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Ability Score Damage: Diseases, poisons, spells, and other abilities can all deal damage directly to your ability scores. This damage does not actually reduce an ability, but it does apply a penalty to the skills and statistics that are based on that ability.[/ooc]
For every 2 points of damage you take to a single ability, apply a –1 penalty to skills and statistics listed with the relevant ability. If the amount of ability damage you have taken equals or exceeds your ability score, you immediately fall unconscious until the damage is less than your ability score. The only exception to this is your Constitution score. If the damage to your Constitution is equal to or greater than your Constitution score, you die. Unless otherwise noted, damage to your ability scores is healed at the rate of 1 per day to each ability score that has been damaged. Ability damage can be healed through the use of spells, such as lesser restoration. Some spells and abilities cause you to take an ability penalty for a limited amount of time. While in effect, these penalties function just like ability damage, but they cannot cause you to fall unconscious or die. In essence, penalties cannot decrease your ability score to less than 1. Wisdom: Damage to your Wisdom score causes you to take penalties on Wisdom-based skill checks and Will saving throws. This penalty also applies to any spell DCs based on Wisdom.
Harrowstone Prison
Cole's fire burns off another letter. Bastion blade just reaches Zyblina's name and takes down another two letters, as does one of Kenzo's arrows, the first though just misses. Once more, the same voice that shrieked begins to laugh and whisper sinister garbled speech.
This time, the cleric resists the laughter. Zek attacks his own name on the wall, scratching off Z, E, and K. Suddenly, the feeling of the Splatter Man being present ceases altogether!
Harrowstone Prison
Bastion is able to reach the writing of Zyblina's name and scratch off the Z and the Y with his attack. Kenzo's arrows erase both the K and the E from his own name. Zyblina blasts the wall with fire erasing the B, L, and I from it.
Teo rips yet another page out causing further howling from the cellblock! DM ONLY:
Page Damage - HP - 7/27
Teo hasn't posted in about 2 months, I'll continue to bot her while she's in the Prison, if you exit prior to completing this level for a rest, I'll place her in the background support role like our Gunslinger.
Harrowstone Prison DM ONLY: HP = 16/27
[dice=Will]1d20 + 1
Harrowstone Prison Zek's water works do not seem to have any effect on his name being spelled on the wall as the letters are still present! Sterling exits the priosn and Blesses the book being held by Teo, once more, the voice holws in pain and frustration. Sergei yells out, "Attack the writing, any physical or spell damage will work, sword and bow even! He's attempting to attack our minds through this scrawl, it's the same tactic he used on his victims when alive, but empowered by the evil of this place and the vitriol of his damned soul! Attacking the book will also do wonders my friends!" Round 1 - Bastion , Kenzo , Zyblina - GO --- Round 2 - Teo, Bastion, Kenzo, Cole - GO
NO worries Rags, if you cannot post any thoughts I'll bot you in your absence :-)
Harrowstone Prison Teo opens the spellbook shrugs and says, "I bet this won't be something our foe will appreciate!" She rips a page from the book. A shriek rises echoes from the haunt! Cole blasts fire at the wall nearest to him, the letters Viggo Br evaporate. Bastion calls out an idea as he has no true action to take, yet. Kenzo holds his bow in his hand watching as his name is scrawled in blood, but not quite sure how to stop it from continuing. DM ONLY:
Haunt HP = 17/27
Page Damage The same voice that shrieked begins to laugh and whisper sinister garbled speech.
------- Round 1 - Sergei, Zyblina, Sterling. Zek - GO --- Round 2 - Teo, Bastion, Kenzo, Cole - GO
Splatter Man, real name - Hean Boritsi, --- I have the day off, I'll be posting in a few once I get my expenses submitted to work.
Harrowstone Prison Knowledge Religion DC 15:
Based on prior experience with theses unorthodox haunts, if this is his only manifestation, in all likelihood you will need to attack these writings. As Cole raises his sword, he can see that the word being written is his own name! And it is the same for each of you within the prison block, those outside the block, see no such manifestations.
OK, finally freaking caught up!
Harrowstone Prison The Party cautiously moves into the cell block where the Splatter Man was held. DM ONLY:
Zyblina Sterling Starshadow Kenzo Hagetora Cole Burns Zek Cole's coin splashes in the murky water and its light is significantly dimmed as it sinks to the bottom. As the others begin to slowly enter the cells block, Zek's power alerst him to the presence of the Undead, it appears that you have awoken whatever was here! While Zek sense its presence, he cannot see it. Initiative:
Zyblina Sterling Starshadow Kenzo Hagetora Cole Burns Sergei the Haunted Bastian 'Ogre' Zorovich Zek Teofila Agarici FOE
Cole: As the others inspect as carefully as possible, you notice that the walls are beginning to ooze some sort of substance forming letters!
