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To Jonas OOC:
The young alchemist watches the introductions and gives a small nod to each person in turn. "My name is Fleisher Montvale and I originally studied in the Field Healers Services at the War College in Lastwall. He pulls out a dagger and holds up the pommel fairly proudly displaying the embossed military seal, a winged serpent wrapped around a shield. "My foci have been less on divine magics than the arcane variety and the mysteries unlocked by alchemy. I left Lastwall after the death of my parents and relocated to Caliphas, where I continued my studies and eventually met the late Professor."
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"Cyler Deeks at your service." the young rogue says sitting back and proping up his feet on the end table. "The Professor saved my life as well. And then hired me on to help him..."
He pauses and looks at the doorway Kendra and the councilman left. Lowering his voice he finishes adding. "Let's just say when he wanted to get into a place he didn't have a key for he called me." he says with a smile and a wink. "Mostly old dusty places long forgotten by anyone. But not all the time."
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Kendra returns carrying a small wooden and iron chest. She shoos Cyler's feet from the end table and places the box on it.
She dusts off her hands and then looks to the key that fell from her father's rolled up will. "I will leave you all alone with this. Please when you are finished join me in the library. I have a lot to think on now that... that my father is gone."
Kendra leaves and the group alone with the chest in the parlor.
"Well?" Cyler comments going to look it over. "Looks safe enough." He states after giving the box a look over.
If no one else steps forward to do it, Rapheal has no problem opening the trunk. He inserts the key and turns it, hearing the tumblers rattle freehe looks around and smiles at the group"Let's see what's inside."
If not stopped, he goes ahead and opens the chest.
Eva gazes at the chest with curiosity and interest.
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The iron bound oak chest opens to reveal a set of six books. Five of the books look old, worn, and well used while the sixth book which is atop the others looks to have been recently rebound and covered.
The new looking books leather cover has the words "Read this first" ominously scratched into it.
For the next several hours the group pages through most of the books. The first (and newest looking) is the Professor's journal which details his life here in Ravengro along with some notations he though worth highlighting or circling in red.
Three of the books have notes tucked into them saying they should be delivered to one Montagnie Crowl, a professor in antiquities at Lepidstadt University. These books include -
• On Verified Madness: This jet-black book is a treatise on aberrations and other entities found on Golarion that possess remote ties to the Dark Tapestry, the name given to the dark places between the stars in the night sky.
• Serving Your Hunger: This text is a copy of one of several unholy books sacred to the goddess Urgathoa. Lorrimor’s notations liberally sprinkle the margins.
• The Umbral Leaves: This lexicon is a translation into Common of the unholy book of Zon-Kuthon.
The last book to be delivered is locked (the keyhole of which appears to be for a key with a strange triangular shaft). Pinned to it's dark purple felt cover is a note saying that it should be delivered to Embreth Daramid, a judge at the Lepidstadt Courthouse. The note asks for this delivery to be handled discreetly and gives the address to the judges home address. On the front of the book is a brass scarab set with a single eye. picture here
The last book Cyler grabs up as soon as he sees it. "That's the Professor's spellbook," he says and then sees his name on a note of parchment between it's pages. "He can't be serious. I was just joking about becoming a wizard, he... I mean..." The young rogue takes the book and note and goes to a corner to study both.
After searching through the journal the group narrows down the passages that they believe the Professor wanted them to find in his journal.
Ten Years Ago:
The Whispering Way is more than just a cabal of necromancers. I see that now. Undeath is their fountain of youth. Uncovering their motivation does not place me at ease as I thought it might. Their desire to be eternal simply makes them more dangerous.
Two Months Ago:
It is as I had feared. The Way is interested in something here in Ravengro. But what could it be?
One Month Ago:
Whatever the Way seeks, I am now convinced their goal is connected to Harrowstone. In retrospect, I suppose it all makes sense—the stories they tell about the ruins in town are certainly chilling enough. It may be time to investigate the ruins, but with everyone in town already being so worked up about them, I’d rather not let the others know about my curiosity —there’s plenty of folks hereabouts who already think I’m a demonologist or a witch or something. Ignorant fools.
