"There's only so many stirges he could lure. I think we killed the majority of them the other day."
"What's a little more blood loss, right?" Judah sighed, still feeling the effects of his last encounter with the Piper's stirges.
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Before you return, Mathus says heavily, "Urgent matters at home call me away. I fear that you must continue this noble quest on your own, my friends. Be well and may success find you."
With goodbyes said and well-wishes made, you return with no small amount of trepidation to the old asylum. You make your way up to the second floor to where you heard the music previously and, as expected, you hear the phantom piping once more.
Lorant steels himself as the music begins. He knew this was the only trick in the Piper's book, and if he was out of stirges, all he could do was try to scare them.
"Ready, Judah? Pipe us a tune."
Ella frowns when she hears the piping. "Here goes nothing...Edmund, get out in front of us!"
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"I'd like to apologize in advance for what I'm about to do to your ears." Judah said, putting his lips to the old pipe and starting to attempt something musical.
It took him a bit, but soon enough some of his childhood music lessons started to come back to him. He slowly worked his way through a simple tune with a surprising lack of screeching and warbling.
Lorant smiles as they see the Piper appear, and the apparent effects of Judah's playing.
"It's working! We've turned his own power against him!"
He draws out his holy symbol and holds it before him.
"In the name of Iomedae the Maiden, Pharasma the Mother and Andoletta the Crone, we drive you from us!"
As he speaks, the mark of the fleur-de-lis appear on the apparition's forehead in a blaze of white fire!
Ella's eyes widen. "Yes, yes, now let's rid this place of him!"
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Judah begins to play faster, dancing with the intensity of the music, which grows stronger by the moment. Blood begins to trickle from his eyes, nose, and the corners of his mouth, but he cannot stop playing! The dolorous dirge continues as the Piper wails in anguish. The spectral stirges that surround him begin to swarm.
The Piper points at Eleanora.
Cassiel glares at the spectre and runs at it, calling holy power into his hands and reaching out to punch the ghost!
Judah made a strangled noise as blood began to leak down his face. He gritted his teeth and kept playing.
Ella lets out a strangled noise as the Piper points at her, suddenly going rigid as blood flows down from small puncture wounds in her neck!
"HEY! ONLY I GET TO STAB MY SISTER IN THE NECK!!" Edmund bellows, hurling himself across the room.
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As Edmund and Cassiel attack the piper, the haunt appears visibly taken aback and actually dissipates slightly! Between their attacks, Lorant's efforts, and the piping, the spirit appears to be weakening!
Judah, make another DC 13 Fort save or take another 1d4 bleeding damage (1 point if you make the save). In either case, inflict another 1d6 points on the piper, please.
Eleanora, you can make another save against the hold effect, but you do not suffer more damage.
Cassiel, the piper points at you this time. Make a DC 14 Will save or be held. If the save fails, take 1d6 damage from the holes that appear in your arms and neck.
Lorant sees Judah and Ella start bleeding, and goes to tend to them. He says a prayer to Andoletta and lays his own hands on Ella's wounds, since she seemed to be losing more blood than Judah at the moment.
As he finishes the prayer, Ella's wounds and blood disappear in what looks like a puff of black feathers and the sound of flapping wings.
Judah's eyes tightened as he concentrated on breathing through the pain and continuing to play.
Ella's wounds disappear just as she shakes off the haunt's compulsion. "Thanks," she says to Lorant. "Take care of Judah! Edmund...what are you doing?!" There's not much she can do against an incorporeal ghost, so she just watches helplessly.
"I'M! F$%*ING! " Edmund bellows. He continues to pound at the Piper of Illmarsh.
for
for
Cassiel promptly gets held in place.
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Cassiel is also held and feels wounds opening along his neck and arms, but it is Edmund who manages to strike the blow that shatters the Piper's hold! With an anguished scream, the Piper twists as though he were being wrung out like a dishrag and then begins to fade. For a moment it looks as though he may strengthen again, but then, Vesorianna manifests and grabs him, the two ethereal figures wrestling with one another. "You will NOT be free!" Vesorianna growls, putting the Piper in a lock. Both figures fade into nothingness. Within seconds of the Piper's disappearance, Cassiel is free to move once more. But Judah cannot seem to stop playing! He continues his mad dirge, seemingly oblivious to the blood that pours from his eyes, nose, and mouth!
Cassiel walks over to Judah and lays a hand on the man's shoulder.
Judah's playing became erattic as he tried to laugh and blow on the flute at the same time. He was a mess, covered in blood, laughing, with eyes that looked more than a little crazed. Even thoguht he Piper was gone, the music didn't stop.
Lorant moves to try and slap the flute out of Judah's hands.
Ella rushes to help her friends restrain the now maniacally laughing Judah.
Unfortunately she just ends up feebly jerking on the back of Judah’s shirt. ”Judah! JUDAH! Stop it, please!!”
”Heh heh heh...someone’s got musical inclinations,” Edmund leers, floating over. ”C’mon, Judah old boy! Give us a tune!”
Cassiel starts trying to yank the flute out of the man's hands.
'Trying' being the operative word--Judah's squirming about so much and his grip is so tight that the paladin can't get a grip.
As the others struggle, Lorant finally gets the pipe out of Judah's hands, returning silence to the room.
Judah slumped down to a sitting position on the ground, his legs splayed like a puppet who's strings had been cut. Small chuckles were still escaping his lips, and he was covered in blood.
"Well that was awful."
"Hold still, hold still, I need to see how bad it is."
"I feel fine." Judah said, looking himself over. "Aside from feeling sticky and reaching a new plateau of personal horror, that is. This place really has a knack in that department."
Lorant nods.
"You were the hero in that scrap. He certainly didn't expect his own tools to be used against him. It looks like to find the remaining three we'll have to climb down into that pit we saw down below. It's probably the deadfall the Warden activated to trap the prisoners with him. Under. That's where the rat said the bad things were. I suspect we've fulfilled our objective of clearing these upper levels to the best of our ability."
"If I was, it wasn't on purpose. I didn't know it was going to hurt him, and when it did I just kept going because I couldn't think of anyone else. And I'm stubborn, I guess. Personally, I kinda liked watching Edmund and Cassiel beating the ghost snot out of that bastard," Judah smiled.
"And now we're going to do the same to the other three!" Lorant replies.
He helps Judah back to his feet and leads the way to the pit downstairs.
"I've got some rope here. Let's knot it and secure it so we can get in and out of the pit easily."
Judah looked down at himself after he stood up. "So much for the bath I took. Not a scratch on me, but I must have lost a gallon of blood." He picked up his boots one at a time, looking at the thick streams running back down into the just starting to congeal blood. "Gross."
"There's soap in my pack, and I can use the Trinity's blessings to conjure water if you'd like to clean yourself up, Judah."
Judah shrugged. "Why bother. This place is just going to keep throwing blood at me. I'll clean up when we leave."
Cassiel rolls his shoulders and sighs. "Yes. Let's get a move on."
Ella squeezes Judah’s shoulder. ”You did very well,” she says quietly.