Harrowstone Prison The Party attempts to secure the doorway by bringing in rubble and wood beams though the wood beams appear a bit compromised due to the fire damage. DM ONLY:
% Chance of Collapse, over 70% collapse within rounds. Otherwise holds for hours. Zek scouts and finds several iron doors lining the walls of this 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.
Harrowstone Prison Bastion heads down the southern hallway first, the walls are soot filled, clearly the fire swept through here in a significant way. As he gets closer to the door to his left, he sees that that room is severely fire damaged, he can also see that the portcullis allowing entry to the Splatter Man's prison is down barring entry. He tests it, and its not going to budge. A quick search of that room reveals that he winch controls are also, severely damaged. To reach the Splatter Man this way would require that portcullis to be broken down, no easy feet, or the controls to be repaired, likely a task beyond you all. Luckily, based on the maps, you know that you can still reach that area through the secret passage to the west.
Ravengro to Harrowstone Prison Kendra's question lingers as there is no answer that anyone can provide. It stands to reason that speculating won't do any good so no one does. Dinner is eaten, plans are made, healing is completed and rest is obtained. The next day early in the morning the Party once again sets out for the prison. The guardsmen posted overnight nod to you all as you pass through the gates once more. As you enter through the front door once more, the Haunts are active again, by now it is more annoying than frightening and you bypass their now minor threat. You retrieve the cursed items from the vault . Ropes are dropped down into the hole that is the only way down now into the basement level of the prison known as Hell's Basement. You check to the area where the Bonegnasher's Prison room was located. You indeed confirm that the rubble is far too thick to reach that without actual numbers assisting you in excavating a path through. It seems that this spirit will have to be addressed last. You then return to the chamber where the stairwell is located. To the north is where the Lopper was located, that leaves the south, where the map indicates that the Splatter Man was held. The balance of the Eight were all housed to the west.
Well it's PbP so we won't be done tomorrow, it'll take some time to chew through our 5 remaining baddies!
Ravengro - Kendra's House She takes a ragged series of breaths and calms down, "I am not sure if I feel better or worse now knowing the truth. I wish the Cultists were still here but simultaneously dread them still being here..." She sobs a bit and goes quiet, lost in contemplation.
Ravengro - Kendra's House Kendra's eyes well up but she does not cry, "so it's true then, my father was murdered". She sits in quiet contemplation for some time, "But then they brought his body here to make it seem as if he died in his sleep and disturbed nothing. So strange..." She pauses again, "Then his body disappeared!" She begins to cry for a short while then she calms down, "Did this spirit know why they stole his body thereafter?"
Ravengro - Kendra's House
As you all arrive at her home in the late afternoon, Kendra looks a bit concerned, "Oh no, are Sterling and Zek alright?!"
Not to tempt fate, but...there aren't any rolls in this research? We just get the info? No, the Councilors had already started to sort before you got there and all documents were drafted to be straightforward on purpose.
Much as I enjoy advancing the plot, watching this group RP is a great treat! :-)
Ravengro - Town Hall Vashian grimaces, "So, there then are evil spirits infesting the Prison and cultists lurk about". He turns to Shanda, "We should alert Sheriff Benjan to actually begin patrols of the town. Should we seek assistance from the Palatine Council?" Shanda shakes her head in the negative, "No, I think our friends have the situation in hand for now, though I do believe that even with Sterling's presence, it may well make sense to include one of Father Grimburrow's acolytes on your next return to the prison, what do you all think?" Vashian scowls, "We may need to call a Council Meeting Shanda, if these restless dead break out due to the action or inaction of these brave souls, we cannot and should not hold such a danger so close to our vests. Plus, if these cultists begin to strike against our people... have they not already killed one of our own or was Doctor Van Richten's demise purely coincidental to the appearance of these cultists?" He turns to you all as he asks the question. Before you can respond, Shanda follows up with yet another question, "The Warden's Wife Kenzo? So there are also restless dead there who have a stout heart still?"
Ravengro - Town Hall The Party returns to Ravengro and to Town Hall where they believe that the guardsmen would have returned the documents. To the surprise of the Party, not only are the documents there, but Councilwoman Shanda Faravan and Councilman Vashian Hearthmount are present organizing the documents already. "Ah, you've returned!" exclaims Vashian, "have you anything of great interest to report? This documentation is certainly interesting enough, I think that I underestimated just how dangerous those who dwelt within Harrowstone truly were". Shanda just smiles and continues to sort the documents.