Twenty Days Ago:
It is confirmed. The Way seems quite interested in something—no, strike that—someone who was held in Harrowstone. But who, specifically, is the Way after? I need a list of everyone who died the night of the fire. Everyone. The Temple of Pharasma must have such a list.
Eighteen Days Ago:
I see now just how ill prepared I was when I last set out for the Harrowstone. I am lucky to have returned at all. The ghosts, if indeed they were ghosts (for I did not find it prudent to investigate further) prevented me from transcribing the strange symbols I found etched along the foundation—hopefully on my next visit I will be more prepared. Thankfully, the necessary tools to defend against spirits are already here in Ravengro. I know that the church of Pharasma used to store them in a false crypt in the Restlands at the intersection between Eversleep and the Black Path. I am not certain if the current clergy even know of what their predecessors have hidden down below. If my luck holds, I should be able to slip in and out with a
few borrowed items.
Seventeen Days Ago: (last entry)
Tomorrow evening I return to the prison. It is imperative the Way does not finish. My caution has already cost me too much time. I am not sure what will happen if I am too late, but if my theory is right, the entire town could be at risk. I don’t have time to update my will, so I’ll leave this in the chest where it’ll be sure to be found, should the worst come to pass.
Each PC may attempt a knowledge check for what they currently know about Harrowstone Prison and The Whispering Way cult. You may use...
Knowledge (history) or Knowledge (local) for Harrowstone.
Knowledge (arcana) or Knowledge (religion) for The Whispering Way.
Please make one check for each topic and RP a bit. Tomorrow night I will post up your results.
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Fleisher cocks an eyebrow as the contents of the case are displayed. "So he knew his end was potentially immenant. In particular at the hands of this Whispering Way group. It seems we may be able to honor Professor Lorrimor in a much more practical way than just kind rememberances. We might have the chance of bringing his killer or killers to justice."
After the journal is read:
When he sees The Umbral Leaves his gaze drifts over to watch Raphael's reaction. After they have poured over the journal, he plucks up Serving Your Hunger and softly ruftles through it scanning some of the notations on page margins. He contemplates on using evil's tools being as a repository to fight the various Dark factions.
Jonas is confused about the Professor's interest and involvement in what seems to be dark magic and meddling with the deads. On the other hand, looks like he saw this as a way of enlightment, but it's still necromancy we are talking about. What was really the Professor's role? And what the last entry might refer to? Is this Whispering Way up to no good in this town? We have to get to the bottom of this.
"I have heard stories about Harrowstone."
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DC 10 (50 XP): Harrowstone is a ruined prison — partially destroyed by a fire in 4661, the building has stood vacant ever since. The locals suspect that it’s haunted, and don’t enjoy speaking of the place.
DC 15 (100 XP): Harrowstone was built in 4594. Ravengro was founded at the same time as a place where guards and their families could live and that would produce food and other supplies used by the prison. The fire that killed all of the prisoners and most of the guards destroyed a large portion of the prison’s underground eastern wing, but left most of the stone structure above relatively intact. The prison’s warden perished in the fire, along with his wife, although no one knows why she was in the prison when the fire occurred. A statue commemorating the warden and the guards who lost their lives was built in the months after the tragedy—that statue still stands on the riverbank just outside of town.
DC 20 (200 XP): Most of the hardened criminals sent to Harrowstone spent only a few months imprisoned, for it was here that most of Ustalav’s executions during that era were carried out. The fire that caused the tragedy was,in fact, a blessing in disguise, for the prisoners had rioted and gained control of the prison’s dungeons immediately prior to the conflagration. It was only through the selfsacrifice of Warden Hawkran and 23 of his guards that the prisoners were prevented from escaping—the guards gave their lives to save the town of Ravengro.
