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Sic Pixie's Carrion Crown Adventure Path
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<blockquote data-quote="Sic_Pixie" data-source="post: 5821023" data-attributes="member: 52403"><p><strong>Death in the Family</strong></p><p></p><p><strong>Results of Researching Harrowstone</strong></p><p></p><p>Harrowstone is a ruined Prison; partially destroyed by 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.</p><p></p><p>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 potion 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.</p><p></p><p>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 prisons dungeons immediately prior to the conflagration. It was only through the self-sacrifice 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.</p><p></p><p>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 dungeons and had been in control of the level for several hours before the fire. Warden Hawkran triggered a deadfall to seal the rioting prisoners in the lower level, but in doing so 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.</p><p></p><p><strong>Research The Whispering Way.</strong></p><p></p><p>The Whispering way is a sinister organization of necromancers that has been active in the inner sea region for thousands of years.</p><p></p><p>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 has existed much longer than even that mighty necromancer.</p><p></p><p>The Whispering Way is a series of philosophies that can only be transferred via whispers-the philosophies are never written or spoken loudly, making the exact goals and nature of the secretive philosophies difficult for outsiders to learn about.</p><p></p><p>Exact details on the society are difficult to discern, but chief among the Whispering Ways goals are discovering the formulae for creating liches and engineering the release of the whispering tyrant. Agents often travel to remote sites or area’s plagued by notorious haunts or undead menaces to perform field research or even to capture unique monsters. Their symbol is a gagged skull, and those who learn too many of the Way’s secrets are often murdered, and their mouths mutilated to prevent their bodies from divulging secrets via speak with dead.</p><p></p><p><strong>Research The Five Prisoners</strong></p><p></p><p>Originally Harrowstone housed only local criminals, but as the prisons fame spread, other countries and distant lands began paying to have more dangerous criminals housed within these prisons 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.</p><p></p><p>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 Illmarch and the Splatter Man.</p><p></p><p><strong>Father Charlatan (Sefick Corvin) </strong></p><p>Of the five notorious prisoners, only Father Charlatan was not technically a murderer, yet his crimes were so blasphemous that several churches demanded that he be punished to the full extent of Ustalavic law. Although he claimed to be an ordained priest of any number of faiths, Father Corvin was in fact a traveling con artist who used faith as a mask and a means to bilk the faithful out of money in payment for false miracles or cures. He became know as Farther Charlatan after his scheme was exposed and his Sczarni accomplices murdered a half dozen city guards in an attempt to make good the groups escape.</p><p></p><p><strong>The Lopper (Vance Saetressle)</strong></p><p>When the Lopper stalked prey, he would hide in the most unlikely of places, sometimes for days upon end with only a few supplies to keep him going while he waited for the exact right moment to strike. Once his target was alone, the Lopper would emerge to savagely behead his victim with a hand axe.</p><p></p><p><strong>The Mosswater Marauder (Ispin Onyxcudgel)</strong></p><p>Only 5 years before his hometown of Mosswater was destined to be overrun and ruined by monsters from the nearby river, Ispin Onyxcudgel was a well liked artisan and doting husband. When he discovered his wife’s infidelity, he flew into a jealous rage and struck her dead with his hammer, shattering her skull and his sanity with one murderous blow. Wracked with guild and shame, Ispin became convinced that if he could rebuild his wife’s skull she would come back to life-but unfortunately, he could not find the last blade shaped fragment from the murder site. So instead, Ispin became the Mosswater Marauder. Over the course of several weeks, the cunning dwarf stalked and murdered nearly 20 people while searching for just the right skull fragment. He was captured just before murdering the daughter of a visiting nobleman from Varno, and was carted off to Harrowstone the same night.</p><p></p><p><strong>The Piper of Illmarsh (name unknown)</strong></p><p>Before he snatched his victims, the Piper taunted his targets with a mournful dirge on his flute. He preferred to paralyze his victims by dosing their meals with lich dust and then allow his pet stirges to drink the victim’s dry of blood.</p><p></p><p><strong>The Splatter Man (Hean Feramin)</strong></p><p>Professor Feramin was a celebrated scholar of Anthroponomastics (the study of personal names and their origins) at the Quatrefaux Archives in Caliphas. Yet an accidental association with a succubus twisted and warped his study, turning it into an obsession. Feramin became obsessed with the power of a name and how he could use it to terrify and control. Soon enough, his reputation was ruined, he’d lost his tenure, and he’d developed an uncontrollable obsession with an imaginary link between a persons name and what happens to that name when the person dies. Every few days he would secretly arrange his victim to find a letter from her name written in blood, perhaps smeared on a wall or spelled out with carefully arranged entrails. Once he had spelled his victims name, he would at last come for her, killing her in a gory mess using a complex trap or a series of rigged events meant to look like an accident.