Rego grins beneath his helm, "Right, send the monster in first". The sentence is said in jest but muffled by the helm and Rego's awkward personal interactions its hard to tell exactly how he means it.
Rego draws his weapon, steps to the door and pushes it open. His eyes quickly adjust to the darkness within. If torches are present Rego will squint, surprised at the sight of them.
Quinn looks at Caelynn"Why did you bring a full set of armor?"he asks quizzically.Continuing on in a worried tone he states"If you have reason to think we will be fighting in this town you should have told us. We are completely unprepared for whatever your looking forward to!"Then he wispers almost to himself"Shit, and Kendra's place is on the other side of town!"
"I'm often on the road moving from temple to temple. My armor has become a second skin to me. To the point I feel off when I'm not wearing it. Also after finding his journal and learning that necromancers may be sniffing around I wouldn't go anywhere without it." She explained. "Calm yourself, I don't think we'd meet anything I'm just so use to it is all."
Ivy adds
"So Caelynn is a wandering priestess, it is not that uncommon for wandering priests to feel comfortable in their armour.
As I've meet a few, even one that did not wear armour as she traveled."
Beyond the door is a set of stairs that lead down into the darkness.
"I suppose I was a bit over worried. It happens from time to time."Quinn admits. Then he steps past Rego and looks down the stairs. He opens the lantern on his necklace and the tiny fire within floats calmly but quickly to rest over a dais.
Rego nods to Quinn as he takes the lead. He grips his weapon tightly as the light gives him a moment of blindness. "I always wear my armor, gives me an excuse to keep my helmet and gloves on. Let's explore further".
Rego starts down the stairs cautiously.
As Rego gets to the bottom of the stairs he spots a pair of giant centipedes moving out from behind the sarcophagus.
Rego, weapon in hand, strikes at the first of the centipedes. He opens his hand and it surges forward at the bug!
Hand of the Acolyte -
Damage
Critical?
Damage
As one centipede explodes into a pile of goo the other rushes at Rego and attempts to bite him but cannot find a gap in his armor.
Quin pokes his head around the corner and asks the group,"did anyone bring water. There are some huge centipedes in here. Rego's got them but one exploded on his hand and its pretty gross."
Rego, strikes at the final centipede mace to legs.
Melee Mace
Damage
The centipedes winds between Rego's legs biting at his legs.
"Centipedes? What are you-" Lyra begins to ask before she hears the skittering and crunch of combat. She quickly begins digging through her backpack for a torch to light so she would be able to see.
Caelynn stepped into the next room, looking around. "Did you say Centipedes?" She asked.
Burgen heads to the top of the stairs and looks down at Rego. "Those are pretty big buggers ain't they?" he muses.
"Lad, try to only smash the head, the rest should be good eatin' iffin we can get the right sauce!" Burgen calls down to Rego.
Ivy Steps back some
I hate bugs. But they need some squishing.
Ivy then moves into the combat with no problem given her ability to see in the dark.
Quinn steps 5ft. to his left and leans against the wall to watch the fight. As he does so he moves the tiny flickering flame with his will to see if he can get more dramatic lighting.
As Quinn's dancing lights play around the room, Rego continues to try and smash the bug at this feet. Ingrid runs down the stairs to join the fray, while Burgen thinks about the culinary possibilities of the encounter.
Lyra, Caelynn, and Kendra wait nervously in the first chamber.
Rego, growls as he tries to finish the thing off, time and daylight are wasting!
Melee Mace
Damage
Rego kills the second bug and looks around for more but no more can be seen.
A search of the crypt will reveal several items stored in the sarcophagus.
12 silver arrows
4 sun rods
6 flasks of holy water
10 +1 arrows
5 +1 ghost touch arrows
2 +1 undead bane arrows
5 potions of Cure Light Wounds
2 potions of Lesser Restoration
1 scroll of detect undead
2 scroll of hide from undead
1 scroll of protection from evil
a thin darkwood case decorated
with an image of a scarab with a single eye glaring from
its back—the same design that appears on the cover of the
Manual of the Order of the Palatine Eye among the books in
the professor’s collection. The darkwood case is worth 50
gp, and contains three objects of interest—a spirit board
with a brass spirit planchette, and four iron and glass vials
containing tiny, churning clouds of vapor. The vials sit
in velvet-lined indentations to the left of the spirit board
and planchette, along with six empty indentions
Caelynn helped go through everything but she couldn't help but shake a question from her mind. "Did the professor put all this here?" She asked as they went through them. "Or was this set her by another?"
Ivy replies to Caelynn's words
"I don't think the Professor left these here."