DC 25: Unknown
DC 10 (50 XP): The Whispering Way is a sinister organization of necromancers that has been active in the Inner Sea region for thousands of years.
DC 15 (100 XP): Agents of the Whispering Way often seek alliances with undead creatures, or are themselves undead. The Whispering Way’s most notorious member was Tar-Baphon, the Whispering Tyrant, although the society itself has existed much longer than even that mighty necromancer.
DC 20 (200 XP): The Whispering Way itself is a series of philosophies that can only be transferred via whispers—the philosophies are never written or spoken of loudly, making the exact goals and nature of the secretive philosophy difficult for outsiders to learn much about.
DC 25: Unknown
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After exchanging information about the Way and the Harrowstone prison, with his new companions, Jonas ponders about the situation for a while and then says: I suggest we start gathering more information about the prison, since it's near here. This way we can still protect Kendra and know more about the Professor's involvement into this nasty situation. I don't think we shall ask around though: I'm afraid the people here don't like the Professor, or us either.
@Kendra Lorrimor
"Are there any places, where we can get some information on The Whispering Way or Harrowstone."
@Jonas
"Some small villages don't like outsiders, but since we are here for a month we'll have to put up with them not liking us."
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The young alchemist nods. "There is certainly an air of mistrust of non-locals. I had to pay a farmer two full gold with promise of another to make sure I could stow my armor and gear in his barn for the duration of the funeral. I actually need to go retrieve it before nightfall. Is there a public house or inn in town where we could rent rooms for the month? Or is there room enough here, Kendra? I can make quarters in the barn, if necessary. Growing up attached to military camps helps you realize you can sleep all sorts of improbable places if pressed."
He awaits word from Kendra then presses on "After I retrieve my kit, I will throw myself into some of the Professor's books and journals here. He makes lavish use of the margins for notations, so we should gleen what we can here before we set out. After that, I would suspect that finding this false crypt in the cemetery could be helpful to our cause."
"I believe that false crypt is a temple owned plot in the cemetery. I saw the symbol of Pharasma on the mausoleum, when the professor was buried.
It would be wise to get permission first, or it could upset the locals."
Kendra Lorrimor:
Kendra looks at each of you for a moment before answering, as if she were deciding something. "My father trusted all of you and I should do no less. The folk her in Ravengro haven't made me into one of them yet." she laughs and then continues.
"Please there are enough rooms here, all on the unused third floor. I wish for you to stay here, free of charge. I will need a couple days longer to decide what it is I wish to do."
"If you are looking for information on something you need look no further than my father's library. But there is a few places even my father went to get additional information. The temple, town hall, and The Unfurling Scroll, the local mage school."
Cyler's ear perk up a bit when he hears the words mage school. (It looked like he was about to fall asleep.)
Kendra stifles a yawn with a slim hand. "Excuse me," she says a little embarrassed. "This must have been a longer day than I thought."
With that she tells a maid to ready any rooms that the group wishes to take and heads off to bed. "I hope to see you all in the morning. Good night."
Agreed. So this is our base of operations. Jonas ponders about Fleisher and Cyler words. Mmmmh, I'm not exactly a "bookish" guy. I think I'll try to search for more informations around town instead. This way we can save valuable time.
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Fleisher heads off into the eveining's damp dimness and is back in about an hour with his backpack and a bundle of lamellar armor. He stows his belongings in one of the bedrooms upstairs, shakes out of his damp scholar's robes and hangs them to dry near his fireplace, and after donning a set of simple robes for moving around the house. He comes downstairs and helps chop vegetables for a warm stew.
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The group retires for the night. Fleisher who can't sleep just yet helps the kitchen staff prepare for tomorrow's lunch before he himself turns in and gets some well needed sleep.
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Ravengro Day 1:
The morning dawns cool and dim as a great mass of grey clouds covers the skies above Ravengro. The clouds promise a cold rain but as of yet have held off.