</p><p></p><p></p><p>After a lazy morning and a late breakfast or early lunch the group set out for the Restlands to see about talking to the local head priest regarding accessing the Library and seeing if they could get some additional assistance with the undead in the Prison. Hursk being the only one of the group with any religious knowledge is voted to speak. They are invited into the Father’s abode to have tea and cakes while Hursk attempts to convince him of the urgency of the situation; however Farther Grimburrow is not impressed with his diplomatic skills which seem to be less than expected since the esteemed Father was a witness to Hursk’s inspiring oratory during the funeral of the Professor; he was expecting a half orc who had thrown off the constrains of his physical appearance and embraced his human side. Unfortunately this was not the case as Hursk stuttered through a thinly veiled threatening “request” for assistance and the party were tersely asked to leave at once and no don’t mind washing the cups or anything as they are politely ushered out of the door. (Results of a natural 1 on diplomacy)</p><p></p><p> Next onto the wizard’s place of business at the Unfurling Scroll, Aalendru is there just as disheveled and grumpy as the previous day; Hursk is asked not to speak and Matthious concludes the transaction. He has the See Invisibility scroll they ordered and this time they don’t annoy one of the higher members of the village hierarchy to the relief of the rest of the party. After a discussion about the prison and the history of the village they head to the Forge to see if the grappling hook is ready; Jorfa is there putting the finishing touches to a hoe and directs their attention to a side desk whereupon sits a completed grappling hook of fine workmanship. Or workwomanship I suppose. (Don’t let the beard fool you)</p><p></p><p>After this busy morning they decide that a relaxing drink and meal might be in order. Making their way to the Outward Inn they find it mostly empty and the current performance by a local boy is sadly lacking in quality. When they are advised there is no pie ready today they leave in disgust and head to the Laughing Demon instead. While walking across the village square (which is round; go figure) they pass a young boy playing a set of pan pipes. Sayuri notices that the look in the boys face is unusually vacant as they pass. However as they approach to investigate they hear a scream from one of the passing locals as a Giant Stirge strikes Matthious; the Stirge manages to grapple Matthious and in a blind panic Mathious thinks quickly and casts a powerful sleep spell upon the Stirge not considering the fact that it’s an area effect spell and that he would be in it’s radius. Matthious however found the Stirge was more powerful than he thought and he promptly failed his save verses his own spell and fell to the floor snoring softly. Sayuri and Hursk look on in amazement as Matthious drops to the floor; both realizing the error of judgment performed and not believing Matthious had made such a mistake. While the other Stirge attacks Sayuri causing some light damage to her leg; Hursk grapples the Stirge on Matthious and pulls it off him and waking him up in the process; then he attempt to bite said Stirge and manages to impales his mouth on the Stirges Proboscis; much to Hursks amazement and the Stirges delight. Sayuri and Matthious look on in a sort of terrified amusement as Hursk looks like he attempts phillacio upon the confused Stirge then Matthious draws his rapier and runs the Stirge impaling Hursk’s mouth through and it expires in a gush of blood. Sayuri slashed at the Stirge on her leg with her Kama and killed it outright. The villagers in the square all applaud but Hursk steps up to the child playing the pipes to snatch them away breaking them apart. The Child screams and runs away; he is no-where to be found and no-one knows who he was when asked. They checked for magic on the pipes and found none. </p><p></p><p>They retire to the Laughing Demon where they have food and drinks bought for them by happy locals. The rest of the day is spent relaxing in the Laughing Demon over indulging in the local specialty Liquid Ghost’s which is a green glowing light ale. They stagger back to Kendra’s in a bad state having over indulged in the ale and having lost some blood from the Stirges.</p><p></p><p></p><p>The Morning comes bright and sunny much to the disgust of the party as the over indulgence from the previous day makes its presence known in the form of hangovers and a low tolerance to light; Matthious is particularly affected as his already low tolerance to light is compounded by the hangover. A late breakfast is followed by a venture outside to investigate what all the commotion is about. There is a flow of traffic towards the Harrowstone Monument; upon approaching the monument they notice that a bloody ‘E’ has been painted on the monument and the blood of a piglet has been used and then splattered over the stonework. The Party resolves to investigate the prison later on in the day after they have collected their gear and are feeling a bit better. (Nice to be a part time adventurer)</p><p></p><p>After a good lunch everyone is feeling significantly better and head to the Prison to investigate some more. They enter into the Prison and quickly move to the hole leading down where