Realising the threat posed if they should destroy the Wraith - only to create another - the group focus fire on the spirit that was once a child, running through the fields that are now so long gone to ruin.
With blade and spell they attack and though the tendrils of eldritch energy that suffuse the child gutter and flicker almost out of sight entirely - yet still the shadow is present.
Hit
and
Success - ignore the con drain
Hazel steels herself for the touch and though it is burning cold she feels no other lingering effects.
Meanwhile the Wraith drifts through the wall, every one of it's hundred red eyes limned with hate and fixed on the Inquisitor who stands against it.
Hit
and
Fail
The weakness once again settles into Zed, like a deep cold that doesn't touch his skin but his very soul.
Petros' sword cane continues to assault the smaller wraith as Vala turns her attention to larger one. "Come away from him, you devil!" Her words are a defiant shout as the towering cloud of eyes churns around Zed.
HP: 28/28 (max reduced by 5 due to Con drain)
Negative Energy Resist 5
AC: 14 (10 T / 14 FF)
CMD: 13
F/R/W: +3/+1/+8 (+2 vs death effects, energy drain, negative energy, & necromancy) (-1 fort due to Con drain)
Monstrous Insight used: 1/7
Wand of CLW: 14/50 remaining
Healing Hex targets: Vermundr
Current Wandering Spirit: Life
Channel Energy (3d6) used: 0/5
Prepared spells
Orisons (4) | DC 14: dancing lights, disrupt undead, identify, read magic
Level 1 spells (3+1+1*) | DC 15: inflict light wounds [ ], know the enemy* [ ], magic missile [X] [ ], produce flame (CL7) [ ]
Level 2 spells (2+1+1*) | DC 16: glitterdust [ ], lesser restoration* [ ] [ ], spiritual weapon [ ]
Level 3 spells (1+1+1*) | DC 17: lightning bolt [ ], locate object* [ ], speak with dead [ ]
Ongoing Effects
Con drain: 2
spiritual weapon: 2/5 rounds
There is a strange ghostly sound that fills the farmhouse and yet it does not emit from the Wraiths. The cane comes down with a loud THWACK that is so reminiscent of the old professor slamming it on his lectern when calling for attention from his class that Constantin's breath catches in his throat.
The sword cane dashes the wraith-spawn into ribbons on darkness.
Vermundr roars wordlessly and charges toward the shadowy horror.
Kazamir strikes at the unholy swarm with his mind once more.
Zed steps forward and reaches out with a glowing hand!
The group turns it's collective ire on the Wraith, the thoughts of what this horrid thing had done, the abject fear those poor children must have experienced driving them on.
Constantin jumps when the spectral cane strikes, and it's as if it inspires or unlocks something within him. He raises a hand tentatively, then there's a sudden shimmering of the air around him, like heat distortion. He points at the strange entity, and says, in a rough voice somewhat unlike his usual tone, "Burn."
The Wraith shrieks as it is assaulted by divine and psychic magic. As it is bombarded by attacks on all sides, the wraith's multitude of eyes grow large and fearful. The red pupils scan all around, desperately looking for a way out until it eventually sinks like a stone in a pond and disappears through the wall at an acute angle and out of sight into the darkening night.
Vala shakes her head at Hazel's suggestion as she watches the larger wraith melt into the distant shadows. "No, I think we use this opportunity to find the other children it turned. We can take this chance to end their suffering while that one still prevents them from becoming fully formed."
HP: 28/28 (max reduced by 5 due to Con drain)
Negative Energy Resist 5
AC: 14 (10 T / 14 FF)
CMD: 13
F/R/W: +3/+1/+8 (+2 vs death effects, energy drain, negative energy, & necromancy) (-1 fort due to Con drain)
Monstrous Insight used: 1/7
Wand of CLW: 14/50 remaining
Healing Hex targets: Vermundr
Current Wandering Spirit: Life
Channel Energy (3d6) used: 0/5
Prepared spells
Orisons (4) | DC 14: dancing lights, disrupt undead, identify, read magic
Level 1 spells (3+1+1*) | DC 15: inflict light wounds [ ], know the enemy* [ ], magic missile [X] [ ], produce flame (CL7) [ ]
Level 2 spells (2+1+1*) | DC 16: glitterdust [ ], lesser restoration* [ ] [ ], spiritual weapon [X]
Level 3 spells (1+1+1*) | DC 17: lightning bolt [ ], locate object* [ ], speak with dead [ ]
Ongoing Effects
Con drain: 2
spiritual weapon: 3/5 rounds
"We have to find the rest of them," Constantin says. "We should stick together and keep searching."
Kazamir nods in agreement. "Lets do a quick search of this house, then move on."
Having had some time to absorb your surroundings, you see that the small house consists of only a few rooms.
Downstairs, somewhat to your surprise, you find a neat kitchen - still partially stocked with salted fish and onions in alcohol filled jars. There is a dining room adjoining it that contains the stairs leading up.
At the top of the stairs, you find two bedrooms, one slightly larger than the other and still containing the broken frame of a double bed. You assume this to be the parent's room while the smaller one was likely Karin's.
You look sadly at a couple of childishly drawn but colourful murals on the walls depicting a mother, father and little girl with blonde hair. The house in the background appears to be this one if the colour of the shutters is anything to go by and even the bright yellow sun has a big smile on it's face.
It makes you shudder to think of Karin's final moments in the room where she perished.
The window in this room stands fifteen feet from the ground. It appears unmarked in any way and shuts from the inside with a stout latch.
The outside walls of the house are slatted timber and would be very difficult to climb, particularly without making a lot of noise.
