Vivian seems even paler after the wraith's touch, and under the shock, clumsily defends herself
Using his arcane bond, Dr. Von Herzog casts another set of magic missiles which both hit and cause full injury to the incorporeal enemy.
Bert strikes the wraith twice with his long hammer, which also damages it although not quite as effectively as force magic or positive energy.
Vivian attempts to slash at the wraith as it rises from the ground, but is unable to hit. Then her pale skin grows even whiter as she fails to resist the wraith's icy touch. Perhaps distracted by this turn of events, her other sword attack also fails to hit the enemy.
Amaria follows up by firing two arrows at the wraith and the second projectile hits.
Sophie then directs her Spiritual Weapon to attack the wraith, but it fails to hit.
The small wraith then steps in between four members of the party and attempts to touch Amaria. Fortunately the paladin steps away just in time to avoid its tendrils.
Initiative (Round 2)
Sophie <= Up
Bert [3 Dmg; 2 Con Drain] <= Up
Wraith
Tara [8 Dmg] <= Up
Amaria [2 Con Drain] <= Up
Vivian [4 Dmg; 2 Con Drain; Fort save needed] <= Up
Stefan <= Up
"Return to the netherworld, spirit!"
Stefan backs away, then casts a spell. A beam of white energy shoots at the wraith.
Bert takes a step back and swings his hammer again.
Vivian regains her composure and strikes at the undead, fuelled by her hatred of the unholy creatures
Bow to the power of Pharasma! You made Her wait enough!
Although Dr. Von Herzog and Bert both miss the wraith with their attacks, Vivian effectively dispatches it with a swing of her magical longsword.
"Good show, Vivian!"
Noticing the orange sky, the doctor remarks, "The light is fading. Do we have enough evidence here for tomorrow's trial? We haven't explored that hill, but I'm not sure what evidence we would find there."
"I'm for going back, seems we understand now that there is no way the beast coulda killed the girl after he was run out." Bert says, rubbing his chest where the cold is.
Vivian is torn between her hate of the undead and the responsabilities of the trial.
I don't know. How much time do we need to get back to town? What if there is still another undead? What if he does some new victims? How could I live with that? Can't we still search the whole place before we go? I agree the Beast couldn't have killed the children. But I refuse that the real culprit goes unpunished. I can't defeat it without you, I know that.
As dusk begins to fall, Tara murmurs a small spell in order to allow her holy symbol to glow. "I agree. I want to find some more solid evidence to prove that Saban is innocent." Tara pipes up, before casting a suspicious glance around the town. Pausing a moment, Tara offers a small prayer to Pharasma, enveloping her living allies in a quick burst of healing magic. "Amaria, did you need me to use that wand on you again? I know that most of my healing magic does not affect you."
• The events occurred approximately 7 months ago.
• The three witnesses for the prosecution state that the village’s children (Maarten, Karin, Rachel, Gaard, Allen, and Ellsa) vanished one by one, only to return as ghosts. Then one day the culprit was found—the Beast of Lepidstadt. It boldly walked into the village with one of the dead children, a girl named Ellsa. The witnesses all recall seeing the Beast laughing as it carried the child’s broken body. As soon as the locals saw the Beast, they set upon it with pitchforks, but try as they might they couldn’t catch it, and the Beast escaped into the swamp. The poor innocents it killed continued to haunt the village, and before long became too much for the locals, who soon abandoned the cursed village.
• The Beast states that he was present there at that time. He befriended a young girl named Ellsa who was not frightened by his appearance. He claims that a ghost that walks at night killed a number of children by stealing their souls. The ghost turned one of Ellsa's friends into a ghost and that ghost lured her to its master's lair. The Beast tried to fight the ghost to save Ellsa, but could not hurt it. He then returned Ellsa's body to her Father, but the villagers chased him out of town.
• During this interview you notice that when the Beast cries, he looks like he's laughing due to the stitching holding together his face.
• One of the prosecution also adds that of the six children who died, one—a girl named Karin—died in her own bed 2 days after the Beast was driven from Hergstag. Her father heard her screaming but by the time he reached her she was dead, without a mark on her and with no signs of entry.
• Your investigation into Karin's house conclusively demonstrated that whatever killed Karin did not climb the house’s walls or force entry into her room.
• You also discovered that all the children returned as wraiths to haunt the town. It is highly unusual for this occur if murdered by the Beast, but not completely out of the question.
Tara channels some positive energy to take care of most of the minor wounds the party has suffered so far.
With the majority of the group voting to explore the hill before departing the village, the party heads southwest to explore the area.
After passing through some cornfields and avoiding another bear trap, those with darkvision first note a scarecrow standing near the top of the hill. A closer look at the effigy reveals that the rotting dummy leans on a scythe, with its pumpkin face carved with a leer and a sheep’s jaw hanging flaccidly below it.
Before the group can act further, the droning sound of a hornet swarm fills the air, with a sickly sweet stench of decay following in its wake. A tempest of shadows given form then pours out of the scarecrow, appearing as a cloud of glowing red eyes with ghostly hornets buzzing among its spectral form. In response to its presence, the chill in chests of Amaria, Bert, and Vivian begin to pulsate as if calling out to the incorporeal monster. Those with some knowledge of the undead realize this is also a wraith, albeit perhaps more powerful that the ones you have just fought.
