As the branding irons rise up, their tips glowing as if on fire there is a flash s Ortensia opens the haunt siphon and they fall back to the floor lifeless and no longer glowing.
Moving along you come to another door which hangs half open. Tangled mounds of moth-eaten fabric sit on several wooden tables, each surrounded by workbenches. Various sewing tools-shears, needles, rolls of thread, boxes of chalk, and other objects lie scattered over the floor, while the arm of what appears to be a skeleton protrudes from a stained heap of fabric to the west.
Cautiously, Ortensia approached the mound of moldering fabric and the skeletal arm. Another unfortunate victim of exploration gone arry?
Ortensia sees a secret door in one wall.
As you approach the body a ghostly figure of a woman appears before you, wearing a blue dress. Her hair is also blue and the tears from here eyes and clouds of smoke drifting from her mouth are also blue.
"Are you the new guards, to replace the cowards who locked me in the workshop?", she asks.
Ortensia stifled a startled shriek at the appearance of the manifestation. She bit her lip and composed it.
...Ah, y-yes. Indeed. We are here to solve the mystery of Professor Lorrimor's death and what happened to the spirit of the Warden. We believe the Whispering Way cultists were behind it. Wh-whom might you be, miss? Ortensia managed to utter.
"My name is Vesorianna Hawkren. I am the wife of the warden. I died here during the fire as did my husband. During the riot I was locked in here by the guards and they forgot to let me out when the fire started.
My husband's spirit was below, where he died. I have been aware he was there but am unable to leave this area. So things stayed since the fire until recently.
Unsettling visitors arrived, men and women in dark robes who spoke only in whispers. They began to work strange magic around the foundations. I do not know who the Professor was but I did see an old man look round the outside of the prison, only to be slain by the men in black.
Later that same night the men in black finished a ritual and my husband's spirit was gone. The other spirits here have grown more powerful and now it is only my presence that stops them escaping, somehow I have taken over from my husband.
There are 5 spirits who are the most evil, the Splatter Man among them. If you can defeat all 5 of the prisoners I can stop them manifesting again."
Well, that certainly confirms that the Professor was murdered and by the Whispering Way. As to why they abducted the Warden, that still needs exploring. Ortensia said thoughtfully,tapping her chin.
She started to scribble furiously in her journal, going back to earlier entries to edit them before raising her eues to the floating ghost.
Ahem, yes. We know of the notorious 5. We came into Harrowstone due to someone being possessed and spelling out what we believed to be your name in blood on the memorial outside. We believe that the Splatterman is behind this in an attempt to harm you. We came to investigate and put an end to these machinations.
Zephra stares in awe at the ghost. "Can you tell us anything about how to best oppose these five evil spirits? Ortensia found some magic items that she thinks are connected to them."
"If you find the prisoners possessions room, my husband kept the belongings of the most dangerous five in a hidden room, spellbooks, hammer, etc. Using those should give you some benefits when trying to defeat them, although I think they also carry a curse too.
One more thing, in order to cleanse the prison fully I need you to bring me my husband's badge of office. That will symbolically pass control of the prison over to me.!
"I must leave you for the moment, my energy is needed to stop the spirits, I will be here when you return."
With that the spirit fades.
...Hm. Well,that's certainly a streamlined equation. We deal with the Five in turn,retrieve the Warden's badge and hand it over to his wife's spirit to eliminate the haunting of Harrowstone.
Jotting down a new set of notes,she put away her journal before surveying the contents of the room.
She gingerly picked up an aged set of chalk and added it to her inventory,thinking she'd need it at some point. Perhaps to mark walls and doorways.
Ortensia you see a secret door in the west wall.
GM note - you have now pretty much done this level, leaving the upper level and the dungeon level still to do.
Ortensia spotted an odd outline in the far wall. Approaching it, she rapped a knuckle and heard a hollow noise.
There's a secret door, she announced.
Ortensia easily opens the secret door. In here several rusty iron tubs sit in the room, along with washboards, metal buckets and heaps of mouldy clothing.
Zephra looks puzzled. "There's a secret door into the room that the Warden's wife was hiding? I guess she didn't know it was there?"
Zephra bites her lip. "If we've seen most of this level, maybe we should head back for the night and come back tomorrow? To do the second floor?"
...Odd. Why would they store this in a secret compartment? Simply for storage? she pondered aloud as she gingerly poked through the rubbish.
To Zephra, she replied,That depends as to how much sunlight we have left. Evil spirits grow stronger after dusk.
Ortensia as you look around you see a shape struggling within the mound of clothing, as if a small child or animal was buried within.
Oh!
Alarmed, Ortensia threw herself backwards out of the secreted chamber with haste. She slammed the door shut and eyed it warily.
