When Trevor shatters one of the skulls with his axe, Aldous reappraises the situation, Hmm. They are actually tangible. That- I was not expecting. Having realized that he cautiously begins to edge around the room looking for a clear shot and with a word hurls a glob of acid at the remaining skull.
Evelyn's arrow thuds into the flying skull, sending it spinning in the air. It clacks its jawbone again, shrieking in a dive at Trevor.
Slam vs. Trevor:
But the young paladin easily sidesteps the attack, bringing his axe down in lethal arc for the flying head.
Trevor's Greataxe:
Which dodges aside with fluid grace, despite the arrow sticking out of its nose.
Luka steps in toward the remaining skull, bringing his sword around in a wide, overhand arc.
When Trevor shatters one of the skulls with his axe, Aldous reappraises the situation, Hmm. They are actually tangible. That- I was not expecting. Having realized that he cautiously begins to edge around the room looking for a clear shot and with a word hurls a glob of acid at the remaining skull.
Aldous' blob of acid goes wide for fear of hitting Luka or Trevor.
Luka's overhand slash is off the mark, the burning skull dancing around the blade.
Gaining confidance Evelyn lets loose another Arrow [b]Annoying little bugger, isn't he[b]
Evelyn's arrows strikes the rear wall, snapping on impact.
While Arasmes remains in the rear, rubbing his arms through his coat to shake off the chill, Aldous once more takes aim and fires another glob of acid at the shrieking skull.
Aldous' ranged touch:
Acid damage:
The acid glob strikes the already damaged skull, sizzling and cracking the remaining bone until it dissolves into a fine powder, leaving an acrid smell in the training room.
"Well done," Arasmes coldly states. "I fear that the presence that attacked me in the other room was unrelated to these flaming skulls. Whatever it was in the other room has left me chilled and weak."
Arasmes listens to his voices, seeing if they can shed any darkness on the matter of the other room.
Knowledge (Religion):
Knowledge (Arcane):
Knowledge- Local or Religion DC 15:
Knowledge- Local or Religion DC 18:
Aldous nudges a large skull fragment cautiously with his boot watching it intently for any response. With his focus divided he rambles to Arasmes, "Cold spots like that are said to be the manifestation of lingering spirits. Traumatic death and all, unable to move on, but no true will or psychic fortitude to maintain an existence as a coherent being after death."
Once he is satisfied that the skull is inanimate again, Aldous looks up at Arasmes with an intense grin, "So. What we have here is not so much a ghost as just a general haunting." He sweeps his hand through the air to indicate. "Like all haunts, a priest could channel the power of their god to destroy this lingering half-spirit however it seems to me we are a bit lacking in that department...?" He looks around to see if anyone volunteers themselves then continues.
"I have also heard that some Ustalavan witches in the old days used a different method. From what we understand the spirit wants only relief from the eternal chill of death. Something nice and warm and living wanders along and well- it sucks the warmth right out of you until you die, your body cools and you have nothing left to offer. So according to the old wives tales of Upper Vieland a witch would throw down a metal pentagram and use her mystical power to heat it to intense levels. The haunting spirit goes after it confused by the overwhelming source of heat mingling with the energy of her power. The metal pentagram draws the spirit into itself. Now at that point you have a mobile haunt. She would bury it in hallowed ground at midnight to destroy the spirit."
"These days it is commonly held that the shape of the pentagram is a bit a pageantry- any metal should suffice and midnight had more to due with the fact that witches were not permitted to set foot on church grounds."
Trevor's jaw drops slightly at the lecture from Aldous. His mouth agape, he stares at the scholar, wondering whether he's making it up or is really brilliant.
He snaps and realizes he hasn't really understood what Aldous has meant: "So you're saying we need a witch?"
Aldous whirls round to face Trevor, "Yes. Well- no. Well- not exactly. The witch isn't really an integral part of the plan you see. She just knew what to do through oral tradition. Sadly, I don't have any particular talent with heating metal through arcane ritual. My dinner perhaps- metal alas requires a bit more focused study than I ever thought useful. Of course I am not one hundred percent sure that the heat of the metal needs to be magically induced, I only know what I've read. We could of course put in a bit of field research and find out...?"
The traveling academic looks around hopefully for interest.
"Hmph." Arasmes listens to the academic's explanation. " I fear heating metal is also beyond me. Perhaps, we should leave that experiment for another expedition. I fear that we haven't yet accomplished much on this trip. Merely confirmed that Harrowstone is haunted. Something, I suppose, the most empty-headed townsmen in these parts could've told us. Have we searched this room sufficiently? Should we move on? Or have we enough horrors for one day?"
"If your not too weakened, let's push on. I'd like to examine that hole, though I don't suggest going into it. Perhaps we check this level first?"
"You're right Evelyn, we should not go into the hole... I mean, yet..."
The hole in the ground is jagged-edged and caked with soot. Far below (about 20 feet or so) you can see a mass of rotted timber and rusted chains in a shallow pool of water, the tangled remains of the mechanical lift that must have once been housed here. You can hear the drip of water echoing through the chamber below.
"Hmmmm . . . interesting," Luka says. "I have no spells for heating metal either, but it's an interesting idea. Of course, we could just avoid that room for know, and hopefully not deal with anything similar elsewhere. I also have a feeling it's going to possibly take more than one day to go through this place . . . " he peters off as he peers into the pit, "and we need to remember, we're here looking for the professor's killer or killers, who ever they may be.
"Anyway, let's press on," he finishes, heading for the door to the north.
Still feeling a bit shaken, Arasmes follows the band into the next room.
You open the door to the north with a creak and step into the next chamber. A huge stone furnace dominates this room, large enough for a child to climb inside. An ancient fire has burned away the entire east wall of the room, providing a panoramic, if eerie, view of the lake beyond. That same lake has gradually expanded into the room, flooding the eastern half.
