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The white vapour within the vial churns for a moment as Imperia pops the cork. For a moment, everything goes still... the spirit turns towards the occultist with wide, burning eyes. For the first time since the party's seen it, the haunt appears to be filled with mortal terror.
...no. No. Nononono NONONONONO! It wails as the white vapour escapes the vial. As soon as the mist makes contact with the air around the haunt, it becomes a vacuum of impressive strength, roiling around the spirit and tearing relentlessly at its form!
DAMN YOU! DAMN YOU ALL! The spirit's form begins to dissolve as the vial draws it into itself. It flails wildly about. THERE'S STILL MORE--
Whatever it was about to say is abruptly cut off as the siphon pulls it in fully. After swiftly replacing the cork, the vial's misty contents begin to glow green.
Imperia puts the siphon away. "I wonder who the "she" is the musician was referring to? If he's worried about her helping us, maybe we should seek her out. Do you think there are more of them? Maybe we should split up the siphons." She takes a look at the area around her.
"I hear more flying creatures to the north. They may be locked behind a door. Do we want to take a look?"
"Can't imagine why," growls Khardan, putting away his mace and taking up his spear. "There are enough ways to die here without begging for more."
Bramwell sticks his head out of the cell to peep, just in time to see the ghost sucked into the haunt siphon. His eyes widen watching the eerie green mists swirling inside the corked vial. He slowly steps out into the corridor and walks up to Khardan and Imperia. "Yes, I agree with Khardan. Let' avoid those stirge things. Nasty bloodsuckers, they are." Bramwell stares greedily at the used haunt siphon in Imperia's hand. "It's full of negative energy now, isn't it?", he asks, with a feeble voice. The dhampir seems to be in considerable pain.
"Imperia hands the full siphon to him. Here you go. Take a look."
Jayla looked to see what Bramwell would do before they continued. She could not heal the dhampir but Imperia could as well as the haunt siphon the librarian handed to him.
"Lord Bramwell, please take the healing so we may not tarry here too long and become besieged by some escaped stirges," she whispered urgently to the dhampir.
Imperia reaches out to gently touch Lord Bramwell on the hand. She speaks the words to Inflict Light wounds. Seeing he still doesn't look well she does it again.
"Let's check the door right next to us then." She waves for Jayla to move away from the door, and carefully checks it for traps and to see if it's locked.
She did not care for being waved away in such a manner as words would have sufficed and been more courteous, but Jayla stepped back from the door so the librarian could study it.
Not used to physical contact, Bramwell flinches when Imperia touches him. Still, as he feels the influx of negative energy healing his wounds, he relaxes. When she finishes casting her spells, he nods amd mubles "Thank you."
He follows Imperia paying keen attention to their surroundings.
...along with what sounds like a malicious, mischievous chuckle.
"Chains on the other side," Bramwell proclaims, standing behind Imperia. "And chuckles, malicious ones. Another evil spirit, it would seem. Maybe this one can be talked to? Shall we try through the door, first?", the dhampir asks the group.
With Imperia and Bramwell before her, there isn't much Jayla can do but listen and wait, feeling Lirin's feathers brush up against her neck. The conjured stirge's bite had left its mark deep inside her and her vitality was not what it once was and she could feel the lessening. She hoped once they returned to town, she could find someone to heal her for such a malady was beyond her ken.
When Lord Branwell relayed the news of the malicious laughter coming from beyond the door, Jayla sighed inwardly and then braced herself for this was not the time to show weakness or frustration.
"Please open the door carefully and look beyond. Lord Bramwell, with your darkvision you may be able to tell us what you see for I do not have a clear line of sight from my current vantage," she responded in quiet voice.
"Ah, yes, Miss Jayla. Let us try and parley, then," Bramwell says calmly. Turning to Imperia, the dhampir makes a recommendation. "Perhaps it would be best to have another of those haunt siphons at hand, yes?" He slowly and carefully opens the door just a crack, and takes a look inside. "Who dwells in there? We wish to talk, and maybe help."
There's no response to Bramwell's parley attempt.
Bramwell opens the door and steps into the room. "We know you are here."
Seeing/hearing Bramwell try to speak with any spirit beyond the door, she noted his first attempt proved fruitless.
She then called out from her position behind Lord Bramwell, "Aye, we seek to parley. Let this be a peaceful meeting. Tell us who you are and what you want."
She was not as charming as per her usual form, and there was reason for the slight edge in her voice. Yet, she tried to keep her words steady and polite in hopes it reached the ears and reasoning of whatever lay beyond the door in the darkness.
Bramwell opens the door to reveal a particularly dark cell. Resting inside, shackled to the wall with many manacles & chains, is a skeletal body dressed in the rotting remains of a prisoner's robe. Numerous weights are affixed to the chains; these weights are emblazoned with a wide variety of different holy symbols.
Jayla tried to see around/beyond Bramwell and Imperia into the dark chamber.
Alas, her short stature and position made it difficult to see much detail or much of anything, even with her darkvision.
She quietly asked the dhampir, "Lord Bramwell, what do you see?"
Imperia pulls out an empty Haunt Siphon. She slips to the side so Bramwell can get a really good look into the room.
