Park step through the doorway, casting Detect Magic and scanning the area for haunts or anything dangerous. Park keeps slow studying the skeletons in the cells.
Petyr comments on what they're finding. "I know that everyone perished in the fire, prisoner and guard alike, but how horrible this must have been: to be burned alive and unable to escape. Unable to even try. It's small wonder that spirits have remained around here." That is, from his understanding of "natural" necromancy.
He also looks east out towards the lake through the hole in the wall. "What do you think that was?" he asks. "They had an auditorium downstairs, but maybe they wanted to have a similar room up here?" It was possible that the Piper's spirit saw it as a performance space, especially given the now-open air.
He seems oddly rattled, his eyes darting around and not taking anything in particular in for long enough to make judgments.
T2 looks closer to a mess hall than a performance center, as metal trays lay scattered among the rubble from the collapsed wall.
All of the cell doors are in fact closed, with a few skeletons caught leaning against the door and even a few with hands stretched out through the bars.
Morganne follows the others down the southern corridor. If you're worried about being ambushed by undead allow me to cast
Deathwatch, it will allow me to identify any that are close by.
As soon as Morganne casts Deathwatch, she sees that four of the skeletons are, in fact, alive. Well, as alive as undead can be.
It seems as if they haven't been 'activated', as it were, for they don't seem to be moving or reacting to your presence whatsoever.
Hang on. Morganne holds out her arm motioning the other two to stop. You were right to be worried, four of the skeletons are indeed undead. The second and fourth cells on the left and the fourth and fifth cells on the right. She points to them as she goes. We could try dealing with them now or return later? The two of you have already had an exhausting day and they are contained so perhaps we should find this Piper, deal with him and come back tomorrow?
Petyr smirks and raises one eyebrow. Well, then, Morganne was quite a welcome addition if she could identify prospective threats before they became violent. "You are able to channel quintessence from the Plane of Positive Energy, yes?" Petyr asks. "If you can situate yourself between the four, would you be able to negate the necromantic forces animating their corpses?" He sticks his thumb, gesturing first to himself and then to Park. "We'll back you up."
Morganne walks down the corridor several feet, careful not to get too close to the undead skeletons. Waiting a moment to allow the other two to move into position Morganne holds aloft Pharma's holy symbol, beseechibg her goddess, Pharma, cleanse this place of these foul abominations. A pulse of positive energy erupts forth from the holy symbol.
Morganne scans over the four skeletons, hoping to see that some have perished.
The positive energy seems to have woken the skeletons up, as they begin to move and shake in their cells, rattling their bones against the cage doors.
As the undead rise Morganne reacts quickly, once again holding Pharma's symbol high. Pharasma purify this place.
Park stands ready to attack if any of the skeletons come out of the cages. "Wait. Are the doors locked?"
If one pushes a door open he attacks it.
The second burst of energy finishes off these troublesome undead, and the four skeletons fall to the ground in pieces.
Park, giving one of the doors a pull, discovers that they are indeed locked.
Park rattles the door and shakes his head. "Well, final death is better than just caged. I wonder which would have failed first, the iron bars rusting or the bones turning to dust?"
He glances around, "Shall we continue then?"
Yes, let us continue. Though I wish to return once we are done with cleansing this place to properly bury them. Morganne continues down the corridor, eyes peeled for any more undead.
Petyr agrees with the southern heading, and moves that way with the group as they continue exploring.
This guard area is blocked from the cellblock by an arc of iron bars. Within sits an old wooden table and a few chairs. A scattering of aged playing cards sits on the table, and numerous playing pieces lay on the floor underneath.
appears to be more cells like the ones the skeletons were in, but you can't tell if there are more skeletons in those cells quite yet from here. is a cell but you can't see into it from where the party is right now.
Move over to T7 to check that cell out. Scanning for any magic in the area and Petyr can check the door for traps.
Morganne follows Park and Petyr, scanning the hallways for danger.
Although this cell is rather spacious, it contains no concessions to comfort. A skeletal body dressed in the rotting remains of a prisoner’s robe lies slumped against the eastern wall, wrapped in numerous chains on which are affixed numerous weights emblazoned with several different holy symbols.
