Asha frowns at Alexei's comment. He was right though, they did sound like an old married couple.
Asha nods at Bjorn's comment, "Smells like someone left a potroast on for too long."
Korthul gives Bjorn a glare, shakes his head, and sighs, mumbling to himself that it's not worth it.
He takes a swig of Harold's offered drink with a grimace.
"Better. I'm not sure I caught all you were saying, but I certainly understand an outstretched hand wielding alcohol."
Surprise Round
19 Alexei
17 Bjorn
16 Asha
10 Korthul
07 Korvus
05 Spiders
03 Harold
As the group examines the room, the unmistakable stench of burning flesh becomes overwhelming. Several pieces of thin metal rise up from the ground, and you notice that one end starts glowing bright red. They appear to be branding irons, with a red hot tip aimed directly at you.
Unfortunately, the haunted brands capture your attention and none of you notice the crab spiders stalking your group. One spider attacks Korvus while another bites Alexei . A third spider launches itself at Asha but it misses with its bite.
-----
On to Round 1.
There are four branding irons floating in the air 15 feet away - business ends obviously hot and pointed in your direction - and three spiders attacking various party members.
Please let me know what you want to do.
Gasping as he is bit by a spider, Alexei draws his morningstar and swings at the over-sized arachnid, shouting at it in his cursed tongue.
Please let me know what you want to do.
Round One:
Recoiling from the stinging bite of the giant spider, Korvus warily swipes his walking stick at the offending creature before backing away a step.
Seeing Bjorn run in to cover Alexei, Korthul rushes up to stand between Korvus and the spider, chopping downwards with his axe as he interposes himself between the two.
While battling the encroaching spider, Korthul hisses at Korvus, "Wizard! Can you please explain at least some of the flying weaponry that infests this den?!"
Startled by the attacking spider Asha sidesteps, raises her pistol and shoots. Hopefully these were real spiders and not some weird apparition again. "What's with this place. Spiders and flying branding irons?
When the choice between dealing with floating red hot pokers and large spiders arises, Harold sticks with the saner of the two options. He steps over to Korvus as the wizard is beset upon by one of the spiders, not even taking the time to draw a weapon as he swats at the creature with one meaty hand before following it with a stomp on its thick, juicy carapace, "Spooks an' spiders. This place keeps ge'in' be'er an' be'er."
Round 1 Recap
19 Alexei
17 Bjorn
16 Asha
10 Korthul
07 Korvus
05 Spiders
03 Harold
Stunned by the surprise attack, Alexei's swing goes wide of his target and slams into the stone wall.
Bjorn recovers quickly and punches down at the spider, driving its head into the ground in an explosion of gore and blood.
Asha turns and fires at the spider that assaulted her, blowing a hole in its abdomen and killing it.
Korthul attacks the remaining spider but his swings miss their mark.
Korvus defensively attacks the spider, missing with his hanbo, and moves backward away from the creature.
It advances toward him, intent on its prey, and leaps forward, but Korvus' defensive stance protects him from the attack.
Harold steps over to Korvus' side and begins a rapid attack pattern that ends with a battered and dead arachnid.
The branding irons fly through the air as if shot by a bow; one flies at Alexei, Harold, Bjorn, and Korvus.
The branding irons miss Alexei and Harold, then fall to the ground, apparently harmless as the hot end has grown cold.
An iron hits Bjorn, leaving a branded "H" on the top of his left hand. After impact, it falls to the ground like the others .
The last iron flies at Korvus, hitting him on the thigh. His clothing instantly burns away as a large "H" is branded into his right leg . Like the other irons, this one grows cold and falls to the floor, no longer glowing with the heat of the brand.
-----
All the spiders have been killed, and everyone made their Fortitude saves.
The brands flew out of the room, hit a couple of people, then all four dropped to the ground, now cold to the touch.
Sighing as the red-hot brands appear to be no longer moving, Alexei hangs his morningstar on his belt. "That looks painful. Let me help." Lifting his holy symbol, the oracle prays softly, and a soft light begins to emanate from the silver angel-like focus.
Alexei smiles softly as the light fades. "There, that should help for now."
