Stannis produces the planchette and holds is up for Arianna to see.
That "thing" is dangerous. We should only use it if we have to. We have some information from the warden's wife, we know what we have to destroy the spirit of the splatter man to stop the other spirits from escaping. Let's go find this evil thing and rid the world of it.
Sarrah begins to throw her pack on her back.
"The planchette itself is not dangerous, mearly a tool of divination and communication with spirit realm. Where it can become dangerous is if you contact the wrong spirit and are weak of will, I doubt that is true of any of you who are willing to continue. If we are to be dealing with ghosts, it could become quite useful."
Stannis looks between the two women, obviously unsure of which approach is best.
Stannis looks between the two women, obviously unsure of which approach is best.
With servitude to the spirit on the line, Stannis seems ready if not quite eager to throw himself back into the fray if the others are.
If she feels reasonably safe by the time she gets on the coach tomorrow, she's likely to gift it to the party. She's NG, after all. However, knowing that she's spending the night in a house that was recently attacked by a zombie, she's not going to offer it up until she's made it to dawn without her brains being eaten.
"Go back.. now?", Quiddling's voice is quivering making it clear what he thinks about that suggestion. "Would it not be wiser to wait until dawn? I hear that spirits grow more potent at night. If we are to dust with the dead of Harrowstone, should we not do so when they are at their weakest?"
With servitude to the spirit on the line, Stannis seems ready if not quite eager to throw himself back into the fray if the others are.
Only for certain types of undead...we should go now, Stannis' life as well as ours hangs in the balance.
Stannis gets to his feet.
Yes. We have work to be about. Kendra I suggest you close and lock all of the doors and windows. Until we know what is making those marks I suggest not opening them to anyone. We will return as soon as we are able.
Arianna gathers her cards and other belongings, reading for the trip to Harrowstone...
"I suppose I'm as ready as I'm likely to be."
She then turns her attention to a darkened corner of the room...
Kashki, come along now..." she says to the small red furred fox quietly sleeping in the corner of the room.
Ahem... I also wanted some input on what to do with...
Kendra's voice breaks off into a small sob as she gestures towards where the Professor's body is located.
Sh... Should we even tell the Father and the locals? After that talk of him being a necromancer, i'm not sure I want to add fuel to the fire... But I want him laid back to rest...
Stannis pauses.
We should tell the priests at least when we return. They deserve to know about the threat to the town. The others will react .. badly.
"If you say so, miss Kayden". The quiver still lingers in the halfings voice suggests that he isn't eager to go back, but the oracles reminder of Stannis oath get's Quiddling off his seat and on his seat.
"The pharasmite clergy should be told of the growing danger in Harrowstone, but i see no reason to involve professor Lorimor in that conversation. Perhaps we should pay them a visit on our way back to the ruins?" Quiddling suggests. One part of is him hoping for additional help from the town priests and the other part is trying to delay his return as much as possible.
"We're just going to leave him ... lying down there?" Corinne asks uneasily, clearly not thrilled at the idea of spending the night in a house with a recently de-animated zombie in the basement.
"Stannis and Sarrah says that whatever animated him is gone now", Quiddling says but you can tell that a part of him is unsure. "Perhaps we can look the door to the cellar. Just in case."
"We're just going to leave him ... lying down there?" Corinne asks uneasily, clearly not thrilled at the idea of spending the night in a house with a recently de-animated zombie in the basement.
Yes we are! If he rises again you can probably talk it to death Corinne with your incessant chatter so I wouldn't worry about it.
Let's go before it gets too late.Sarrah walks out the front door trying to get out before the next barb from Corinne.
Quiddling casts one longing look back at the chair by the fire and his drinking cup before hurrying out through the door and into the evening air. "Remember to lock the basement. And don't open it until we get back!", he calls out to Corinne before vanishing out the door.