There doesn't appear to be any magic in the area, and the door looks as if it was locked but has since rusted through to the point where it can easily be pushed open.
Hmm, they seem to have been worried that this particular
prisoner was going to escape... Shall we move on?
Park looks at the skeletal body in the cell, half expecting it to rise. The holy symbols seem important.... "One of the 'top five' prisoners was a fake cleric. He's tied to that bundle of holy symbols. Let's continue on, but come back once we find the Piper and put him down."
The guard post doesn't seem to have much of import or interest, beyond the previously mentioned game pieces.
T6 appears to be another row of the same cells as the ones with the unliving prisoners that you saw when you first came to this level. When Morganna starts to move over to the guard post, all three of you clearly hear the faint sound of mournful flute music and the eerie flapping of tiny leathery wings. Within a few moments of hearing the sound, four stirges fly from the area where you saw the small cafeteria earlier.
Morganne yells back a warning to the others Stirges! Before the bugs can close the distance she casts her magic, sending out two bolts of magic that strike the nearest stirge, before she rushes back behind the others.
Hearing the music Park figures they have finally found the Piper. As discussed he starts his bardic performance to fight whatever effect the music has....
Dashing forwards Petyr charges the first stirge he spots, thrusting his rapier at the hovering bug.
As Park starts his countersong, he hears a disembodied mournful dirge echoing throughout the halls and getting closer with every second. Hidden behind the sounds of the music is the sound of flapping leathery wings that don't have an obvious source.
He sees a brief flickering form in the hallway directly to his north, of what looks like the skeletal top half of a man wearing a tattered cloak, carrying a small bird cage in one hand and a long silver flute in the other. The figure is surrounded by a large swarm of stirges of varying sizes, but Park is prepared for the sight and is not affected by the tug of mental fear the vision elicits.
The four actual stirges fly through the halls towards the group, attempting to latch onto the fresh warm bodies.
Two manage to latch onto Petyr and one shoves its proboscis into Morganne's arm.
Morganne reaches for her dagger and attempts to stab the stirge which had just attacked her.
Argh! Screaming in pain, Petyr continues his assault on the same stirge he has charged at.
Park is able to resist the fear aura of the Piper but he knows it was a close thing. When he sees the real stirges attacking the group Park lets the bardic performance power itself and attacks the stirge that had attacked him with his blade.
Petyr manages to kill the other stirge that was attached to him, bringing the total down to 2 left. Morganne misses, but Park strikes the one on him. Not killing it but wounding it.
This time, it is Morganne who feels the call of the Piper, and sees his form moving ever closer to the party down the hallway that Park saw him in. But her will is stronger than the Pipers, and she feels no ill effects beyond the unsettling sight.
The stirge attached to Morganne drains another drink of blood, and the other surviving one attempts to attack Park again. The stirges look frenzied to the point of madness, far beyond what normal predator behavior would imply.
This time it strikes true, and attaches itself to Park before taking a small sip of his blood.
Petyr manages to kill the one on Morganne, and the last stirge detaches from Park before fleeing back the way it came.
Petyr feels the presence and sees the Piper, but like the rest of the group is not fazed by the maddening music or sights.
With the Piper down Park glances around at his companions. "Well, other than those blood suckers that one wasn't too bad. A good night's sleep should get us all feeling better. But.... Should we check out that cell before we leave? If that was where the fake priest died his haunt is probably there. We might be able to lock him in place too."
That is strange. My deathwatch spell isn't telling me anything about that corpse. She blinks in disbelief trying to figure out what's going on.
"So just the dead body and no haunt? I would've thought his haunt would be tied to his body. But maybe he was able to break that link and go elsewhere. We'll have to be careful. I think we can wait until later to bury the body."
Yes, let's return back tomorrow. I don't know about the two of you but those stirges have left me feeling a bit drained.
Park takes the lead to the stairs down. "We've cleared the first level, as far as we could. But we really need to check in with Vesorianna before we leave. She's the spirit of the warden's wife. She's the only thing keeping these haunts contained here rather than running rampant through the town!"
