Zephra quickly chants a prayer and casts a spell, moving to touch the ghost with the positive energy. She shouts, "Go to rest, you, you vile spirit!"
With Zephra's spell there is a final shriek and Father Charlatan is no more.
What do you want to do next? It's now about an hour until dusk.
Zephra pants, looking at her companions with sweat on her brow. "Perhaps we should make our way back downstairs and head back to town? We can celebrate ridding the prison of one of its great horrors, at least?"
Ortensia stowed the spent haunt siphon into her satchel. She shook herself,careful of her bruised head and shoulders.
Yes. Let us rest,regroup, and return on the morrow.
You head out and return to Kendra Lorrimor's house. She is pleased to see you come back alive and you rest for the evening.
That night, you are all woken from a terrible dream and you momentarily see that there appear to be bars on the windows of your room, bars similar to those you have seen in the asylum. You look again and they have gone.
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The following day you are risen an hour after dawn by the sounds of the town moving about. There appear to have been no further desecrations of the memorial overnight.
What are your plans for today?
Let us continue our delve. Our goal is to find the Warden's badge and deliver it to his wife. If we find his remains,we may find it. Also, we must put down the other spirits. We have four more to go--the Splatterman is our chief concern.
Ortensia felt well rested depite the nightmare about being inside a cell. Residuals from interaction with unsettled spirits,she surmised.
Even her wounds were healed and only light bruising remained as reminders to be more cautious.
Zephra smiles, also feeling better now that she has rested. "Yes," she says with enthusiasm, "Back to the prison!"
Ok you head back to the prison
GM NOTE- I'm assuming you head back to the same level you were on?
The ground floor of the prison seems somewhat calmer. Perhaps removing one of the major haunts has helped Vesorianna start to solidify her control.
The next cell block along is a short hallway ending in a reinforced iron and wood door. There are the remains of 4 prisoners lying on the floor here. Suddenly you start to hear the faint mournful sound of a flute and the eerie flapping of tiny leathery wings. At the same time the prisoners' bodies start to move.
Initiative order:
Zephra 21
Skeletons 18
Haunt: 10
Ortensia 7
Evrasi 2
Zephra it is your action.
Zephra draws her flail as she moves to quickly cast cure light wounds at the coalescing flute sounds, hoping to stop the haunt before it gathers enough strength to harm them.
Frowning at the results, she closes her eyes and wills herself to shine with divine favor . She stares at the skeletons rising before them and plants herself to fight them.
Zephra, the power of the positive energy causes the flute sounds to falter for a moment, then they resume.
At this point the skeletons stand up and move to attack, only 1 can get to each of you this turn.
Skeleton on Zephra (1d20 = 6 -3) = 3 which is a miss
Skeleton on Ortensia (1d20 = 18 - 3) = 15 which is a miss
Skeleton on Evrasi (1d20 = 12-3) = 9 which is a miss.
The haunt then manifests Will saves from everyone please.
Ortensia brandished her toy, using her mental energies to transform it into a flail in seconds. She sent it spinning and struck out at the skeletons.
[ooc]Crit Confirm[/dice]
[ooc]Dmg[\ooc]
Ortensia you manage to shake off the effects of the flute and you smash the skeleton, dealing it a mighty blow, it reels but is still there.
Zephra, you feel the urge to stand still. Make another Will save please.
Realising that positive energy has hurt the haunt Evrasis casts another cure spell (1d8 = 1 +2) = 3. Again the flute music stops briefly and then resumes.
Zephra it is back to you.
Zephra swings at the nearest skeleton with her heavy flail.
You hit the skeleton and destroy it.
However, dozens of tiny puncture wounds appear on your body for 2 points of damage.
Skeleton on Ortensia : (1d20 = 12-3) = 9 which is a miss
Skeleton on Evrasi (1d20 = 14-3) = 11 which is a miss.
The other skeleton moves up to Zephra (1d20 = 2 -3 ) = 1 which is a miss.
The haunt targets Zephra again (another Will save please)
Ortensia your action.
...It's the Piper of Illmarsh! A haunt powered by his presence.