the lift to the lower level used to reside; looking down the hole they could see nothing down there that could cause them any problems. Tying off a rope and letting it down the hole Hursk descended first; holding the rope from the bottom Sayuri descends next, half way down both Hursk and Matthious are distracted by the Sorceress dangling from the rope (as a fine ass and boobs will do that) and </p><p>Sayuri is too busy climbing down so none notice the skeletons approaching around Hursk. The first anyone see’s is a bone hand reaching out of the darkness and scoring fine lines of blood on Hursk’s back. Several more figures shuffle out of the darkness and Hursk is in deep trouble, Sayuri is dangling halfway up a rope while Matthious is standing at the top feeling somewhat impotent yet again. Hursk draws his sword and the damage he has endured triggers his rage and he vigorously waves his sword around to little affect. Sayuri unwilling to drop in next to the raging barbarian and his large sword hangs from her rope and casts a spell; a small ball of acid drops onto a skeleton and it looks up at her unable to do much about it they all descend upon Hursk and ravage him with their claws. Matthious in a brave attempt leaps into the hole into a space recently made by Hursk destroying one of the critters and falls prone onto the ground next to 3 skeletons; they look down in surprise at the victim now lying at their feet and descend upon him with their claws. Hursk smashes another of the skeletons receiving many wounds in return, blood pouring from him in torrents; staggering back almost driven to his knees by the unrelenting damage. Matthious casting a spell from prone infuses his hand with positive energy and touches one of the them causing it to fall to dust; rolling away from the skeletons to gain some space to act he draws attacks from several but they miss. Sayuri casts and two bright balls of force flash out and destroy two of them; turning them to just a pile of broken bones; Hursk smashes another and Matthious gets to his feet after healing himself. This draws another attack from the creature standing over him which mostly removes the damage he just healed. Drawing his mace he beats down the Skeleton and then goes to assist Hursk. Sayuri casts another spell and drops another one while Hursk drops to one knee from blood loss and swings low knocking one down. Matthious steps in and heals Hursk as the last one falls. They look around them at the carnage and heave a long sigh of relief as they were very close to being overrun. Sayuri typically took no damage while Hursk and Matthious were teetering close to dropping where they stood, pools of blood having formed around them.</p><p></p><p>Healing themselves up with potions and wands they regroup and start checking the room out; nothing much is found bar the obvious remains of the skeletons and 4 exits at each point of the compass. To the north is marked the Oubliette, East is Hells Basement, South is The Nevermore while to the west is Reapers Hold; all are worked tunnels leading off into the darkness bar Hells Basement which has mostly collapsed. The group decides to investigate Hells Basement first and is rewarded with a large room with a pool. Hover they don’t find anything willing to jump out and try killing them much to their surprise so they spend several minutes wandering round refusing to go into the water; they head back to the main room and choose another way to investigate.</p><p></p><p>Heading south to The Nevermore they find the way blocked by an iron portcullis; the adjoining room which hold the portcullis winch is badly burnt making the winch unusable; Hursk tries pulling on the chains to raise the portcullis but he does not seem strong enough. Searching to room they find nothing of interest.</p><p></p><p>Back to the main room they decide to head north, while Matthious and Sayuri whisper along Hursk loudly stomps along the corridor alerting the creature in the next room. Out of the open door ahead steps a headless burning skeleton wielding an axe; (although how it heard them without any ears is anyone’s guess) Matthious draws his mace striking it while Hursk got his bow out and strings one of his undead bane arrows. Sayuri attempted to strike it with her Kama not wishing to hit it with her bare fists and found her weapon bounces off its tough bones. The headless burning skeleton which is the remains of the Captain of the Guards Called Gurtis Vortch swings its axe in a murderous arc and if Matthious was where Gurtis thought he was it would have easily cut him in half. However Matthious was not and his response was to crack his mace across his ribs shattering a couple; Hursk fired and caught Gurtis in the chest; the resulting blow broke several more ribs and extinguished some of his flames briefly. Gurtis struck out and Sayuri took a blow across her chest; a spurt of blood followed the track of the axe spraying it up the wall. Sayuri gasped and staggered back her legs feeling weak and almost falling to the ground while Hursk steps in drawing his sword and cracking Gurtis across his thigh. Matthious moves to flank and misses only just as Gurtis moves to the side erratically. Sayuri throws a ball of acid which impacts on Hursk’s sword missing Gurtis and startling Hursk, Matthious attacks and strikes Gurtis on the backbone causing significant damage; several bones fracture. Gurtis swings around lashing out at Matthious and deftly severs his head from his shoulders in one powerful blow; as Matthious’s body drops lifelessly to the floor as his arterial blood arching against the wall in rhythmic spurts. Hursk cries out and summons his god’s power