From what the group recalls, haunt siphons make it very difficult for haunts to manifest, but they will return eventually. They are far more effective for the temporary removal of a haunt than most other means.
Norna begins crawling all over the furnace room, trying to think about what would create this kind of situation. The lore on all sorts of ghosts is that traumatic death will create a situation of undeath, and that the manner of death may be replayed endlessly. Using that in mind, she follows her nose to the furnace.
Within the furnace, everything is cold and detect magic shows nothing. But a little bit of poking, and Norna feels something incredibly warm - almost hot to the touch. Carefully, she knocks out whatever it is. Before her are the fragmented remains of human bones. They look like normal bones, but are hot to the touch.
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"They're like normal bones, but hot to the touch! ... Hmm. Either the poor individual's remains were (probably unceremoniously) cremated in this furnace or, much worse, the person actually died in there. One way to solve these things is sometimes to bury them with the proper ceremonies."
Norna takes care to gather all of the bones, sifting through the ash until she appears to be a ghost herself, and then puts them all in a small bag. Over this she says what prayers she remembers the Pharasmins as saying, following up with words and blessings from her own holy text of Desna (her "Better luck next time!" is probably her own invention, rather than an official Desnan send-off to the afterlife).
"We might try to quench its burning anger with holy water," Norna suggests, "but perhaps the encroaching pond will be good enough." With this she ties a length of string to the bag and gives the bag a gentle toss a ways out into the pond, and is so able to retrieve the bag if it seems to fail.
"Perhaps, Rustom, you could see the fading of an evil aura?"
Kawrock collects the ashes in a bag and gives Norna a nod."In case they want to come back."
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A loud PSSHHHT sounds out from the pond. Immediately a sense of relief washes over the room and for a moment, the constant claustrophobia of the place seems somewhat relaxed.
"So if you gather humanoid remains in a bag and toss the bag into the water that's probably a proper burial for some people..."
Eldon shrugs and moves over to the door in the southern wall. He carefully pushes it open, sends a lantern inside, and takes a peek at what's one the other side of the door.
Eldon pushes at the door. Nothing. He shoves it a bit more. Still nothing. He finally gives it a great heave and the door falls inwards in a cloud of dust.
The northeast wall of this room has partially fallen, revealing the dark, murky waters of the pond outside. Moldering training dummies and other similar equipment hint that this room may have once been a training area for the guards. In the northeast part of the room, the floor around the dark, jagged hole is surrounded by black scorch marks.
Kawrock looks over at the hole and clicks his tongue twice."Nope I am not going down there."
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"... Yet, you mean," Norna gives a grim laugh. "We're going down there sooner or later, I'm sure, to get to you-know-who."
She continues, apparently in an effort to show that she has learned nothing from several recent events, "Hey, if someone could wrap some rope around my waist I could go over and take a look in..."
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Lena puts the glowing vial away, and moves with the party. Arval, it was just a haunt. Some poor guy was probably roasted alive once, or something. That's what these siphon thingies are for. It is dealt with. And now I have a handy grenade.
When they see the hole she looks down.
now that hole bodes, doesn't it. I have an idea. Lets go back to town, sell some of what we have found, and by a few scrolls of knock. That should get us into the vault. I think we are going to need those items the ghost mentioned. Besides, I'm hungrey. We can return tomorrow. It's not going away. Also we should tell Kendra what actually happened to her father.
or we can go fishing with norna as the bait, hehe, heh
A shiver runs down Arval's spine, at the thought of being roasted alive.
"Yes! Let us go back to town. I would greatly appreciate that. There is always tomorrow to go down a big black hole."
He walks to the edge of the hole, peeking down. He quickly backs away and looks around shifty.
Rustom looks around at the others still a bit shaken that he has not been at his best in dealing with what he has seen."Going back to town may not be a bad idea." 'I must pray for guidance.'
As the group begin to inspect the hole, a strange, ethereal screaming sound is heard and suddenly several flaming skulls rise out from the pit to attack!
These are flaming skulls, the severed heads of the long-dead animated through foul means.