She twirled her flail and flicked it in a devastating arc into the nearest skeletal undead.The hedgehog shaped Lead weight crashed into bone with a sharp clatter,then crunched through yellowed remains.
The remains crumbled into dust with Ortensia's blow.
Evrasi casts another cure light wounds for 5 damage and with that the haunt dissipates with a final shriek.
Zephra back to you.
Zephra shivers, imagining she is being attacked by tiny stirges. Nonetheless she rallies and swings to fell another skeleton.
Zephra you miss I'm afraid.
Skeleton on Evrasi (1d20 = 10 -3) = 7 which is a miss.
Skeleton on Zephra (1d20 = 8 -3) = 5 which is also a miss.
Ortensia back to you.
Ortensia flicked her wrist,the flail snapping like a striking snake. The skeleton she aimed at was more focused on the others,inadvertently avoiding her blow by reaching for the Zephra with its clawing fingerbones.
"What drives these hollow men, I wonder," asked Zephra, fighting back to back with Ortensia. "Did they serve the Piper before they died, do you think?" She dodges its strike, and the sharpened nails scrape across her armor with a tinny shriek.
Ortensia you miss I'm afraid.
Evrasi attacks with her dagger (1d20 = 15 +2) = 17 for 3 points of damage and one of the skeletons crumbles to dust, there is one left.
Zephra your turn.
Zephra swings again, hoping to quickly finish off the Piper's minions.
Zephra you miss.
The skeleton attacks you in return.
Claw (1d20 = 13 -3) = 10 which is a miss.
Back to Ortensia.
Ortensia nearly fell over when Zephra positioned herself to stand back to back with her,the war priestess' armored bulk making her chainshirt rattle.She pressed back to take advantage of the stance to prevent being flanked,whipping her wrist and flicking at a skeleton's reaching arms to strike its shoulder and clavicle.
It smashed thru the final skeleton in a devastating clatter,sending it scattering across the filthy floor before its pieces crumbled to dust.
She scanned their surroundings warily.
As the last skeleton falls you look around but there is nothing of interest here.
There are only empty rooms remaining on this floor.
Where do you want to go next?
Moving back into the prison you head down into the dungeon area.
This cavernous chamber may have once been an underground cell block, but it has long since collapsed. The crumbled walls are thick with mould and stained with soot, and heaps of fallen stones and charred wooden beams line the area. Water drips and seeps along the walls, collecting in a dark, murky pool in the middle of the room. To the north, the twisted remains of a wood and iron lift lie in a heap in a shallow portion of the pool. A jagged hole in the roof yawns twenty feet above this ruin. To the west, a partially blocked opening seems to open up after several feet into a dark but stable tunnel.
Zephra looks to the north, and raises her eyebrows to the others to see if they are on board.
As you head across the room, several shapes rise up out of the pool. They have the shape of a humanoid but it appears to be made of some form of sticky rope or cloth. They move to attack.
Zephra you recognise these as ectoplasmic humans, they have damage reduction against slashing attacks and they have the ability to make people shaken on a successful hit.
Initiative order
Ectoplasmic humans 20
Ortensia 19
Zephra 18
Evrasi 2
The Ectoplasmic humans move forward and attack.
On Ortensia
Slam (1d20 = 20 - Critical, confirmation 1d20 =11 +3 =14 - doesn't confirm.
Damage (1d4 = 4 +3) = 7 and a Will save please
On Zephra
Slam (1d20 = 17 +3) = 20 Damage (1d4 = 3 +3) = 6 Will save
Ortensia your action.
Ortensia managed to keep firm hold of her wits at the sight of the dripping,semitangible figures that rose up to threaten them. One struck her with its gooey limbs,sending a jarring sensation throughout her frame.
She resisted the surge of overwhelming fright its touch tried to saturate her with. She brandished her flail, infused it with spiritual energies she borrowed from ber two religious companions, and struck back in kind.
Her iron weight shot wide over her target's shoulder.
Ortensia your blow misses I'm afraid.
Zephra over to you.
Zephra quickly draws both of her daggers (which can be either piercing or slashing weapons) and attacks the sticky creature facing her.
Zephra you are shaken.
You miss the creature with each attack.
