Imperia makes it up with help.
Bramwell helps Imperia get into the room and gets ready to assist Khardan. "Only one to go".
Khardan, however, proves to be a lot heavier than Imperia, and despite holding the rope firmly, the dhampir has a hard time pulling it up in any way that could make the half-orc's task easier.
The big half-orc climbs the rope almost as easily as walking down the street, slipping the spear through the window before him.
"What? " he asks. "That's an orc's preferred method of entry!"
Khardan scales the wall easily.
Opening the door reveals a large, second-story floor that seems to be divided into two halves--the remains of an old cellblock to the west and a ruined mess hall to the east.
Wooden benches once lined the large, eastern hall, but several are now stacked in a jumble and others are overturned in disarray. Weakened by fire, the entire east wall has collapsed away, creating an unintended entryway to a wooden deck beyond. The view of the lake beyond would be beautiful if the silence were not so eerie.
The cellblock to the west is dark, and the sound of jangling chains can be heard coming from it, along with a rattling of bones.
Imperia pulls out her mace, and looks around the area that she can see without moving forward. "I'm afraid I can't see in low light or darkness. If I'm going to continue to travel with you all, I may need to seek out a way to see in low light. We'll be less noticeable."
"I don't think we need to fear anything living," says Khardan. "Go ahead and light a torch, Imperial."
Bramwell starts looking for candles or any flammable objects that may work as an improvised torch.
"Lord Bramwell wait a moment please." Imperia pulls the lantern they brought from the Lorrimor house. "Let's use this instead." She holds it out for him to light.
Lirin flew up onto Jayla's shoulder and moved inside the long, dark curtain of hair as was her way. Jayla required no torchlight to see in the dark but knew Imperia did, so she waited beside the others as Imperia handed the lantern to Bramwell.
Lord Bramwell is able to scavenge some old rags and a piece of timber to make a torch. Its light pierces the darkness of the cells, but there isn't anything visible to the party yet...
...
...
...
...and the sound of a haunting flute melody coming from the western cell block.
Imperia whispers quietly, There's something flying in the mess hall to the east. The wings sound leathery. There's also flute music coming from the western cell block. Which do you think we should look into first? I'm inclined to check out the wings sounds to the east. That way we can keep our backs to the wall were standing by, an not have someone come up behind us."
"Let us go check the wing sound first," nodding at Imperia's reasoning.
Using her darkvision she looks beyond the torch light, into the dark/darker surrounds and then listens.
It's strangely entrancing, even if it sounds like a funeral dirge...
The sound of flapping wings gets louder as the party approaches the mess hall. Looking up at the 15-foot high ceiling reveals the source of the flapping wing sounds: a trio of strange, insectoid creatures with two pairs of bat wings each, tangles of thin legs, and needle-sharp proboscides. They take notice of the party in turn, and swoop down from the rafters!
Bramwell advances towards the winged creatures, holding the improvised torch on one hand and drawing a club with the other. He raises the club above his head while marching forward, and lets it down on the first creature that comes within his reach.
"Those are stirges. They attack with their proboscides and drink their blood. Some of them are carriers of diseases. The have darkvision to a range of 60 feet, and they can smell blood." Imperia moves forward as she pulls out her Cold Iron Rapier. She swings at the closest stirge.
Round 1
Jayla agreed with Imperia's description of the flying creatures. "I have heard of them," she said in low voice.
She began softly casting, "I call upon the Elements to shield me from attack" and laid her hand against her side. In seconds, Jayla felt the invisible, warm then cool barrier pushing gently against her body, surrounding her form from head to toe.
She then moved forward (10ft), closer but not immediately in harm's way. Jayla remained crouched behind the nearest, overturned wooden bench, keenly watching the three stirges.
Unfortunately, neither Bramwell's nor Imperia's strikes manage to hit any stirges.
The stirges flit about and dive straight for Bramwell...
...Imperia...
...and Jayla.
All three stirges manage to latch onto their targets. Khardan hustles up next to Jayla and moves to hammer the beast off of her!
His hammer smashes the creature's spine, causing it to spasm once and fall off the changeling without even getting a chance to feed. The remaining two stirges start feeding on their prey!
Round 2
"Thank you for dispatching it before it could do some damage to me, my friend," she said to Khardan.
Not being the best warrior among the party, the little witch reaches her hand across and touches Khardan, "Elements, ward my friend against these foes," and places a protective ward over Khardan.
She then waits, crouched behind the upturned wooden bench with claws at the ready, if either of the other two come forward to attack her.
Bramwell feels the creature's sting probing into his flesh, and can sense the blood flowing out of his body. The contact with a bloodsucking beast feels strangely familiar to the dhampir; he grabs the club with both hands and brings it down on his own shoulder, where the stirge is latched onto, in an attempt to stop the blood drain and squash the little beast.
The impact from Bramwell's club causes the stirge to burst in a spray of blood. Its limp carcass falls off of his shoulder.
Imperia swings at the stirge attached to her shoulder. Get away! The stirge is in such an awkward place that she misses completely.
Imperia's wild flailing almost manages to dislodge the stirge by itself. Unfortunately, it's not enough to throw it off as it continues to suck her blood.
Khardan, seeing the remaining stirge continue to drink from Imperia's blood, moves deliberately over to it and lifting his hammer, swings sideways at the creature, careful of not hitting Imperia, but wanting to pulverise/beat the stirge.
Khardan's hammer causes the stirge to burst in a spray of blood.
