Seeing the tiefling shiver slightly, Tara squints. "Teilaenthis, is everything alright?" Everyone appeared to have tensed a moment before, but the small shiver could mean nothing. Tucking a strand of loose hair behind her ear, Tara worried her bottom lip, as she waited for a reply.
Teil steps back out of the room, examining his flesh burnt by the cold. "Perhaps that room is best left for later..."
"I think we should avoid going in there again. Do you need healed, Teil? You look a little frosty..." Sentir asks, looking at the chilled teifling carefully.
Should we try another room, or should we go back to the village? What do you think?
"I say we try another door. As mentioned before, the village is being plagued by all sorts of dangers. Who knows what another night might bring. That said, we do have to be careful before we have used up all our spells and supplies....Perhaps just one more?" Sentir says, wondering if he will regret it.
"I still have most of my spells ready to use. Perhaps we shoud work our way back to the front door of the prison and see what we find on the way there. Once we have found the front door, we can re-assess our status and either continue our explorations of these fell ruins, or retreat to Ravengro and the Lorrimior Estate."
I agree with you, Stefan, clearing the path to the front door can only help us on the short and long term.
"It might be best if I were healed before proceeding... Do we have such magic available?"
Feeling herself nodding off, Tara snaps awake at the mention of healing magic. "Uh, I am all out of healing spells. I don't know if Sentir has some available or not. Most of my healing abilities went to subdue that scythe that was guarding the entrance." rubbing her eyes, Tara lets out a yawn, waiting to see the groups decision.
"I'm sorry, Tiel, but I'm afraid that the sutures I already sewed haven't had sufficient time to heal yet, and that further attempts at chirurgery today might cause more harm than good. We do have a few potions of magical healing."
Looking around the room and trying to remember the exterior of the ruins, Stefan suggests trying the double-doors that lead south.
Opening the double doors to the south reveals the front entrance. This was once a wide hall flanked by a pair of waiting rooms, but the foyer now lies in ruins. With little left to hold up the ceiling, the wooden beams above sag dramatically. Indeed, an examination of this area earlier from the outside revealed that the balcony above is quite structurally unsound.
"Let's open the doors going outside. Will be good to open a line of retreat and get some fresh air..." Sentir says.
"That is, perhaps, a good idea, Sentir. Let's return to the village and restore ourselves."
Assuming no one disagrees with the suggestions of Sentir and Stefan, the group heads back to the Lorrimor home in the afternoon, where Kendra is anxiously awaiting your return. Revealed to see you all still alive and intact, she queries the group about your visit to Harrowstone. "I suppose it's simply too much to hope that you just found the awful place abandoned?"
There are many restless dead inside. It shouldn't be a surprise, a prison is hardly a place for peaceful death, even without the accident. The place is haunted, for sure. But we will clean it, slowly.
Vivian sighs, as the fatigue and stress come back
I need something to eat, and a nap.
"Yes, the ruins are truly haunted. We encountered the restless spirit of the Piper of Illmarsh. We drove him off, but I fear he will return. We also killed the largest stirge I'd ever seen."
"And some smaller ones..." Sentir adds wearily. "But a rest sounds like a good idea Vivian. It is so good to be out in the clean air again, and not in a rotting hulk.."
It wasn't until Tara was passing through the entrance to the Lorrimor manor, that she realized what had happened. "Hey... no fair." she mumbles weakly as she rubs her violet eye to remove some dust. "I-i was gonna..." trailing off as nearly nods off on her feet again, Tara snaps awake a heart-beat later. "Mm-sorry Kendra, I'm just so tired. I didn't think that the prison would be so taxing. I think I need a nap." Half-heartily waving goodbye to Kendra, Tara drags herself up to her shared bedroom.
Kendra nods quietly in regards to the group's various requests for rest and food, and does her best to accommodate your needs with lunch and fresh sheets for your beds.
The rest of the day and night pass uneventfully at the Lorrimor house, although by morning it would appear that Kendra is eager for more information about your first trip to Harrowstone, but does not want to press too hard.
While you slept, you experienced a brief nightmare. The details are hazy, but you do distinctly recall Andrei was in it. He was laying in a stretcher dying from some substantial injury. He kept grasping at your shirt crying out, "Please Stefan, don't let me die. You can't let me die like this!"
Then you woke up.
You had a good night's sleep and feel completely rested in the morning.
While you slept, you experienced a brief nightmare. The details are hazy, but you do distinctly recall being tied to a stake in the middle of some out of the way hamlet. The various villagers cursed you for being a heretic and threw stones at you, before a cleric of Pharasma lit a bonfire underneath you and you began to roast alive.
Then you woke up.
While you slept, you experienced a brief nightmare. The details are hazy, but you do distinctly recall being lost in a some darkened woods while being followed by some unidentified monster. It seemed that no matter where you ran to or how quickly you moved, the monster was always right behind. You then tripped over a corpse on the ground, which appeared to be that of Kendra, allowing a pair of bony hands to grab your shoulders while an old woman cackled.
Then you woke up.