Visibly anxious, Vermundr constantly grips and regrips the long handle of his two-handed sword.
"We can look for signs of who or what was living here after we've dealt with that monster. Zed, were you able to mark it before it fled?"
Zed sweeps the room, nodding at Hazel's assessment. He shakes his head to Vermundr. "No, I couldn't even lay a finger on the creature. Unfortunately."
Moving on beyond the ramshackle house, the party push their way through the overgrown grasses, taking their time to spot any traps along the way and sure enough one bear trap lies already triggered to the side of what once would have been a gravel path, the skeleton of some small animal crushed in it's jaws.
Soon they come across a small, whitewashed timber building stands in the center of the village, surrounded by gravestones. Clearly, this was a chapel.
Hazel makes her way around the chapel initially and toward the graveyard.
The headstones here still look in fairly good condition with only a few crumbling and illegible. There are perhaps a hundred all told which is testament to the fact the village itself was not particularly old.
As she runs her fingers idly across the worn surfaces of the stones she realises somewhat to her surprise that the inscriptions, whilst certainly paying homage to Pharasma, are much more aligned to Desna and it is to the Song of Spheres the chapel must have been dedicated.
The graves of the six murdered children in the chapel’s graveyard can be easily found after a few minutes of looking. They are named and dated, but the inscriptions indicate only Maisie and Karin’s bodies are buried here. The graves of the other four children are empty, as their bodies were never recovered.
"Curious. Who interred them? And where did that person go? We still need evidence for the trial, and the wraiths leave little behind for us to use."
While the others study the chapel Vermundr looks for signs of whoever had taken up residence in Karin's former home.
Zed looks sadly down upon the graves. He bows his head and mutters a prayer. "Lady of Graves, these mortal souls are in dire need of your help. Please, grant me the strength and wisdom to guide them back to you." Zed stands in silence for another moment, then takes out a pad and writes down the details of the graves. "Shall we see what we can find onwards?" He says, clearly not wanting to mess with the graves at all.
"I think that the village was probably abandoned after the internment of these poor children. Yes, we should move on."
Passing by the chapel the doors swing open causing the group to start and raise their weapons at the prospect of further assault.
But the half-broken doors sway gently in the breeze having been caught by a sudden gust.
Within, the simple chapel is falling victim to rot, its pews are already overgrown, and some of its windows are smashed. Mice nest in the altar, the holy water in the font is turning green, and the once-beautiful frescoes depicting Desna and the heavens have begun to flake.
Despite it's colourful hue, the water in the font remains it's blessing, and could be decanted into flasks should there be a need.
Bizarrely, what at first appears to be a fallen scarecrow lies at the side of the aisle among the rotting pews, bones jutting from its tattered rags.
But on closer inspection, it is a body - far too decayed to identify race or gender but the tatters of clothing suggests it was a man. Most of his belongings have rotten to tatters but he wears a turquoise worth 200 gp on a leather thong around his neck, and carries 52 gp, 22 sp, a small silver pocket knife worth 25gp, a set of masterwork thieves’ tools, a length of rope (now rotten) that still holds a grappling hook on one end, a crowbar and a silver ring on one finger that upon closer inspection is actually a Thieve's Ring.
"Kaz, look - this isn't a scarecrow, it's a cadaver."
"If we're lucky," Kazamir muses, half to himself, as he crouches, kneels, stands, and shuffles around, peering at the body from various angles, " This unfortunate fellow IS teh original wraith - though I am not sure that timing works, there. If he isn't, we probably have one more wraith-spawn to deal with before the night is over."
The investigator stands, dusting off his thighs, and glances at his friends.
"It seems, whoever he was, that he won't be needing several useful items that he carries, and valuable ones that he may have liberated in a less-than-acceptable manner. Any objections to putting them to use?"
Vermundr holds his weapon at the ready while the others look over the body. He nods in agreement when Kaz suggests looting.
"I imagine we'll have more use for those goods than he will. Have at it."
Vala shakes her head at the thought the would be thief had been the original wraith. "I agree, Hazel. It seems more likely the poor fool came to loot the chapel after the townsfolk had left it abandoned." She frowns, turning her gaze to the rest of the chapel. "But I don't know whether to blame the wraiths or greed."
Sighing, the young girls' tombstones still fresh in her mind, she turns back for the door. "Let's be on our way."
The group trudges around the rest of the village, once again keeping a sharp eye out for bear traps and wraith-children but they see neither.
Most of the other buildings are completely derelict now, almost impassable for the most part and after an hour of searching they are no better off.
As they pass by the hill that stands to the east of the village, Zed's keen night vision picks up a shape at it's brow - it looks like a figure standing there watching the group.
Zed agrees that they need more hard evidence.
As they walk along in the darkness Zed suddenly tenses and grips his weapon, nodding to the figure. "We have company."
As the group approaches cautiously closer, they soon see that the figure does not move, not even as they close the distance with weapons drawn.
And the reason why is soon apparent.
A rotting scarecrow leans on a scythe at the top of this low hill. Its pumpkin face is carved with a leer and a sheep’s jaw hangs flaccidly below.
The scarecrow obscures a small opening in the hill, barely 18 inches across. It does however, seem like it opens up to a larger chamber beyond.
Zed relaxes. Humans and their constructions.
"There's an opening ahead in the hill. Let's see what's inside."
The hole is small, a tight squeeze for any of the men in the group. Illuminating the interior you can now see that the hole opens to a space no more than ten feet across.
A collection of tiny bones - and four child-sized human skulls - lie in heaps at the bottom of the hole.
"This is it. The children were... lured in here?"