”I suppose I should make an attempt,” Zephra says brightly. ”Pharasma, give me strength,” she prays.
Unfortunately Zephra is unable to open the door either.
Zephra laughs. "That is a heavy door!" she exclaims. "Lucky thing you were able to open the window, Ms Ortensia! Guess we're just going to have to go back the way we came." This time, she does remove her armor before descending, as she is not in a hurry to catch up any more.
You all climb back out of the window and head back around the building.
A two story stone building looms in the centre of the prison grounds. Ivy and moss cling tenaciously to the walls, while above the wooden shingles of the roof are often missing entirely, exposing the wooden rafters of the upper structure to the sky. Here and there, leering stone gargoyles perch on the eaves, once functioning as drain spouts and decorations but now seeming to serve a more ominous role of sentinels.
Many of these stone decorations have crumbled away and lie in ruined piles on the soggy ground below. Windows in this side of the facade are narrow and blocked by grilles of rusty iron bars. Stone columns support a slumping wooden balcony over the building's wooden front doors, both of which hang askew and reveal dark glimpses of chambers within.
You come to an entrance foyer. This was once a wide hall flanked by a pair of waiting rooms, but the foyer now lies in ruins. With little left to hold up the ceiling, the wooden beams above sag dramatically. The wall to the north contains a large pair of oaken doors.
Ortensia held the the tangled knot of holy symbols. She was nonreligious,not following any faith but acknowledged that dieties were a valid force but chose not to practice. There were certain philosophies she felt complimented her code of ethics and morals but hadn't adopted one as of yet.
Thus,she believed she would be least effected by its curse.
As she made her way through the dilapidated entrance, she scanned the foyer catiously. A rotting timber above cracked and showered her with decades old sawdust that made her eyes water and her vision swim.
"I'll carry the flute. I've no talent in music nor shall I have any."
Evrasi fingered her holy symbol as she entered the foyer. In stark contrast to Ortensia, she found strength and guidance in faith but now knew better than to blindly pray. The gods help those who help themselves, and Pharasmin faith was a testament to that belief.
She made her way to the double doors ahead of them, seeing if they too were locked.
Streaks of mould stain the walls of this foyer, and the floor below is a thick gray carpet of fungal growth. Sturdy wooden doors beckon from every wall.
Ortensia suppressed a dismayed,disgusted groan.
So much mold!, the halforc mentally bemoaned.
Zephra peers at the western door. "Perhaps start with the front of the building?"
As Zephra tries the door, you all get a feeling of unease we will go to initiative.
To speed things up I will roll for all of you and then you can just posy your action below in turn. Please wait until the person above you in the intiative hs acted in case their actions influence you and vice versa.
Ortensia 19
Evrasi 11
Unknown 10
Zephra 6
Archon 3
Ortensia suffered a full bodied shudder of unease and retrieved her flail from her hip. She sent it spinning to strike anything hostile.
Evrasi's unease severely puts her off her game. Pharasma protect me, she prayed, holding her dagger in her right hand and her holy symbol in her left.
Ortensia's blow did not hit anything.
Suddenly the badly burnt faces of shrieking criminals rush out of all the doors and the doors then slam shut and the faces disappear.
Ortensia let out an unladylike yelp,nearly dropping her flail. She pranced in place like a spooked filly.
Ooh! I am so sick of being startled! she declared.
Zephra quickly murmurs a prayer to her goddess.
Evrasi also gave another yelp as the faces charged them only for the doors to close at the last second. "I second that sentiment, Ortensia." She breathed.
"What of those haunt siphons? Would they be able to be used on that? Zephra, what do you think?"
...I suppose so. Mayhap it will trigger a domino effect if we deal with one,canceling out any others.
Zephra you realise that this is a haunt. You also see that all four of the doors have been held shut. You also know that haunts can usually be destroyed by doing certain tasks, in such cases this could be as straightforward as using holy water.
Archon grabs some holy water and sprinkles a few drops on the doors, there is a shriek and the doors unlock.
Ortensia,intrigued, watched their seemingly mute elven companion solve their dilemma with the haunted door with a liberal application of holy water.
She paused to take out her journal and scribble furiously,glancing at the stotic elf and the vial of blessed water. She noted the audible shriek of the damned and how the doors unlocked.
Hm.Curious!
The western door opens into a large room. Several rows of wooden benches, all spotted with mould and sagging with neglect, face a stage walled off from the rest of the room by a wall or iron bars.
You all notice that there is a strange cold spot in this room. We need to roll for intiative.
Zephra 23
Evrasi 16
Cold Spot 10
Ortensia 9
Archon 4
Zephra rolls her eyes back and draws upon the power of her goddess.
Evrasi takes out one of her holy waters and sprinkles it around the cold spot as best she can, whispering prayers to Pharasma in Varisian.
The cold spot dissipates.
