Zamanda examines the bow.
This is a really nice bow, and it is arguably on par with the one I have, trading out the seeking quality for the oath option and the variable elemental damage. I will certainly use it as a backup weapon if no one else can, but can anyone else use a bow? It might be good to give to someone else if anyone has the ability, and with seeking, you just have to aim in the right direction... you don't have to worry about other people standing in the way.
____
When they get to the new room, Zamanda signals everyone to wait, and goes in alone.
I think there is something invisible in here.
Zamanda enters the room and recognizes the unnatural activity matches in fact that one of a haunt. She does not know what this one particularly would be, but she knows haunts rarely are nice for those alive.
Anyone inside the room and noticed the activity can act in the surprise round.
Bashiel steps into the room himself not long after Zamanda does, and spotting the tell-tale signs of the haunt himself, isn't too surprised when it starts to surface. He calls out "Step back, I might be able to subdue it." and sheaths his rapier in order to have a hand free.
Zamanda backs off, letting Bashiel deal with the situation.
Likewise Kalem stood outside of the room, reasoning that he was in no way equipped to fight a haunt.
As the figments left behind by the serving staff manifest, one attempts to merge with Bashiel while another goes over Zamanda. But before they have a chance to reach them the paladin positive energy into the room, forcing the haunt to recede! The dust falls down and any manifestation of an ethereal force just disappears.
It is clear the spirits will not be kept away by the deed for a long time. A quick exploration of the room reveals another latrine at the western door, and a corridor with more doors at the north.
"Well done. Let's move on 'fore the cursed spirits return." Kalem said, pushing the horrid fate of those banished out of his mind.
Bashiel hesitates for a moment, then nods "If we had time, I could conduct a séance with the spirits here. Maybe learn something from them that could help us in our exploration. Or even how to lift whatever is anchoring them to the material plane. But it would take ten minutes or so, and our magical defenses are short-lived."
Otherwise, he passes back to the southernmost door in the hallway, ready to open it up and explore further.
Zamanda nods at Ilsa's comment and follows as well.
The group continues the exploration of Scarwall Fortress through the southern door.
This oddly shaped chamber occupies most of the gatehouse’s second floor. A large set of winches in the room seem to govern the gates and portcullises in the gateway below. Troughs run along the sides of the winches, just above a set of murder holes in the floor to the east and west of the winches. Arrow slits pierce the outer walls in several places, completing the room’s defensive posts.
There are four more skeleton minotaur guards. Bashiel quickly reacts stabbing the first one he sees, while Kalem throws himself against two of the monsters, the scythe cutting both skulls with ease. Zamanda's arrows break the skull of the one attacked by Bashiel that collapses to the ground as well, while Ilsa and Cinnabar strike the last one with sap and sawtooth.
With the bones in the ground Malen says a few words of blessing invoking Pharasma giving peace to the once minotaurs.
With the room recovering the calmness, you are able to search it at heart. The only thing of interest you find, aside from the fine crossbows and battleaxes of the minotaurs, is the troughs, that once were kept filled with oil that could be brought to a boil and dumped into the room below in times of invasion, are filled with supernaturally cold oil.
There are two sets of stairs next to the entrance door. Both descend to a floor below.
You are free to open the doors at side and side of the winch.
This chamber is bare of furnishings other than a wooden table sized for large creatures and three similarly sized chairs. A stairway descends along the wall, and a ladder provides access to a wide trap door above. A door exits in one wall.
The stairs in here descend to the gate below. A couple of trapdoors, once at each room, likely lead to the parapets above, where there were more minotaurs Zamanda and Kalem defeated during the balcony battle.
Despite their age, the ladders leading to the trap doors remain sound.
Zamanda climbs to the trapdoor in C2b and opens it just to check and see if there is anything else up there besides what they already killed.
Zamanda finds herself at the battlements upstairs. The bones of the two minotaurs that Kalem destroyed are still on the ground, scolds still on them from the tiefling scythe.
To the south, her darkvision let her see a door in the small tower. Abroad, the lake that surrounds Scarwall Fortress remains calm. A sudden breeze shakes her jet black hair. Far away, in the mountains she sees a wyvern fly over one of the peaks, oblivious of the horrors surrounding the group at the fortress.
Wanting to enjoy the peaceful night just a little bit more before going back down, Zamanda walks south to check the door.
Thanks to her outstanding senses, Zamanda is able to hear some kind of faint smoldering at the other side of the door. Like a fireplace burning, but there is no chimney outside.
