"That bastard can wait," says Khardan, beelining for the southern wing of the basement.
The party reaches the southern wing of Harrowstone's basement, and can see the expansive cell block through a wrought iron portcullis. A door on the eastern wall opens into what appears to be a guardroom, with a charred black wheel connected to a rusted iron chain situated in the centre of the room.
Several iron doors line the walls of the partially ruined cellblock—the doors themselves hang askew on their hinges, revealing empty cells beyond. Partially burnt wooden support timbers still function to the north, while to the south they’ve collapsed and caused cell walls to crumble as well. Rivulets of water drip down the southwestern wall to create a shallow pool in this ruined portion of the room, with overflow filling an oubliette hole in the middle of the room nearly to the rim.
And standing at the edge of the hole, in a daze, is Jayla.
Imperia stops and puts out a hand to keep Kardan from rushing in. "We should be careful this may be a trap."
Filiana can you tell me if there's anything magical in the room, please?
Startled from staring intently at the seemingly easily found Jayla by Imperia's words, Filiana stutters out "Oh! aahh, of course."
She then mutters softly to herself and her eyes begin to glow with a pale white light. She concentrates, trying to keep the magic going for as long as she can to check for any hint of magic within the room.
Filiana gasps at the sight of Jayla viewed through her spell and turns her head slightly as if going to avert her eyes although she stops herself from actually looking away.
"Oh! Oh my... so bright, she is glowing so bright. There is so, so much magic there, on her right now."
Almost reluctantly, she forces herself to face Jayla directly as she maintains the spell to try and glean more information.
"Jayla! Stop!" Khardan starts to rush in, but pauses, checked by Imperia. She can feel every muscle in him tense, ready to spring forward.
Jayla makes no response.
"How do we open this gate? It's very cold and dark further back in the room. I think our ghost might be back there." She looks for a mechanism that will open the portcullis.
Alternatively, you could look for another way into the room...
"We could repair the wheel in the middle of this room or we could find another way in. I vote for finding a different way. No telling how long it's going to take for us to repair the wheel."
Filiana nods in agreement but says nothing. She is concentrating on maintaining her spell as long as she can in case there's any change in the magic in the vicinity.
So she just stands there, her eyes glowing white as she looks around.
"Damn it!" When he can't lift the portcullis, Khardan reverses course and makes a bee-line for the western unexplored western corridor.
Filiana looks slightly alarmed as Khardan rushes off, but quickly follows after him. As she follows, her spell expires and her eyes fade back to normal.
Interesting ... so there's a limit. I can't just keep it going forever. This is going to need a lot of learning. Maybe I will need to take Imperia up on her offer to help work out what I can do.
Imperia sighs and follows after Kardan. Such a hurry. I'm certain Jayala is the bait for a trap, and she will be fine until we get to her. Or at least I hope that's the truth."
Khardan goes on a tear, running down the western corridor, past two doors to the north & south, and emerges into a massive cellblock, similar to the one to the south. A brass nameplate, its face caked with soot, hangs on a stone beam at the entrance to the llarge cellblock. Many of the iron doors along the walls within the cellblock hang open, revealing empty cells within.
Another door lies to the south, between cells to the south and east.
Ignoring the side doors, Khardan advances incautiously through the cells towards the southern door. He's not running or anything, but he is hustling quickly.
Imperia follows Khardan. "My head hurts. Be careful something is here." she cries out.
Impetuous, but not stupid, Khardan slows his advance. He trusts that Imperia knows what she's talking about.
Wincing at the sudden pain, Filiana replies to Imperia... "Oh! Ah, my head hurts too... what is doing that??"
Cawthorne squawks and grabs his head as well.
The headaches fade, being replaced by the stench of gore and the sounds of a hammer striking flesh. "Pretty thing... pretty thing... almost done, my darling, almost done..." A gruff voice says.
Emerging from the western wall of the cellblock is the pale blue, spectral form of a dwarf in filthy prison rags. There's a large sledgehammer in his hands, and his long, stringy beard is caked in who knows what. A ghostly skull floats nearby, hundreds of fractures running along it. A blade-shaped fragment is still missing from its crown.
His eyes look squarely at Khardan's head.
"...I'm almost done, Tarna. One more piece, and you'll be whole again." The Mosswater Marauder intones, and in response a cacophony of screams erupts from the cells. Three severed heads fly out of the cells and begin to bear down on the party, howling in pain & fear.
She moves up and then swings at the head in front of her. "I don't think his head will work. Sorry."
Imperia skewers the fleshy head and it abruptly stops screaming. A bolt of blue energy flies from the back of its skull and strikes the Marauder squarely in the head.
The ghostly dwarf flinches, but refocuses on Imperia, his shadowed, empty eyes burning. "...yes. Your skull has a better shape."
Dr. Cawthorne recoils in horror and swings his club at the severed head flying at him!
In his fright, his club catches the edge of the cell door next to him.
The remaining heads rear back and fly at Cawthorne & Filiana respectively...
...only to miss spectacularly. The head flying at Filiana bounces off the stone wall next to her.
The Marauder raises his sledgehammer and runs right at Imperia. "Hold still. Need one last piece."
The hammer comes down!
