It becomes obvious on Dave's strike that she is, in fact, incorporeal.
Panic enters Pavel's eyes as Dave's blade slides through and barely catches the woman, realizing that they were now, in fact, dealing with something from beyond the pale. дерьмо дерьмо дерьмо! he shouts as he rushes up to Dave, grabbing at his blade and trying to dig into its history, looking for something that can fight against spirits.
Seeing that non magical weapons weren't going to be doing much to the creature, Valda called up her training and infused her weapon with magic. It would only last a minute, but...hopefully it would last long enough. Add the power of Snowball...
Unfortunately, Valda's shot goes wide.
With her ears bleeding profusely, Maria stays out of the fight until she can figure out how to make the bleeding stop... unless someone is in serious need of emergency healing, then she'll try to rush in...
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"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!! A scream of -transcendent- and primordial exasperation rips it's way out of Isadora's throat. "Curses and blasphemies! Even now as I prepare mine host for glorious combat do the universal forces throw into my path the ONE thing that my ur-bug can not even affect!
Fie! Fie! A thousand times times fie on that I say! You! Shall not! Confound me! Even now hath mine advanced studies prepared me for such a foe! Even now doth thy imminent attempts at mastery fall LOW upon such an intellect as mine. Upon thy crashing waves of tidal forces, -I- shall play the ever-living rock! Upon which thy efforts crash!"
Sigils writhe and glow as his hands make delicate motions of influence and his voice speaks arcane words of power. The air grows cold and the room fills with a horrible blue light, as if the universe itself plays harbinger to the Aspect of Violence about to be called.
Before the wailing banshee forms a small beast. No writhing tentacles grope from its back, nor do muscles profound sprout from it's limbs. But it opens its mouth and a cry of sublime hate and consuming rage screeches out, bouncing off the walls making all tremble at its utterance.
The thing launches itself at the banshee, unheeding its own safety, like an avatar of war made manifest.
As the wolverine screams and bites at the spirit, the tentacled ant continues to ineffectually strike at the ghostly visage.
I'm uncertain; you have 1d6 HP with no bonus, and 5 levels. So if you'd rolled a 3 on each roll and supplied none of your favored class points to HP, you'd have 15 HP. If you're uncertain what order you did, I'm willing to assume you got 3 fours and 2 threes, giving you 18 HP, and you can apply 2 more assuming favored class bonus, which gives you 20. That still only leaves you with 5 though (20 - (3 x 5)).
Fortunately she cannot do that again for several rounds.
Isagoras' summoned beast draws first blood from the wraith.
Have Maria and Pavel used their actions for round 1?
Assuming Maria will help Dave, we'll move on to round two. Maria, post action for round 1 and 2 when you get to it.
Top of round 2.
Isagoras' wolverine is the first to damage her, so the ghostly being switches focus from Dave and attacks it instead.
The wolverine's distraction is more then enough, and grants him the opportunity to strike twice at the creature's exposed backside. No doubt, she's likely never experienced pain this precise in her unlife as his sword pierces her as though she were still flesh and blood. His movements are a blur as he spins alongside his blade, making retaliation harder.
Dave flashes Pavel an approving nod as thanks for the enchantment, his first sign of real emotion since Joe's death.
Muttering under her breath, Valda re-aimed and tried again.
The ghastly form shrieks in pain and rage from Dave and Valda's onslaught.
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The Wolverine staggers drunkenly as it takes what is surely a mortal wound. But Odin alone will choose the day he enters Valhalla. And in his hour of need, Odin sends forth unto him, The Berserker Rage.
Rising up from the ground, screaming like a wild animal, the Wolverine renews his attack, fighting in cooperation with his battle-brother Dave.
If the spirit still lives, Isagoras sends a conjured Acid Bolt in her direction.
Pavel, recognizing that his sword will do nothing for the time being, remains flabbergasted as to what to do for a moment. When he sees Valda enhance her weapon and fire, he runs up to her and attempts and also calls forth some forgotten past of the steel inhabiting the weapon.