Korvus sighs with relief as the healing energy washes over him.
"Ah! Thank you, Master Dawnreach. That takes a bit of the edge off."
Korvus pauses to examine his burned clothing and partially healed thigh. "That's certainly going to leave a mark, though. And I'll have to see to mending my trousers once we return to town."
Korvus then casts his trusty cantrip to perceive magical auras and studies the now-cold branding irons.
Taking another look at Korvus' wounds, Alexei pulls the wand tucked into his belt out and points it at the half-orc. "You look like you've had it quite a bit rougher than Bjorn has. This should fix you right up." Nodding to himself, the oracle chants the command word. "Maybe you should take one of the brands with you, we should probably keep moving."
Alexei follows after the Ulfen man, drawing his morningstar and preparing himself.
"Ah! Right as rain! Thank you again, Master Dawnreach," Korvus exclaims, now fully healed.
While Alexei heals Korvus and Bjorn Asha reloads her pistol. She pats Alexei on his shoulder as she followes the others into the room, mouthing a thank you when he looks at her. Then she follows the others into the room, once again covering the group's rear. "What are those things anyway? They seem very useful."
"I was just going to ask much the same, Lady Asha," Korthul adds. "Perhaps you can enlighten, us, Korvus?"
Alexei follows suit, his weapon and shield held at the ready.
Korthul looks at Asha and shrugs. He follows along as well, pleased to be leaving this area of the prison.
The group proceeds to the next room, finding tangled mounds of moth-eaten fabric sitting on several wooden tables, each surrounded by workbenches. Various sewing tools— shears, needles, rolls of thread, boxes of chalk, and other objects lie scattered over the floor, while the arm of what appears to be a skeleton protrudes from a stained heap of fabric to the west.
As you take in the room, a ghostly figure rises from the mound of fabric covering the skeleton. It appears to be a lovely young woman wearing a tattered blue dress. In fact, much about her appears blue - her long hair, the tears streaming down her face, and the small puffs of smoke that emerge from her mouth when she speaks in a hollow feminine voice, "Are you the guards from Ravengro sent to relieve those cowards that locked me in here to die?"
Alexei gasps at the ghostly woman. He turns to Korvus and begins to speak in tongues. "על ידי האל, רוח רפאים!" He turns back to her, stowing his morningstar and lifting his holy symbol to brandish it at her. "יתקפו אותנו, אני לא יכול להראות לך את האור!"
Asha prodded Korvus gently in the arm, drawing attention to the eastern wall, " Secret Passage."
She didn't react to the ghost, the others had probably already blown their chances of peaceful coexistence. If her instructors back home had been right that is, they always said never to argue with the spirits of the dead that sometimes rose in the Mana Wastes but instead to always play along with them. Why that was she hadn't the faintest of ideas.
The spirit looks at Bjorn, "In life I was known as Vesorianna Hawkran, wife of Lyvar Hawkran, a loving husband, and last warden of the prison known as Harrowstone."
"May I know your names?"
Alexei lowers the holy symbol slightly as he realizes the ghost doesn't appear to be hostile. He turns to Korvus again, and motions at the apparition with his his shield-carrying left arm.
With a skeptical expression, Korthul replies to the ghostly apparition. "My name is Korthul, my lady. How did you come to be here?".
"What are those things anyway? They seem very useful."
"I was just going to ask much the same, Lady Asha," Korthul adds. "Perhaps you can enlighten, us, Korvus?"
Korvus opens his mouth to begin a detailed explanation of the nature and workings of the haunt siphon but is interrupted...
The big Ulfen fishes out his siphon and shows it to the newcomers.
"It's a trinket we took from a cache of goods the professor had stowed away to help clear this place out. It sucks up evil spirits and destroys them", he explains.
Korvus shuts his mouth and blinks for a moment before attempting to speak again. "Yes... Well... Very succinctly put, Master Stonehand. I could not have explained it better myself."
----------------------------------------------------------------
As you take in the room, a ghostly figure rises from the mound of fabric covering the skeleton. It appears to be a lovely young woman wearing a tattered blue dress. In fact, much about her appears blue - her long hair, the tears streaming down her face, and the small puffs of smoke that emerge from her mouth when she speaks in a hollow feminine voice, "Are you the guards from Ravengro sent to relieve those cowards that locked me in here to die?"
