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Vivian shows more steelness of soul that adequate training with steel blade. She nearly cuts herself as the short sword pierces only the air
Damned flying skulls! Why do they move so quick!
Stefan suddenly fears that the remaining flying skull may be more than he bargained for! He backs away from it in fear and casts a spell. A jet of flame shoots at the thing from his trembling hand.
Sophie summons a weapon from her past... ... And then moves near the two retreating skulls.
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Upon hearing the commotion, Tara sighs heavily and moves into the room. As she is unable to move into the room safely, Tara just sighs and throws up her hands.
Vivian attempts to smash one of the fleeing skulls, but her aim is off and it escapes her attack.
As two turned skulls fly past the broken portcullis, whatever dark magic powering them weakens and they crash to ground, becoming inanimate once again.
Bert moves into the room and thoroughly destroys the skull still harassing Dr. Von Herzog.
Sophie advances into the room and slices at the Marauder, but her claws find no purchase as her hands move through the ghostly figure. It doesn't appear that the Marauder is just incorporeal, it's as if it doesn't really physically exist at all. Perhaps it's some strange manifestation of the Haunt.
"What item do we have that goes with this one? Destroy the item, destroy the Haunt?"
Still shaken by the shriek of the now-shattered flying skull, the doctor turns his attention to the ghost of the Mosswood Marauder. He casts a spell, and a ray of blue-white energy shoots at the ghost.
Bert finds himself drawing the smith's hammer and toying with the peculiar idea of bashing one of his allies in the head. Fortunately, he fights off the urge.
Dr. Von Herzog sends a beam of positive energy through the apparition of the Mosswater Marauder and the image quickly evaporates. After a few tense moments of waiting, it appears the Haunt is defeated for now. Bert then quickly feels his head clear up.
In the south of the room, you find a locked stone secret door.
Tara glances in the room, and sighs heavily as the apparition vanishes. "Is everyone alright? Those flying heads gave me quiet a freight!" Tara exclaims as she places a hand over her heart.
The doctor rubs the side of his chest where the flying screaming skull slammed into him. "I've had worse. Nothing that a brandy and good night's rest won't cure."
He then looks around and says, "Let me determine if there are any lingering esoteric auras in this place..." He casts a spell, causing his eyes to glow with a faint blue radiance. He then starts looking around the room.
Sophie helps Tara have a look around the room, giving her a motherly side-hug of comfort.
Bert glances down at the hammer in his hand. "Buh..what happened?" he asks. He picks up his halberd after putting the hammer back in his pack.
Even this Sophie's assistance, Tara finds nothing of interest in the room besides the dwarf corpse and the skull that was formerly floating besides it.
Dr. Von Herzog discovers no magical auras in the room besides those provided by his companions.
The doctor takes one more look around before leaving.
Although he almost misses it, Dr. Von Herzog actually does detect some magic on the other side of the south stone wall.
"Everyone, I'm sensing arcane auras behind this wall... Perhaps there's a hidden passage?"
The doctor steps closer to the wall and continues to concentrate on the area.
Dr. Von Herzog notes more than a dozen separate magical auras, some of them Conjuration, others Enchantment and another is Transmutation.
"There are at least a dozen auras beyond this wall! There must be a concealed passage somewhere around here..."
Narrowing his search, he starts tapping on the walls, looking for a secret passage.
I like to play hide and seek...
"Excellent eye, my dear!"
"Well done, girl." Sophie gives Vivian a motherly pat on the shoulder.
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Tara tenses up as Sophie throws an arm around her shoulders. Opening her mouth to say something, Tara is interrupted by Vivian finding a hidden door. Shrugging out of the older woman's grasp, Tara moves towards one of the cots. Pinching the bridge of her nose, Tara takes several deep breaths in and out as the others work on the door.
Even with the assistance of Teilaenthis, Vivian is unable to jimmy open the lock. On a subsequent attempt, while taking a couple of minutes, Vivian is able to force open the lock's tumblers with the Occultist's assistance.
Opening the stone door reveals an alcove that contains several dust-caked armor stands, weapon racks, and a wooden chest. Going through the armor and weapons the group finds six suits of masterwork chainmail armor, six suits of masterwork studded leather armor, four masterwork longswords, four masterwork heavy maces, two masterwork heavy crossbows, and 120 crossbow bolts.
The group also discovers 10 +1 Crossbow Bolts, a magical wand, 4 potions of the same pinkish color and light consistancy, and a magical rope.
