Corbyn checks the doors and decides they're safe. They open with a loud creaking sound and reveal a great hall, set to receive guests. No one can be seen, but the air here is too cold: you can feel the hairs on the back of your necks rise and the disconcerting feeling that you are being watched.
"Guessssssts. We have no had living guessssts in sssssuch a long time." The words seem to whisper from the area of the dais, where the great throne sits. Materializing from the air is a spirit, but one unlike any of the others you've seen thus far. Its eyes blazing in deathless rage, a phantom floats just above and to the left of the throne, unfettered by the bonds of the living world. The ghostly horror possesses its own ethereal bonds, though, its semi-transparent, vaguely humanoid figure clenched in the hold of countless crisscrossing chains—writhing and tightening over its vaporous form in unending torture. Several of these chains extend from the ghost’s body, some dangling through the floor or reaching seemingly through the ceiling above, while others pool in spectral lengths upon the ground like solid things.
"My lord cannot greet you assss he ssshould. He issss indissssposed. But I am Cassssstellan here, and I sssshall sssseee to you. Sssservants!" From the door behind the throne, five spectral forms appear, ready to serve their master!
Know. Religion
"See! A Castellan when what this place really needs is a maid... and maybe a little holy concecration"
Despite your best searching, you can recall nothing you've ever learned about this spirit, though you clearly recognize the life-draining touch of spectres... Behind you Sial lets out a low curse and mutters to you, "This is a chained spirit. He gains power from other souls he's trapped in this castle. His touch is death and should we succumb, he will hold our souls until this castle falls. We should retreat, we will do better to free his chained souls elsewhere in this castle before we face him." Muttering this, Sial and Asyra begin to edge backwards, though Laori has an oddly ecstatic look on her face and seems eager to do battle even as spectral chains slither like snakes from the chained spirit toward you!
Initiative!
24 Paxs
20 Slumper
18 Pai and Ruperta
17 Sial
15 Corbyn
12 Laori and spirits
11 Asyra
"Well we've freed some souls, I have a feeling Sial may be right.. let's live to continue the fight.." Slumper delays to cover the retreat, if others retreat he will too.
"They've not tried to harm us before...I'm following their lead!". Pai starts backing out of the room. Just to be on the safe side, she casts a spell, causing a a Web to stretch out from her hand, pinning the image on the other side of the web.
Ruperta clenches her jaw and also withdraws out of the room.
Paxs and Thrak follow.
Taking Sial's advice, you edge back out of the room, but not before Pai casts a spectral web to entrap the specters. The specters surge forward and become enmeshed in the web, but the lead spirit, the chained man, blinks and appears next to the door. He clearly seems to be straining at an invisible barrier that stops him from moving onward. Its chains, however, are not stopped and four fly out, one flying at Ruperta, Slumper, Corbyn and Paxs!
dealing charisma drain if they hit!
dealing charisma drain if they hit!
dealing charisma drain if they hit!
dealing charisma drain if they hit!
As soon as these chains lash out, the spirit howls and reappears, hovering over the throne as he does!
"Out, everybody out!, now!"
Once out of the room she looks at her companions.
"Are you all ok?"
"I think I'm okay. But at least we have an idea what we need to do in this place. Sial...how do you know all this? Do you have any idea where the chained souls are to be freed?"
Paxs feels some of his personality and charisma drain away.
As soon as things quiet down Ruperta asks Paxs to sit down.
"Let me see if I can help you."
She will spend 3 rounds casting Lesser Restoration from a scroll she has, trying to make Paxs better.
Ruperta embraces Paxs...
"I can't help you right now... but tomorrow I will. Be brave, we shall prevail."
She gently kisses him on the cheek.
Paxs looks at Ruperta with a dulled smile, and nods.
:D
"I think our only choice is to check every room we need to release those souls... Did we miss any below?"
"We skipped the big courtyard."