"We should claim it all and head back to Kendra's. Best not to be found here..."
"Yeah, I would not want to be called a grave robber with this hamlet's level of hospitality towards outsiders."
"I doubt he would place anything here - he needed the supplies, and nothing here seems like something you would need to hide and retrieve later."
Gravely Quinn remarks"The question I have is, if professor Lorrimor was here as his notes indicate, what are these still doing here?"Then he smiles and says jovially"After we head back to Kendra's. I plan to go shopping for a knife and fishing gear. Then I'm going to the monument to Harrowstone, then if I'm lucky catching diner. Would anyone care to join me?
You gather up the items and sneak back out of the graveyard and return to Kendra's house.
"I imagine we should split these items up between based on our need. Especially if we are going to face foes that require their use.
Can any of you identify what purpose the items in the dark wood case serve?"
"Hand me the box Rego please." Caelynn requested as she held out her hands.
Once within her grasp, Caelynn removed the veil she wore to hide her birthmark and looked down into the box. The mark glowing along with her eye.
"As we know the purpose of the key, I will go get the books. We probably shouldn't have left them unattended anyway." Quinn comments as he steps into the study.
Rego hands the box to Caelynn and sits back quietly waiting for her analysis
"Lets identify what is what? As I am curious as to what each item is."
Caelynn remembers taking a class on these objects and still has her notes.
Haunt Siphon
Aura faint necromancy; CL 3rd
Slot none; Price 400 gp; Weight 1 lb.
DESCRIPTION
These glass vials are held within stylized cold-iron casings
etched with strange runes, necromantic designs, or other
eldritch markings. Within the vial roils a small wisp of white
vapor, churning as if caught in a miniature vortex of air.
To capture a haunt’s energies within a haunt siphon, you need
only twist the metal casing to open the vial in the same round that
the haunt manifests (a standard action)—this can be before or
after the haunt has acted. You must be within the haunt’s area of
influence to use a haunt siphon. When you activate a haunt siphon,
it deals 3d6 points of positive energy damage to a single haunt.
If it deals enough damage to the haunt to reduce the haunt’s hit
points to 0, the mist inside the haunt siphon glows green—if it
does not reduce the haunt to 0 hit points, the haunt siphon is still
expended and becomes nonmagical. It may take multiple haunt
siphons to destroy powerful haunts. A haunt that is neutralized
by a haunt siphon takes a –5 penalty on its caster level check to
manifest again after its reset time passes.
A haunt siphon that neutralizes a haunt can no longer be used
to harm haunts, but it can be used as a grenade like splash
weapon that deals 1d6 points of negative energy damage
with a direct hit. Every creature within 5 feet of the point
where the haunt siphon hits takes 1 point of negative
energy damage from the splash.
CONSTRUCTION
Requirements Craft Wondrous Item, cure moderate
wounds, gentle repose; Cost 200 gp
Spirit Planchette
Aura moderate divination; CL 9th
Slot none; Price 4,000 gp (brass planchette),
10,000 gp (cold iron planchette), 18,000 gp
(silver planchette); Weight 5 lbs.
DESCRIPTION
A spirit planchette is typically found in a
wooden case along with a thin wooden
board printed with numerous letters and
numbers. Nonmagical versions of these divination tools
can be purchased in curiosity shops (typically costing 25 gp);
while these items can be used as alternative components
for augury spells, only magical spirit planchettes allow users
to communicate with the other side. Three types of spirit
planchettes exist—brass, cold iron, and silver. Each in turn
allows an increasingly potent form of divination effect to be
utilized. A spirit planchette requires a board to move upon,
but this “board” can be made up of letters scribed upon any
smooth surface—it need not be a prepared board for a spirit
planchette to work.
To use a spirit planchette, you must rest your fingers
lightly upon the planchette’s surface and then concentrate
on the planchette (as if maintaining a spell with a duration of
concentration) for 2d6 rounds while the planchette attunes
itself to the ambient spirits of the area. After this time, the
planchette begins to slowly slide in random patterns across the
board—at this point, questions may be asked of the spirits by
any of the individuals involved in the séance. The consequences
of each question asked of the spirits depends upon what type of
planchette is used for the divination, as summarized on the table
below. The spirits reply in a language understood by the character
who asked the question, but resent such contact and give only
brief answers to the questions. All questions are answered with
“yes,” “no,” or “maybe,” or by spelling out a single word from the
letters arranged on the board. The spirits answer each question
either in the same round the question is asked (in the case of a
yes, no, or maybe answer) or at a rate of one letter per round (in
the case of a single word being spelled out). A spirit planchette
may be used once per day—the maximum number of questions
you can ask with it depends on the type of planchette being used
(as detailed on the table below).