That would be a good idea. I would very much like to meet her.
Vesorianna is where you left her, in the workshop, but she has moved from pacing the room and is instead 'sitting' in the chair in which she died, covering her skeleton.
"Ah, there you are. I felt the Piper's spirit disperse, I hope it did not prove too difficult." she turns to look at you, and gasps loudly. "Did you see anything that may have been related to Father Charlatan?" she asks quietly before continuing.
"He appears to have attached to you, Morganne. Are you a worshipper of some god or goddess? He is standing directly behind you, one hand on your shoulder. I do not know what effects this might have, and I cannot even feel his presence anywhere in the upper levels, but I would warn you to be extremely careful until you have finished off the rest of the spirits in the lower dungeons."
Morganne reflexively yanks her shoulder forward looking behind her. Ugh... Spirit hear me! she calls out to "Father" Charlatan, I am one of Pharasma's servants she holds her holy symbol aloft. You do not belong in this realm! If you know what's good for you, you'll move along. Prolonging your stay in this realm will not save you from the boneyard!
Park looks behind Morganne, disturbed that they'd picked up a haunt and hadn't even known it. "The corpse behind the bars above. It was shackled with various holy symbols and I thought it might have been the fake priest. I don't see it. How can we get rid of it? Is there any way to force it to show itself?" He pulls out one of the haunt siphons. "How about this? Would it work on it? Him?"
Prompted by Parks questions, Morganne tries to remember what she can about spirits and haunts.
The ghost flies over to take a closer look at what Park brings out, and her eyes widen in surprise. ”Oh I didn’t know there were any left of those! The church had those back when I was…alive.” she says, her voice breaking over the last word.
”They had cause to use them a couple of times here, although I don’t know if there were really any left behind spirits before the fire. There’s a good chance it will work, especially with my help. Go on, pop it open.”
~ On the Outskirts of Ravengro ~
Assisted by the persistent drizzle, Rajuna ghosts past much of Ravengro largely unobserved on his way to the Restlands. The crunch of his boots on the gravel of the Eversleep path is deadened by the blanketing weather. It takes him a few minutes to find the Professor’s grave. Rain over the last few days was already reducing the mound of upturned earth into a more uniform hump.
That’s the way of it. One day you’re kicking up your heels, the next you’ve kicked, and the rain wipes the traces of you away like you’ve never been.
Raj crouches down and resentfully flicks a few leaves off the mound. He sets his pack down and digs into it. He pushes aside the death letter from Kendra, which caught up with him days too late. Grasping a hilt, he withdraws a wide-bladed butterfly sword, one of a matched set. Rajuna ignores the water dripping off his burnoose and leathers and considers the grave of his colleague, benefactor, or maybe even friend. Their relationship had always been hard to define.
”Well, Doc, looks like you are doing the scouting on this particular job. I hear good things about Celestials, so maybe you’ve got no worries.” He casually waves the blade, ”But I always told you it’s better to have faith and protection, just in case.” The rogue lays the blade on his pack and starts digging into the grave earth by hand as he continues the conversation. ”You had my back a time or two, and I’ve had yours. Always tried to repay that first favor over the years. I’m real sorry I wasn’t here when Death knocked. Maybe, well, who knows…”
Minutes later, Raj looks at the trench he’s dug, satisfied. He kisses the blade, places the weapon in the depression, and begins shoveling dirt on top of it. ”At any rate, keep that with you if those Celestials get uppity. I’ll be along at some point to collect it from you, share a drink and maybe a tale or two. Until then, know I’ve got another one for your little girl, and I’ll do my best to guard her - always.” He smooths over the mud on the grave with a pat, hiding the evidence of his task.
”See ya later, Doc.” The thief wipes his hands on his pants then seals up his pack, noting the letter from Kendra inside. Now, came the task he was dreading… How do I make up for missing her da’s funeral, for failing her?
"There were just a couple."
Park turns away from Vesorianna. He doesn't want the siphon to affect her.... "Petyr? Ready yours too. If this one isn't enough you can 'pop' yours after me."
Focusing on where he thinks Father Charlatan is he opens the siphon.