Sial smiles a cold hard smile. "I know these things because Kazavon was a worshiper of my god before he was slain. Our order keeps an eye on this place, so we know some things. Plus I am a scholar: the undead are a particular hobby of mine. I believe I could identify the chained souls if I saw them, but I do not know the specifics of each one."
"What else do you know of the creature that attacked us?"
"I can't say it makes me all warm and fuzzy inside that this Kazavon worshipped the same god you do, Sial. But, so long as you help us identify the chained souls, maybe we can work this out."
Pai follows the others as they start searching all the rooms. And the courtyard.
Sial shrugs and smiles his self-satisfied smile. "My lord is powerful and demands results; what else is a leader expected to do? As for the spirit, I know some of the lore of this place. I recognized the Castellan, Mithrodar. I know that such souls are anchors in the spirit world, keeping the souls of the dead contained. I know they derive their power from the souls they chain and I know they have the means to chain others. And I know that they are wicked, and powerful."
Ruperta leads the others back to the courtyard
"Well, I guess we have to cover ever square inch of this place, before we go back in and mess with that chained spirit. Courtyard is as good a place to start as any."
You head back downstairs and to the courtyard doors. This wide courtyard stands at the heart of Castle Scarwall, giving an inside view of the castle’s looming walls and towers. A chill breeze whips through the courtyard, carrying a few dry leaves from scraggly scrub bushes that grow fitfully at the yard’s edges. A wide, stone-rimmed well stands at the western end, though the stone lip is crumbling and has collapsed in places. To the north, stairs rise to a platform fifteen feet above the courtyard. Atop it, a black double door provides entry into the castle donjon. Double doors to the east stand open, creaking on their hinges, as if left open by someone leaving in a hurry. Bent, rusted, and in some cases partially broken spikes protrude from the walls of the courtyard, and here and there, holes in the hard-packed soil hint at long-missing structures or poles that once stood within.
"Corbyn, can you check the well, carefully? Maybe tie a rope before, and having Slumper holding it? Paxs, Pai, can you peek into the eastern door?"
Ruperta uses her Door Sight ability on the north door.
Pai makes sure her Detect Magic spell is still active and peeks into the east door.
The east door leads to a tower staircase that seems to go up quite a distance.
The door Ruperta checks shows a large chamber, perhaps once a stable or kennel, has been gutted. Wooden partitions that may have been stalls lie shattered and burnt, leaving only divots in the walls, floor, ceiling, and a few stone support pillars. The floor is a tangle of broken beams, dung heaps crawling with vermin, and the occasional gleam of polished bone. The whole chamber is shadowy and dim, the darkness seeming almost palpable.
However Ruperta's door sight is suddenly blinded as a great shadow moves in front of the door and bursts it open, tossing her backwards! It reveals a huge dragon, black and sleek, that moves with a disturbing, serpentine grace, its eyes glowing as if lit from within by crimson embers. Shadows seem to cling to it, as if they had mass.
The great dragon roars, a sound that shakes you to your core!
"Intruders! Thieves and scoundrels!" It pulls its head back as if to breathe upon you!
"Wait! Your magnificence! We mean no harm to you! Please let us parlay before we fight! You can kill us later if you desire so, but let us talk first!"
The dragon seems momentarily mollified by Ruperta's words. Behind you you can hear Sial hiss in a low voice, "He is a soul anchor!"
"Speak, human, before my patience runs thin and I sup upon your bones."
Will save
will
"Can I ask your name, so I can refer to your magnificence using your correct title?"
Ruperta moves towards the Dragon, bowing with her arms extended, trying to distract it from her fiends, and give them time.
Corbyn looks at the well.
Will save vs the dragon.
The dragon's eyes narrow. You get the idea that he's not the sort to take to too much flattery. Still, your manners seem to convince him to pause in his attack. "I am Bellshallam. Why are you here, human?" There is something off about the dragon, who seems to be trying to fight off some sort of compulsion or control you cannot see.