she casts detect magic
"Well this quartz is more that what meets the eye."
she asks one of the clerks
"Excuse me, but could you identify this magical stone."
Vertielle smiles darkly and winks sureptitiously at wood.
No need, I believe Wood prepared the spell himself. Would you mind, terribly?
While the ladies are standing up for fairness in trade, Gkirkhan is having an odd experience of his own.
Shortly after the rest left on their shopping trip, there was a knock on the door. Pitor answers it, then comes to the room Gkirkhan is waiting in, looking confused. "There's someone here to see you."
Pitor escorts Gkirkhan to the main hall where Gibs Hephenus is standing, looking stiff, nervous, and determined. He says"Don't think you'll get out of our fight by getting yourself killed in that cursed place. You better get back, or else. These should help. My dad worked up there in maintenance, and they've been laying around the house for years."
Gibs hands Gkirkhan a set of tattered, rolled up papers, then turns and walks out before anyone can respond.
"'De Hell?"
Gkirkhan starts to put the papers down, then thinks better and decides to hold on to them, gently hold on to them.
Examining the papers, they appear to be a set of drawings. Floorplans, in fact. The largest floor seems to be unevenly cross shaped, with each end of the cross labeled with handwritten notes, seemingly nameing each of the four outer sections: 'Hell's Basement', 'The Oubliette', 'Reaper's Hold', and 'The Nevermore'. Each of these sections is divided into regularly sized smaller chambers, each numbered, as is one of the other floors. The remaining floor is unevenly divided into lage and small rooms.
Que finishes her shopping at the forge and returns to Kendra's house, only seeing Gibs leaving in a huff. As she enters she sees Gkirkhan standing there perplexed and with some scrolls in his hands.
"Was that Gibs I have just seen leaving? And he is still alive?"
With her last comment it is not really clear if she made a jopke or not even though she is smiling a little.
Wood uses detect magic on the stone.
Spellcraft
"I have just enough to buy this, and I am sure it will be useful."
"That is magical? If so, we'll need to pull it ff the shelf until we determine the true cost. What is it?" says the man running the place. "Quess, come here! These folks have discovered another magic itm in our stock."
"Magical?" says the woman he called Quess. "And you think it wuold be useful in your assault on Harrowstone? Hm."
She and her partner step back and have a whispered discussion.
"Luramin and I have discussed it, and have decided to loan you both of the items, if you wish, for 22g for the ring and 50g for the stone. If you choose to buy them later, we will count that amount toward the purchase price. In addition, we will only charge you 1% interest for any loans we make your group."
@Evangline, Vertielle, & Wood: As Quess hands you the small, velvet covered box containing the stone, make Perception and Sense Motive checks.
@Evangline: There's a little note attached to the display box, reading 'Korwin Neacsu; 400g; 7 Desnus 4710'. You remember that this place is a moneylender's shop, this must be collateral that this Korwin was unable to reclaim. You also realize that the moneylenders were truely unaware of the item's value, so the borrower must have been unaware of it as well.
"Thank you so much for the loan of valuable magic that may make the difference between life and death."
If wood hasn't beaten her to the buy, Vertielle spends some of her remaining cash on scrolls of Floating Disk, Hypnotism, and Summon Monster I. Each of these she places with care in her scroll case, strapped to her belt like a quiver. She offers to aid Wood in creating a scroll of Feather Fall, which she learned from a Nexian wizard, so he might add it to his spellbook. She's seen him cast grease, and he would have little use for knowing Saving Finale.
@Vertielle: while you are at the Unfurling Scroll, the schoolmaster and propritor, Alendru Ghoroven, lets you know that he can make scrolls of the following spells:
0th: all corebook 0ths + Root, Scoop (evoc)
1st: Cause Fear (necro), Enlarge Person (trans), Expeditious Retreat (trans), Floating Disk (evo), Hypnotism (ench), Identify (div), Magic Aura (ill), Protection from Evil (abj), Summon Minor Monster (conj), Summon Monster I (conj),
2nd: Darkness, Knock, Masterwork Transformation, Protection From Evil (communal), Resist Energy, Scare, Share Language,
3rd: Tiny Hut, Tongues, Versatile Weapon
@group: do you intend to spend the entire day shopping and head to Hrrowstone the next day or do you want to go there in the afternoon of this day?
Vertielle spends most of the day shopping, the rest preparing. She suggests to wood that learning communal protection from evil would help protect the weak-minded and mentally unshielded in the group resist possession, it may be worth the money to get a scroll-especially if he thinks he could master it soon.
"Great idea, but I did inherit the protection from evil wand and plan to use it on Gkirkan mostly. The communal version does not increase the duration, only allows you to divide it up. My miserly ways with magic make me sure the wand is much more efficient (and you can grab it off my belt at any time and use it too). Also Abjuration is a school I have problems with, so the wand was efficient in that respects too--my miserly ways would never allow me to learn a protection from evil spell over two conjuration spells, my specialty area."