The four of you return to Harrowstone Prison, or in Arianna's case, arrive for the first time. The place is even more foreboding in the evening than when you entered in the day. As you enter the grounds , you each shudder involuntarily for just a moment as a feeling of claustrophobia and a sensation that your skin is on fire passes through you, albeit only for a moment. The grim walls of Harrowstone loom above you, wooden rafters visible from outside the prison and large sections burnt away. You notice, not for the first time, that the balcony above could likely be used as an alternative entrance to the upper floor , as could the western or eastern balcony.
You recall from your research that the western balcony was the site of Harrowstone's executions, particularily notorious for the prison's use of scythes as execution weapons instead of the traditional axe. From what you have read, there should be a door there leading back into the main building, and the balcony is clearly accessible via some stairs onthe ground level of the grounds leading up. The east balcony was once used as a guard post but seems fairly derelict now, ivy growing over the walls there. It looks like more than one area of Harrowstone would be accessibly from the east balcony due to the ravages of time creating new routes through wall and ceiling collapses. Your also aware there is an upper balcony at the rear of the building that could potentially lead to the second floor; it used to be an upper guard post that overlooked the grounds in addition to the observation towers . Armed with your research, your also aware the murky pool on the east side of the building was once Harrowstone's graveyard, before its foundations crumbled away and it sunk into the pool nearby. Its possible that some of Harrowstone's more wealthy and influential inmates had tombs built there.
Arianna, you notice the strange arcane runes at which seem to flank the main entrance; judging from your companions indifference to them its likely they have already discovered them.
Sarrah is not much of a climber, she votes for going back in the front entrance and continuing the search with the rooms they have not been in yet.
"Which way shall it be? Though from a standpoint of not creating any more dangers for ourselves than we already face, I would have to agree with Sarrah."
During the walk back Quiddling continueously tries to make small talk about either this or that mundane topic, all to keep his mind from wandering back to their destination. And it works. For a time. Before he knows it he's once again standing before the menacing gates of Harrowstone Prision. Chills creep down his spine and his thoughts revisit his encounter with the manacles, the spiders and the spirit of Vesorianna. His eyes span across the ruined courtyard and fasten on the murky waters that used to be the prision's graveyard. Get it together, Quiddling. Where's your sense of adventure? a voice twitters somewhere deep in his mind. "I do not mind as long as we stay away from the pool. Nothing good can come from those waters", he says trying his best not to quiver. "What do you say? The front door? If at first you don't succeed, try again". That won't raise anyone's spirits, the voice responds and Quiddling knows that it is right. The halfling quickly collects what courage he still has and marches towards the entrance, hoping that his feeble last words won't linger long in the air.
The front. I feel like we should ask the spirit how to defeat the evil ones.
The front. I feel like we should ask the spirit how to defeat the evil ones.
It's wants us to destroy this splatter man, she probably would have told us more if she knew anything...but we can ask more if you want to
The Splatter Man is merely one of many powerful spirits within this place, although he is the strongest. You are leaving so soon? Very well. I would suggest you leave food and water for this vessel so that it does not starve in your abscence...
You enter Harrowstone via the front door, finding yourself back in the entrance chamber once more. You can't help but feel like some broken objects scattered around the place have been moved since your last visit and that perhaps the door was not left quite so ajar by you as you left the last time... But then again it could be your imagination.
The Splatter Man is merely one of many powerful spirits within this place, although he is the strongest. You are leaving so soon? Very well. I would suggest you leave food and water for this vessel so that it does not starve in your abscence...
Whatever courage Quiddling had gathered runs out of him like water as Stannis's question and Sarrah's anwser ring through his head. If the paladin doesn't know how to fight this evil and Vesorianna doesn't have any anwsers how could they hope to rid the haunted ruins of this taint? Quiddling can feel his legs start shaking. "How do we destroy the Splatter man?", he asks almost in a whimper. [i]That's for you to find out. What are you afraid of? You should stop shaking. Who would pick you up if you should fall?[i] the voice in his head muses.