While you slept, you experienced a brief nightmare. The details are hazy, but you do distinctly recall some spectral presence floating over you, watching everything you do. You tried to run from it, but you quickly found yourself securely bound by ghostly chains which drain all your life force from your body. As you died, Sentir stood above you and laughed at your fate.
Then you woke up.
While you slept, you experienced a brief nightmare. The details are hazy, but you do distinctly recall holding the hand of some little girl who kept calling you Mommy. The sky then turned dark and the world seemed to be on fire. The girl just stared at you with big, tear filled eyes. "You're my Mommy, you're supposed to keep me safe and protect me. Why would you abandon me? Why would you hurt me?"
Then you woke up.
Vivian awakes, all sweaty, her heart beating madly, desperatly searching the hand of her daughter into the darkness.
There is no one.
No one to hold, to protect, to care for.
No one to kiss and cuddle, no one to confort.
No one to give love to, no one to receive love from.
The redhead buries her fingers in her slender belly, crying silently as much from physical than from psychological pain.
Lonely.
Before going to bed himself, Stefan treats anyone still wounded with the best scientific medics care he can, so that they can rest easier and heal more quickly.
Stefan wakes from his nightmare in a cold sweat, heart pounding, and weeping quietly. He gets out of bed and conjures a single glowing magical light, which he uses to find his flask of Chelish brandy. He takes a couple of swigs to steady his nerves, then douses the light and attempts to go back to sleep.
Sentir wakes up in a hot sweat, trmebling from head to foot. Fire, so much fire...it hurts. His burned hands ache, combined with the terror of the dream. There is no chance of falling back asleep.
He wanders the house in the pre-dawn light, watching the mist play over the Lorrimor grounds, waiting for the others to wake. Wondering hat tomorrow will bring.
Another cold morning arrives and almost no one appears to have gotten very good sleep. Kendra prepares a hearty breakfast and offers you all words of support as you ready yourselves for another day in the grim, haunted walls of Harrowstone.
Maybe we could try the door on our right and try to circle the first floor, coming back from our left? What do you think?
Teil nods at Vivian's suggestion, stating "As good of a plan as any..."
Senit agrees then says, 'You look a little beat up Teil. Let me help you..". Sentir cats Cure Light Wounds on the Occultist.
Nodding absently at Vivian's suggestion, Tara follows quietly with the group, as her mind appears to be else where. "Some of the haunts may have had time to reform. We should all watch our steps carefully." As she says this Tara presses the heels of her hands into her eyes, in a vain effort to relieve some pressure and regain some focus.
Do you know what it takes to destroy them permanently, Tara?
Cause I probably know...
Vivian can't help but letting a goofy grin
Teil nods at Sentir watching after watching the cold burns and last cuts fade from his flesh, "Thank you... I'm ready to continue now."
Vivian knows that there is no one way to destroy every haunt. Positive energy can temporarily neutralize them, but every haunt has one specific act that will permanently destroy them. Typically if you can figure out why the haunt is there, it can give you a clue on how to destroy it. A number of haunts together in the same area sometimes are destroyed by the same act.
* * *
After Teilaenthis receives some additional healing from Sentir, the group reaches the haunted prison grounds an hour or so after dawn, prepared for another grim day of exploration.
|
"Well...lets start close to where we were yesterday and move carefully. Drace suggested as the party made their way back inside. "Hopefully it's not too...spooky...in there for us."
Drace will carefully lead the way in, keeping an eye out for further haunts. If nothing comes up, Drace will suggest the first door on the left (I moved his icon there).
"Hmmm... Yes, Drace, I believe that we are in agreement. I would pose that we re-enter the ruins of this penetentiary through the same entryway that we used as an egress yesterday. And, Tara, I also concur with your assessment of the hauntings we had dispelled yesterday: they most likely have re-formed, and remain just as dangerous as when we first encountered them. Perhaps we should avoid those areas we'd explored yesterday for that reason."
"No use re-covering old ground and wasting resources again. Agreed"Sentir says. 'Did anyone get a good nights sleep last night?" he adds conversationally.
"Who still has haunt siphons? We may need them, but should use them sparingly."
Teilaenthis follows Drace and opens the door once the rest of the group arrives and is ready.
Stefan arches an eyebrow at Sentir's question. "Actually, no. I suffered a terribly vivid nightmare-- one that has recurred many times before, but not recently."
To Teil's question, the doctor replies, "I still have one."
As the group walks into the foyer with the moldy walls and carpet, everyone notices the oaken door you entered through begin to close by itself.
Well.. Do we try to stop the door to close or not? I don't have anything big to block the door, unfortunatly.
Ensuring that she is on the correct side of the door when it closes, Tara merely shrugs. "It seems harmless enough. I am not entirely sure that this haunt is malevolent. It appears to just want the place to be secured." As she waits for the party to move on, Tara inspects the foyer again.
"I still have a haunt siphon. However, someone else can have mine, since I can also channel my goddess to harm the undead." Holding out the small tube, Tara will hand it over to anyone who seems interested in picking it up.