After a few seconds she hears some broken voice murmuring "...my circlet... so close... my circlet..."
There is no apparent lock in the door.
Zamanda goes back and tells the group what she heard.
We did get one in that big room with all the treasure, but we weren't sure what it did, so we just put it in the pack with everything else.
”Another ghost, probably.” Kalem muttered. ”This place will wear us down, fight by fight. If we can appease it with that circlet we found, it will be better for us in the long haul.”
"If we can set a spirit to rest by reuniting it with the circlet we found, I'm bound by duty to do it. The way you describe it, it sounds like that voice is in a lot of pain. Likely for years, if not centuries." He sighs "We've already found far more creatures and spirits bound to this place than I was imagining. It would be good to free even one, if we can"
He heads up the trap door to the roof to stand at the ready at the door before (probably) Kalem leads the way.
Zamanda isn't usually into giving up treasure, but since her friends want to, and she's already had several near-death experiences today, she doesn't argue even a little bit. She just fishes the circlet out of her pack and hands it to Kalem.
”Right. Follow me. But if it does anything hostile, then blast it with your holy...whatever.” With that the Bloodrager advanced, circlet in hand. As he advanced he called out:
”Spirit! We of the living hear your pain, and have come to reunite you with your lost circlet. Know that we come in peace, and wish naught but the same for you. Please, take what is yours with our blessing.”
With the circlet in his hand Kalem opens the door.
This long chamber has inward-slanting walls, like an attic. Many old barrels and boxes, broken and empty, are stacked at the base of the walls. Stairs descend to the north, near two small alcoves with conical roofs.
The low ceiling and many boxes ensure that any light sources brought in here create deep and tangled shadows.
As you make it inside you spot a skeleton clad in full plate whose skull is stormed by flames. Guarded by a pair of bodyguards converted to shadows after their death, the flames in the skull intensify its burning as he points to Kalem and the circlet "Mine... you have what is from Castothrane... is mine... give it back!”
Given Kalem oppose no resistance for the skeleton to take the circlet, Castothrane does just that and takes the headband from the tieflings hands.
He sighs in relief and places it on his head; as he does so, both the circlet and Castothrane himself crumble to dust. As this happens you feel a sudden relieve, like the same that happened when you defeated Nihil. The two shadows immediately fuse with the ground and disappear from sight.
"It seems both Nihil and this Castothrane where anchors for the Fortress curse. If we destroy all the anchors we might be able to lift the curse and make it easier to find Serithtial" theorizes Malen in open voice.
As it crumbles to dust the skeleton items clang on the stone tiles.
+1 full plate
+1 heavy steel shield
+1 battleaxe
mwk composite longbow (+4 Str) with 20 arrows
cloak of resistance +1
magical ring
"Huh. Well, I suppose that counts as our good deed for the day." Kalem remarked as the skeleton and the shades vanished. "Wonder why he wanted that circlet so much?" He mused.
"According to Pharasma's words, this kind of skeleton warriors can be created by holding the soul trapped away from its undead body in a valuable object. If my studies of the goddess are accurate, when reuniting soul and body, the body crumbles to dust and the spirit is free to join the River of Souls" Malen observes while staring at the dust "My guess is the circled contained Castothrane's soul and the skeleton could feel it. He probably was tormented through the centuries for feeling his soul so close by, at Kazavon's tower, but his curse preventing him to go rejoin it"
"There is something strange in the way the spirit was released though. I could not see it look after the River of Souls. Something absorbed the spirit to the core of the Fortress as it did with the shadows" the cleric frowns intrigued.
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"Does that mean if we die here, our souls will also be absorbed into this place?" Kalem asked, getting concerned. "If so, then we should be more cautious than usual as we explore this place."
Sure, Ilsa, I'll try.
She takes the ring and looks it over.
Hmm, interesting. I think it is a Ring of Immolation. It allows you to surround yourself with fire, which would harm anyone attacking you in melee.
She hands the ring back to Ilsa.
Malen remains pensive while Ilsa and Zamanda interchange the ring until he answers Malen "I am not sure Kalem. But it might be the case. It is clear the fortress curse has somehow bound the souls of these poor fellows for centuries... I am not sure what can happen to ours... but it might be the case... Anyway, lifting the curse should help free any of the lost soul so it can be raised again"
The cleric makes a pause, then completes "Remember, Zellara's invocation of the Blessing of the Ancestors will protect us at least once"
Zamanda goes around checking all the doors in this area, making sure they didn't miss anything else.