Everyone gathers for breakfast with Kendra before making final decisions on what they plan on doing to help investigate Professor Lorrimor's strange death and journal entries.
Jonas may go rumor gathering in Ravengro. - Need to make a Gather Info check DC 10(+ roll 1d4 for # of hours it takes). I'll post up a local giving you (or the disguised you - please let me know this as well) a rumor. You may spend the day doing multiple checks if you have the time.
Need to know what Eva and Rapheal will do during Day 1 please.
Jonas spends the whole day in taverns and other public places, carefully listening to what the locals say. He spends some silver coins for a beer and something to eat while doing so.
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Fleisher goes into research mode as he and Cyler scan the Professor's library (looking for books that have notations scribbled in the margins first). Fleisher takes notes as to where each book was located to preserve as much of the integrity of the library as possible... If the Professor had an order to things, he doesn't want to be the one to disrupt it. It's obvious that Fleisher is a picky, detail oriented person, but he trys to not be overly demanding of the way Cyler might approach the search. The hours march on...
Knowledge (Arcana) check:
Eva will go to the temple and ask about using their records.
;
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aid another Cyler
aid another Rapheal (gone with Eva)
Cyler is really no help at all, but at least he isn't totally worthless freeing up Fleisher to study while he brings lunch to the man.
While Jonas (in disguise) makes his way through town asking the locals a few questions - he gets the lay of the land (as it were) and picks up a few tidbits of information. Eva and Rapheal pay their respects at the Temple of Pharasma.
The food at the Laughing Demon isn’t all fun and games—and it’s no coincidence that Zokar serves more corpse chowder after unpopular merchants “leave town,” never to be seen again. If Zokar invites you into the Demon’s back room for a complimentary taste of that evening’s chowder,
watch out!
Stories that Harrowstone is haunted are just that—stories. The ruins are still dangerous, but what folks think are ghosts are only the nasty
vermin that live there.
Temple of Pharasma: The temple of Pharasma has extensive notes on the town’s history, and is perhaps the best site for research. Using the temple’s records grants a +4 bonus on all Knowledge checks made to research Harrowstone or the Whispering Way, but securing permission to use this site for research requires a DC 25 Diplomacy check or a Trust score of 30.
Remember you are only allowed one check and each topic is missing the DC 25 info. Please note which topic you are researching in your post.
Corpse chowder? That's disgusting. We must stop this desacration.
Jonas will report what he heard about Zokar to the rest of his team at the end of the day. He will also tell them that the Harrowstone is, according to the locals at least, free of ghosts, and proposes to go investigate there with Rapheal the following day.
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End of Day 1:
The group gathers in the professor's library after a long day of research and rumor gathering. Kendra sits in a chair near the fire mending one of her father's old shirts with needle and thread.
When Eva and Rapheal return they have a little more information about Harrowstone. Exciting information.
DC 25 (400 XP): At the time Harrowstone burned, five particularly notorious criminals had recently arrived at the prison. While the commonly held belief is that the tragic fire began accidentally after the riot began, in fact the prisoners had already seized control of the dungeon and had been in command of the lower level for several hours before the fire. Warden Hawkran triggered a deadfall to seal the rioting prisoners in the lower level,but in so doing trapped himself and nearly two dozen guards. The prisoners were in the process of escaping when the panicked guards accidentally started the fire in a desperate attempt to end the riot.
New research goal - The Five Prisoners: please roll your free Know(history) or Know(local) check to see what you know off the top of your head about them.
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Eva remembers a few things from stories and the research she shuffled through today helped tremendously.
DC 15 (100 XP): Originally, Harrowstone housed only local criminals, but as the prison’s fame spread, other counties and distant lands began paying to have more dangerous criminals housed within this prison’s walls. At the time of the great Harrowstone Fire, the number of particularly violent or dangerous criminals imprisoned within the dungeons below was at an all-time high.
DC 20 (200 XP): The five most notorious prisoners in Harrowstone at the time of the great fire were Father Charlatan, the Lopper, the Mosswater Marauder, the Piper of Illlmarsh, and the Splatter Man.
