Marill isn't at all sure what he can do against a haunt. He is not at all sure if it will work but he is going to try a daze spell.
If it does happen to have a chance of working, Will Save DC 14
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Tiff's ray goes wide.
Quinn's torch deals damage, and the chill abates for a moment.
Ismene's holy water hits the center of the manifesting haunt, and the chill dissipates entirely!
Theodore is denied a chance to interact with the haunt (this time at least) so cannot use his Spirit Sleuth ability to determine the correct course of action to permanently neutralize it. However, it is gone for now at least.
---
Ismene is able to open the locked door.
PROPERTY ROOM
A bizarre collection of antique goods rests upon wooden shelves that line the room. Several of the items contain tiny tags with labels written in a careful script.
Although much of the remaining property is junk, a few items remain that may be of interest, including a set of masterwork thieves’ tools , a bronze war medallion from the Shining Crusade (worth 40 gp), an unframed Taldan painting of Stavian I (worth 100 gp), a set of a noblewoman’s silver hair clips (worth 35 gp), a masterwork punching dagger, a pouch containing a dozen masterwork shurikens, a masterwork silver war razor, and a wand of lesser restoration (12 charges).
The war razor looks unnervingly familiar to Theodore and Tiff, as if they had seen it in a dream.
You don't immediately see any relics of the five notorious prisoners. Taking time to search, you uncover a secret vault within the property room.
----
HIDDEN VAULT
This small vault was used to store the more valuable or notorious belongings of the various prisoners. Currently, the vault contains only five objects.
A bloodstained handaxe bears the tag Vance Saetressle
A collection of a dozen holy symbols on fine silver chains bears the tag Sefick Corvin . The symbols are of Pharasma, Desna, Iomedae, Sarenrae, Nethys, Calistria, Shelyn, Irori, Abadar, Erastil, Milani, and Torag. The collection is probably worth about 300 gp.
A thick leather-bound spellbook caked in mold bears the tag Hean Feramin
A masterwork smith's hammer bears the tag Ispin Onyxcudgel
A tarnished silver flute, of masterwork quality and probably worth about 300 gp, bears the tag Piper of Ilmarsh
----
What do you do with the five items? Does anybody touch or handle them? If examined from a distance with Detect Magic, the handaxe radiates magic as a standard magic item but with something else besides. The spellbook and the hammer have just that 'something else' - some unclear aura. The holy symbols and flute appear quite mundane.
Theodore's Spirit Sleuth ability can apply here to figure out what is going on (one check per item), with a modifier based on how he interacts with the items. The Spirit Planchette you found would also be an option.
Tiff eyes the war razor and only says, "Huh!?"
After lingering on it for a moment she turns to Sammy and asks, "This looks familiar. I'm getting a vision of something yellow, like a triskelion. And then, nope lost it."
When she sees the spellbook she can't help but seize it and start paging through it.
Tiff pages through not noticing at first the blood scrawlings, after about the 5th page she yells out, "Hey! I think its haunted!" She holds up to a page margin and asks, "Do you see my name or your name?"
She then detects magic and shares her findings with everyone.
Does anyone else look in the book when Tiff holds it up? Please chime in here one way or the other.
Yes, I'd look
Quinn is about to start sorting through the various holy symbols when he looks over at the book Tiff is holding up.
Theodore begins rolling up his sleeves, preparing to pepper that Haunt with so much Holy....
That happened quick.
Peering about the Property Room, the Pharasman follows his Spirit Sleuth tactical strategy when handling these particular property products...
A bloodstained handaxe bears the tag Vance Saetressle We know this to be the name of the Lopper....
A collection of a dozen holy symbols on fine silver chains bearing the tag Sefick Corvin Father Charlatan. The symbols are of Pharasma, Desna, Iomedae, Sarenrae, Nethys, Calistria, Shelyn, Irori, Abadar, Erastil, Milani, and Torag.
A thick leather-bound spellbook caked in mold bears the tag Hean Feramin Our Splatter Man
A masterwork smith's hammer bears the tag Ispin Onyxcudgel, or Mosswater Marauder
A tarnished silver flute, of masterwork quality and probably worth a bit. It bears the tag Piper of Ilmarsh
The Cleric seems a bit more confused than before apparently....
Theodore learns nothing about the handaxe.
With the holy symbols, he can definitively say that there is no spiritual connection present. They most likely had a connection to Father Charlatan, but with the destruction of his spirit, they are simply holy symbols.
The spellbook:
Theodore can feel that the Splatter Man was dealt a terrible blow to his morale and sanity by the loss of this spellbook. It is most definitely haunted or cursed, but could also be used as a weapon against the spirit. In fact, Theodore sees how it could be so used. By ripping out and destroying the remaining intact pages while in the spirit's presence, you could further erode his morale and damage him.
Theodore also senses that whoever carries this book will take on some of the Splatter Man's fears, in particular fears of losing spellcasting ability.
Finally, the book will over time cause the possessor to see their name partially spelled blood in various locations. This is unnerving and can increase paranoia.
He can tell nothing about the smith's hammer, nor the flute.
Tiff casts read magic repeatedly.