Korvus stands open-mouthed at the sight of blue apparition, initially oblivious to Alexei's words in the Celestial tongue.
Asha prodded Korvus gently in the arm, drawing attention to the eastern wall, " Secret Passage."
Korvus nods absently in response to the Shield Marshal's words.
"In life I was known as Vesorianna Hawkran, wife of Lyvar Hawkran, a loving husband, and last warden of the prison known as Harrowstone."
"May I know your names?"
"Forgive me, Lady Hawkran," Korvus says, doffing his bowler hat and sketching a deep, respectful bow before the spirit. "My name is Korvus Slade, from Magnimar, and this is my familiar, Maximus," he introduces himself and the blackbird on his shoulder. "Please allow me to introduce my companions. The good Master Korthul has already introduced himself. Our companion speaking in the tongue of the angels is Master Alexei Dawnreach, a devotee of the Dawnflower, Sarenrae. The tall Ulfen is Master Bjorn Stonehand. The other dapper gentleman is Master Harold Grimsley. And the good lady accompanying us is Shield Marshal Asha Kahina. It is a pleasure to meet you."
On the manifestation of the ghost, Harold subconsciously performs a Pharasmian warding motion with one hand while the other dips into his jacket pocket to grip his one of his brass knuckles. When the ghost appears not to attack them straight off the bat and instead begins to speak with Korvus, Harold tips his hat uneasily at Vesorianna, "G'day, ma'am. Not everyday one gets ter 'ave a civil conversashun wiv da deceased. Might yaaahr 'usband be abaaaht da premises... An' amongst da living?" He adds that last part with a grunt that conveys while he hopes so, it probably isn't so.
She looks at Korthul, "I was locked in this room as the riots intensified. The fires set in the lower levels eventually reached the oil. There was an explosion, and the eastern wing of the prison collapsed. The fire and smoke intensified. Here, locked in this room, I perished."
Vesorianna turns and points to the skeleton, "That is all that remains of my mortal form. I am now bound to this place by my love for my husband."
The spirit drops her arm and looks at Harold, the tears on her face glowing slightly as the roll down her face, "My husband died on the lower level... with those maniacs. He went down with a few men to try and quell the riot, but the guards up here refused to join him. They kept the elevator up here, deciding that if Lyvar failed to stop them, they would simply lock the doors and let the criminals die of starvation."
Her tears cease momentarily as her face takes on a terrible visage, "Those cowards disobeyed their orders, and they ignored their duty. Because of them, my husband and his loyal men were torn apart. I burst in and demanded they fulfill their oaths! With laughter and cursing, they overpowered me, dumped me in here, and locked the door. They fled into the night after the explosion, more worried about their own skins than the innocents they condemned to death!
After a moment, her face relaxes and the tears begin falling once again. "When I awoke in this form, I sensed my husband. He was a spirit like me. Our mortal bodies were separated, but our spirits were together... it was enough. Though I am trapped in this room, as the warden of this place in life, Lyvar could move freely within these walls. His devotion allowed him some manner of control over the restless spirits of the criminals that died here. He could keep them in their cells, maintaining order inside the prison, and ensuring none of the ghosts escaped."
Her tears intensify again, and she begins sobbing, "But he has disappeared! One day he was here, then those who whispered caused the storm, and my poor Lyvar vanished! I have tried to do what he would... I am using my essence to keep the prisoners subdued, but I am not strong enough to continue much longer. The more powerful ones are even fighting against me! If you are of good heart, you must help me, I am all that stands between the insane undead horde trapped in Harrowstone and the unsuspecting people outside these walls!"
Asha nodded at the ghost's story. "So we return them to the earth. Won't be easy. Do you know anything that might help us milady? What will we be facing, a single horde or do they fight each other as well?" It was good to know about your enemy so you could exploit that knowledge.
Alexei frowns deeply, his hand clenching tightly around his holy symbol. Looking the spirit directly in the eyes, he nods sharply. He is almost shaking in anger at the woman's story. "איש אלוהים יסלח להם, אבל אני לא!"