directing it outwards as a blast of positive energy consuming Gurtis in a fire of holy revenge and anguish. Hursk runs to Matthious’s side and realizes it’s hopeless as his head rests several feet away in a puddle of his blood with a surprised expression on his handsome features as the last of his bodily fluids drain out making fanciful patterns in the dusty flagged floor. </p><p></p><p>They swiftly wrapped Matthious is his cloak and retreat back into the village in a sorrowful procession to the temple of Pharasma; the accolades of the temple take over the body and clean it up. Hursk assisted while Sayuri went around the village informing those who would like to know that Matthious had been killed; Sarianna Vai took the news well apparently but inwardly she withered as she had treated him not as well as she could have. Hursk took away Matthious’s personal effects and Sayuri met him back at the Temple; they returned back to Kendra’s and spent the evening in mourning as they considered the loss of one of their number. Hursk went outside to his tent in the garden where he stayed away from where the “civilized” slept and Prayed extolling his merits to the Lord of War to accept him to his side; Sayuri Talked late with Kendra advising her of the death and discussing the events of the day.</p><p></p><p></p><p>The morning came and a sad procession walked to the temple of Pharasma. Hursk was not too sad as he has died in battle which to him assured his ascension to heaven; Sayuri was feeling the loss keenly as his rapier wit was uplifting. They brought with them his effects, dressing Matthious in his amour, arming him with his magical silver rapier and placing his traveling hat on his head. His favorite hat was given to Sairianna Vai to remember him by. They progressed to the Restlands followed by many of the villagers as their short time has impressed many of the villagers; there were more at this funeral than there were at the professor’s who was a long time resident of the village. Sarianna Vai left a Banana on the coffin; Zokar Elkarid left a plate of Vampire Steaks and a bottle of Liquid Ghost. Several of the musicians left coins as Matthious was always free with leaving them coins when they performed. Hursk stood up and gave an emotional speech tears welled up in eyes all around as they recalled his friendly, easygoing nature. Sayuri stood up and gave a speech sufficient to stir emotions in solid rock and practically the whole assembly burst into tears; afterwards the funeral party went to the Outward Inn; free food and drinks were put on by them and from the Laughing Demon; most of the village turned up through the day to pay their respects, Hursk drank too much and sang a song in Orcish which no-one else understood. There was friendly bantering and drums playing in tune; it was a merry time in celebration of his life. All in all an emotional event and everyone went home at the end of the day feeling merry and sad at the same time.</p><p></p><p></p><p>The following morning Hursk comes to breakfast and there is a letter from the Temple of Pharasma asking if they would like a specialist of the temple to join them to help defeat this undead menace. Hursk shows the letter to Sayuri when she came down and she is also in approval to this plan. It will take a couple of days for this assistance to arrive. They send approval to the temple and then wonder what to do for the couple of days it’s going to take.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Sic_Pixie, post: 5821023, member: 52403"] [b]Death in the Family[/b] [B]Results of Researching Harrowstone[/B] Harrowstone is a ruined Prison; partially destroyed by 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. 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 potion 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. 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 prisons dungeons immediately prior to the conflagration. It was only through the self-sacrifice 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. 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 dungeons and had been in control of the level for several hours before the fire. Warden Hawkran triggered a deadfall to seal the rioting prisoners in the lower level, but in doing so 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. [B]Research The Whispering Way.[/B] The Whispering way is a sinister organization of necromancers that has been active in the inner sea region for thousands of years. 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 has existed much longer than even that mighty necromancer. The Whispering Way is a series of philosophies that can only be transferred via whispers-the philosophies are never written or spoken loudly, making the exact goals and nature of the secretive philosophies difficult for outsiders to learn about. Exact details on the society are difficult to discern, but chief among the Whispering Ways goals are discovering the formulae for creating liches and engineering the release of the whispering tyrant. Agents often travel to remote sites or area’s plagued by notorious haunts or undead menaces to perform field research or even to capture unique monsters. Their symbol is a gagged skull, and those who learn too many of the Way’s secrets are often murdered, and their mouths mutilated to prevent their bodies from divulging secrets via speak with dead. [B]Research The Five Prisoners[/B] Originally Harrowstone housed only local criminals, but as the prisons fame spread, other countries and distant lands began paying to have more dangerous criminals housed within these prisons 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. 