GM Nayr's Carrion Crown 2 (Inactive)

Game Master Nayr Trebrot

Harrowstone ground floor

The Restlands

Ravengro

Markings:

A - Town Square
B - The Posting Poles
C - The Laughting Demon Tavern
D - Ravengro Town Hall
E - Temple of Pharasma
F - Ravengro General Store
G - Ravengro Forge
H - Jominda's Apothecary
I - Ravengro Jail
J - The Silk Purse
K - The Outward Inn
L - The Unfurling Scroll
M1 - Vashian Hearthmount Residence
M2 - Councilwoman Mirta Strelock Residence
M3 - Councilwoman Shanda Faravan Residence
M4 - Councilman Gharen Muricar Residence
N- The Lorrimor Place
O - The Harrowstone Memorial
P - The Restlands
Q - Gibs' Shack
R - Harrowstone Ruins

Ustalav

Vashian Hearthmount

Party XP:

410

Treasure:

500 gp, and a wooden rack with 9 potions of 3 differing hues

The Professors will:

I, Petros Lorrimor, being of sound mind, do hereby commit to this parchment my last will and testament. Let it be known that, with the exception of the specific details below, I leave my home and personal belongings entire to my daughter Kendra. Use them or sell them as you see fit, my child.

Yet beyond the bequeathing of my personal effects, this document must serve other needs. I have arranged for the reading of this document to be delayed until all principals can be in attendance, for I have more than mere inheritance to apportion. I have two final favors to ask.

To my old friends, I hate to impose upon you all, but there are few others who are capable of appreciating the true significance of what it is I have to ask. As some of you know, I have devoted many of my studies to all manner of evil, that I might know the enemy and inform those better positioned to stand against it. For knowledge of one's enemy is the surest path to victory over its plans.

And so, over the course of my lifetime, I have seen fit to acquire a significant collection of valuable but dangerous tomes, any one of which in the wrong circumstances could have led to an awkward legal situation. While the majority of these tomes remain safe under lock and key at the Lepidstadt University, I fear that a few I have borrowed remain in a trunk in my Ravengro home. While invaluable for my work in life, in death, I would prefer not to burden my daughter with the darker side of my profession, or worse still, the danger of possessing these tomes herself. As such, I am entrusting my chest of tomes to you, posthumously. I ask that you please deliver the collection to my colleagues at the University of Lepidstadt, who will put them to good use for the betterment of the cause.

Yet before you leave for Lepidstadt, there is the matter of another favor - please delay your journey one month and spend that period of time here in Ravengro to ensure that my daughter is safe and sound. She has no one to count on now that I am gone, and if you would aid her in setting things in order for whatever she desires over the course of this month, you would have my eternal gratitude. From my savings, I have also willed to each of you a sum of one hundred platinum coins. For safekeeping, I have left these funds with Embreth Daramid, one of my most trusted friends in Lepidstadt - she has been instructed to issue this payment upon the safe delivery of the borrowed tomes no sooner than one month after the date of the reading of this will. I, Petros Lorrimor, hereby sign this will in Ravengro in good faith.

Circled entries in Journal:

12th Arodus, 4701 (10 years ago)
My research is progressing well. I recently met with a Holy Warrior who claims to have rescued an individual who had the blood of the undead flowing in his veins. The individual also claimed to have been tortured and was the subject of strange rituals conducted upon him by a group of men who were part of a sect of The Whispering Way. It would appear that my assumptions were correct and that The Whispering Way is more than just a cabal of necromancers. I see that now. Undeath is their fountain of youth. Uncovering their motivation does not place me at ease as I thought it might. Their desire to be eternal simply makes them more dangerous.

27th Erastus 4711 (Current Year)
My research into the Whispering Way continues, alas somewhat in vein. The trail that I began to follow almost a decade ago now has grown cold. I have spoken with many individuals over this time, hoping to find another piece to this puzzle, but nothing. Since moving to this quiet hamlet I realise that my daughter does not understand how important this is to me. As I prepare to close the book on this misadventure, and ready myself to live out my days here, I received a letter from an old friend about the Whispering Way. As I read this missive, I realise it is as I had feared. The Way is interested in something here in Ravengro. But what could it be?

