Having little left in her repertoire, Sharien will attempt to fire a blob of acid at the swarm.
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Does the party still want to go towards the "house" structure? Do you want to check out the tower from which the swarm came? Do you want to head somewhere else?
One of you looks back to see Riff. He's standing there with his mouth agape. He just witnessed the fury of the party--melee and blasts of energy (fire and acid). He had no idea y'all had so much power.
:-)
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Faria turns to the man and smiles, giving him a brief wave before turning back to her fellows. "Shall we continue on, then?" The priestess keeps her voice calm, but her heart pounds in her chest. The realization of the dangers they faced suddenly catapulted to the front of her mind.
This wasn't a test of some sort where you got admonished if you missed something. The consequences in this place would be death. For her or a fellow party member. She looks at her companions with a confidence she isn't sure she feels, waiting for Poshment and Grog to lead them in.
"That was dangerous. I had to use all of my scrolls of fire, which means if we run into another swarm of creatures like that, I will be mostly useless."
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Grog, you can see bricks, timbers, and other support structures missing in key places in the roof (and walls, and floors, and etc.) of the house. You're pretty sure that the whole house is unstable.
Given its size, an attempt to explore it fully would take 10 minutes. However, anyone inside runs the risk of triggering a partial collapse of the building.
You suspect that there might be ways to mitigate this risk. But you could not eliminate it entirely without months-long renovations.
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A two-story stone building looms in the center of the prison grounds. Ivy and moss cling tenaciously to the walls, while above the wooden shingles of the roof are often missing entirely, exposing the wooden rafters of the upper structure to the sky. Here and there, leering stone gargoyles perch on the eaves, once functioning as drainspouts and decorations but now seeming almost to serve a more ominous role of sentinels. Many of these stone decorations have crumbled away and lie in ruined piles on the soggy ground below. Windows in the building's facade are narrow and blocked by grills of rusty iron bars. Stone columns support a slumping wooden balcony over the building's wooden front doors, both of which hang askew and reveal dark glimpses of chambers within.
Sharien follows her allies closely, ready to cast a summoning spell to aid them if need be. She's not much of an architectural guru, however, and does not notice anything useful about the building.
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Before the group enters, Faria calls over her shoulder. "What is it, Riff?" She was hoping it was just the foul wind, but she'd rather be sure before they went in.
Assuming he calls back an A-ok, she steels herself, wrapping her faith around her like a protective cloak as she and her companions enter the forbidding structure.
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"We're fine, but thanks for your concern." The priestess calls out to the man, a bit amused and touched at the same time. She looks at Poshment. "Brother, care to lead us into the gloom?" She calls upon Pharasma's divine power, asking for a pittance. Suddenly, Poshment's shield glows as brightly as a torch, perhaps brighter, with none of the flickering lights.
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As Poshment's shield begins to glow the darkness "shies" away. But, the light doesn't uniformly provide clarity of vision. It's more like the darkness "concedes" to the light.
The fog, however, reacts as though "offended" by the light. Just like back at the crypt, tendrils of fog "test" the edges of the light--as though they're trying to find a way in...
Poshment will steel his rattled nerves and head into the dark prison.
"See nothing to be afraid of...just a old building that is ready to fall over due to disrepair...nope not haunted at all" He will move forward and check the doors to see if they are locked.
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CREAK! CRACK! SNAP! The floorboards groan with every step the halfling makes.
The doors don't seem locked. Hm. Strange. These doors look as old as the rest of the place. But, they seem sturdy. The party inches their way forward carefully. Poshment opens the doors.
Streaks of mold stain the walls of this foyer , and the floor below is a thick, gray carpet of fungal growth. Sturdy wooden doors beckon from every wall. (Map updated.)
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The priestess gives Poshment a wry look as he waxes on about the not-so-badness of the place. Meanwhile, the fog kept swirling on the outskirts of the light, almost as if waiting for the glow to die down so as to fill in the gap.
"Hold, brother. Let's let Zorra take a look around with her keen eyes before proceeding any further."
While waiting for the dwarf, Faria herself takes a look around the room.
Sharien keeps an eye out, but otherwise waits for her allies to find something useful other than fungus.
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Nothing the dwarf's silence, Faria shakes her head minutely. The foulness of this place has crept into that one's nerves. She calls out, "I don't see anything wrong...though I feel the evil and sorrow of the spirits that were burned here. Poshment, can you lead us through the door to the right?" She smiles encouragingly at the Halfling, fighting back her own sense of doom and despair. This place really weighed on one's psyche.
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Poshment opens the door to the right. It seems to lead to a hallway. The hall way is 30 feet long and 10 feet wide. There is a ruined piece of furniture in the middle.
Six seconds after the paladin opens the door, badly-burnt faces of shrieking inmates rush out of all of the doors before causing each door to open and slam violently shut. All the doors are then stuck for one minute. The next time you open a door (any door) the same thing happens.
Anyone with any ranks in knowledge religion recognizes this as a "Slamming Portal" haunt. It's not immediately dangerous. However, if you needed to make a hasty retreat, this could trap party members in the room for a full minute...
"Hmm... should we use one of our haunt eater items on this, Faria? You're more knowledgable about things such as this than I am."
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"It's a rather inconvenient haunt known as a Slamming Portal haunt. Basically, any time someone opens a door, they will all slam shut for a short period. It's more inconvenience than anything, but if we need to beat a hasty retreat through this area, we could be in trouble if we don't take care of it." Faria looks to her companions...these haunt syphons were treasures, and she didn't want to waste one on a mere inconvenience, but she also sought their input.
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Faria takes out the Haunt Siphon and activates it by twisting the metal casing to open the vial at the same time that the haunt manifests.
The haunt seems to be eliminated; the mist inside the haunt siphon glows green.
The room feels "lighter" somehow. Less ominous. Faria feels certain that she has permanently dealt with the haunt!
"Well done, Lady Faria. I think that was a good use of one of our siphons."
As the faces appear and the doors slam shut Poshment will jump and grab tightly onto Faria's arm, hugging it to him as he begins to shake a little bit. After a moment he clears his throat and pushes her arm away, blushing brightly. "I...uh...I wanted to make sure you were safe sister...thats all...good use of a haunt siphen I believe."
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Faria glows at Sharien's praise, pale cheeks brightening. "It was nothing, Sharien. We each have our specialties, this just happened to be one of mine."
The priestess smiles down at Poshment, nodding. "Thank you for ensuring my safety, brother. I feel braver knowing you are here to protect me." Her dark eyes twinkle with mirth as the Halfling disengages, more than willing to let him keep his dignity intact.
Poshment smiles and puffs out his chest a little as he proceeds to reopen the door to the right.
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Poshment opens the door to the hallway. It looks like this "hallway" isn't actually a hallway! (You only got to see it for a moment before.) It's a stage? Weird. It is "walled off" from an auditorium by iron bars. Several rows of wooden benches, all spotted with mold and sagging with neglect face the stage.
"Odd...I wouldn't have imagined this place to have a theater...maybe they made the prisoners preform shows here...seems odd to let them get this close to the front door however."