Zhandar draws a vaporous potion of magic missile and tosses it at the creature's feet.
"Hang on, Raj!"
The form of the wraith is getting thinner and thinner, as if the damage piling up was getting close to dispersing whatever is left of the spirit on this plane. Yet it clings on with just a sliver of life, and turns its hate upon a target it thinks it will be able to hit, the one making all that racket with his song.
Init, Round 3
22- It
19- Park
18- Zhandar
7- Rajuna
3- Mila
Round 3
Raj somehow twists at the last moment to avoid the wraith’s blow by a finger’s breadth. It was close enough that Mila thought he’d been hit. Lucky, Raj, lucky…
He doesn’t want to give the baby wraith another chance. He continues to attack with everything he has.
Stunning Fist (4):
Ki Pool (4): xx
Shuriken (16): xxx
MW Shuriken (12):
Scabbard of Vigor (1):
Mage Armor (2): x
Wand of Mage Armor (50): xxx
Pot of Invisibility (1):
Pot of Mage Armor (2):
Pot of CLW (1):
Pot of CMW (1):
Tanglefoot Bag (2): x
Effects:
Silenced
AoOs (6/rnd) – Constant
*Uncanny Dodge – Constant
Mage Armor – 4 hour
Tears to Wine – 40 mins time (+2 on INT and WIS skill checks)
Park feels the thing 'hit' him.... and tries to return the attack.
More arrows streak from Mila's bow... she hopes they kill this thing before she runs out of these special arrows.
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There's no need for Zhandar to contribute anything else, as the last flurry of damage from the party finally manages to untether the spirit from this plane and a single last mournful scream fills the room before the wraith is banished.
Now that the spirit is gone and the house is safe you can take a closer look at the house and, more specifically, Karin's room. Her single window stands 15 feet up from the ground, and examining the window you can see it is unmarked in any way and shuts from the inside with a stout latch. Checking outside reveals that the house’s slatted timber walls are difficult to climb and also show no marks. It is quite evidently impossible for the Beast to have killed her in her bed like it is being claimed it did.
Park shakes his head as he realizes everything this house gives them. "I'm almost thinking that we should head back now. This evidence obviously clears the Beast of the crimes here. But.... The monster that did this is still here! But where?"
Mila rubs at her jaw uncertainly. "The full wraith, then? If this was just a created one? Do we... think that was Karin's... ghost, brought back by what killed her?" Gosh, I hate this place..."
She shudders a little, looking around the room for any other clues that might be of use.
Mila awkwardly straightens the sheets on the bed, feeling there's not much more she can do for the dead girl. A wraith... she only has a few more of the ghost-salted arrows left.
Mila is able to find her two arrows that missed, sunk into the mattress of the bed, at least. She retrieves them and returns them carefully to her quiver - the blanching might still be needed.
"Okay." Mila takes a breath. "So where ain't we looked in this village? If we can prove some other thing caused it, that's stronger evidence."
After trying to speak a dozen times, finally Rajuna’s voice returns, croaky but working. He glances at the afternoon sky, estimating the time. ”If we get testimony from an expert on the dead, I think we’ve got enough evidence. The beast couldn’t fit through that tiny window to kill the girl. And she was killed by a wraith which fits what the Beast told us. We’ve also got the ‘beekeeper’ who killed Garad… and the stings to prove that. And whatever turned a bunch of kids into Attic Whisperers - that bit I don’t get. How did all these kids get that lonely? Were they kidnapped or was something bad happening in this town before that? The story we heard was the kids were killed – not gone missing long enough to feel lonely. The sisters painted this as an unblemished little village and that didn’t sit right with me then… and I like it less now.”
He lets that statement stand a moment before switching to pure pragmatism. ”Karin was a baby wraith and whatever created her may still be around. I’d like to hunt it down – along with any other evil lingering in town… but we want to be well gone from this place before night comes. I don’t fancy gettin’ hunted by a wraith after dark. Our job is to defend the Beast, not battle every evil. Also, I’d rather get paid for doin’ the job the marshalls neglected. Puttin’ that aside, if you all wanna clean this town, I’ll go along with it… but let’s do it when the sun ain’t heading for the horizon.”
Zhandar nods pragmatically. "If we have everythin' we need, I'd rather escape while we are still undrained of our life essence. Maybe that momma wraith has moved on from its babies, or is already destroyed somehow?"
Park nods. "As much as I hate leaving an undead monster like that to continue existing, if it kills us the Beast gets burned at the stake. I say lets head back and prepare for the testimony. Wasn't there something else we needed to follow up on?"
Mila rubs at the back of her head. "The sisters said the kids started vanishin' one by one from the village. Seems like maybe that's the undead kids we been findin', yeah? An' they also mentioned an apiary that burnt down. Now that we know the bees got somethin' to do with all this, I reckon that's worth checkin' out. We got a bit of day still to us, here, enough for that I think."
Zhandar frowns. "It would be helpful to our cause if we could show what happened to that girl," she admits.
"Sure would. A body without a mark on it don't lend much weight to the idea the Beast kilt her. But..." Mila sighs and rubs her head.
"If I had a guess, she's back with the other souls buried just outside the church. But they're not too happy with anything, and I can't calm 'em a second time today."
Mila pauses before adding, "Prolly I can... like... disrupt 'em. Sorta scare 'em off with... holy stuff. Won't set 'em to rest for good, but it might let us go digging for a body. 'course, that body might be pretty, um, ripe by this point."
As they consider these options, Mila looks around the room just to be sure there's nothing they've missed. Maybe Karin kept a diary... saying how the Beast was her friend... sure. And maybe Desna will give Mila wings.
Mila doesn't find anything else of note inside the home, but perhaps by accident or luck she catches a glimpse through an open window up to the hill to the southwest of town. However she manages to see it, she clearly sees the outline of burnt ruins sitting atop the knoll. Perhaps this is the site you've been looking for?
Peering out the window, Mila frowns to see the silhouette of the burnt buildings. "Hey, y'all... I think up there's the old apiary. Let's use daylight well, huh? I think we found all we gonna find in here."
Unless others have objections, she exits the home and starts towards the old charred buildings.
"Good point. Check it while there's daylight." Park joins Mila.
Raj nods in agreement and follows along.
Zhandar brings up the rear.
The climb up the hill only requires a slight exertion, and you quickly arrive at the top.
The hilltop itself has the burnt out building at its peak, a silhouette of a husk broken in the light that solidifies as you crest the hill.. A few overgrown rows of immense flowers ring part of the hilltop, while beyond them lie the charred remains of the building that is flanked by another circular ruin. One other striking feature catches the light of the sun: the skeletal remains of a man tied to a large, wooden post in between the two buildings.
Park looks at the skeletal remains in horror. "This wasn't mentioned by anyone. What were these villagers thinking? Was this an execution and they didn't even think about repercussions? Be ready for a haunt."
He moves toward the body drawing his weapon, casting Detect Magic and scanning the area. He focuses first on the body then around it on the ground and any shadows that might conceal.... anything.
”These townsfolk have been hiding more than a few secrets.” Raj goes to investigate a set of ruins.