Initiative (Round 1)
Amaria [2 Con drain] <= Up
Vivian [2 Con drain] <= Up
Bert [2 Con drain] <= Up
Sophie <= Up
Tara [3 dmg] <= Up
Stefan <= Up
Wraith
Bert moves forward and swings his hammer at the wraith
"Mr. Bert! Be careful, this one is more powerful than the others that we've fought today!" Tara calls out. Brushing a hand against Amaria's bow, the cleric whispers a quiet prayer, embedding magical properties in the paladin's bow.
Stefan moves toward the wraith and casts a spell. A cone of flame fires from his outstretched hands, engulfing the creature.
Bert makes his way up to the wraith and wallops it with his hammer.
Tara calls upon the powers of Pharasma to enchant Amaria's bow with the power of Ghost Touched. Amaria then fires an arrow at the undead, but the shot flies just over the target.
Dr. Von Herzog also moves up to the front lines and casts Burning Hands, covering the wraith with a spray of fire. The creature manages to dodge out of the worst of the flames, however.
Sophie calls to her ancestors for a battle blessing and begins to grow. She looks at Tara. "Tara, give me that blessing as well!" She shouts before turning and moving to stand just over Bert's shoulder.
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Vivian gives a bunch of arrows to Amaria
Use theses, they will destroy the undead! You are a better shoot that I am!
Sophie begins casting a spell to enlarge her size, while Vivian moves behind Amaria and offers her the use of her various magical arrows.
The shadow cloud of glowing red eyes that comprises the wraith floats five feet in front of Bert and curls a tendril around his arm. The fighter finds that the icy chill flowing from this creature is a river compared to the rivulet of the other wraiths and more difficult to shrug off.
Initiative (Round 2)
Amaria [2 Con drain] <= Up
Vivian [2 Con drain] <= Up
Bert [4 Dmg; 2 Con drain; Fort save needed] <= Up
Sophie <= Up
Tara [3 dmg] <= Up
Stefan <= Up
Wraith
Bert steps back and swings his hammer once more.
Moving surprising quickly for an older man, Stefan moves out from behind the trees, backing a bit farther away from the creature.
He then casts a spell sending a beam of magical energy at the thing.
Sophie grows to be rather big. She gives a curt nod, apparently happy at the result of her prayer, and launches into the same prayer again.
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Bert resists the draining abilities of the wraith, then steps back and hits it again with his hammer and the enemy's form breaks apart slightly.
Dr. Von Herzog moves swiftly across the battlefield and casts another Disrupt Undead spell, but the creature manages to dodge the beam.
Sophie grows to the size of a small giant, then begins to cast the same spell on Bert.
Amaria fires one of Vivian's undead bane arrows at the wraith, but her aim is a little too high and the projectile misses.
Vivian cast a spell to hurt the undead
Vivian casts a Disrupt Undead spell and fires a positive energy beam at the wraith, yet this larger creature is more agile than the small ones and dodges out of the way.
Tara touches Sophie's weapon to make it more effective against incorporeal undead.
The wraith moves 5 feet to the southwest and attempts to swipe at Bert again. It hits the poor fighter, causing further negative energy damage and threatening to endanger his health with its icy cold touch.
Initiative (Round 3)
Amaria <= Up
Vivian [2 Con drain] <= Up
Bert [6 Dmg; 2 Con drain; Fort save needed] <= Up
Sophie <= Up
Tara [3 dmg] <= Up
Stefan <= Up
Wraith
Stefan casts disrupt undead again.
After completing her spell on Bert, Sophie drives her longspear at the wraith.
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Amaria fires the last of Vivian's Undead Bane arrows and solidly hits the wraith, doing some serious damage to its form. She follows it up with a regular arrow that finally destroys the spiritual abomination. As it breaks apart, the voices of a number of souls cry out in pain, then relief.
Searching the hill, the group discovers a small, 10-foot-diameter cave beneath the scarecrow. Inside the dark chamber, the grisly discovery of four skeletal bodies of children await you. A more detailed search of the area reveals nothing else useful or relevant.
Under the light of four magical glowing orbs, the doctor examines the skeletons in the cave.
"These are certainly the skeletons of children."
He attempts to discern what may have killed them.
Examining the skeletal remains in more detail, Dr. Von Herzog notes that they show no evidence of trauma. Whatever killed these children did so without any obvious force. This is consistent with a wraith killing them, but the remains are too far decayed to say so definitively from the bodily evidence.
"Can we gather them up and take them to court? I would expect the parents will be there and then we can release them to them and give them closure." Bert asks.
"I think these skeletons might be those of different children. Plus, I would rather not travel through the streets of Lepidstadt carrying the bones of children. That would be rather unseemly, to say the least."
Looking at the skeletons, the doctor muses, "We slew six wraiths of children back in the village, and the one we slew here was far more powerful... and not a wraith of a child. This one must have been the progenitor of the others. When we spoke to the witnesses, they said that four of the children disappeared without a trace, but their ghosts began haunting the town. They were able to bury the body of the child who had befriended our client, as he attempted to return it to her family... and the sixth died two days after the villagers chased the Beast off. So, these skeletons must be those of the first four missing children. We should bury them in their graves... but perhaps another time. The hour is getting late, and we must return to Lepidstadt. If we tell the witnesses what we'd found and that the ghosts haunting the village have been destroyed, then perhaps the villagers could return."
Let's take a few minutes to pray for these poor souls, and bring their bones to the village's church. It won't cost us much, will protect their mortal remains from natural predators and may bring peace finally to their souls