14th Arodus, 4711 (Current Year)
Whatever the Way seeks, I am now convinced their goal is connected to Harrowstone. In retrospect, I suppose it all makes sense – the stories they tell about the ruins in town are certainly chilling enough. It may be time to investigate the ruins, but with everyone in town already being so worked up about them, I’d rather not let the others know about my curiosity – there’s plenty of folks hereabouts who already think I’m a demonologist or a witch or something. Ignorant fools

23rd Arodus, 4711 (Current Year)
It is confirmed. The Way seems quite interested in something – no, strike that – someone who was held in Harrowstone. But who, specifically, is the Way after? I need a list of everyone who died the night of the fire. The list must include everyone, not just inmates, but wardens and visitor. There must be a connection. The Temple of Pharasma must have such a list. I just hope they trust me enough to allow me into their library

25th Arodus, 4711 (Current Year)
I see now just how ill prepared I was when I last set out for the Harrowstone. I am lucky to have returned at all. The ghosts, if indeed they were ghosts (for I did not find it prudent to investigate further) prevented me from transcribing the strange symbols I found etched along the foundation – hopefully on my next visit I will be more prepared. Thankfully, the necessary tools to defend against spirits are already here in Ravengro. I know that the church of Pharasma used to store them in a false crypt in the Restlands at the intersection between Eversleep and the Black Path. I am not certain if the current clergy even know of what their predecessors have hidden down below. If my luck holds, I should be able to slip in and out with a few borrowed items

26th Arodus, 4711 (Current Year)
Tomorrow evening I return to the prison. It is imperative the Way does not finish whatever it is that they have started. My caution has already cost me too much time. I am not sure what will happen if I am too late, but if my theory is right, the entire town could be at risk. I don’t have time to update my will, so I’ll leave this in the chest where it’ll be sure to be found, should the worst come to pass. There are too many things at stake here and I hope my daughter will understand the sacrifice I have made

The Whispering Way:

The Whispering Way is a sinister organization of necromancers that has been active in the Inner Sea region for thousands of years. Agents of the Whispering Way often seek alliances with undead creatures, or are themselves undead. The Whispering Way's most notorious member was Tar-Baphon, the Whispering Tyrant, although the society itself has existed much longer than even that mighty necromancer.

The Whispering Way itself is a series of philosophies that can only be transferred via whispers - the philosophies are never written or spoken of loudly, making the exact goals and nature of the secretive philosophy difficult for outsiders to learn much about.

Harrowstone prison:

Harrowstone is a ruined prison - partially destroyed by a fire in 4661, the building has stood vacant ever since. The locals suspect that it's haunted, and don't enjoy speaking of the place.

Harrowstone was built in 4594. Ravengro was founded at the same time as a place where guards and their families could live and that would produce food and other supplies used by the prison. The fire that killed all of the prisoners and most of the guards destroyed a large portion of the stone structure above relatively intact. The prison's warden perished in the fire, along with his wife, although no one knows why she was in the prison when the fire occurred. A statue commemorating the warden and the guards who lost their lives was built in the months after the tragedy - that statue still stands on the riverbank just outside of town.

Most of the hardened criminals sent to Harrowstone spent only a few months imprisoned, for it was here that most of Ustalav's executions during that era were carried out. The fire that caused the tragedy was, in fact, a blessing in disguise, for the prisoners had rioted and gained control of the prison's dungeons immediately prior to the conflagration. It was only through the self-sacrifice of Warden Hawkran and 23 of his guards that the prisoners were prevented from escaping - the guards gave their lives to save the town of Ravengro.

The prisoners:

Originally, Harrowstone housed only local criminals, but as the prison's fame spread, other counties and distant lands began paying to have more dangerous criminals housed within this prison's walls. At the time of the great Harrowstone fire, the number of particularly violent or dangerous criminals imprisoned within the dungeons below was at an all time high.

The five most notorious prisoners in Harrowstone at the time of the great fire were Father Charlatan, the Lopper, the Mosswater Marauder, the Piper of Illmarsh, and the Splatter Man.