Bashiel offers a prayer for Castothrane, wishing the now-freed spirit peace in its future, wherever the gods will take him. However, when Malen reveals that the warrior's freed spirit was simply bound once more, this time to something else in the castle, he scowls. "A curse to bind the souls of the dead? In that case, we have a second goal here. We can't leave without finding a way to end it or undo it. Finding Serithial but then leaving and letting this place to fester... I couldn't do it in good conscience."
"I wonder who among the undead and lingering spirits would have insight into the curse." He ponders out loud, considering how to best use his ability to consult the lingering spirits in an area.
After Zamanda checks one last area in the battlements, Bashiel returns down to the floor below to check the final door to the south-east end of the main building.
The last door results to lead to the tower that serves as entrance to the western battlements.
"I am sorry I cannot offer more help on that regard Bashiel. My guess is the ones that were relevant followers of Kazavon might know more than ignorant servants" Malen offers then walks down behind the paladin to the second floor.
There you open the next door.
This bedroom’s furniture is in a dreadfully decomposed state, although the bed and large writing desk were obviously once of quite high quality.
There is a large picture hanged in one of the walls. Although the image is so wore down that you cannot recognize even a human figure on it, the plate below is still readable: "Chamberlain Kleestad".
Among the rubble in this room you find a discarded ring of keys that once unlocked numerous doors in Scarwall. These keys fit the locks on all doors on the first and second floors , along with most of the doors on the third floor , but finding the right key on the large ring takes 1d6 rounds (or a single round with a successful DC 20 Disable Device check to know which key is most likely to fit a lock).
Zamanda scouts ahead.
Guided by Zamanda you open the northeast room.
A once-elegant desk sits to the northeast in this room, its top strewn with moldy scrolls, a human skull, a tarnished candelabrum, and other ornaments. A tall-backed but moldy chair sits beyond the desk, while several smaller chairs lie strewn in disrepair throughout the room. An immense but sagging portrait of an armored man leading an army through rugged hills hangs askew on the north wall.
The painting plate reads "Kazavon leading his army into Belkzen".
Most of the items in this room have been ruined by the passage of time.
Afterwards, Zamanda moves over the northern door.
Several ratty, ruined couches sit against the walls here, interspersed by small tables or shelves containing broken bottles of wine or serving trays covered with sheets of mold.
You become overwhelmed for a brief moment by the conviction that you have come to plead for mercy from Kazavon, but you know the warlord will not grant it. This is followed a heartbeat later by an urge to commit suicide by leaping from the castle walls.
Ever on the lookout for something with monetary value, Kalem stumbled upon a signet ring. Holding it up to take a better look at it, he said "Anyone know if this is magical? These kind of things sometimes are. Even if not, maybe a collector would want this? Could have belonged to someone important."
Following Zamanda after she confirms its clear, Bashiel looks around the audience chamber with caution, his gaze stopping to rest on the painting. "Kazavon certainly liked his paintings and other trappings of wealth. Its a wonder they haven't all rotted away. Or maybe that's part of the curse too." On a whim, he heads over to the painting and turns it around so that it faces the wall.
When Kargas turns up the ring, he shrugs "Not sure whose insignia it might be. Too old for me. Though that doesn't mean it wasn't someone important."
In the waiting room, Bashiel looks positively queasy for a few moments as something unseen grips him. Unwittingly, he takes a few steps out of the room and starts looking out to the north and into the courtyard. His steps are halting, and before he can get too far away, he gets himself back under control. "Well that was... unpleasant. Another curse or haunt no doubt, tied to the dozens or hundreds of people that came to Kazavon to plead for mercy. Only for their final hopes to be dashed..." He sighs. "Lingering pain and suffering. Like everything else in here, it seems."
He starts heading to the door to the west from C12.
Responding to Kalem, Zamanda says
Hmm, let me look.
Zamanda takes the ring that Kalem found, casts Detect Magic, and examines it.
Ah, yes. This is a Scholar's Ring. If you wear it, you should be able to understand any written or spoken language. That's a good find! It should also give a boost to your memory for any history you've studied.
Coming out of her focus on the item, and seeing that Bashiel has started moving on as she was distracted, she hands the ring back to Kalem and follows.
Bashiel will take a listen at the door to the west before trying to open it.
