Turning away from the cells at the sounds of alarm, Jean crosses the room.
"Leon, ready your siphon if this doesn't work!"
Haunt siphon in hand he twists the top on the small vial and holds it out in front of him. He hoped it would work.
leon pulls out his own Siphon, still trying as best he can to keep between Lysa and the dangers in the room.
The items swirling around the room begin swirling around in a small whirlwind that moves directly toward the haunt siphon in Jean's hand. With a massive rush of air, the debris crashes to the floor, and the lid to the siphon slams shut.
It appears that the room is once again quiet... for now.
"Interesting."
At the sound of the crashing glass, Jean lowered his arm that he had reflexively raised to shield his face from the whirlwind of debris. Letting out an audible sigh of relief, he half smiled as he looked at the siphon still in his hand. "Useful devices these things are. Still, I get the feeling that lingering here too long will not be good for us. Take whatever you find useful and let's check that door before we leave."
At that Jean moves to the door in the northeast corner, sword in hand.
"Well done gentlemen. That was some quick thinking."
Leon grins. "He's been at this sort of thing a little longer than I have."
Lysa finishes going through the cabinet. "Well, I think we got everything worth taking out of here. Shall we head on to the next room?"
"Yes, lets move on incase those things are only temporary."
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 the room, providing a panoramic, if eerie, view of the lake beyond. That same lake has gradually expanded into the room, flooding its eastern half.
Another door can be seen heading south.
Lysa walks over to the edge of the flooded half of the room, peering into the water.
Jean took a moment to assess the room before nodding in satisfaction to himself. He looked at the wall and decided he didn't need to be going anywhere near the water right now and then he made his way over to the furnace to inspect it.
"This is definitely not the way to the basement."
As Jean gets closer to the furnace, he can clearly make out a crude sign hung above the grate. It reads "Ember Maw". Any of the other adventurers who enter the room also see the name above the massive opening used to feed the furnace.
"Is there any chance that the basement may have become flooded?"
While looking about the room, Lysa pauses as she happens to glance in the furnace. "Uhm guys....There appears to be some human remains inside the furnace. Did the prison cremate the bodies of deceased prisoners?"
"If they did, they certainly wouldn't do it here. Or leave the remains behind."
Feeling flushed for a moment, Leon realized he was suffering from an rising anxiety and the discomforting feeling of heat across his hands and arms, the same areas that had been burned by the phantom flames outside the prison yesterday.
With a sharp hiss of breath, Leon moved in quickly next to Jean and yanked the stopper of of his Siphon.
"Get back!"
"Why would they call it 'Ember Maw' if it was part of the prison. Something is wrong here. Wait, get to the shallows."
Sethis will move into the shallow waters, taking extra effort to stay away from the drop off.
Jean seems unimpressed by the skeletal remains and quickly dismisses them before noticing the heat in the room increase and the warning from the others. He decided to listen to Sethis and made his way to the east side of the room where the Half-elf stood.
"I don't see why they wouldn't burn the bodies of the prisoners. Maybe the reason there are still remains in there are because the riot happened before they could clean it out. Ember Maw is a nice play on words I suppose... Hey... Didn't it get cooler in here... Ummm... why does it smell like burnt pork?"
Firavel steps away from the Ember Maw with the others, his blade gripped in his hands as he looks around wild-eyed for some new ghostly menace.
"Gruesome."
Mithias doesn't notice the temperature, but taking the cue from the others, steps back and to the side of the furnace entrance.
As the group reacts, the front of the furnace comes alive - the grate becomes an enormous mouth, while the pressure gauges rotate around to glare at you. From inside the furnace, a brilliant orange glow flashes before a fire appears from nowhere. The heat from the furnace is intense, and flames begin shooting out of its mouth.
-----
The group has moved to the far side of the room, near the water. The furnace has "animated" and flames are beginning to shoot out in jets of fire. What would you like to do?
We're not in "official" combat, but I'm going to give all of the PCs a round, then the furnace, and continue like that until the situation is resolved.
"I wonder if perhaps the ghost of that body in the furnace is causing it to appear to be alive and send out those jets of fire?"
Lysa sends out a wave of positive energy, hoping to either end the spiritual animation of the furnace or cause the ghost responsible to at least materialize.
"Appear to be alive? That thing is moving and it looks like it has indigestion!" Firavel then looks back at the dark water, his blade in hand. "Maybe we should prepare to take a swim. In case its stomach problems become a problem for us."
"Still think that's supposed to be part of the prison?"
Sethis, still in the shallow water will draw one of his flasks of holy water and throw it down it's gullet... i hope
Mithias pulls out a flask of holy water, but waits to see whether his allies attacks have any effect before he lobs it into the inferno.