The great furnace's grill is on the southern wall, to the left of the door you entered. On your right, the flood waters lap at your boots. Past the furnace on your left is another wall, about thirty feet away, the corner of it forming an alcove on the left side.
Luka walks over to inspect the alcove and the furnace. "I wonder if this is where the fire started?" he muses out loud.
Perception
Trevor takes in the mazeness of the site. With a weak voice, he comments: "It would be easy to get lost here..." as he walks around and looks around.
The massive furnace bears a soot-caked plaque over the grill- "Old Ember Maw" it reads. Around the alcove's corner is a door in the western wall.
Perception DC 15:
Trevor's face twists with sudden fright as he realizes the furnace is moving. With a tremolo in his voice, he calls out to the others: "Watch Out! It's ALIVE!!!"
Luca whirls at the sound of Trevor's voice, ready to confront a phantom menace.
Arasmes turns to the furnace, hoping that he knows something useful about this manifestation of Harrowstone.
Knowledge (Religion):
Desna protect us! . Evelyn readies here bow, "we need a way to fight these ghosts"
Initiative Order
Aldous
Trevor
Arasmes/Evelyn
Luka
Old Ember Maw
Arasmes:
Aldous was in the middle of examining the fire damage and wondering if this were the source of the blaze that claimed the prison when the stench of burning meat hit him. "Gentlemen- I'm afraid this place is far more haunted than I had realized," he exclaims in panicked rising voice. With a word the scholar flings another glob of acid at Old Ember Maw.
"What is it?" Luka yells.
"YYYYYYIII-AAAAAAGH!" Trevor cleverly shouts at the possessed furnace as he throws his javelin with all his might, then moves to protect his companions.
Arasmes coughs loudly. "Gentlemen. I'm not sure that swords and spears are the best approach to our current menace. Just as the earlier manifestation of this place was defeated with some holy water, I suspect that there is a simpler way of negotiating this haunt. Since it manifests itself in this burned out area, perhaps we could apply some cold magic? If not, perhaps we could use these siphons we acquired from the Pharasmans?" Arasmes begins fiddling with the haunt siphon, waiting a moment to see if anyone can volunteer some cold magic.
Luka utters an arcane phrase, and points his free hand at the fireplace. Immediately, a ray of frost shoots forth, targeting the haunt.
"Excellent suggestion Arasmes, but please do so quickly"
Evelyn moves as far away from the furnace as she can while staying in the room.
Aldous' gob of acid bubbles and sears the surface of the iron furnace, but seems to have little effect. Trevor's javelin clatters against its face, but Old Ember Maw exhales a cloud of cinders, the flickering flames within growing more intense with each second.
The ray of frost contorts the furnace's "face" in a grimace, diminishing the flames' intensity for a moment. Arasmes twists open the cold iron stopper on the haunt siphon, releasing a cloud of white vapor to envelop Old Ember Maw.
Positive Energy Damage:
Old Ember Maw seems to bellow as if wounded and enraged. Its flames flicker with less exuberance, but it still has enough fury to lash out with a flaming tongue at Luka.
Ranged touch vs. Luka:
But the pale Magus dives aside.
Trevor looks back at Luka and Arasmes: "Is it working? Should I try with my axe?!? STAND BACK FURNACE! Ahhhhhrgh!"
Trevor yells at the furnace, keeping between it and the others, not clearly understanding that the smokes it bellows are dangerous...
Aldous sees the acid hissing, but more or less rolling right off the iron body of the furnace. "How are you supposed to fight a solid metal furnace? There has to be some way to get at the spirit directly!"
Would holy water hurt this thing and do we have any holy weater?" yells Evelyn.
She then moves to the door in the alcove and checks to see if its locked.
"We need to use magical cold on this thing. I'd hate to use up another one of my tubes," Arasmes says. "I also think that positive energy could work."
:
Evelyn ascertains that the door on the western wall is unlocked.
At Arasmes' touch, Old Ember Maw coughs up a cloud of ash and the unholy light of the furnace fades.
"It's hard to fight enemies that aren't of flesh and blood," comments Luka as he relaxes and looks at the others. "If this whole place is full of such spirits, we may be ill equipped to fight them, regardless of what equipment we have from the pharasma."
"Evelyn, what do you see?"
I still have those magical arrows, perhaps they will be affective.
Once the haunt is defeated, Evelyn will open thé door.
[/b] let's see what horror awaits us, hall wé?[/b]
Trevor walks up to the furnace, touching it. "How can this be?"
He picks up his javelin and walks up to the group: "I'm useless here! Perhaps I should grab some holy water In case?"
Evelyn swings the door open to reveal a room strewn with moldy cots. Several doors on the west wall hang askew, leading to more private sleeping chambers. Judging by the decor and the bandages, scalpels and solutions littering the floor this was once an infirmary. A set of wooden double doors lead out from the south wall.
"Seems to be quiet in here," Luka says. Leading the group onward, he tries the double doors ont the south wall.
Seeing no immediant danger, Evelyn begins to inspect the room first, then the sleeping quarters.
"I wonder how many people died in this room?"
Evelyn surveys the detritus around the room and the sharp-eyed huntress can easily spot a ton of still usable items- at least two full healer's kits, several vials of alchemical medicines and four stoppered potion flasks lay strewn about the room.
As Luka moves toward the southern doors, he suddenly finds his way blocked by a twisted, nearly skeletal man in a prison uniform. He screams silently to the ceiling, sinking to his knees and then disappearing. The objects on the ground start to twitch and tremble, empty jars and rusty scissors skittering across the floor.
"I changed my mind, I don't wnat to know"