Fleisher was sure he made some headway even though he found out nothing new about The Whispering Way. But then again there is always tomorrow.
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Fleisher carefully reshelves all the books that he and Cyler have been pillaging for nuggets about the Whispering Way. He pinches the bridge of his nose, blinking away the dancing snippets of text still hovering ghost-like about him. The search yeilded nothing of specific use on the mysterious cult today, but it wasn't without utility... he now had the niggling start of an idea on how to use insect hemolymph in some of his extracts. He prattles on to Cyler about theraputic uses of bug juices for a bit, regardless of Cyler's actual level of intrest in the matter.
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Fleisher steeples his fingers before his mouth in consideration. "I certainly think that we should investigate Harrowstone... it probably holds the most direct clues to the Professor's death. But, in his journal, the Professor mentioned that he should have gone to the false crypt in the cemetery to provision himself beforehand. Maybe before we charge off recklessly, we should investigate that venue to gain the best advantage we can."
"If we go for the false crypt, it would be wise to get permission from the priests to check it out. Otherwise the locals might think of us as grave robbers and that would not go to well with the local clergy even more."
You are right, Eva, the last thing we want is more problems with the locals. Jonas sits on one of the house chairs, trying to get some rest. And I won't defile a burial ground without a permission from the priests. I think you should ask them tomorrow morning. If they won't allow us to go to the crypt, then it's the Harrowstone we're going to. He stretches his arms and yawns. But that's for tomorrow. For sure. If you are alright with that, I'll go get some sleep now.
Out of the five major prisoners, which one should we research after our trip tomorrow, as I am curious about what made them so infamous?
Father Charlatan, the Lopper, the Mosswater Marauder, the Piper of Illlmarsh, or the Splatter Man?
As he goes for his bed and salutes Kendra, Jonas quickly replies to Eva: If asking the permission takes too long, I'll go around the taverns some more and ask about those prisoners. Goodnight.
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Fleisher wrinkles his nose as Eva lists off the prisoners. "Certainly evocative names, eh? It does seem like Ustalav collects a new bogieman for every occasion. Never had this many ghosty stories in Lastwall. Just orcs on one border and the threat of the Whispering Tyrant's foul shamblers from the other. Nothing near as colorful as the 'Splatterman'." He pauses for a moment in thought. Then again, I guess some of the orc tribes have pretty gruseomly descriptive names... Tongue-Biters, the Gutspears, Broken Spines. Delightful gentlemen, all, I assure you." He rolls his eyes in disgust at the remembrence of the savage hordes.
"So you think I should look up "Splatterman" first?"
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Fleisher shrugs "I have no idea which of the sad lot we should investigate first. This Splatterman sounds just as good as the Piper or the Marauder. But knowledge is an aegis and it would be foolish to rush in if we have resources that allow us to potentially understand them and the history of the Asylum. What are your thoughts? Do you have any insight into the motley knot of lunatics?"
Eva puts on a thinking face, and has her right index finger against her chin.
"If you look at their nicknames you get some clues.
The Piper of Illlmarsh sounds like he used a flute or reed to kill or may be even control people or creatures, Like the Piped Piper to rats.
Looking at the name Father Charlatan, makes me think he was a priest who Conned people, or someone who posed as a priest.
"The Lopper" sounds like a simple serial killer who "Lopped" off a part of the body, possible the head or legs.
Mosswater Marauder, hmm. Marauder is a bandit, and Mosswater could be the location he was found. But Mosswater could be his killing tool.
Splatterman, is to vague to get any real idea of his method."
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"Well, since we're wanting to talk to the priests at the Temple about being allowed to access the false crypt, we could combine research with that... You and Jonas can research one of the inmates, say the Splatterman and Cyler and I could search for information on annother....say the Piper? Does that sound okay to you, Cyler? We can spend some time searching for information and then check out the crypt afterwards."