Bramwell narrows his eyes at the skeleton in the cell. "A corpse in chains, it looks like."
"Be careful--it might still try to attack."
Whoever this was, they must have been either quite powerful--or quite offensive to those faiths--for such measures to be taken to contain them.
"If it's chained it may be easy enough to examine the room.", she steps in with the lantern in her hand.
"There appears to be a secret door her. Let's take a look shall we."
Khardan moves up behind Imperia to support her with his spear.
Jayla stared at the skeleton of the prisoner with the weights around its shackled limbs before speaking, "The symbols belong to Sarenrae, Shelyn, Cayden Cailean, Iomedae, Pharasma, Erastil, Abadar, Groetus and Sivanah. Such measures would only be taken upon the most offensive or powerful offender. Best to keep the chains in place."
She heard Imperia speak of a secret door and before she could move closer to examine it herself, Khardan, spear in hand, moved up to stand behind Imperia, so she stepped 5 ft to the side of Lord Bramwell and waited to see what would happen next. Her mismatched gaze glanced back to the chained skeleton every now and again to ensure they were safe from it.
"Lord Bramwell, what do you see?"
Bramwell approaches the skeleton for further inspection. He nods upon hearing Jayla's remark. "Hmph. Indeed, Miss Jayla, that is one well chained prisoner, I say." The dhampir's eyes burn red as he raises his hand and mutters unintelligible words.
The secret door radiates no magic.
Bramwell's eyebrows plunge into a frown as the dhampir doubts his own intuition. Intrigued, he shares his initial impression with the rest of the group. "Strange, very strange. The trapdoor is completely mundane, but the prisoner... I thought I saw a glimpse of magic there", he says pointing to the chained skeleton. "But then it was gone. Do my eyes deceive me, or something else?"
"That sounds interesting. Do you want to study this more?" Imperia asks as she looks at the skeleton.
Bramwell takes a moment to reflect on Imperia's question. "Hmm. I do, I do. I find it very odd. Could this be one of those five prisoners? The care with which he was restrained hints at a dangerous inmate. What were their names?", the dhampir says, trying to recall the list of villains uncovered by Jayla earlier on. "Father Charlatan, the Lopper, the Mosswater Marauder, the Splatter Man, and... oh." He pauses upon the revelation, and then looks at the spirit trapped inside the haunt siphon. "I believe the Piper of Illmarsh is taken care of."
Bramwell takes a step towards the chained skeleton and inspects it with his naked eyes, without resorting to magic.
She listened to Lord Bramwell's theories on who the skeleton could have been when it was a living, breathing person.
She quietly added, "The Mosswater Marauder was a dwarf and this skeleton is far too large for one. The Splatter Man came into my dreams and tried to spell out my name and with the amount of holy symbols keeping this one in place, I do not think it is him. Because of the religious symbols, I am thinking it is possibly Father Charlatan? However, I do not possess any particular knowledge of him to say so with any great certainty. But I feel you are right and that the Piper of Illmarsh's spirit is now in the haunt sipon."
Jayla casts Detect Magic on the skeleton now, looking it over thoroughly (studying it) and its chains and weights.
Khardan nods, thinking it through. "His name suggests his crime. And those chains suggest the appropriate punishment. This 'Father Charlatan' likely committed blasphemy and heresy many times over, probably impersonating various clergy. It seems he angered many gods. I would say leave him, but we have come to find and end the threat to you, Jayla, and to the whole town. I say we confront the old fraud."
...
...but in response to your arcane search, you think you hear a malicious chuckle in your ear.
Or was that just the wind?
A chill ran down Jayla's spine upon the breath and sound by her ear.
To her companions, she quietly asked, "Did anyone hear that wicked laughter? As soon as I cast for magical auras, I discovered none on the manacles and weights, but I did hear something against my ear. I don't believe it was the wind."
Upon Khardan's words, she turned to the Half-orc and nodded, "I think we have the right of it as this is Father Charaltan. I am uncertain, however, that he will speak to us," looking to Imperia who possessed the remaining three haunt siphons. "What say you, Mistress Imperia and Lord Bramwell? Do we attempt it?"
Bramwell turns to the changelling and speaks calmly. "I would like to, Miss Jayla, but I agree that it will be hard to talk to the man. Do you have any ideas? To me, it seems his spirit is either gone, or it does not wish to reveal itself. Or yet a third option—maybe it's playing us. There are definitely strange signs here. Look at his chains, compared to the rest of the room: they are not as damaged, almost as if they were brought here after the fire. Could they be false?" The dhampir reaches out to touch the chains.
Imperia pulls out a Haunt Siphon. "I'm ready just in case he shows himself. I feel better dealing with things as we find them."
The chains themselves aren't false, but they're strangely warm to the touch.
Having heard each of her companions speak, Jayla pondered the situation before them and responded, "If this Father Charlatan is tied to the holy symbols adorning his corpse, then using them in some way may provoke him into revealing himself...I cannot say for certain, but we could try."
Imperia carefully looks at the runes to find a way to activate them. "Let's see if we can make them activate then."
"I have an idea. It's not the most upstanding. Khardan would you object to our "defacing" some of the symbols. That should get the good Father to manifest."