Korthul lets out a muttered "...disgusting..." and is noticeably distressed at the horror of it all.
At the end of Vesorianna's tale, Korthul turns to the group. "So we uncover more of the Whispering Ones' purpose in Ravengro, but the question remains: what does unleashing undead monsters on a small village accomplish for them?"
He turns to Vesorianna after contemplating a short while and speaks clearly. "Lady Vesorianna, truly you have suffered much in this devilish place. You do not deserve to suffer any further. I, for one, will do my best to ensure you get the peace you have earned."
"First, my power is not enough to contain them, but it may be strengthened. Find some symbol of my husband's authority, something that identifies his position as the warden, and return it here. Such symbols have power over the spirits, and will force them to recognize my voice and will."
"Second, you must defeat the five powerful spirits. Most of the lesser spirits can only manifest through other items - but the five have their own images and bodies. I know they have weaknesses related to their lives as mortals. Each weakness will be something that was important to them, or a mark of their life. But they must be defeated. The most powerful is right now trying to steal my essence by using the magic of my name against me. As he scribes my name, my very being is leeched away - if he finishes the ritual and writes my entire name, I shall cease to exist, and The Splatter Man shall once again be free!"
She shakes her head as Korthul speaks, "I do not know their plans. There was one who was here, investigating their activities, but they discovered him and killed him. As for peace, I simply wish to carry on as my husband would if he were still here."
"So we uncover more of the Whispering Ones' purpose in Ravengro, but the question remains: what does unleashing undead monsters on a small village accomplish for them?"
"Indeed, Master Korthul. It appears that we now know who the Whispering Way sought to capture with their ritual. The question remains: what do they intend to do with the good warden's spirit? As to what they hoped to accomplish by unleashing the evil spirits trapped herein upon the unsuspecting townsfolk, I daresay they were entirely unconcerned with the repercussions of their actions," Korvus muses.
Korvus turns and bows his head to Vesorianna. "My dear Lady Hawkran, we will certainly do our utmost to prevent the foul spirits from destroying your essence and escaping to terrorize the people of Ravengro. You said that there are five powerful spirits to be defeated, and that chief among them was Professor Hean Feramin, the Splatter Man? Would I be correct in assuming that the remaining four were known as Father Charlatan, the Lopper, the Mosswater Marauder, and the Piper of Illmarsh? Do you happen to know how we might discover their weaknesses?"
"As he scribes my name, my very being is leeched away - if he finishes the ritual and writes my entire name, I shall cease to exist, and The Splatter Man shall once again be free!"
Korthul frowns. "This business with names keeps recurring. If for no other reason, we need to stop this Splatter Man from killing again."
"Indeed, Master Korthul. It appears that we now know who the Whispering Way sought to capture with their ritual. The question remains: what do they intend to do with the good warden's spirit? As to what they hoped to accomplish by unleashing the evil spirits trapped herein upon the unsuspecting townsfolk, I daresay they were entirely unconcerned with the repercussions of their actions," Korvus muses.
"It seems rather rash of me that they would unleash this kind of darkness without fear of repercussion. If they're getting this bold, they must be working with some amount of urgency," Korthul thinks aloud.
Vesorianna nods as Korvus names the spirits, "Yes, those are the spirits who most test my strength. I know they committed horrible deeds in life, and it is from these acts that their downfall may be assured. Seek out the safe closet, it is from there I sense the instruments of their doom."
Looking at Korthul, "Unfortunately, Master Korthul, they seemed deliberate in their actions, unconcerned about haste or discovery. Indeed, the only agitation I witnessed occurred when the gray-robed whisperer caused the other man's death with his magic. Other than that time, they were methodical and calculated in their actions, urgency played no part."
"The safe closet? Do you mean the safe bolted to the floor in the office near the building's entrance?" Korvus asks Vesorianna.
"My lady, if we may, would you mind if we investigate the hidden doorway in yonder wall?" the half-orc wizard asks, pointing toward the eastern wall as Maximus flutters over to land on a shelf near the secret door.