Flaming skulls are immune to fire damage
Rustom
Eldon
Kawrock
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Black Skull
Red Skull
--
Arval
Norna
Lena
--
Yelow Skull
Blue Skull
"Holy $#@%!" Eldon exclaims as he jumps several feet into the air, "Those are flaming skulls! They're the severed heads of the long-dead, animated through foul means! Be careful, my slightly less epic fellow adventures! And let me remind you they're immune to fire damage!"
"To boast your fighting spirits I'll tell you a story about one of my most epic exploits! It was just before I met you that I had been to the faraway nation of Osirion. In one of it's vast deserts there was a sphinx, which... Wait, you probably don't know what a sphinx is... Well let me explain: a sphinx is an oversized kitty with a human's head. It is, by the way, also the name of a company that sells bathroom furniture. Unrelated matters aside, I walked up to the sphinx to inspect it when..."
"So no fire? Well I guess we can just hack at them till they drop."
Kawrock steps forward and slashes at one of the flaming heads (black).
Rustom rushes in with his axe held high and takes a mighty swing at one of the skulls. (green)
Arval moves forward and tries to hit the skull right of him.
Although Rustom misses wildly, Kawrock manages to step up and connect solidly with the skulls. Kawrock's swing manages to send the skull far across into the pond, where it lands with a PSSSHHT and goes out instantly.
The skull Rustom swung at rears back and fires itself at his face! Rustom bats it aside with the flat of his axe.
The second skull zooms across the pit, trying to set Kawrock on fire! The tengu ducks and the skull flies harmlessly past, circling back to hover over the pit.
The skull in front of Arval flies at him, but the doughty warrior simply smacks it aside with his shield, to stun the skull. He then swings out with a brutal counterattack, hammering the skull deep into the pit. It lands with a splash, below in the darkness.
The skulls are blasted back a little bit by Norna's burst of energy, but both remain aloft.
Kawrock and Rustom are both hit by the skulls, who weakly nudge into the two of them, biting and burning.
Kawrock brings his bastard sword around and slashes at the flaming skull that bumped into him.
Squawking in protest, Kawrock slams his sword into a head, shattering it.
Rustom plants his feet and takes another swing with his axe.
Arval steps forward and takes another swing.
"That's one's done for! Keep up the work guys!"
Rustom and Arval both swing out at the skull, but their blows glance off of its tough boney... bone.
Eldon continues to talk while he moves closer to Arval, meanwhile drawing his rapier: "...it was then that we saw the hieroglyphs, and my cousin Baldon asked me what they meant. I, of course, knew what they meant. However, it was at the exact moment I'd finished reading that I heard a sound behind me... A mummy!"
"And with a skillfully aimed stab I hit the mummy! Just like this!"
Norna lets out a burst of energy which sends the skull careening towards Eldon. The doughty halfling formally salutes the skull, and pierces it through the eye. It plummets into the hole, the fire going out. A distant splash is heard.
End of Combat
"Looks like there is another door at the back of the room" Kawrock says pointing to the south west.
Despite the enticing door, Norna is depleted of spells and in general the group is tired, exhausted, and a few members are terrified. The group make their way out of Harrowstone, and go unmolested on their way back to town.
As they pass through the streets of Ravengro a few people openly stare at the group, muttering about how you should all be dead for entering that place. Eventually, you return to Kendra's home where she is delighted to see you all safe and sound. A warm dinner awaits, and you get a full night's rest.
Arval is awaked the next morning by a gentle prodding oh his shoulder. Opening his eyes he is startled to see Kawrock staring at him intently. The Tengu stares for a moment before asking, "Rock cakes?"
Early in the morning, way too early to be precise, you hear an unfamiliar sound from Eldon room. The noise continues for several minutes, until you hear something hit the wall.
A while later you hear another noise erupt from his room. You also hear some cursing in halfling: "Oopsie! Poopsie!"
Some time later you hear the sound of a bamboo flute come out of Eldon's room. He's actually able to produce something that sounds like music this time. Though it's apparently still not to his liking, because there's no more flute music after you something that sounds like a twig's snapped in half.
When it's around the time you'd normally have woken up Eldon marches out of his room with a summoned saxophone. Playing the same, but awesome, tune over and over again. Eldon marches through the house with his saxophone, waking up everyone who doesn't have a sleep deprivation 'cause of him.
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Vladlena wakes up to the sound of...something really bad. She gets up, washes and dresses, and proceeds to the kitchen, pausing on the way to bang on eldons door.