Wood spends the 72gp for the ring and ioun stone (borrowing rights only with credit to buy). He buys the materials to scribe 3 first level spells for 75gp @ CL 2. He spends six hours scribing three scrolls; Monster Summoning I x2 and grease.
I can't wait to go to Harrowstone.
Wood lends Gkirkan the ioun stone and the ring and shows him to get the fancy stone to orbit his head. Wood gives the Monster Summoning I scroll to Vertiele for 'timely reinforcements. "Gkirkan, we need to bring these magic gee gaws back."
"So no breakink dem. Hy, know de drill."
Gkirkhan brings the roll of papers in his hand up in front of Wood's face.
"Hy guess hyu already saw hem, but dot Gibs guy vas here. He gave me dese."
Wood examines the maps and tries to commit as much of the floorplans to memory as he can. He looks for likely areas for concealed doors and chambers and makes notations of his own.
"I think we are as prepared as we will ever be. Sleep well."
Wood's last minute wish seems to be more a sincere prayer than an empty, polite phrase.
I actually have these maps; adapted from ones posted in the Carrion Crown threads here.
Here are the links:
http://i.imgur.com/yJkaW.jpg [basement]
http://i.imgur.com/02ub2.jpg [main floor]
http://i.imgur.com/rPgla.jpg [upper floor]
These are obviously old, pre-fire maps.
Reposting the arrival at Harrowstone:
Having rested in full, stocked up on equipment and supplies, and prepared spells, the five of you head out along the southern road to Harrowstone.
While the main road continues onward, a wide but overgrown branch heads off and spirals up the hill overlooking Ravengro to the oppressive, ruined prison. As you approach the ruin you can see the stark, sagging roof of the central structure through a large gap in the surrounding wall.
A sagging wood and metal gate is set between the pair of stone guard towers that once barred entrance to the prison. The gates between them now hang negligently open, creaking softly in the wind.
Gkirkhan's first with his warhammer out and an evil gleam in his eye. He's looking to bash some heads. he growls as the feelings bring back memories of the nightmare the other night.
Will save
"I would be cautious and enter through the gap in the wall rather than the obvious gate, but I am paranoid."
Vertielle enters via the main entrance, knowing any significant sign of cult presence will be found there. She stays alert for signs of their passage, especially newer tracks and glyphs.
My@Wood: if you want to climb the wall, I need a climb check.
The vine-covered wall stands 20 feet high, is about 3 feet wide and topped with rusty spikes. It appears to have been built as an irregular hexagon penetrated only by the 25 foot wide gate. There also were guard towers positioned at each corner of the hexagon, each thick with ivy and extending another 10 feet above the wall. Most of the wooden roofs of the towers and the gatehouses have collapsed, partially or totally.
The only other break in the wall is where most of the eastern wall has collapsed into a murky watered pool of uncertain depth.
The prison yard itself is overgrown and weed-choked, broken by the road leading to the front entry. You can see faint trails throughout the yard and seemingly around the prison itself.
To the west of the driveway is a small brick manor house overgrown with thick sheets of grey-green ivy. The wooden roof of this building sags ominously, and the front door hangs askew.
Wood will follow through the gate.
Que follow Vertielle through the main gate stepping onto the grounds of the prison, looking around cautious
@Eve: I need your will save, target is 12.
@Que: you are shaken for minutes.
@Vertielle: you do not see any glyphs by the entrance. You do notice gargoyle statues along the roof of the main building. You also remember Kendra saying that the professor died when a piece of a gargoyle fell on him.
Vertielle gazes up at the gargoyles on the roof, looking for any obvious breakages that could have caused the professor's death.
Wood is anxious about traps and evil magic.
Perception/Spellcraft
@Vertielle: you see learing stone gargoyles postioned here and there on the eves, obviously once serving as drainspouts and decorations, but now seeming more like ominous sentinels. Many of them have crumbled away and lie in ruined piles on the soggy ground below.
Wood would have advanced to the closest position to examine the gargoyles with Vertielle.
It's possible that one cracked while the professor was standing under it. Perhaps an examination of the perimeter of the building to see where it happened might help.
@Que: for what seems forever, you are racked by weird sensations, painful emotions, fear underlining everything. You can act, but everything seems far more dangerous, more threatening than you anticipated.
Vertielle stands slightly ahead, not venturing too far from the group.
Yes, let us check the building there, then the grounds, systematically.
"We probably need to search the small building first. I don't like leaving possible threats at my back."
You head to the building at R3.
This appears to be a small, one-story house, possibly staff accomodations. It doesn't seem to have been touched by fire, but otherwise, time has not been kind to it.
@Vertielle: so far, you haven't noticed anything odd.
perception
@Eva: you realize that the structure of the small manor is completely deteriorated and near collapse. The smaller building is completely unsafe. From what you can see, the place has been looted in the past. After looking about you find a ruined, empty jewelry box with the faded initials V. H.
"From the warden's wife--guess it is on to the big building."
First, circle the grounds. Such may reveal important information.
Gkirkhan shepherds Que along with the others. He keeps mumbling under his breath in orc as he follows the others.