"Harrowstone." Leon said pointedly as he strode out the door, not particularly caring if the unhelpful sheriff heard him or not.
"I think we have plenty of time to look around today. If things look like they are going to take a while we can always leave and come back tomorrow. Let's stop by the Professor's estate, pick up what we need, tell Kendra of our plans and head to the prison."
"Sounds fair enough to me. After you, sir."
"Agreed"
"Sounds good to me."
"Maybe I should bring this up now." Sethis stops to collect his thoughts before continuing. "I didn't exactly come here alone. I would like to introduce something to you all now so you don't freak out too much when you see it."
Sethis steps away and begins a short ritual mumbling in Sylvain. Over the course of a minute and arcane energy flowing through him a coalescing into a creature.
Standing upright before you is a beast looking somewhere between a gorilla and a wolf with long shaggy dark, almost black, green and brown fur. Its lengthy, lean limbs end in razor sharp talons that look more at home on a bird of prey than on a mammal. Within its eyes a primal intelligence stares back, drinking in your every move and twitch before its lips curl back and a sound that should not be possible flows from it in a deep baritone and velvety voice. "Greetings mortals."
Girvin wasn't really sure whether he was awestruck or mortified by the being in front of him. Half of him was saying to shake the creatures hand and return the greeting, while the other half was telling him to kill the beast with fire. In the end, simple curiosity won out and he approached the Wyldling and began to take in it's diverse features. "Greetings, immortal"
The road south out of town intersects with a wide trail about one mile south of Ravengro. A dilapidated sign indicates the trail leads to Harrowstone Prison. The trail was covered in stone at one point, but the decades of neglect have left it overgrown with tall grass and weeds.
The trail winds to the southeast for a few hundred yards before you emerge from the forest. A large hill rises in front of you, with a stone wall and guard towers resting on top. The trail continues around the base of the hill until it reaches the southern side where it turns up the incline. At the top of the hill is a set of rusting iron and wooden gates supported by two large towers. They creak softly as the wind blows through them. Beyond the gate, you see the two-story building known as Harrowstone.
-----
A couple of notes for the courtyard, using the map I posted in the Discussion thread. This is some basic information you can see as you approach the gate (nobody has entered the courtyard at this point).
The gate is located on the south side of the courtyard (R1). A small brick building is visible southwest of the main prison (R3); it appears to be a workshop or home, and the front door is hanging askew, opening the interior to the elements. The wall surrounding the prison is overgrown with ivy and weeds, and the stones are obliviously crumbling. There are a couple of guard towers still standing (R2).
A large pool of murky water covers the eastern side of the courtyard (R10). In some places, ruined areas of the wall still stand, providing you with an idea about where the wall once stood. It appears that part of the prison has collapsed into the pool.
The prison itself has suffered badly during the past 50 years. The walls and decorations are crumbling, and large sections of the roof are missing shingles, leaving the rafters open to the sky. Large piles of rubble cover the ground around the base of the prison, and rusting bars cover all the windows. There was once a set of large front doors, but only one remains, the other lost to vandals or time (R4). From your vantage point, you only see darkness beyond the door.
Leon's eyes widened but he was less surprised. His family dealt with many otherworldly things, and a few among his lineage had possessed magical knacks of one kind or another. He had read of such things but he definitely had not expected to see something so rare. Nothing in his training had prepared him for something like this encounter but he knew that Sethis was trusted by Petros Lorrimer. That gave him the benefit of the doubt, at least for the moment.
"Sethis... uh, would you care to make some introductions?"
@Eidolon: "Greetings magical beastie."
When at the prison Mithias steps cautiously through the gates.
"Let's check the outer wall and guard towers first and then work our way inwards. Better safe than sorry."
"Especially given the state of this place. The Sheriff wasn't kidding when he said it wasn't architecturally sound anymore. Stepping through the gate after Mithias, Girvin looked again to his right and left as he surveyed the ruins. "Normally I'd say we should split up to save time, but I don't think that really applies here given what we are prepared to find."
"It calls itself The Wyldling, its a primal hunting spirit from the first world."
~~~~~~~
"I agree Leon lets work our way around the border then work inwards to avoid ambush.
Sethis will unlimber his heavy crossbow and with a nod, the Wyldling will begin pacing the area searching for threats
"Right." Leon says with a nod, eyeing the creature warily. "I suppose there's nothing to worry about if it's on our side."
Moving with the others, Leon motioned for Firavel to scout ahead a bit while he stayed at the front of the rest of the group.
Firavel moves forward, keeping low and quiet as he scouts ahead along the wall.
After several steps inside the gate, the bitter stench of smoke and burning flesh hits you like a wave, almost staggering everyone. After a moment, the wind shifts and you are able to breathe again...
Despite the clearer air, the atmosphere inside the prison walls is heavy, almost oppressive. A pall hangs over everything, and you find yourself seeing things out of the corner of your eye that aren't there when you turn to look. Several rapid splashes in the large pool to the west draw your attention, but you only see small bits of masonry falling from the ruined wall...
All of you catch sight of humanoid tracks from time to time, but most are at least a few weeks old, if not older. Unfortunately, with the recent weather, it would be nearly impossible to track them very far.
The first hundred feet or so bring you closer to the small brick building (R3), which you can now identify as some kind of residence. The walls are overgrown with ivy, and the door hangs off its hinges, but the roof appears to be mostly intact.
Pointing with one long talon towards the eyes. "Look, something watches us."
Leon backs away suddenly, pressing himself against the wall, turning is face away and looking around frantically for something no one else sees.
"No. Nonono. Gotta be a way. The bed? Buy me some time? S+$%."
Fumbling for something invisible, Leon crouches and huddles against the wall.