She did NOT want to find out what was under those cloths!
You all manage to get out of the laundry and slam the door.
Where do you want to go next?
GM note- It is now about 1pm, you have about 4 hours of daylight left.
Zephra looks at Ortensia and Evrasi, drinking some water to stay hydrated and nibbling a lunch ration. "I suppose we could head upstairs, if you think you can keep up with me," she says playfully to her companions. Her flippant words mask the ominous echoes of her voice in the haunted prison.
Aye,we press on until dusk. That gives us about 4 hours or so. Then we depart to rest and return for another crack at our mission.
Ortensia lifted her scarf to sip at her waterskin to wet her parched throat. She turned away from the others when doing so.
She nodded at Zephra as they came to the stairs to the second level.After you.
The stairs lead up to a guard post. This area is blocked from the cell block by an arc of iron bars. Within sits an old wooden table and a few chairs. There are doors to the east and west.
Zephra looks up the shadowy stairs and curtsies before leading the way. She chooses the western door.
The door opens into a cell. 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.
....Ah. This must be Father Charlatan's remains. He may have suffocated from the fire, if he didn't starve to death due to being bogged down by chains in this lone cell.
Ortensia you see that beneath the mattress there appears to be an old musty journal.
Flicking through it you see that it does indeed belong to Father Charlatan, listing all the cons he pulled in his long life.
Zephra remains on heightened alert while Ortensia flips through the journal, expecting a ghost or haunt or something associated with the former conman to attack.
Hm.He's truly earned the name...This is a detailed account of all the cons he's pulled alongside his Scnarzi accomplices. Ortensia thumbed through the moldered,musty journal gingerly with gloved hands.
Although deplorable, it was an interesting bit of lore regarding the notorious five of Harrowstone. Scholars and nobles would pay handsomely for such information.
She added to her satchel,careful to keep it seperate from her personal belongings and with the other items she'd picked up.
Zephra gingerly examines the corpse, careful not to touch anything. "Perhaps we could sprinkle the cell with holy water? Would that exorcise his spirit, do you think?"
She racks her little brain for ideas of how to put a sleeping ghost to rest.
Zephra, you know that holy water would only work if the spirit manifested or if it was a more solid undead e.g. a skeleton/zombie. In this case because the spirit hasn't manifested it would not do anything.
"No, I take that back, I don't think that would work." Zephra shakes her head. "Should we maybe continue, and come back here if we get an idea for how to deal with this particular bad person?"
Moving on you come to the cell block. Row upon row of ten foot square prison cells line the walls, each separated from the passing hallway by a series of iron bars fitted with a narrow iron door. Skeletons slump in many of the cells, the bones scattered where they lie and coated with a mixed layer of ancient ashes and fresh mould.
The first areas appears to be access to the highest balcony above, although there is some rubble in the way, which theoretically could be cleared easily.
Hm. A lot of work clearing away debris. We should leave this for another day...
Ortensia began to inspect the rubble in an attempt to gauge just how long the endeavor would take.
Ortensia you think it would take about 5 minutes to clear.
Ortensia started to clear away the rubble.
Evrasi helps and after 5 minutes you have cleared away the rubble to reveal a wood and iron ladder leading up to a trapdoor which is closed.
Zephra immediately pitches in and helps clear the rubble.
Ok, you find a wood and iron ladder leading up to a trapdoor.
Ortensia hauled herself up the ladder and shoved at the trapdoor overhead.
As you open the trapdoor a cascade of rubble pours down. Reflex save from everyone please.
Ortensia gasped and her shout was drowned out in the falling debris.
Zephra nimbly leaps out of the way of the falling rubble. She checks Ortensia to make sure she's okay before continuing.
Ortensia you are hit by the rubble, take 5 points of damage.
Ortensia somehow managed ro hang onto the ladder throughout thw entire ordeal. She gingerly made her way down to level ground and shakily checked herself over. She felt lumps and bruises forming. Her gloved hands even came away bloodied from where ahe guessed the rocks spilt her skin.
She had a pounding headache...Oh my.
You suddenly hear a jingling of chains behind you and the ghostly figure of a fat bearded man wearing various chains and holy symbols appears.
Initiative order
Ortensia 13
Father Charlatan 10
Zephra 8
Evrasi: 2
Zephra gasps in alarm!
Ortensia retrieved a fresh haunt siphon from her satchel,twisting it and activating it with a flare of holy energies.
As Ortensia twists the neck of the siphon Father Charlatan shrieks in pain, his body starts to get sucked in but at the last moment he manages to pull himself together but you can see he has taken a lot of damage.
In retaliation he looks at Ortensia and glares- Will save please.
GM note - Is that the last haunt siphon?
Zephra over to you.