Both refuse to do anything but assist you all in sorting the copious notes that the Warden and his top guards left behind. From these documents you are able to sketch a map as to where the prisoners cells were located. Wisdom Check DC 15:
You surmise that the bodies might not necessarily be within their cells if there was a jailbreak but this is better than nothing! Also, their spirits may well be bound to where they were trapped versus where they may have perished.
Ran out of time this weekend. Once the site is up and runng again (assuming it does indeed shut down tomorrow) I will have that detailed info for the Party. Contemplate which, if any, NPCs you would like to interact with in town before you head back to Harrowstone the next day.
Characters don't know they'll get a map. And Zek is a scout. And he can fight as long as he has hit points and is not dominated or possessed :) Actually in this case the PCs will get an actual map :) It was designed for newcomer guards to become familiar with the cell blocks!
Soonish, but not yet! Ah yes, OOTS, been a while since I've read that!
I won't be posting tomorrow night, running table top Werewolf. The site is going down for a few days Monday. So I will realistically update once more either Saturday or Sunday as I have a super busy weekend on top of that. If you follow the plan as I remember it, I can provide a sketch of the basement (essentially revealing the map) and placing the remains of the remaining 5 so you can tackle them in the order you so choose. Or you can just wing it and head down now and see what you see. You defeated (oddly in exact order so far):
The remaining 5 are: (iv) the Mosswater Marauder, real name - Ispin Hiregaard,
LMK how you would like to proceed!
Harrowstone Prison - Top Floor The Party clears the rest of the floor without incident, finding a kitchen and a few skeletons of prisoners trapped in their cells to perish, but none animated by the Piper's power, or any other haunt/ghost for that matter.
Yep. Sorry got my wires crossed. You are correct! Point was the benefits and burdens didn't play out to make much of a difference and now that particular cursed item is a set of mundane symbols.
The group handled that about as well as could be handled I think. Luckily Sterling noticed the possession right away, mid-combat somewhere else that would have been a crazy encounter.
Three! The Piper, Father Charlatan, and the Lopper. Negligible, there was a spell failure chance for Zy that when I rolled off screen never triggered and she was receiving a secret increase to AC versus the Main Haunts (Hateful 8) only. Now though that all is gone as they are reduced to mere Holy Symbols, useful only to a follow of the respective Cleric wielding them.
Let's pause here and pick things back up once the site overhaul is complete.
Harrowstone Prison - Top Floor Sterling's beam strikes the chain in Zyblina's hands! A loud chain jiggling echoes through the chamber then ceases. Before Zy can even begin and try to pull them apart, the holy symbol chain, once tied so tight even Bastion couldn't move them, loosens... and hangs dangling as several independent holy symbols once more.
Harrowstone Prison - Top Floor Cole grasps Zek with his hand and the little body shudders again, but still he does not stir!
ZEK ONLY:
Despite trying to force the spirit back by willpower alone, it seems you cannot escape whatever hellscape he has trapped you in!
Suddenly, just as he is ready to reach for you once more, you feel a wave of positive energy arc over you, your body is covered in some sort of force field and Father Charlatan eyes go wide in shock and fear! "NO!" Suddenly, your eye open and you are staring at the group. Kenzo has you in a grapple while Cole has his hands placed upon you. Everyone sees Zek's eyes open wide! DM ONLY:
Perception Sterling Starshadow Sterling ONLY:
You see the spirit of the Father attempting to sneak from Zek and into his own haunted collection of Holy Symbols!
Harrowstone Prison - Top Floor DM ONLY:
HP = 2/22.
Harrowstone Prison - Top Floor It's unclear if Sergei's powers have any effect on the currently catatonic Zek or his unwanted rider.
Harrowstone Prison - Top Floor Despite losing his grip, Zek is not resisting, and Kenzo still has the Kobold in a hold. Teo blasts Zek once more and his body rocks with the jolt of positive energy! DM ONLY:
HP = 4/22.
Grasp Attack - MISS! ZEK ONLY:
The Red haired priest changes into a fat older balding man, "Fool, I'll take what I need then!" He lunges at you. Just as he is about to grasp you, he is hit with a strange bolt, as if struck with some sort of lighting and he just misses grabbing at you.
You attempt to fight back, but... you simply cannot move your limbs, it's as if you are simultaneously present and yet not present within your own body!
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