Where do you want to go next?
Ortensia continued onward after the two clerically inclined women dealt wirh a cold spot, scanning the rooms beyond for anything of interest.
GM note - I am assuming you go in one direction until you can no longer do so.
Ortensia keeps heading west through the next door. The northeast wall of this room has partially fallen, revealing the dark, murky waters of the pond outside. Mouldering training dummies and other similar equipment hint that this room may have once been a training area for the guards. In the northeast part of the room, the floor around a dark, jagged hole is surrounded by black scorch marks. Among the rubble in one corner is what appears to be several skulls.
Ortensia eyed the moldering training dummies cautiously and approached.
Ervasi peers into the hole with a torch.
The training dummies appear normal although aged with dirt and grime.
As Evrasi approaches the hole she can see that in the pond outside there are a number of skeletons at the bottom, although they are quite a distance away. At this point the 3 skulls rise up and burst into flames.
Initiative order:
Evrasi 18
Ortensia 17
Zephra 13
Archon 3
Flaming Skulls 2
Evarsi!
Ortensia jerked away from the mundane training dummies and headed towards the cleric to assist,a spurt of psionic magic seizing a loose sooty stone and making it rise from the filthy floor.
With a squint to gauge distance, she took aim and with a flick of her eyes she sent it flying several paces away at the flaming disembodied skulls.
Evrasi gives a start, but then steels herself and channels the healing of her goddess and attempts to put one of these restless souls back on the path of the River of Souls.
With the combination of Ortensia and Evrasi's magic one of the skulls is destroyed.
Zephra, you are next.
Zephra moves in front of Evrasi and Ortensia and draws her heavy flail. She prepares to attack the skull as soon as it comes into range.
Zephra you know that the skulls are immune to fire and do fire damage on a hit.
Archon fires at a skull but misses.
The skulls move forward, one attacks Zephra (you can have an attack of opportunity too).
Skull on Zephra Slam (1d20) = 16 for (1d2-1) = 1 + 3 fire.
Skull on Ortensia Slam (1d20) = 7 which is a miss.
Back to Evrasi
Zephra swings her readied attack at the skull.
She also takes an attack of opportunity when it enters her square.
Evrasi, not wanting to get close to one, raised her light crossbow and takes a shot at another of the skulls.
However, she is out of practice and mutters a curse before attempting to reload.
Ortensia ducked a swooping skull,feeling the unnatural heat from its flaming cranium nearly searing her skin.
She followed its path with her eyes before directing another telekinetic projectile at it.
It struck one right between its hollow eye sockets.
Zephra wipes her brow from the strange warmth the skulls radiate. "These strange heads! Former prisoners, you think?"
She takes a short step away from the skull and swings again.
Zephra, wielding her flail obliterates the skull near her.
Between Ortensia and Zephra the final skull falls to pieces.
Moving on you come into what appears to be a furnace room. A huge stone furnace dominates this room, large enough for a child to climb inside. An ancient fire has burned away the entire east wall of the room, providing a panoramic, if eerie, view of the lake beyond. That same lake has gradually expanded into the room, flooding its eastern half. A soot caked copper plaque reads "Ember Maw".
As you move into the room you notice the face of the furnace beginning to animate and the sudden rising stink of burning flesh.
Initiative order:
Evrasi 14
Ember Maw 10
Ortensia 6
Zephra 5
Ortensia did not waste anytime retrieving one of the haunt siphons. She nearly dropped it when the stink of cooked human flesh penetrated the scarf she wore around her face. With a firm grip and a deft twist, she activated it.
She held it aloft as though it were a torch, squinting at the seething white-gold of positive energies spilling forth. It nearly vibrates out of her hands.
Evrasi would have also tried a haunt siphon.
With both haunt siphons you are able to dissipate the haunt. It all goes quiet.
GM note: I'm assuming you are going through the next door.
Several mouldy cots lay strewn around this room, while doors to smaller, more private sleeping cells hang askew to the west. Judging from the rest of this door's decor, this must have once been the prison's infirmary.
Ortensia you do not see anything - what are the rest of you doing?
Zephra has been becoming more and more paranoid, with all of these haunted rooms. She moves forward carefully, staying next to Ortensia with her heavy flail drawn.
As you move into the room a knife appears to be lifted into the air and goes flying towards Ortensia.
(1d20 =19 +3) =22 for 1 point of damage.
Zephra you identify this as the work of a poltergeist.
Initiative Order:
Evrasi: 18
Ortensia:10
Zephra: 9
Poltergeist: 3
Ah!
Ortensia gasped as a rusted knife launched itself at her,slicing through the sleeve pf her tunic and into the flesh of her arm. She grasped at her limb,blood spreading across the tan canvas fabric.
Zephra looks around for the poltergeist, but probably can't see it. "Some kind of undead spirit threw that!" she cries.