"Holy...!" Eldon jumps back and hits the wall with his back.
Why am I stuck in the corner?!
Weaving one of his hands in the air and muttering some words, Eldon casts four dancing light in the shape of floating lanterns. The lanterns appear in the middle of the room and spread out so their light is cast throughout the entire room.
You identify this as a slamming portal haunt. Effectively the doors shut for a period of time as if under the effect of a hold portal spell. These are particularly deadly when something nasty is in the room with you, if there is no danger in the room, it is only an inconvenience.
Eldon's dancing lights spell manage to add to the ghastly ambiance of the room. Flaming, screaming faces fly through the air around the party, skin peeling back and flesh melting away. One woman's face, her hair aflame, flies right through Arval's chest. He feels a moment's deathly cold and is knocked back, but is otherwise unaffected.
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"Oh..." Norna gasps, seemingly stunned for a long moment by the agony being shown to the group, and imagining the horror of relieving such as terrible death. "Death is not as serious as it is made out to be, but this terrible unlife is."
Recovering, she explains, very seriously and solemnly, that, "This is know as a 'slamming portal haunt', and it can close doors and such and hold them fast, much like the famed spell, Hold Portal. But, no harm to us - unless it traps you, as it is wont to do, on the same side of the door as something more terrible. We may wait it out, going through a door after, and hope there is a way to put them to rest eventually."
Norna will try the door on the left periodically to see if it can be opened, but otherwise stands in empathetic silence.
"Oh these poor souls we must find away to put them to rest." He touches his holy symbol at his neck and says a quick prayer.
Kawrock would have been interested in the runes on the outside.
Kawrock finds the burning faces more fascinating then terrifying, but regains his senses after realizing how much innocent life was lost here. "I can see why the townsfolk avoid this place and if what Norna was saying is true we should be on guard." Kawrock pulls a bottle containing clear liquid and etched with a spiral pattern. "Perhaps this may be useful. I purchased it off of a holyman after he splashed me with some when I first arrived. He was rather confused I wasn't burning and I was rather confused on why he thought water could burn someone. He explained it was a special holy water that could damage or destory evil creatures and spirits."
This is a pretty simple translation. You're familiar with the alphabet used by Varisian and can translate to common. It's actually a name written over and over again: 'Lyvar Hawkran'.
Hmm... perhaps not the best shape I could've chosen for my spell...
"Rather eerie place, isn't it?" Eldon observes the ghosts, and notices one pass through Arval's chest.
It didn't kill him! I expected him to drop to the floo...
"Ouch! Arval, watch out where you place your foot!" Eldon says when Arval is knocked back.
"Ahum... let's wait a little longer? If nothing happens we should move on. Arval, could you open the door next to you when we're ready to move on? I'm stuck in this corner."
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The ghost flew around lena, her magical armor warding her. Not so much her head. oh. Desna preserve me. That was unpleasant. Was that a haunt?
Lena is quite pale, but soon recovers. Then she notices eldon. what are you doing there? You do realise they come go through the wall behind you.
Chiding eldon soon settles her down.
Arval shrieks when the ghost flies through him, stepping back in fright he steps on Eldon. He turns to the left and starts rattling on the door trying to open it.
"What the hell is going on! Let me out of here!!!"
He keeps rattling the door until it finally budges.
After around a minute, the shrieking abruptly stops, and Arval flies back as the door in his hand opens without complaint. The faces fade out of view and you are back in this strange, moldy foyer.
There are doors to your east, northeast, west, and north. You know of hallways to the east and west and see another hallway northwards, where Arval just opened a door.
Where do you go?
"Norna I think I have figured out the runes that were written on the outside of the building. It took me a few minutes to remember the complete Varisian alphabet but I believe it says 'Lyvar Hawkran'. I hope that has some meaning to you. Also I think if Varisian is commonly used here I will include it in my studies."
Kawrock will head to the right looking ahead for anything suspicious.
Kawrock heads to his right, and starts walking down the east hallway. This hallway is much like the foyer; sparsely decorated and moldy. It ends at a very heavy-looking metal door, which does not appear to be trapped. Despite the years of moisture and decay that has affected Harrowstone, the door is only slightly rusted. Kawrock hears no sounds. Harrowstone seems utterly silent.
"This door seems to be in really good shape. Perhaps there is some magic preserving it?"
Kawrock will cast detect magic and focus on the door.
Kawrock continues his inspection of the door, casting detect magic. No magic is detected, it's just a very well-made door. It is also locked.
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Norna puts on a thoughtful face, tapping her temple with her forefinger vigorously, hoping to dislodge something. "Hmm. Yes, it does mean something to me, although I am not sure if I know what it means, if you know what I mean. What I mean to say is, it is a name, namely Warden Lyvar Hawkran, but I don't know what that means to mean here, why they would be writing the name - whoever 'they' is (the Whispering Way? or Lyvar Hawkran himself?) - and why 'they' would be doing it (against or by the Warden?)."
"Mean name, name mean - did you ever realize that name and mean have the same letters, just in a different order? ... Hmm, what else? ... mane ... Amen!" Norna becomes lost in, um, 'thought' for a moment.
"Lyvar Hawkran... where did I hear that name before? Or did I read it? Hmm..."
While thinking eldon moves after Norna and Kawrock, taking his floating lanterns with them after casting a new set.
I like the design. So what if they add to the eerie atmosphere?
Rustom moves near the door leading into the hallway and waits there just in case someone or something comes from the other rooms.