Girvin peers as hard as he can after the Wyldling's extended digit trying to get some idea of what is going on here. Leon's outburst did nothing to calm his nerves, but for now he managed to keep it together. "Leon, what do you see?" he slightly shouted - trying to break into the startled man's mind. Girvin punctuated the sentence by splashing Leon with the contents of his water skin hoping to force some sense into him.
Looking to Leon, then the door one more time the gnome stoops and picks up a stone to alight with the intention of tossing it into the unexplored residence.
"What's happening to him? Is it a spell? Are we being attacked?" Sethis begins searching the area frantically.
The interior of the house illuminates, but the visible area does not provide any more information. The house appears to be in very bad condition, and the interior looks abandoned.
Sethis doesn't see anything in the courtyard like an attacker or spellcaster.
As Leon huddles against the wall, everyone sees smoke start rising from his clothes. You all recognize the signs indicating a fire is about to start. In addition, you all begin to hear faint sounds... the crackle of flames... faint screams of dying men. These sounds are distant, but appear to be growing louder.
"What the...?"
Firavel turns to run over and tackle Leon, trying to smother the the smoke with his cloak.
"Quick take him to the water!" Sethis will move to help Firavel and Leon.
Ever alert the wyldling will move closer to the now lit building until it can get a better look at whatever started the light.
Firavel and Sethis are moving in to take hold of Leon. He doens't resist, but he isn't a willing target either. You guess you can get him to the water in 15-20 seconds.
Oh dear, that's definitely not normal. Girvin piped up when he noticed the smoke rising off of Leon. Stuffing the firefly from his last spell back into his pouch, Girvin begins frantically casting again in an attempt to slow the conflagration starting on their companion. With a final flick of his wrists a sheen of water appears on Leons head and floods down his body. "Keep going, I don't know if I can keep up with whatever's causing this" He adds, addressing Firavel and Sethis.
Mithias scrambles to help the others, dropping his spear and racking his brain for a clue as to what might be happening.
Leon jerks about, frantically, looking for some kind of escape from his invisible torment, slapping his body and trying to roll on the ground to quell invisible flames. He goes from panic to pain and begins to scream.
"Leon! Listen to me! We need to get you into the water, so please stop resisting and help us help you." Sethis will also wave over the Wyldling to help.
With a snort, the Wyldling will move to help with Leon. Up to and including grabbing his legs to carry him into the water with Sethis.
Girvin quickly casts a spells that covers Leon in water - with a hiss, his clothing begins smoking even more as the water rapidly cools the material.
Sethis yells to Leon to try and get his attention. Leon turns his head toward the half-elf, but his eyes remain unfocused as if he isn't exactly sure what he's experiencing.
Struggling against Leon's thrashing, the group manages to get him over to the water. As you reach the edge of the pond, small flames begin emerging and his clothes begin to burn. With not a moment to spare, the group quickly takes him a few feet into the pond and forces him under the water. He continues to fight for a moment before suddenly calming; from the look in his eyes, he has returned from whatever he was experiencing.
Everyone is currently either on the shore or in the first five feet of the pond.
Focusing on Leon, Firavel sees nothing out of the ordinary (apart from Leon nearly being aflame).
"Are you all right Leon? You seemed to nearly catch fire there. What were you seeing?"
"You back with us Leon? Everyone keep their eyes on each other. I think this place might be infested with haunts, ghosty-illusiony trap-like effects. I'm not sure if there is a way to detect them, so we need to be ready to help out if someone triggers one."
"Or triggers another one, if you're right" Girvin adds as he eyes up the recently quenched Leon. They had barely breached the walls of this place when one of them nearly went up in smoke. What had he gotten himself into?
"Oh, and you guys may want to get out of the pond before those things get to you" he nonchalantly added as he pointed to several apparently encroaching creatures under the ponds surface.
"Fire. I was... in the prison. Locked in. The whole place was on fire."
Unbuttoning his cuffs and rolling up his sleeve he looks at his arm. It is covered in newly formed blisters. His flesh angry and red.
"I was burning."
"You were burning Leon, kinda. Mithias what do you know about these haunts?"
As Girvin mentions the things in the pond, you all turn to look at what he sees. Between the water ripples caused by Leon's recent bath, you can make out three distinct tracks heading directly toward you.
Three white domes break the surface of the water, rising in an odd rhythm... As they rise higher, you finally realize what you're seeing, the domes are the top of skulls, sickly green pinpoint lights glowing in the eye sockets.
If no one is in melee range, Mithias will lob a bomb.
Splash Damage= 5
Otherwise, he'll run over and grab his spear.
Leon whips his rapier free and pulls a short truncheon from the small of his back.
"That crossbow isn't going to do you much good, Sethis. We're going to have to bash them apart."
Firavel pulls his curve blade and steps beside Leon, readying to attack one of the creatures when they approach.
"I'm guessing your mention of bashing means a blade won't be much use either. Guess I'll have to stock up on something sometime."
"Bashing, eh? Well I guess there's always the sling" Girvin muttered as he began to search through his belongings for the aforementioned weapon and required munitions. "Although, I've never been particularly good with it."
As the skeletons emerge from the water, the party springs into action, but Mithis leaps foward and hurls a bomb at the middle creature - hitting it squarely in the chest. With a massive explosion, the blast obliterates all three of the undead, and their remains fly outward in a large shower of bone splinters.
-----
After the skeletons are destroyed, you can see the pond apparently covers a small graveyard, likely the origin of the undead.
Also, several of you notice a large arcane circle apparently drawn around the prison on the ground in dark red powder. Though some of the powder has been eroded by the weather, you can make out a few of the runes.