It's a divine wand of Hold Person with 11 charges.
They are all potions of Cure Moderate Wounds.
It's a Rope of Climbing.
Vivian looks for an armor that could fit her, either a leather or metallic one, and tries one of the maces
His eyes still aglow with the arcane divination magicks, Stefan notes which items have a mystical aura and sets them aside. He then picks up each item in turn, examining its aura more thoroughly.
(Whether or not the arcane/divine/psychic distinction matters for spell completion items (i.e. scrolls) is less clear and a matter of GM interpretation. When I GM, I find that level of bookkeeping to be bothersome, and don't make the distinction.)
"These crossbow bolts have been magically enhanced to increase their accuracy and impact."
"This wand contains a spell which temporarily paralyzes the target. It would seem to have about a dozen uses remaining or so."
"These four potions all seem to be the same. They are curative potions, of moderate strength."
"Alas, the nature of the magical aura of this enchanted rope is eluding me."
Sophie gives Tara a curious look, but leaves her alone. "I'll have a look, boy."
After studying it for a little bit, she shrugs and hands it back. "I can't tell."
Unfortunatly, I did not pray Pharasma this morning for the ability to discern magical auras. But I'm willing to try later, even if I'm just dabbling in the divine arts.
"Well, we can simply hang onto the rope and try again later under better circumstances."
"Now, it would seem that we have defeated four of the five leading malevolent spirits still haunting Harrowstone: The Piper of Illmarsh, Father Charlatan, The Splatter Man, and The Mosswood Marauder. The remaining spirit left to exorcise is The Lopper."
"Where shall we go next?"
Teil looks at the rope and shrugs.
Checking the door north of the Marauder's room, you find another guard room decorated similarly to the others, with a table, a few chairs, and a pair of cots. There is also a winch that appears to operate the portcullis that formerly prevented entry to the west, but Teilaenthis took care of that problem already. Searching the room for objects or magical auras reveals nothing of interest and no monsters or haunts accost you.
With the only area not yet explored being the north wing, the group heads in that direction. As you move up that hallway, you see yet another portcullis blocking your advance, but a partially ajar door stands on the west wall near the metal obstruction.
As the group nears the door, it flies open revealing a burning skeleton wielding a handaxe. Strangely, the monstrosity lacks a head, but it seems to have no issues orienting itself in the direction of the party.
Initiative (Round 1)
Teilaenthis <= Up
Sophie <= Up
Vivian <= Up
Headless Burning Skeleton
Bert [5 Dmg]
Stefan [3 Dmg]
Theodor
Tara
Seeing the skeleton, "Uh, what caused it to start burning do you suppose?" Bert asks in an odd voice.
This thing mihgt be handy quicker than I expected...
says the redhead, feeling the weight of the beautiful heavy mace, before getting through her friends to fight the undead creature
Excuse me...
Whoops.. this is way too clumsy.I'm more used to my small sword.
Sophie summons a proper weapon to fight skeletons, while Vivian bravely moves forward and tries to attack with one of the recently found maces. Not having adjusted yet to the weapon's weight, Vivian's strike completely misses.
Teil steps up and swings at the creature.
Teilaenthis advances and swings his earth breaker at the flaming skeleton. It connects with a solid hit, causing some of the bones to form hairline fractures.
Unfortunately, standing so close to the fiery aura of the skeleton burns both Vivian and Teilaenthis, although the latter's natural resistance protects him from harm.
The enemy turns its full attention to Teilaenthis, attacking him with both the handaxe and a claw. The axe misses, but the fire encased claw manages to hit with enough of power to burn the Tiefling slightly.
Initiative (Rounds 1-2)
Teilaenthis [8 Dmg] <= Up
Sophie <= Up
Vivian [3 Dmg] <= Up
Headless Burning Skeleton
Bert [5 Dmg] <= Up
Stefan [3 Dmg] <= Up
Theodor <= Up
Tara <= Up
I know what it is.. I got it on the tip of my tongue...Look!
Playfully, despite the stress of the fight, Vivian flicks the tip of her tongue between her lips
Vivian recognizes it as a burning skeletal champion. She's already learned that remaining adjacent to its fiery aura will naturally burn you, but she also recalls that they explode once they are destroyed. Being encased in fire, they are immune to fire effects, but are especially damaged by cold attacks. As a skeleton, they are destroyed most quickly by bludgeoning weapons. As for why the skeleton is missing its head or how its still able to attack, that's a mystery that's probably unique to this case.