Shoukichi is wracked with terrible pain again, and fails to throw the man off.
Shoukichi looks as though he's exceedingly close to death (-8 HP). If you don't do something quickly, he will die.
Your vision goes black as the priest tightens his grip on your throat, and you know no more...
Shoukichi writhes in pain one last time, and the chains tighten cruelly. You hear an almighty *CRACK* as Shoukichi's spine shatters, and he ceases to move.
Azrin finishes studying the items, then realizes in horror that Shoukichi is getting worse.
He quickly takes out his last two vials of holy water, and hands one to Steef.
"Hurry, Steef, this is our last chance to save him!"
He gets Shoukichi to drink from his vial, instructing Steef do the same.
Everyone else hears a laugh and sees a spirit, covered in chains, draped with holy symbols briefly before it disappears.
"Wait, are those the same chains as these ones back here?"
Steef grabs the chain necklace from the armory (noting the shurikens and thieves tools for later) and brandishes it at the place where the spirit was.
"Yeah, you better run, ye ol' bastard! We've got yer chains! Oh, boo hoo!"
Turning around, it becomes clear that he's on the brink of weeping.
"Boo hoo...yeah. Sorry, Shoukichi. Couldn't help you, couldn't help Cassiel, couldn't help Jules. Dammit."
Ezekiel shakes his head sadly.
Azrin falls to his knees, trembling.
"I...I've seen so many corpses, but...I've never actually watched someone die..."
He closes Shoukichi's eyes with a shaking hand.
Your voices echo through the halls of Harrowstone, being twisted into a pitiless, almost mocking sound as they return to your ears.
Steef takes a steadying breath and pats Azrin on the back. "Wish I could tell ya it gets easier. That after you've seen your own kid die, you can just brush away everything else. But I can't. But...you're still alive. Okay? Just gotta tell yourself that. Cuz at the end of the day...that's all that really matters, eh? Come on, now. Let's bring him out of here."
"You've lost three of your friends, and yet you refuse to give up. I think Pharasma would admire your courage."
He helps Ezekiel pick up Shoukichi's body.
"Let's take him to the temple. Tomorrow, we shall avenge him."
When you get to the Temple, there's only one priest there to meet you. Everyone else appears to be gone.
He looks up form his book and addresses you.
"Oh, I'm surprised anyone's here instead of at Town Hall...is that another corpse?"
Steef quietly murmurs "It's a lot more than three, mate..." before trudging off to the tavern, pocketing the shuriken and thieves' kit from the storage room as he does so.
"Oh, I'm surprised anyone's here instead of at Town Hall...is that another corpse?"
"How perceptive of you," Azrin mutters under his breath.
"Wait, what's happening at Town Hall?"
"Town council meeting. Pretty much everyone's there. They're wondering what to do about all the weird stuff that's been going on, and especially about Harrowstone."
Azrin sighs and turns to his friends.
"Well, I know we're all tired, but I feel like we should be part of this meeting."
He leads the party to town hall (stopping by the tavern to pick up Steef).
By the time you arrive at the Town Hall, it's standing room only. The place is packed wall to wall with the villagers, sixty in all.
Councilman Hearthmount clears his throat loudly.
"We'll begin in about 5 minutes people, everyone please settle down." he says, endeavoring to sound firm, but friendly.
Azrin stands in the corner and leans against the wall, doing his best to stay alert despite his fatigue and the hot, stuffy room.
Ezekiel leans against the wall, one hand resting firmly on the handle of his earthbreaker.
The crowd shies uneasily away from the demon aspected Barbarian. He almost stirs up a panic when he touches his Earthbreaker, but after a few minutes of careful watching, the crowd decides he's not going to do anything with it.
Steef, angry that he didn't actually get to have anything to drink before he was dragged out of the bar, sulks near the door so that he can try to slip out when it gets boring.
After everyone is settled, Hearthmount begins to speak.
"We can't ignore it any longer, people. Something is going on here, something supernatural. We've had strange music attracting creatures, exploding decks of cards, and any number of strange goings on lately, and Harrowstone might be at the center of it." the crowd begins to murmur, but doesn't seem surprised.
"Something MUST be done." he scans the crowd.
His eyes narrow when they alight on each one of you, as if he believes you might be responsible but doesn't want to say it out loud just yet.
"If something is gonna go wrong," Ezekiel rumbles, "It would be now. There is a... fable?... among my people: if something can go wrong, it will, and at the worst possibly time."
Scanning the room, he continues, "If a foul spirit, like that which inhabited that man Bigs or whatever his name was, were to strike now, it could cause massive harm."
"Aye, my wife had a similar saying. But when she said it you had to cover the kids' ears. And I think his name was Fipps? Or maybe Pedro. Wait no, that's one of my son-in-law's names. Course, if he were to come here it'd probably cause massive harm too, so you're not wrong there."
"Settle down everyo-" Hearthmount begins, before everything goes all to hell.
The oil lamps scattered about the room flare up, creating massive fires that begin to spread through the Council Hall.
"Oh, for the love of..."
Steef
Azrin
Ezekiel
Steef, standing next to the door, opens it and raises his voice. "RIGHT! NOW IF EVERYONE WOULD MAKE THEIR WAY OUT OF HERE IN AN ORDERLY FASHION, THAT'D BE JUST GREAT!"
Miraculously, the crowd obeys. They shape up a little bit, allowing everyone to move slightly faster.
Sheriff Caeller holds the doors open for everyone, directing them in much the same way as Steef. He nods his thanks to the dwarf before turning back to the task at hand.
Azrin is quickly jolted out of his grogginess.
Of all the days to not have Create Water prepared...
He begins pushing through the crowd and vaulting over benches, moving toward the council members.
Ezekiel moves out of the city hall.
Thanks to Steef's direction, many of the villagers escape the building.
Many more, however, are trapped up against the door, clamoring to get out.
Worse, the fires begin to grow to large sizes at an alarming rate, engulfing two of the villagers before they have time to get out of the way, dropping them to the ground in pain, and nearly catching Azrin as it expands, singing his eyebrows.
The sickening smell of burning flesh and hair begins to drift through the air as the villager's screams turn to whimpers.
Heavy smoke begins filling the room, obscuring vision. You begin to choke and cough as you inhale it.
Azrin skids to a halt just before running straight into the spreading fire, just in time for the council members to push past him.
This is what I get for trying to be a hero.
He turns and makes his way back toward the door.
Steef runs to the closest villager and tries to drag them out, sadly whispering "I'm so sorry..." to the other one.
Ezekiel runs back to the remaining villager and drags him out of the fire, roaring with adrenaline and defiance and leaving his earthbreaker at the door.
Ezekiel lifts the villager and runs back out, carrying the unconscious man in his arms.
Ezekiel steps back into the room, and starts heading to save the woman in the fire.Unfortunately, in his exertion he inhales a huge lungful of smoke, and is seized by a coughing fit.
Ezekiel staggers back out instead.