Teilaenthis can easily unlock the old cell which will allow everyone to enter if they wish.
"This would appear to be the sort of remains that the Whispering Way might have an interest with. I suggest we investigate this further."
Sentir casts Detect magic on the cell as best he can.
Sentir casts Detect Magic and then peers in through the spaces in the door, but finds no magical auras in the areas he can see.
Could it be the remains of the man they called Father Charlatan? He was always pretending to be a priest, if I remember well...
Raising an eyebrow at the numerous holy symbols emblazoned on the chains Tara makes a spiral over her heart with her thumb. "I would also like a closer look. Does everyone have a haunt siphon prepared?" Furrowing her brow, Tara tries to recall any information about such chains from her studies.
Although Tara does not recall any particular religious rite or ritual associated with such chains, she does remember with Vivian that the prisoner Father Charlatan pretended to be a priest of many faiths. If these are his remains, then perhaps the guards used those chains to mock him for his blasphemy.
"I almost want to leave, but perhaps we should try and cleanse this place as well? It very well might be part of what is bothering the town." Sentir says.
With a haunt syphon ready to invoke, Teilaenthis approaches the body to examine the chains binding it.
Stefan raises his hands to be ready to cast a spell if need be.
Teilaenthis examines the body carefully, but finds nothing but a skeleton wrapped in chains adorned with holy symbols. After a few moments, perhaps some of the party sigh with relief when nothing appears to happen.
The redhead points her finger to the body
And stay dead!
She traces the spiral of Pharasma over the man's remains
Sentir nods to Vivian and says, "You know, I expected something more dramatic to happen with a chain-laden corpse. I'm glad it hasn't!" he adds hastily.
He does cast Detect magic in the room, specifically on the body and the chains.
Moving forward into the room, Sentir discovers no magical auras in the area.
"Do we wish to go up through the trap door, or do we wish to try and gain access to the floor below?" Tara asks, clearly relieved when the corpse does not animate. Taking a few moments with the body she says a prayer over the remains. "If we wish to retire for the day, I would like to take this man's remains to the temple and have it properly buried. I cannot in good conscious leave these remains to finish decomposing out here in the open. I also have a feeling that these chains were only to subject the living man to embarrassment, not for the safety of the guards." Turning her mis-matched eyes towards the group, Tara awaits their decision before touching anything.
"I feel that we've only just arrived, and I would prefer to continue our exploration of these ruins for a while more. While I would normally counsel prudence, with the increase in hauntings in Ravengro, I fear that time is not on our side. The longer we take to get to determine what the Whispering Way has done, the greater the danger to innocent villagers. Thus, I would say we should press onward.
"As for where to next... Let's see what's up that trap door first. I doubt we'll have reason to come back here, so let's take this as our opportunity."
"I agree with the Doctor. I hope we never have to backtrack to this room again. Let us get it over with."
Seeing that no one else jumped at his suggestion to try the door, Stefan climbs the short ladder and attempts to open it.
After grunting while trying to force it open a few times, he comes back down the ladder, rubbing his right shoulder. "The door would appear to be stuck, or perhaps a large heavy object is sitting atop it! Perhaps someone a bit more burly should give that a try..."
Well, Mister Dace, amaze us with a feat of strength...
Vivian smiles
Teileanthis heaves at the trap door.
"It is stuck solidly"
Let me try again... The hulking teifling slams his shoulder into the trap door three times.
Sentir laughs as they are stymied at a simple door, albeit a rusty and wedged one. "We should buy a battering ram." he says, just as Teil manages to force the trapdoor open.
Pushing with extreme force, Teilaenthis finally forces open the trap door and a flood of debris comes pouring out of the hole. The rubble knocks Teilaenthis off the ladder and gives him a few bruises.
Emerging from the top, a stirge of an unusually larger size flies down and buzzes hungrily at the group. It wastes no time trying to stick its needle-like mouth into Teilaenthis, successfully plunging its proboscis through a thin part of the occultist's armor and draining a bit of his blood.
Initiative (Round 1)
Small Sized Stirge
Teilaenthis [12 Dmg; Prone, Grappled] <= Up
Vivian [3 Dmg] <= Up
Tara [2 Dmg] <= Up
Drace [10 Dmg] <= Up
Sentir <= Up
Stefan <= Up
Standing in the room, looking up at Teil, Stefan deftly dodges the falling debris.
Seeing the unusually large stirge fighting Teil, the doctor casts a spell. A ray of greenish light shoots from his outstretched hand toward the stirge.
Stones and dirt falls on the redhead, and the biggest stirge anyone has probably ever seen drops on Teilanthis and start sucking its blood
Ouch, that hurts! Yikes, what is this big thing doing here? Maybe it's the mother of all stirges?