During your exploration Bashiel's see invisibility and ironskin, and Ilsa's mirror image has expired.
A noticeable breeze rises as you open the doors to the chamber.
Thick wooden columns, their sides caked with dust, support the ceiling of this large hall. Between them, in the center of the room, sits a large fire pit, its ashes long cold. Many old stains mar the floor, some surely of spilled food and ale, though several darker ones appear more grisly in origin. At the western end of the hall, a wide dais rises where the lord’s table could be set to oversee affairs in the hall. In the center of the dais is a great chair carved of oak and studded with iron rivets. Down one step and to the left of it is a smaller, less elaborate chair of oak.
At the center of the room, just over the fire pit, there is a hazy figure. This humanoid figure’s body fades into mist below the hips, while its upper, ghostly torso is bound in lengths of writhing chains. The face of the ghostly creature remembers you to the picture of Castellan Mithrodar you saw a while ago.
Two of the corporeal chains around the creature are broken, while the other two are intact.
Whatever this undead is, it is clearly quite unique and different to whatever you have come to learn about in the past.
There are a few things you can quickly grasp. This is an incorporeal creature, and you can sense the chains around him are a source of healing for him.
You can also see the chains are long enough to reach any of you on an approach to fight the creature, and they are likely able to harm incorporeal creatures as much as corporeal ones.
You also do realize the creature is the source of the breeze in the room.
Before anyone can say or do anything, Zamanda is already ready to act.
Zamanda looks into the room and says
Whoops, another ghost. Moving on.
She moves to close the door again if possible, but even if she can't or one of her allies is in the way, she then continues down the hallway, away from the door, hoping that the unbroken chains mean the hazy ghost guy can't come after them. (She has no idea if she can fight this one, but just assumes it is like the last ghost thing they saw and that they should keep away for now.)
Zamanda quickly reacts by closing the doors and moving north.
The spirit suddenly appears crossing through the doors without the need to open them "You are the ones that destroyed Nihil and Castothrane" the voice is very deep and tortured "You will not break any one more of my anchors"
The spirit reaches for Bashiel with his hand, and as he does, his hand passes through the plates of his armor as if they were nothing than air.
At the moment he ends his attack, the spirit disappears. It does not go back through the door or any other solid object. It just seem to pop out of existence.
Bashiel manages to resist the supernatural tug of the ghost's touch. He responds with "Mithrodar, is it? Your time is long over." Before he can offer any more of a rebuttal to the ghost's words, the manifestation vanishes. He looks around, unsure whether the group is still at risk now that the door is closed.
"It looked like two chains were broken and two whole. I wonder if that means Mithrodar is bound here by the other anchors, or if their release has passed bonds on to him. Do we want to fight him now, or when we've dealt with the other anchors?" Bashiel readies himself to strike if the spirit manifests again near him in the mean time.
Definitely later, but not sure if we have that option if he can come through the door despite the chains. Let's get farther away and see if it follows us.
Zamanda delays to make sure the group is coming with her, but if they do, then she will move around the corner to the left, trying to get away from the ghost.
"It would be nice if all of our enemies could be stopped just by closing a door." Kalem remarked. "One of the perks of fighting ghosts."
|
Ilsa agrees with Zamanda. "I vote for later--if that's an option," she says, looking around to see if it was invisible or truly gone.
"Any of its power we can diminish before we face it, the better."
She waits a minute to see if it reappears.
"Let's go to the west down that hallway around the room. Maybe it shows up in back."
Neither Bashiel, Kalem or Ilsa can see him. He really disappeared after his attack.
The group interchanges some fast tactics, and whether Zamanda moves on putting more distance with the doors, Bashiel readies to fight while the others wait.
Some seconds later the spirit traverses the doors again thanks to his incorporeality and reaches again for Bashiel with a hateful shout "My time! My time! Is it you who is over mortal! Grrrreeaaaah!"
As he does so, Bashiel attempts to strike the spirit, but he fails.
Just after his attack, the creature disappears again, you hear him shouting in frustration from the other side of the doors "NOOO! NO! THEY MUST DIE!"
The breeze intensifies, and with it, you start to see spirits flying around, pulled towards the Great Hall.
All of a sudden, Zellara's spirit materializes, she is being pulled from the foretelling cards deck. You can see her trying to hold to the deck and the wind pulling from her strongly "Nooo! No! The fortress is claiming me!" she shouts desperate.
Zamanda disappears around the corner.