Eldon, stop torturing the musical arts! And watch your language!
She gets down to the kitchen, and with a quick cast of a spell (spark, lv 0) lights the stove. She then pulls up a stool to stand on and starts making breakfast. She considers setting eldon's musical instruments on fire, but concludes that may be over reacting. Besides it still leaves him with his voice. She laughs at that.
Then she hears the saxaphone music playing as eldon walks around the house. not bad. Pity he only seems to know one tune. Still, he shouldn't give up his day job
Arval sleeps through the whole music play and startles awake by Kawrock. Once sort of awake he responds.
"Yes, thank you. What is that bloody noise?"
He stands up and starts a sleepy walk to inspect where the noise is coming from.
"If it's the bloody halfling again I'm gonna strangle him!"
When last we left our heroes...
The horrors of Harrowstone prison rest freshly on your mind. It has been a trying week. All of you were summoned to attend the funeral of your friend Professor Lorrimor in Ravengro, a sleepy town in western Ustalav. Immediately upon arrival, it was clear that something was wrong. Strange occurrences, cold spots, and behaviour of town residents was punctuated by the walking dead themselves making the occasional appearance. All signs pointed to Harrowstone prison.
Upon visiting the prison, it became clear what had happened. A horrific fire fifty years past had claimed the lives of all residents, who arose as ghosts with the warden continuing his watch over the malevolent spirits of the prisoners. This changed when a strange cult known as the Whispering Way destroyed the warden's spirit. His wife, Vesorianna has risen up in his stead, but her powers are weakening. Five particularly malevolent spirits threaten Ravengro and the surrounding area if they can escape, and you have pledged to destroy these spirits and end the curse over Harrowstone for good.
It is currently early morning at the Lorrimor residence. The clarion call of Eldon's alto saxaphone has summoned you all to breakfast. Where Kendra, having had enough pancakes to last her a lifetime, has partnered up with Lana to fry a good deal of back bacon, bread, and eggs.
Kawrock helps himself to breakfast and pauses a moment to comment on Eldon's playing. "Forgive me but are you trying to imitate a dying goose?"
Arval sits down at the table and starts to load his plate with food. About halfway doing that his nerves snap again.
"COULD YOU PLEASE STOP PLAYING THE DAMN FLUTE! It's not like it's bloody early."
He sighs and continues to load his plate. Satisfied with the amount of food he starts eating, hopefully in silence.
"Great food again! Though you can't beat my pancakes!"
He says with a grin after a while.
Eldon's too focused on his 'performance' to notice what his comrades are actually saying. Mistaking their words for applause, he increases the volume as he continues to play the saxophone while marching around the dinner table.
"Eldon will you..." says Kendra as she starts to speak. She cups her head in her hands, counts to five, and tries to speak again. "Eldon please..." again the wail of the saxaphone keeps her quiet. She sighs and quietly casts a spell, wiggling her fingers. Suddenly, the keys on Eldon's saxophone all snap shut!
Kendra smiles sweetly. "Thank you Eldon, that was very considerate of you. Your music is a blessing to us all. But we need to speak."
She looks to the rest of the group. "The townsfolk are becoming restless; I can at least let them know that you haven't been killed. There are more sightings of undead and people are acting even stranger! If your plan is to return to Harrowstone today then I'd do so as quickly as possible. Otherwise you'll have a mob demanding questions."
Kawrock finishes his breakfast and says, "Then let us proceed to this monument then back into Harrowstone."
The saxophone fades away as Eldon focuses his attention on Kendra. "Exactly my idea, which is why I choose to wake everyone this early."
"Let us be on our way!" Eldon marches toward the front door and unlocks it.
"Let us go by the memorial first as Vladlena suggested. Then we hurry on to Horrowstone. The last thing I want is whining people after this horrible morning."
As he says the last bit he glares at Eldon.
Bloody moron with his big flute!
Full of food, the group take off to leave Kendra in some peace and quiet. On Lena's advice, they make their way to the monument first. Ravengro is eerily quiet. Although the town has been somewhat silent and suspicious, it almost feels as alienating and claustrophobic as Harrowstone.
Upon arrival at the monument, it is much as you left it. No new letters have been painted in blood.