"It appears this was the Lopper's axe." She then takes the longsword and the mace to look at closely.
Torn from an inmate's hands. A vicious man, not the Lopper, but one who sought his fame. A blade too finely-made for the hands of a mediocre murderer.
The mace's images are more violent--you get the sensation of great fear and fury. A fire rages around you, and the guards of Harrowstone are running about, shouting orders and just shouting in general. You left the chapel to tend to the wounded--just before you felt something sharp cut through your neck.
"The mace belonged to the chaplain, and the longsword was stolen by a murderer."
Filianas happy look fades slightly and she sighs quietly... By the Goddess! Is everything we come across in here going to be ghastly? It's no wonder the place ended up burning down.
Her look becomes a little sadder, but somehow more resolute.
"Well, that was undoubtedly horrible, and yet ... because we came here, some of the horror of this place is gone from the world now. Hopefully, by doing this, we can make the world a lighter place."
She looks around the group. "What do we do next?"
"Take the Lopper's bones to the graveyard for a proper burial?" suggests Khardan.
"Hmm." Lord Bramwell nods in assent. "Perhaps it will assist Lady Vesorianna in keeping his spirit from rising again."
"Rising again?" Filiana sounds slightly shaken at the idea. "Can that happen? Well, we definitely should do whatever we can to stop that happening!"
Imperia gathers up the bones and puts them in a pile. "Does anyone have a bag we can put these in?" She'll keep the longsword for herself.
"Awk!" Cawthorne suddenly snaps to attention, his mind having wandered while the remains of the Lopper and other artifacts were being retrieved from the pit.
"Well, it's by no means proper, but I suppose I could carry the man's remains in my medical bag - after removing my instruments and supplies, of course. Despite his crimes, both before and after death, I agree that all deserve a proper burial when possible."
"It's only decent, after all."
"Right," says Khardan, lifting the bag of bones. "Let's go."
Carrying the Pharasman Mace, Filiana will nod and follow along after Khardan.
The party makes their way back outside the dilapidated prison, to an overcast, miserable sky and equally dreary dusty path. The return journey to the Restlands goes without incident--and as the party approaches, they see a lone figure in a grey cowl, shovel in hand, piling dirt before a grave.
"Father Grimburrow?" asks Khardan.
The figure looks up at Khardan as he speaks, his cowl falling to reveal the elderly father himself. "Yes?"
"These are the bones of the Lopper. We fought hard to get them and we want you to bury them in holy ground so he never rises again!"
"That's one down. I believe we have the father yet to deal with, and the other one. Had something to do with fire I believe." Imperia tries to remember what else they have to deal with before the prison can be cleared of the evil left there.
"We are getting closer to completing our goal of settling the spirits in the prison. I do hope it helps this place become a bit more cheerful." she glances around at the miserable sky, and dreary village.
Father Grimburrow plants his shovel in the ground. "Rest assured, these bones will not rise while under Pharasma's ever vigilant watch. The Cathedral will serve to keep them from foul influence."
"A most comforting reassurance." The doctor moves to get a view of any headstone or marker that may be present at the grave Father Grimburrow is currently shoveling.
What sad soul has departed with no one to mourn them at their burial?
Filiana looks on as the group places the bones of the Lopper in the care of Father Grimburrow.
"Are we going to bring the remains of each of these restless spirits back here for burial then? Perhaps we should get another bag of some sort?"
"That's not a bad idea. Let's do that." Imperia asks the Father if he has a couple of bags they might borrow.
"I should have a few back at the Cathedral." Father Grimburrow says before leading the trek back to the gothic house of worship.
By the time the party returns, there's a distinct chill in the air. No acolytes can be seen in the garden outside, and the main chapel of the cathedral is devoid of life.
Jayla is nowhere to be found. The elderly priest's expression turns surprised, then worried. "...where did the girl go?"
Imperia looks worried as well. She keeps her anger under wraps at the fact the Father couldn't keep track of Jayla.
"We should search for her quickly." She begins looking around for any indication to where she might have gone.
Filiana's face drops at the discovery and she hustles along behind Imperia as she looks for any sign of Jayla.
By the gods! Just as I was starting to feel as if things were improving! No, don't do that Fi... don't assume the worst... but ...