Vivian tries to position herself so she can flank the ugly creature
Stefan casts a spell and a greenish ray solidly hits the stirge, causing the creature to look a little paler and less vigorous.
With the room too small for a flanking sneak attack, Vivian is forced to satisfy herself with hacking into the large stirge with her short sword, injuring it somewhat.
Squinting as more and more people enter the small room, Tara can only catch a glimpse of a wing and too many arms flailing about. "Uh... Good luck guys!" she shouts as she watches the combat unfold.
Wrestling with the blood-sucking creature, Teil bites back at it with his daemonic fangs.
Sentir nervously watches from outside the crowded room full of shouts and fighting. "What is going on in there?" he shouts.
As Tara, Sentir, and Drace are forced to hang back due to the small size of the room, Teilaenthis retaliates against the strige feeding on him by biting into the flying parasite and spitting out a sizable chunk.
Despite Dr. Von Herzog's sickening spell, and the injuries caused by Vivian and Teilaenthis, the stirge continues to clutch itself to the occultist and drains more of his blood.
Initiative (Round 2)
Small Sized Stirge
Teilaenthis [12 Dmg; Prone, Grappled] <= Up
Vivian [3 Dmg] <= Up
Tara [2 Dmg] <= Up
Drace [10 Dmg] <= Up
Sentir <= Up
Stefan <= Up
Realising she won't be too much help to kill the foul beast quickly, Vivian choose to retreat
Drace, save Teil!Please! you can kill the big stirge in one strike, I can't!
Sentir gets his crossbow out, and loads it carefully. He wants to be ready in case things spill out of the crowded room.
Feeling his life drawn from him, Teil continues to bite at the creature with his demon fangs.
Teilaenthis takes another serious bite out of the enlarged stirge and nearly tears its abdomen in half. This appears to kill the creature, but has the unfortunate side effect of nearly soaking the occultist in what is probably a puddle of his own blood.
Teilaenthis gets shakily to his feet, bleeding badly and obviously not well. He gags as he spits out the remains of the creature lodged in his teeth and sways, grabbing a wall to remain upright.
We should go back to the town, and get some rest. Teil is weakened by the stirge, he suffered the most. The prison and its unholy inhabitants will be there tomorrow, I suppose. What do you think?
Approaching Teilaenthis Tara touches his face, concentrating on controlling the healing magic that was currently flowing through her. Frowning heavily at the subpar healing, Tara sighs. "I'm sorry Teilanethis, this is the best I can do for now. What happened to those two lesser restoration potions that we recovered from the false crypt? Weren't their healing potions in there too?" Pinching the bridge of her nose, Tara looks mournfully up at the ladder.
"If we have more potions, my vote would be to use them. I would like to at least check out the upper level before returning to the Lorrimor estate."
Pulling the remains of a straw mattress from one of the cells, Stefan asks Teil to sit down and make himself as comfortable as possible. He washes his wounds with water from his waterskin, and the offers him a steel flask that's full of Chelish brandy.
He gets out his healing kit and gets to work cleaning and stitching up Teil's wounds.
After about an hour, Stefan finishes his work. "How do you feel?"
Sentir watches the Doctor work, skillfully.
"You are useful to have around, Doctor. Even in a place such as this.Here, let me help." He offers to cast Create Water to re-fill the used waterskin.
While Dr. Von Herzog tends to Teilaenthis' wounds, the party has ample opportunity to examine the area at the top of the ladder. Peeking a head up, you see that it leads to a ruined center guard tower. Indeed, the roof is almost completely missing, leading to all the rubble that was blocking the door. From the ample droppings, it also would appear that the larger stirge had made its nest here. The guard tower's empty doorway leads north to a center balcony. The wooden floor of this walkway seems intact, although here and there the moldy, sodden timbers sag ominously. There are no other doors or stairs leading down.
Do you want me to scout up there?
Asks Vivian
I'll be quiet, and careful.
"My thanks to you both." Teil says. He is obviously still a bit woozy, but seems a bit more hale and indicates he is ready to move forward.
"Scouting may be good, I though think the largest danger is past."
Going!
Vivian stealthily climbs up the ladder and looks around the ruined guard tower and walkway. The late morning sun bears down warmly upon her, but she finds no additional enemies nor other potential points of interest.
The doctor is finishing up with treating Teil's injuries when Vivian returns from her scouting. He stands, rolling his sleeves back down. "If there isn't anything more to see on this level, and if you're feeling up to it, Teil, I would suggest we descend the staircase and see what's on the firt level."