The "S" in the northen wall of S11, did we find that or is that to be regarded as player knowledge?
Liking Stannislav's suggestion the best Quiddling carefully moves through the double doors and takes a left. "Vesorianna? Are you here?" he whispers in a muffled tone as he makes his way through the corridors and into the room where they met the spirit last.
Vesorianna's smoking, pale blue form materialises from the skeletal arm protruding from a stained heap of fabric to the west. Her eyes are angry, her face twisted in a grimace of rage as she sees you, but yet does not seem to recognise you. She floats towards Quiddling, feet hanging limply a few inches from the ground, hand outstretched as though it is to be used as a weapon against him.
YOU! My tormentors! Pyromaniacs, immolators, FIENDS! Now it is your turn to die!
Without swift intervention, it seems Vesorianna is about to attack...
Initiative 14
Sarrah
Quiddling
Stannislav
Arianna
This time, you notice something strange next to one of the bookshelves on the north wall... One of the bricks in the wall is slightly protruding, as though it could be pushed into place...
"No, it's us! We are not your tormentors. We've come to ask for your advice, don't you remember us?" Quiddling stammers trying to back away but the spirit is to quick. "The splatter man! We're here to destroy the splatter man!" he pleads.
Unfortunately, it is up to the others to talk her down as she reacts too slowly to the spirit.
Initiative:
Initiative
SPIRIT! We are not your enemies!
Instinctvely raising his hand, Stannislav discharges a small surge of positive energy crackling into the air between the spirit and the halfling, not to harm the spirit but to try and get its attention.
Diplomacy
Vesorianna instinctively arches back from the positive energy, and Stannislav's words seem to reach her just as she was about to lay a hand on Quiddling. Shaking her head groggily with wisps of smoke still rising from it, she looks immediately remorseful. Snapping herself out of the past and back to the present, she addresses you with a little more clarity.
I'm sorry... Holding the spirits of Harrowstone at bay is having a toll on my spirit. What brings you back to the site of my demise, with a new companion in tow I see...
Quiddling stands frozen in place, gazing wide eyed at the spirit in front of him. His lips start to move but no words escape his lips. So this is how you're going to hunt ghosts, is it? the voice taunts him from within.
Stannis glances at Quiddling to ensure he is Ok before turning to the spirit.
Our companion is also willing to defeat the Splatter Man and the other evil spirits. You say you fight them. We need to know how we can beat them. Can you help us?
I keep the restless dead within Harrowstone Prison, but I am not my husband, or even an authority on the spirits within. I am bound to this single room, the place of my death. I can offer little in the way of boons or advice...
Something stirs in your mind, something Vesorianna said when she was possessing Corinne that you all ignored at the time.
"The ones who spoke only in whispers took him from this place in some strange ritual outside the walls a few weeks ago- after they slew the old man."
You realise in this flash of insight that perhaps Lorrimor was not killed by a falling gargoyle's head after all and Vesorianna apparently witnessed the whole thing...
Oh. Erm.. Stannis seems a bit at a loss at the failure of his one "bright" idea. Can you at least tell us who the other spirits are? We have heard stories of the worst ones. Can we defeat the Splatter Man without defeating them as well.
Edit Wisdom
We should go, our best bet is to free every haunted soul in this place, its the only way to be sure.
Oh. Erm.. Stannis seems a bit at a loss at the failure of his one "bright" idea. Can you at least tell us who the other spirits are? We have heard stories of the worst ones. Can we defeat the Splatter Man without defeating them as well.
Defeating the Splatter Man would relieve some pressure on me, but it would only be delaying the inevitable. I know he is the strongest of the spirits here and I only know what little I do about him because he is assailing the defences with such vigor...
Wisdom Check:
"But we must have a plan!", Quiddling protests finally having found his tounge. "How do we free the haunted souls of this ruin of a prision? I doubt that my rapier is of any use against a spirit. The spirit box is supposed to be able to destroy a haunting, but we only have one of those!" the halfling protests.