... there's no sign, where could she be?
"It's not just Jayla, there's nobody here... where are the other priests?"
"That's true. Where could they have gone?" She looks around for any signs, and to the Father for an answer.
Father Grimburrow starts looking around.
And his eyes prove to be not as effective as the rest of the party. "I... I..."
He shakes his head & starts to walk to the back of the cathedral. "...maybe she's with one of the acolytes?"
As he leaves, Lord Bramwell growls and folds his arms. "Foolish. She isn't here. But she can't be that hard to track."
"Let's take a look." Imeria moves to the doorways and looks for signs.
Father Grimburrow scarpers off, deeper into the cathedral.
Further searching into the room reveals the archives are in disarray, as if a violent struggle took place in them. Papers & books lie scattered about, and a window above a nearby desk is broken.
There's a piece of fabric snagged on a shard of glass in the window's frame.
Filiana follows the others back to the cathedral, sticking close to Imperia. Following Imperia into the archive, she looks upon the chaos in the room with dismay.
Oh no no... what could have happened here? More monsters? More evil? Is nowhere safe? ... now, calm down Fi... remember ... here to help
Swallowing, she quietly mutters to herself and her eyes once again begin to glow with a white light as she looks about the room.
Filiana looks slightly downcast.
"There is no sign of any magic in here to tell us who or what might have been behind what happened in here. But there can be little doubt that is was these Whisperers that are behind this. Who else would have the means, or the resolve to do such a thing in the House of Pharasma?"
Imperia moves over and looks at the cloth. "This might tell us something."
Imperia studies the cloth.
She remembers Jayla liked to wear that same colour of cloth.
"This is from Jayla's clothing. We need to search for her." She looks around for any indication where to go next.
She looks very worried about Jayla going missing. "We killed the creature who was in her dreams. Hopefully it's power over her has broken."
"He's taken her. The Splatter Man has taken Jayla! Come, to the prison!"
Khardan sets off at a run. He loves Jayla like a little sister and heaven help anyone, living or dead, who has harmed her.
Filiana hesitates just long enough to glance around the rest of the people in the room before setting off after Khardan.
This is madness! Charging heedlessly into peril like this. But we can't let him go on his own!
Despite her fears, she dashes as quickly as she can in the Half-Orc's wake.
Imperia follows Khardan and Filiana. "Be careful. We have to go in with a plan. This is a terrible idea."
This is madness. What are we doing? Rushing into danger with no thought of a plan.
The doctor and the dhampir give chase to the rest of the party, Cawthorne in particular calling out to them. "Wait! Blast it, WAIT!"
-------------
By the time the party reaches the prison again, night is beginning to fall.
Khardan paces the courtyard impatiently until everyone else arrives. "Night is falling. When it does, he'll kill Jayla. We have no time for subtle plans. We find him and we kill him before he can hurt her. That's the plan."
"Let's go then. Into the prison at night. She doesn't look like she thinks it's a good idea, but has no choice.
She moves to the entrance of the prison.
While the others are talking, Filiana is just staring at the dark shape of the prison, looming above them all in the failing light.
Dark ... so dark ... just like when... just like... Stop it! Fi, just stop it! You're not alone any more. And you came here to help... so help!
She licks her lips nervously for a moment and then says "It's umm, it's getting very dark in there. Perhaps we should have a little bit of light."
With that, she takes a torch from her pack and after a brief moment of concentration and some quiet muttering, she snaps her fingers and the head of the torch catches alight. She then moves to stand next to Imperia and after some more quietly incomprehensible speech she touches her finger to her weapon. A tiny spark of pale white light jumps from her finger to the weapon and it begins to glow.
"Thank you Filiana. I appreciate the light. Sometimes a little light makes things better." she gives the young woman a slight smile.
Filiana smiles a slightly nervous smile back at Imperia.
"Yes, light makes things better. Better than darkness anyway. I don't like the dark."
The smile fades from her face. Then, in an effort to distract herself from her worries, she says... "So... ahh ... where do we start? Do we have any clue where we need to go?"
Imperia sighs, "Back to the basement. Do we want to take care of the Father now or later? He's currently contained as far as we know. I'm all for taking care of whatever is running amok in the village, and the Father isn't it."