Jean pulled two arrows from his quiver, he needed to try and put this thing down in a hurry. He readied his bow at the animated furnace and released one arrow after another at the fiery monstrosity.
The positive energy washes across the furnace, causing a brief flicker in the fire coming out of its mouth.
Sethis' holy water splashes against the side of the furnace, and the fires flicker even more as several flames splutter out.
Mithias tosses his a moment later, causing even more flames to extinguish.
Jean's arrows strike the furnace, but they bounce off the metal and drop to the ground.
A gout of fire shoots out of the furnace and strikes Lysa.
Everyone can now notice the stench of burning flesh in the room.
-----
Firavel looks on in horror as Lysa is engulfed in flame, the smell of burning flesh making him think the worst. "Lysa, are you well?" he cries out before turning back to the... thing.
Seeing the holy water working to reduce the flames, Fir pulls out his only vial and throws it before stepping towards Lysa.
Lysa involuntarily cries out in pain as the flames sear her flesh. She will channel energy again, hoping to both ease her pain and hurt the ghost in the furnace.
Jean saw his arrows bounce off of the furnace but saw that the Holy water seemed to have some effect. He pulled out a flask and hurled it,
Seeing that the holy water is working, Mithias throws another flask:
Sethis will reach into his pack and search for another vial getting it ready for next round.
Lysa channels energy again, while several more vials of holy water fly at the furnace, further dimming the fire.
Another gout of flame shoots outward toward Lysa, but it curves sharply at the last moment and goes into the open haunt siphon in Leon's hand. With a sharp hiss, the lid snaps shut, and the flames in the furnace finally go out.
The bones inside the furnace, however, still glow with an orange light... more like coals than bones.
Leon stares at the haunt siphon in his hand with a dubious look. "So, what do we do with these things after we've used them? Is the ghost-thing stuck in there?"
Still singed, Lysa looks about the room. "Have we explored enough for today yet?"
Lysa then moves over to the furnace, wondering why the bones are still glowing.
Feeling a little foolish, Sethis will wade out of the water and rejoin everyone else. "Yes, I am definitely done for today. I do miss the simpleness of the wilderness, at least out there something is most often what it appears to be, camouflage excluded of course."
"Let's get back. I think we've all had enough of this place for one day."
"Works for me. Head back for a good meal. For some reason, I've got a hankering for some barbecue. Maybe some pork."
"So we're just going to ignore the whole glowing bones thing?"
Still over by the furnace, looking at the glowing bones, Lysa commments: "I am a bit curious about that too. At first I thought perhaps they were just glowing from the fires heat. Now, I'm not so sure. Perhaps there is still a spirit inhabiting them?"
Jean had been reaching for another vial when the furnace abruptly stopped spouting fire. He listened to the others and then decided his course of action.
"Regardless of what it may be, spirit or not, it's still dangerous. Leon has subdued it for now with the siphon, but like siphoning water from a well, the spring will replenish itself." As he spoke he dunked his arms into the water, letting it soak into his gauntlets and then made his way to the furnace. "Ignoring it would be a violation of my duty to protect others from future harm. It needs to be removed." Looking inside at the glowing bones, he gritted his teeth in preparation for the coming pain. He then reached into the furnace grabbing the skull, ribs, and limbs before hurriedly moving across the room to drop them into the watery depths.
As the bones are dropped into the water, and explosion of heated steam erupts.
The bones continue to bubble for some time, but they eventually cool and begin to crumble, finally dissolving in the murky water.
The furnace also undergoes a major change... In place of the looming iron furnace, what now remains is a crumbling and rusty heap of iron. The rough shape of the furnace is still visible, but it obviously poses no more danger. Apparently, consigning the burning bones to a watery grave laid this tortured soul to rest.
Having been raised in a family who fought the darkness, Jean had learned over the years all the tools that were necessary for survival against the creatures that came from there. A resilient body, strong resolve and sometimes more importantly, quick reflexes. He had spent some time in his youth learning from his mentors to appreciate the aspects of a good foundation from which well prepared warriors came from. As such he knew what happened when heat quickly became cooled in water and dove to the side.
He looked up at the rest of the group, standing largely unharmed as the water rushed off of him."Yes, I think a meal and a warm fire will do us all some good for the evening."
"Heh. Glad it wasn't me this time." Leon says jovially, clapping his cousin on the shoulder after realizing he was alright.
Before heading to Kendra's house, Lysa chooses to stop by the Temple of Pharasma. She will ask Father Grimburrow for any holy water they may have at the Temple, explaining that they've run into a good bit of undead resistance in the exploration of Harrowstone.
Afterwards, she will return to Kendra's house for the night.