Communication with spirits can be a dangerous task, for
many spirits are jealous or hateful of the
living. Every time a spirit planchette
is used, the user must succeed on a
Will save to avoid being temporarily
possessed and harmed by the angry
spirits. In some areas where the spirits
are particularly violent or hateful (such as
in Harrowstone), this Will save takes a –2
penalty. The DC of this save depends on the
type of spirit planchette being used. Anyone who
fails the Will save becomes confused for a number
of rounds (depending on the type of planchette
being used), and no answer is received. The
spirits in the area are not omniscient—the GM
should decide whether or not the spirits would
actually know the answer to the question asked, and if they do
not, the answer granted is automatically “maybe.” If the GM
determines that the spirits are knowledgeable about the answer,
roll d% to determine whether the spirits speak truthfully or
whether they lie.
Spirit Planchettes
Planchette Questions Will save Confusion True
Type per Use DC Duration Answer Lie
Brass 1 11 1 round 01–60 61–100
Cold Iron 3 15 2 rounds 01–75 76–100
Silver 5 19 3 rounds 01–90 91–100
CONSTRUCTION
Requirements Craft Wondrous Item, contact other plane, speak
with dead; Cost 2,000 gp (brass spirit planchette), 5,000 gp
(cold iron spirit planchette), 9,000 gp (silver spirit planchette)
"Oh, this may prove very useful." Caelynn said as she set the items out before the group. "This here," She began as she pointed to a sliver planchette and wooden board "allows one to speak with spirits from the other side." She explained before she moved her hand over to the bottle. "These however may be of great use to us. These help neutralize the powers of a haunt. In a place like the prison where there was so much pain and death, haunts could be very possible. We should take these things with us when we go to the prison."
"Besides these, who has what ability to harm or hinder incorporeal or recurring dead?Quinn asks
Rego looks around to ensure that Kendra is not in the room when he makes his next suggestion, "Would it be wise to use this board to speak with the Professor? From him directly we could gain the information we need to stop his foes and aid his daughter..."
Mention of the board to talk to the professor has Ivy ask
"Don't these also have a chance of summoning things you don't want around?"
"Besides according to the notes it attunes itself to the ambient spirits of the area. Do you know where professor Lorrimor's soul is?"Quinn asks skeptically.
"Ye know, maybe 'twould be best to discuss all this NOT in the tomb we don't want to be caught in?"says Burgen looking about. "Fairly certain we can do all this at Kendra's home without the chance of the local branch o' the clergy catchin' us down here."
Lyra looks over the glass vials. "What's this cloud in here? It doesn't exactly look like something we'd want to let out."
As you sit around and discuss the items there is a knock at the door.
"It is fine. The cloud helps remove a haunt. Thus it is perfectly safe." Caelynn explained. "Each of you should take one, as I have my own abilities to remove a haunt with." She stated just as there was a knock at the door. "I shall see who it is, you all divide up what we have gotten, I shall take the board and planchette however, if no one minds."
With that she left the room and went to the door, opening it.
After Caelynn steps out Quinn turns his attention back to the group."So do any of you own a bow? And again, do any of you have any way to fight spirits other than these?" he asks indicating the magic items.
Rego shakes his head, "I've no bow and no way to combat spirits except through spells which I shall pray for from Sivanah on the morrow. As you have seen, she grants me leave to attack from a distance with my mace and I have no need for a bow".
At the door Caelynn meets with one of the acolytes from the temple. He hands her a message from Brother Grimburrow.
Dear Sister,
The bothers here have been going through the records looking for information on the prisoners that you asked for. So far we have found two entries that seem to meet the criteria you are looking for.
The first is Sefick Corvin. He was referred to a Father Charlatan. His crimes were so blasphemous that several churches demanded he be punished to the full extent of Ustalavic law. Although he claimed to be an ordained priest of any number of faiths, Father Corvin was in fact a traveling con artist who used faith as a mask and a means to bilk the faithful out of money in payment for false miracles or cures. He became known as Father Charlatan after his scheme was exposed and his Sczarni accomplices murdered a half-dozen city guards in an attempt to make good the group’s escape.
The second was Vance Saetressle. He was called The Lopper. He would hide in the most unlikely of places, sometimes for days upon end with only a few supplies to keep him going while he waited for the exact right moment to strike. Once his target was alone, the Lopper would emerge to savagely behead his victim with a hand axe.
We will continue to research and others and let you know what we find.
Yours in faith to our Lady,
Grimburrow