Lyvar Hawkran is known to all of you - he is the warden who ran Harrowstone prison and perished in the fire. The memorial statue on the river front is of him. He has no connection with magic or religion aside from his time at the prison. Unfortunately the purpose of the runes are beyond Eldon's breadth of knowledge.
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In memory of those who gave their lives to protect Ravengro at the great fire of Harrowstone, 4661.
Raeming Emrad, Meuogh Queelmar, Irol Elmiton, Burl Umar, Tonaban Kelech, Ontai Endor, Sodoha Doir, Noirt Oosu, Eric Ther'ves, Vela Tatoring, Dar'angi Vathas, Tiadynu Nekel, Arbel Urnild, Racha Rinn, Janer Delfine, Rakarech Skitzog, Danik Clydewell, Umbar Mastersmith, Reva Meirani, Cervin Kelinson, Shorro Naesce, Fitzen Dorma, Agdamakha Graka, Torth Sikstrom
May they Rest in Peace and go in Pharasma's Grace.
Kawrock will approach the door and because he is curious about it he taps it lightly with his beak a few times. "Is this regular steal or some rare metal?"
The door is regular steel, weathered from long years here but still in good condition. It is locked fast and looks fairly sturdy.
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Norna looks over Kawrock's shoulders. "His nose isn't very expressive, it seems, but it can tap things better than mine: To each their own nose, I suppose."
"Perhaps we could find the key in the prison's offices, assuming, of course, that these aren't the offices because, then, of course, we would need a key to get in and get the key."
Arval follows the light, scared of being in the dark again. Being in the light and with the others in site he regains some of his posture.
"What do you expect me to do, ram it? That's a solid steel door, that thing won't budge. I say pick another door and maybe find a key perhaps."
"You should ram it," Eldon replies, "or better, give it a headbut. I'm sure that thick skull of yours won't dent, no offense intended."
Eldon turns around, pointing at the hall they came from. "Otherwise I'd like to suggest trying one of the other doors."
"Sounds like a good idea," Kawrock says as he walks to the other door. He checks the door for anything unusual before opening it.
Kawrock heads the opposite direction of the group towards the offices Norna pointed out, west of the entrance foyer. The dim light filtering through the windows is enough to allow him to see.
Some of the doors are ajar, and after checking them, it becomes apparent it is simply a row of empty offices. Kawrock checks through the offices and does not find any key. They contain a great deal of documentation about operating the prison: income, supplies, scheduling, repair requests, and the like.
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"AH! Records!!" Norna exclaims, with a peculiar nervous excitement. "Did I every mention that I once considered a path of auditor of financial affairs and transactions? I went on to pursue a less frightening path: lion tamer. Unfortunately, there were scarcely any lions to be found in the Five Kings Mountains and so ... well, I'm sure you can guess the rest of the story from there!"
"Anyway, it is possible that there may be additional details here somewhere as to the Fi--" -- Norna hesitates at invoking the worst in this place, even indirectly -- "well, let's just say 'more than four but less than six' famous residents of this establishment, and perhaps even our missing record of all that died in the fire. Maybe all that died before, too, since they were a part of the headsman's scythe haunt, at the least."
"We might also look for maps and other such."
Norna then searches the desks, in particular, taking out drawers, looking from underneath, looking for secret compartments and stashed items, looking behind anything on the walls.
She'll then move on to what appears to be the warden's office, doing likewise.
Kawrock will assist Norna with her search taking as long as necessary to fully search.
As Norna dives into the records she soon realizes that the papers are scattered and out of order. It would take many hours, upwards of six to get them in a state where useful information would be discerned. Once completed, these could be used for further research in order to uncover information about the five prisoners. However, Norna's impressions from the notes is that the party's information about the five prisoners is mostly, not totally, but mostly complete.
With Norna and Kawrock taking several minutes to comb the offices from top to bottom, it becomes readily apparent that there are no valuables here, or particularly special documents. Just information on the day to day operations of the prison.
Kawrock clicks his tongue in amusement. "A paper golem? One could only hope."
"Not paperwork again! Let's head on, we need to explore a lot of rooms still. We could also do the paperwork later, whilst I'm doing something else preferably."
Said Arval in a very on edge tone.
Let's get this over with already!
He moves towards the hallway and tries the northern most door.
Arval steps into the north hallway, and the first door on the left opens easily. Without Eldon's light near him, it's hard to make out much, but it appears to be a long hallway with two potential branches to the north.
Rustom follows Arval on alert to anything that feels evil.
Rustom, Lena, and Arval vote with their feet and head towards the new hallway. Where to?
Kawrock steps in after Norna and looks around.
The party stare down the large hallway - Kawrock scouts ahead a bit and manages to get a fair idea of the structure of the hallway. There are a variety of different doors to try. The hallways are much the same, dark, claustrophobic, stark, and musty.
After a right turn in the hallway ahead, there are doors to try on the left and right. There is also a door at the end of the hallway. The party could also double back to try doors in the north hallway they were exploring, or two doors back at the offices.
Upon Norna's advice, the group double back towards the office she spied through the windows from the outside. Her memory of the room is that it was empty. A closed door stands in front of the group. To Kawrock's best guess the door is unlocked, has no traps, and the room within is completely silent.
Arval steps in the dark hallway and lights a torch. He walks a bit further and scans the hallway.
Upon entering the intersection Arval looks to his right and left, not sure which door to pick first.
"Where shall we go first, the left door or the right door?"