-touch weapon :-)

Wren lets loose with a loon like hoot of excitement as Kevin smashes some wraith.

He did that to impress me, the fool boy. I'm way too good for him.

Ellsa goes down under the combined onslaught of Kevin and Galadan.

Kevin leaves Only some wisps of he spawn in the air which Galadan takes care off.

Kevin sits down hard onto the ground as the wraith disapates, he drops the cursed axe and seems to slump into himself. "I can not take much more of this. I feel a little woozie. I think I need to lie down." The swordsman lays back onto his back and looks up at the stars before sighing loudly. "Two more you say? And the main bastage? Sure no problem." He fumbles for his flask with shaking hands as he tries to figure out away to take a drink while still remaining prone.

"Three more. There were five children in all."

Galadan shows deep remorse for Ellsa's spirit, properly mourning her passing.

"Well isn't that just fargin dandy.

Wren shakes her head, worried that Kevin will die with the continued punishment from the spawn.