And with a twist of her body, Imperia evades the wild swing!
Khardan doesn't know if this ghost is what's threatening Jayla. He only knows that it's between him and Jayla. One of them isn't leaving this room.
"Enough, Madman!" he yells, shouldering his way past Imperia. "You want a piece of me? You got it!"
Filiana gives a small squeak of fear as the ghastly head flies at her, dodging to the side as it crashes into the wall. As she stares at it she suddenly seems to realize that she is still carrying the Pharasman Mace. A look of determination comes over her face and tightening her grip she swings the mace at the horror before her.
Filiana's swing narrowly misses the incoming skull, and the Marauder leans away from Khardan.
Bramwell looks at Filiana's target, unlimbers his scythe and hacks at it!
He splits it in half with one strike.
This time, the pale ray that lances out from it strikes the Marauder squarely in the chin. The ghostly dwarf flinches and reels backwards!
Iperia pulls out her Haunt Siphon, and activates it. Be gone.
For a moment, there's a dead silence as Imperia breaks the seal on her haunt siphon.
Then a mighty rush of holy energy races forth and engulfs the dwarf in an instant. The Marauder can only wail in anguish & despair as his essence is drawn into the siphon, the stopper slamming back into place. The contents of the siphon turn a pulsing green colour.
The remaining floating skull immediately crumbles into greasy black ash.
Filiana stares at the siphon as it glows green in Imperia's hand.
"By the gods, what is that?"
Not caring what that was, Khardan pushes on forward, ready to bring final justice to whatever threatens Jayla.
Seeing the need for haste that drives Khardan, Filiana silently hurries along behind him and Imperia.
This haste feels so ... so dangerous. Like we're rushing heedlessly into peril. But what else can we do? Khardan is right to fear for Jayla in the hands of one of these horrors.
Imperia puts the lid back on the Siphon. "It's called a Haunt Siphon or were you asking what the creature was? That was the spirit of one of the people trapped here when the fire burned down the prison."
She hurries along. I can open the Siphon and do negative energy damage as well. It doesn't release the spirit."
Following the others hastily through the halls of the Prison, Filiana has little breath left for conversation. However, she manages to look a little impressed at the description of the Haunt Siphon.
What a ... thing ... Amazing clever ... I ... wonder... who made it...
Khardan practically tears the southern door off its hinges as he barrels through it, the rest of the party following behind him.
Numerous grisly tools of torment decorate the room beyond, from cages to hanging chains along the walls to a stretching rack, a large wooden tank, and a fire pit in the middle of the room. To the east stands a grim iron maiden, the lid closed and presenting a stern decoration of a tormented woman upon its face. The broken, twisted skeleton of a human dressed in a tattered guard’s uniform lies upon the stretching rack in the middle of the room; the body is surrounded by several discarded knives, branding irons, and pliers. A large, bloodstained wicker basket sits at the head of the rack.
"Where is she?" growls Khardan, stalking around the room. "Where is he? Show yourself, coward!"
Trying her best to not look at the horrific tools of this room, Filiana keeps her eyes firmly trained on Khardan as he prowls around the room.
Where is she? Where is she? There's nothing here... nothing but, no... no.. don't look at it...
"I don't understand. Where is she? There's no way we could have missed ... ahh ... could it be magic?"
Imperia sighs, and moves to the maiden. "Watch my back please." She examines the item for traps. Seeing none she attempts to open it.
As Imperia approaches the iron maiden, she finds it opens easily, despite its rusted hinges.
As Imperia moves to the iron maiden casts and sweeps her gaze about the room to ensure nothing magical is lurking unseen. As Imperia goes to open the vile device, she will focus on watching her, more than half expecting some ghostly horror to spring out from it.
For a split-second, Imperia feels a strange compulsion as the iron maiden's doors open. It passes swiftly.
There's a click from the wall next to the iron maiden as a secret stone door pops slightly ajar.
Imperia is relieved that the feeling she should enter the maiden disappears quickly. She notices the door, and calls out.
Khardan! That way." she points to the door and waits for him to enter it.
Barely containing his concern and fury, Khardan doesn't hesitate. If anything's happened to Jayla...
Hearing Imperia's direction, he throws wide the secret door, spear at the ready, then plunges in if no immediate danger reveals itself.
Filiana quickly moves across the room to be behind Khardan while being sure to leave space for her other companions if needed. Reaching out tentatively to touch the half-orc, there is a brief glimmer of pale white light that leaps onto his form.
Imperia follows Khardan through the door. "Filiana he's not thinking Be careful." she whispers as she moves past the young halfling.
At the touch, Khardan spins back, teeth bared in a grim snarl, ready to fight. He sees Filiana, but his eyes are wide with fear and anger. For a moment it almost seems as though the half-orc might strike the small halfling but he catches himself and only growls in frustration, plunging into the darkness again.
As Khardan whirls around and snarls at her, Filiana, eyes wide in fear, cowers back and raises her hands up in front of her head.
"Khardan! I'm ... I'm ... " she trails off, staring as he turns back and rushes off into the darkness. For a moment she hangs her head, her hands dropping to her sides.
"I'm ... sorry ... I was ... trying to help."