I think Dave was asking for healing, you might take your current action for that.
Sorry, what are you attempting here?
Isagoras' creature seems to be damaging the ghastly form as much as anything. However, she/it still seems quite vital.
Maria throws a card at Dave, with a Cure Light Wounds spell on it.
Then if someone else needs healing in round 2 (or Dave still does... otherwise hold...
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Okay, so, to clear things up...
Dave gets healed for 12 hp (round 1).
Valda's weapon now has ghost touch.
Isagoras' wolverine gets healed for 11 hp (round 2).
And I believe we're caught up.
Top of round 3.
The ghostly woman this time streaks across the room and attacks Valda (charge).
Both Dave and the wolverine get an AOO as she passes.
All PCs may act (don't forget AOO for Dave and wolverine).
Dave twists around, nearly completely slicing off one of the woman's feet.
Following up his attack, he races after her and slams his blade into her backside just as she's clawing at Valda.
Valda grunted at the blow, her eyes popping at the sound of what was likely some ribs cracking. It hurt, enough to make Valda's eyes water. Backing up a little and coughing, Valda raised her gun again and opened fire again. She was going to need to reload soon, but then, she was good at reloading.
With a sudden shriek, the evil ghost fades away into the ether. Suddenly, the room brightens and you see it has the same amount of light flowing in as the other activity room on the other side of the asylum.
Everyone's spirit is lifted, and the sense that a great evil has left is palpable.
In the corner of the room, under an old tarp, the group senses movement...
Dave sheaths his blade with the ghost... thing... whatever it may've been gone. He approaches the tap with a seeming lack of caution, in reality just as focused and aware of h is environment as usual. Without much room for ceremony he goes to remove the tarp and reveal whatever may've been underneath, well aware of how vulnerable it might leave him.
Pavel, in contrast, keeps his blade drawn. He has seen far too much in this accursed place to let his guard down for even a moment as Dave reveals what it hidden under the tarp, more than a little trepidation in his heart. And shaking, there may have been some shaking.
Underneath, a sleeping child stirs to waking. It's a girl of about ten, she matches the description of one of the two missing children (of which you found the other earlier, dead).
"Is it gone?" she asks Dave and Pavel hopefully.
Valda knelt next to the child, gun pointed down but not put away. She hoped this wasn't a trap, but...how did the kid survive those damned screams? Were they only pointed at them or something? "Yeah sweetie, it's gone. How did you end up here?"
"We came because we were on a dare. Then the...the ghost, she killed my friend with an evil scream and I...I fainted. Every time I woke up, she was there and...it was dark and cold. And I fell back into a dream."
Pavel does his best not to look threatening to the girl, but he still maintains a grip on his sword, also hoping that it's not another trap. I am sorry about your friend. We're here now though, and we'll take you back to your parents as quickly as possible.
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Isagoras put's his head together with Dave, and, finding that he knows of this plot somewhat, attempts to fill in the holes with his own smatterings of knowledge.
Then he remembers that small children are rarely great wizards of power with familiarity of truths that could bend the mortal mind, and dismisses his summoned minions just before the wolverine can unleash another reality-bending scream.
As a group, you determine that the girl was intended to be a vessel for the corrupted spirit of the deceased. With such a vessel, she would have been free to leave this place and wander the world to seek her vengeance. This would be bad because obviously she's been none-to-careful on who dies while she's on the path to this goal.
The spirit was that of a woman who was tortured (you think back to the handcuffs in the file room), and was so corrupted by those evil acts it could not move on. You're pretty sure you've destroyed the spirit, or at least the corrupt manifestation, and that the rest should be free to move on, if there is, indeed, an afterlife.
A check of the rest of the building reveals no more supernatural presences (at least none that reveal themselves). It is likely that the powerful presence of this spirit was tethering the others here, or creating them.