Mold has destroyed much of the book's contents, but the following spells remain legible:
comprehend languages
dispel magic
false life
gust of wind
illusory script
levitate
mage armor
magic missile
summon monster IV
Theodore frowns at his sister's impulsive behavior as usual....
Boo!
The Cleric of Pharasma shakes his head.
The book is, of course, cursed. Be afraid. Be possessive. Be as you are then, dear sister.
He waves his hands dismissively at the other objects.
I'll need more time with those.
Tiff sticks out her tongue at Sammy, "Obviously! You don't need any special powers to see that."
She pulls out the Oui... spirit board and brass planchette and asks, "Lets divine some real answers. Starting with... Anne manne miene mukke, Ikke tikke takke tukke, Eere vrouwe grieze knech, Ikke wikke wakke weg, the handaxe."
Tiff places the axe next to the spirit board and places her hands on the planchette. "Vance Saetressle, the Lopper what is your weakness?"
Tiff looks around confused for 6 seconds.
Quinn blinks wide-eyed at his name in the book but shakes it off as the smarter folk figure out its mysteries. "Sounds aboyt right, I saw my name too."[b] Then he picks up the flute and looks it over, then eyes Marill. [b]"You wouldn't happen to know how to play a flute, would you friend?" He'll toss the other man the flute if that's an affirmative.
After hearing Theodore pronounce the spell book cursed, she averts her eyes and leaves it to Tiff to deal with.
She looks on as the Wizard asks her question with the spirit board. "I surmise that was unsuccessful? Shall I try next?"
She will repeat Tiff's actions and question and hope for a better result.
As Ismene works the spirit planchette over the board, a faint din of screams echoes in her ears, then starts growing louder and louder.
They're here! They've got Tiff!
She looks over, and the wizard's formerly vacant expression has been replaced by one of ravenous hunger and rage!
Ismene reaches for the axe, to strike the possessed Tiff, when she shakes her head and the screams disappear.
Tiff is normal (well, normal for her, anyway).
Ismene no longer hears the voices.
The Spirit Planchette then jerks around quickly under Ismene's hand, spelling out A-X-E
The handaxe next to the board jerks once and then is still.
Ismene shakes her head slightly to clear it, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Hmmm... That is an odd sensation. Perhaps we should take precautions toward neutralizing the intermediary's ability to do harm while we make our inquiries?"
Tiff says, "Just one more thing," She clutches the planchet and the hammer, "Ispin Onyxcudgel, Mosswater Marauder, how are you defeated?"
Tiff, in monotone, says, "2 cans gooseberries, 2 cups sugar, 3 tablespoons cornstarch, 1/8th tablespoon salt, 1 tablespoon butter, dough for 9in pie crust (sold separately), heat oven to exactly 400 degrees, fahrenheit, drain syrup off gooseberries…"
After she comes to her senses she exclaims, "Wow! Where are we going to find pies at this time of day."
Theodore looks hungry. Probably for pie for some reason.....
Tiff claps her hands, "Should we see if we can take care of the poltergeist? We never got a good look in that room."
She exclaims, "Oh! I should be able to see it now. That cheeky spirit."
Disappointed that there seems to not be any pie in his immediate future, the frowning Pharasman nods at Tiff.
S'posing got nutt'n else ta do...
Deciding that you have had enough fun with the Spirit Planchette for one day, you move to deal with the Poltergeist.
Remembering that the Poltergeist is both invisible and incorporeal, what is your plan?
She twirls to face the party and says, "On the count of three I'm gonna open this door and point to the poltergeist. Just do your thing after that!"
She places her hand on the handle and counts, "One..."
Quinn remembers his longsword is magical now and grips it in one hand while raising his shield with the other and prepares to move in. "I'll follow your lead, Miss Tiff."
Round 1
Tiff
Poltergeist
Quinn
Marill
Theodore
Ismene
Tiff throws open the door, spots the invisible Poltergeist, and gets the drop on it! Tiff may act!
Nobody else sees it (yet).
Tiff points at the spirit with her index finger and pulling it back twice while incanting, "Pew, pew." She casually walked up to it and examined it more closely.
The Poltergeist is hurt by Tiff's spell, but remains a threat.
It decides to scare off the wizard's allies. Tiff sees the spectral figure streak towards the group and burst into view for a second, presenting a terrifying visage.
It then vanishes from view.
Tiff is immune, because she can see invisible creatures (I guess it's a jump scare that requires the sudden appearance to work).
Quinn is now immune, because he is fearless.
The rest of you have the benefit of being close to Quinn...
Nobody is Frightened. It is invisible, but you can attack the square where you last saw it.
Party up!
Round 1
Tiff
Poltergeist
Quinn
Marill
Theodore
Ismene
Round 2
Tiff
Theodore mimics the Poltergeist by also rushing into the room and screaming bloody murder!
Rattling scalpels indicate that the Poltergeist is still up, and getting ready to attack.
Ismene combines reagents, giving the mixture a shake for good measure before lobbing it at the poltergeist's last known location, making sure to spare the frontliners from the splash.
Tiff pulls out a quarterstaff from gods knows where and casts one of the oldest spells ever crafted. She shouts, "Wizard's bonk!" She follows up, "Should have used a brick."
Theodore looks closely at his sister.
Where were you hiding that? You got a brick too?