Imperia shudders as she feels a bit of her health be sucked away. "Those things are awful." She takes a moment and carefully looks around.
Jayla moved closer to inspect Imperia's wound. "Before we continue, may I see how badly you have been hurt, Mistress Imperia?"
"It appears the bite was free of disease which is very good news. A couple days bed rest will help with your vitality or you could take one of the Lesser Restoration potions we found in the crypt."
"I'll take you up on that kind offer. If we were headed for the manor now, I would wait and let rest deal with it. We have more to explore here. The music is coming from that direction." Imperia points in the direction of the cell block.
She drinks the potion Jayla hands her.
Jayla moved to Lord Bramwell and examined him and the place of the stirge's attachment. As she did so, Lirin moved deeper back into her mistress' hair - further away from the dhampir.
"I only had one potion, Lord Bramwell, and Imperia required it more. Will you be alright to continue on and then rest tonight and tomorrow to heal the injury to your vigour? Or we could call a priest to the house to take care of it for you, once we are done here..."
She waited on his answer.
---------------------
To her mind, it seemed a bad idea to move toward the music, but it had to be investigated and dealt with. Jayla nodded her head, "Aye, let us discover the source of the music, but please be careful all of you. It could be trap."
Jayla quickly looked over Imperia once more to see how effective the potion had been in restoring her vigour and when satisfied looked to Khardan and instructed quietly, "Lead on toward the cell block, please, Khardan."
"Aye," growls Khardan. "The music is terrible." Spear in hand, he leads the team west towards the cellblock.
Imperia follows at the back of the party toward the music.
The flute music gets louder and louder as the party approaches the western cellblock. Imperia's lantern flickers as they draw closer and closer, piercing the shadows and laying bare the cold, stone cells beyond.
Row upon row of ten-foot-square prison cells line the walls of this cellblock, each separated from the passing hallway by a series of iron bars fitted with a narrow iron door. Skeletons slump in many of the cells, the bones scattered where they lie and coated with a mixed layer of ancient ashes and fresh mould.
As the party approaches, the flute music starts to fade away, being replaced by the harsh *jangling* of chains being furiously rattled. The skeletons within the cells start thrashing about, straining against their bonds. A few of them manage to slip free of their rusted, decayed manacles and throw themselves at the party, straining to claw at them from beyond their cells' bars.
Unfortunately, four of the cells are open. The skeletons, still wearing moth-eaten and rotted prisoners' rags, within step out and point accusing fingers at the party before stepping forward to attack!
Bramwell smiles to Jayla and nods. "That's no problem, Jayla. I will be fine in a day or two. It was just a sting, it was," he says, reassuring the girl about his own health. He follows Khardan and the two women towards the music. He sees the skeletons moving to the errie tune and tightens his grip on the club in his hand. When the monsters dash out of their cells, Bramwell is already ready to strike. He moves past Khardan and attacks the first skeleton in the corridor.
Bramwell's club *CLANGS* against the aged metal of the cell bars.
The caged skeleton claws madly at the dhampir lord in retaliation...
...and takes advantage of Bramwell's clumsy swing. Both of its claws rake across his chest, flailing wildly through the bars to harm him.
The skeleton in front of him claws at him as well!
But is unable to even so much as scratch him with its frantic swipes!
The skeleton in the cell next to Jayla throws itself at her from behind the bars!
And it's wild swings fail to even so much as graze her.
Two skeletons mindlessly advance on Imperia, with one managing to get into range to strike her!
She's able to block it with a swift motion of her shield.
Imperia swings with her rapier. Then she steps to the side, drops it and pulls out her light mace.
Imperia's rapier strikes the skeleton squarely in its skull. It wobbles, but doesn't go down.
Round 1
Jayla silently calls upon the Elements and a bright, warm light begins to form around Lirin who is hiding inside her mistress' curtain of hair.
The positive energy then releases/bursts in a 30 ft radius around Jayla, targeting as many skeletons in its path.
The witchling then she takes a 5ft step back, to stand adjacent to Khardan.
The skeleton in the cell directly next to Jayla vibrates and recoils from the sudden burst of healing energy that shines from her. The two skeletons that attempted to attack Imperia, however, twitch once before disintegrating into dust as the light engulfs them.
"Why exactly are we attacking caged skeletons?" Khardan asks. His confusion over motivation doesn't stop him from taking part in the slaughter, however. He sets down his longspear, draws his warhammer and lets fly.
Khardan's hammer crashes against the cell bars as well.
The flute music seems to be starting up again...
Bramwell recoils like an animal after being slashed by the skeletons' claws; with bloody eyes and a bestial countenance, he pounces back, swinging his club wildly.
Bramwell's club whistles past the skeleton's skull.
The skeleton in the cell turns its attentions on Khardan, swiping madly at him!
Both claws almost find their marks, even with the cell bars in the way. One almost rakes across the half-orc's face, but the magical protection Jayla bestowed upon him flares up and turns the claw aside.
Bramwell's undead opponent swings both of its claws at him again...
...and this time it totters unsteadily forward, nearly throwing off its balance with its wild swings.
The wounded skeleton in the cell near Jayla tries to reach its claws around the corner and through the bars to strike her!
And neither claw manages to land; the best it can do is scrape against the magical shell surrounding Jayla.
The other skeleton in the hallway turns and runs in the other direction, trampling the ashes of its disintegrated fellows and blundering into Imperia's sight.