Dave looks down at the girl, the lone survivor of this attack. He's reminded of the child they encounter a few months ago that lost her mother amidst the ghoul hoard, and he can't help but wonder if she witnessed horrors as well. Two children, childhoods shattered by the grim reality of what this world was really like. It reminded him of another child, one that didn't never even had any innocence to loose.
His freind was dead. Nothing new there, though. He's experienced that before. This girl has too, now. Her freind was locked away in a room and left to die, trapped without any hope of escape. If they had gotten here sooner, would they have been able to save him?
Kneeling down, he took off his sunglasses and gave her a gentle look. "We're going to get you out of here, alright? You'll be talking to some really important grownups that want to help you, and they're going to ask some questions. I'm thinking, let's tell them a little story, okay? We'll tell them about the bad woman, and what happened here. "
He offers his hand to the girl, his expression finally sincere.
Valda looked around the building. Yeah, a less crazy story would be good. "Make sure to mention something about them being a fire bug, because this place is getting burned down before I leave. I dunno what good it'll do, if any other spirits are going to be trapped here, it's one less reason for people to come. And our friend deserves a funeral pyre you can see from orbit."
"I still can't believe Joey is gone... We haven't known each other long, but I think the events we've experienced together have given all of us a very strong bond." she says, wiping away a tear. You can tell she's trying to stay strong, but she's going to be a mess later.
And our friend deserves a funeral pyre you can see from orbit.
Valda makes sure Honor Waters asylum is inundated with flammables before you leave, bearing Joey's body from the place. The flame is lit before the group leaves; the fact that the place has been curing in the dry desert air for 20 years should ensure that the insides are pretty much gutted by flame.
Arriving back in town, Dave contacts Joey's funeral home (of COURSE a guy like Joey would have had his entire funeral planned out), and they let him know that, surprisingly, Joey has a sister in Gallop, NM.
Stacy takes Joey's death hard. "I feel like I was just getting to know him. He was so quirky and...I thought, maybe he kind of liked me." Joey's cat/familiar finds a new home with Stacy.
As far as anyone knows, Joey was at least nominally Christian, and his sister gets a minister from a non-denominal congregation in Gallop to lead the funeral service.
The day of the funeral dawns cool and cloudy, the desert already giving up most of its heat to the stars in the cold desert night. Including the PCs, about 20 people are there, total. His sister Jean seems like a nice woman, but very quiet.
Valda assured Stacy that Joey had liked her. It seemed only fair. If they'd been a little more open...
She'd gone over to Jean and told her how much they all regretted Joey's death. She couldn't explain - she had no idea how much Joey had told the woman about them, and didn't want to make her suspect anything that might get her killed.
Contrary to her usual gypsy belly dancer style, Maria is wearing a knee-length black dress (similar to this) and black heels. She isn't wearing her eye patch, which might make you wonder why she wears it in the first place. Her usual gold bracelets, earrings and piercings are replaced with silver versions that otherwise look the same. She doesn't say much before the ceremony.
Oh and also on her outside right calf (never seen before since she always wears long flowing skirts) is a rather large photo-realistic portrait tattoo of a woman (actually looks like it's Maria) wearing Day of the Dead 'sugar skull' makeup and hair. Underneath it says, Descansa en Paz, Jesus in fancy gothic script.
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'If she has two good eyes, why does she wear the eyepatch?' the wizard ponders to himself. 'And that is a -really- nice tattoo.'
For all that Joey's death might affect him emotionally, he prides himself on being the emotional rock upon which the other might find support in times of strife. He maintains an outward facade of calm, even inappropriate stoicness, in the face of the recent tragedy.
Isagoras doesn't notice the false eye; he's distracted by the tatoo.
The team watches as their friend Joey is committed to the earth, the rough desert sand and rock having been excavated the previous night.
The pastor gives a lovely message about Joey's ceaseless search for justice (referring to his profession as an investigator), but it takes on additional meaning for Dave, Maria, Isagoras and Valda. Even Pavel, who only knew Joey briefly, is moved.