Evrasi attacks one creature
(1d20 = 1) which is a miss.
Skeleton on Ortensia
Slam = (1d20 = 8 +3) = 11 which is a miss.
Skeleton on Zephra
Slam - (1d20 = 19 +3 = 22. Damage (1d4 = 3 +3) = 6
Ortensia back to you.
Ortensia managed to dip and weave away from clawing limbs. She whipped the flail above her head and snapped her wrist.
Her bootheels nearly slid from under her and she stumbled across the molded floor.
GM note: Sorry my bad, should have read ectoplasmic humans
Zephra back to you.
Zephra feels a chill run down her spine as she faces these strange otherworldly creatures.
Zephra, you strike the ectoplasmic creature twice, but some of your damage is deflected.
Evrasi, attacks the ectoplasmic creature on Ortensia
Dagger (1d20 = 10 +3) =13 Damage (1d4 = 1 +2) = 3 . Although Evrasi hits the creature is able to ignore all the damage.
Ectoplasmic creature on Ortensia
Slam (1d20 = 20!) Confirmation (1d20 = 14 +3 = 17) - Confirmed
Damage (1d4 = 1 +3) = 4 and (1d4 = 1+3) = 4 - total damage 8.
Back to Ortensia
Ortensia found herself battered about like an unfortunate opponent of a backalley pugilist.Ectoplasmic gunk splattered her clothing. She seethed behind her scarf at her aching ribcage and torso.
The smothering sense of fear rolled off her like water on waxed canvas as she found herself growing both disgusted and aggravated.
She whipped the flail about her head in a blurring wheel and slung it into her assailant,giving it a hefty blow in return.
Away,unclean thing! Back to the grave with you.
@Zephra yes you are right my apologies.
So to retcon a bit (sorry was a long day yesterday) Ortensia smashed the ectoplasmic human into smithereens.
Evrasi destroyed the other one, there is one left. Zephra its your action.
Still disturbed by the feel of the oozy creature’s touch, Zephra slashed wildly at the remaining enemy. "Kill it! Kill it!" she cries.
Zephra you destroy the remaining creature.
Where do you want to go next?
Zephra takes a moment to regain her composure and then leads them towards the western tunnel. She's got some cuts and scrapes, but she's mostly all right.
Four dark hallways exit from this large empty chamber, each striking out in one of the four directions of the compass, and each decorated with a soot-caked brass nameplate affixed to the ceiling just above the entrance. A rubble -choked stairway leads up into the middle of the room, while eight skeletons dressed in scorched prisoners robes lie on the ground. To the north the cell block reads "The Oubliette. To the west lies "Reaper's Hold." To the south lies "The Nevermore" and to east once stretched "Hell's Basement."
Zephra looks at the skeletons, wary that they will attack. "This must be where the stairs from up above lead," she says in a hushed tone. "Everyone down here was killed in the fire, do you think?"
She looks curiously in the direction of The Oubliette.
If they weren't already killed in the riot or trampled in the panic that ensued, I'd say they either burned to death or suffocated from the smoke.
Ortensia paused to scribble some notes in her notebook,sketching a crude map and labeling pathways.
She frowned. Aside from putting down the restlessss dead,we need to secure the Warden's badge. I recall he had been taken prisoner by the prisoners. Aside from holding him hostage, they most likely tortured him. I'd say we checked either the Hells Basement or the Nevermore. Both places could have been some place reserved to punishing the worst prisoners---and a likely place his remains to reside.
You notice that there are scratches along the rubble and stone blocks, presumably the prisoners were trying to dig out the deadfall below in the last moments before the fire claimed everything.
As you have come from Hell's Basement (Far right on the map) you head towards the Nevermore.
In front of you, leading into the Nevermore (final room to the south) is a lowered portcullis which appears to have been locked in place. In the small room nearby there are the winch controls that can raise or lower the portcullis although it looks as if they were damaged by the fire.
Ortensia scrutinized the portcullis and the mechanism that held it together,caked with decades worth of rust and soot.
Ortensia you see that the winch mechanism has been badly damaged by the fire, however if you could lift and wedge the portcullis enough it might cause the portcullis to lock in an open position, essentially jamming the winch open.