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 Illmarch and the Splatter Man. [B]Father Charlatan (Sefick Corvin) [/B] Of the five notorious prisoners, only Father Charlatan was not technically a murderer, yet his crimes were so blasphemous that several churches demanded that he be punished to the full extent of Ustalavic law. Although he claimed to be an ordained priest of any number of faiths, Father Corvin was in fact a traveling con artist who used faith as a mask and a means to bilk the faithful out of money in payment for false miracles or cures. He became know as Farther Charlatan after his scheme was exposed and his Sczarni accomplices murdered a half dozen city guards in an attempt to make good the groups escape. [B]The Lopper (Vance Saetressle)[/B] When the Lopper stalked prey, he would hide in the most unlikely of places, sometimes for days upon end with only a few supplies to keep him going while he waited for the exact right moment to strike. Once his target was alone, the Lopper would emerge to savagely behead his victim with a hand axe. [B]The Mosswater Marauder (Ispin Onyxcudgel)[/B] Only 5 years before his hometown of Mosswater was destined to be overrun and ruined by monsters from the nearby river, Ispin Onyxcudgel was a well liked artisan and doting husband. When he discovered his wife’s infidelity, he flew into a jealous rage and struck her dead with his hammer, shattering her skull and his sanity with one murderous blow. Wracked with guild and shame, Ispin became convinced that if he could rebuild his wife’s skull she would come back to life-but unfortunately, he could not find the last blade shaped fragment from the murder site. So instead, Ispin became the Mosswater Marauder. Over the course of several weeks, the cunning dwarf stalked and murdered nearly 20 people while searching for just the right skull fragment. He was captured just before murdering the daughter of a visiting nobleman from Varno, and was carted off to Harrowstone the same night. [B]The Piper of Illmarsh (name unknown)[/B] Before he snatched his victims, the Piper taunted his targets with a mournful dirge on his flute. He preferred to paralyze his victims by dosing their meals with lich dust and then allow his pet stirges to drink the victim’s dry of blood. [B]The Splatter Man (Hean Feramin)[/B] Professor Feramin was a celebrated scholar of Anthroponomastics (the study of personal names and their origins) at the Quatrefaux Archives in Caliphas. Yet an accidental association with a succubus twisted and warped his study, turning it into an obsession. Feramin became obsessed with the power of a name and how he could use it to terrify and control. Soon enough, his reputation was ruined, he’d lost his tenure, and he’d developed an uncontrollable obsession with an imaginary link between a persons name and what happens to that name when the person dies. Every few days he would secretly arrange his victim to find a letter from her name written in blood, perhaps smeared on a wall or spelled out with carefully arranged entrails. Once he had spelled his victims name, he would at last come for her, killing her in a gory mess using a complex trap or a series of rigged events meant to look like an accident. After a lazy morning and a late breakfast or early lunch the group set out for the Restlands to see about talking to the local head priest regarding accessing the Library and seeing if they could get some additional assistance with the undead in the Prison. Hursk being the only one of the group with any religious knowledge is voted to speak. They are invited into the Father’s abode to have tea and cakes while Hursk attempts to convince him of the urgency of the situation; however Farther Grimburrow is not impressed with his diplomatic skills which seem to be less than expected since the esteemed Father was a witness to Hursk’s inspiring oratory during the funeral of the Professor; he was expecting a half orc who had thrown off the constrains of his physical appearance and embraced his human side. Unfortunately this was not the case as Hursk stuttered through a thinly veiled threatening “request” for assistance and the party were tersely asked to leave at once and no don’t mind washing the cups or anything as they are politely ushered out of the door. (Results of a natural 1 on diplomacy) Next onto the wizard’s place of business at the Unfurling Scroll, Aalendru is there just as disheveled and grumpy as the previous day; Hursk is asked not to speak and Matthious concludes the transaction. He has the See Invisibility scroll they ordered and this time they don’t annoy one of the higher members of the village hierarchy to the relief of the rest of the party. After a discussion about the prison and the history of the village they head to the Forge to see if the grappling hook is ready; Jorfa is there putting the finishing touches to a hoe and directs their attention to a side desk whereupon sits a completed grappling hook of fine workmanship. Or workwomanship I suppose. (Don’t let the beard fool you) After this busy morning they decide that a relaxing drink and meal might be in order. Making their way to the Outward Inn they find it mostly empty and the current performance by a local boy is sadly lacking in quality. When they are advised there is no pie ready today they leave in disgust and head to the Laughing Demon instead. While walking across the village square (which is round; go figure) they pass a young boy playing a set of pan pipes. Sayuri notices that the look in the boys face is unusually vacant as they pass. However as they approach to investigate they hear a scream from one of the passing locals as a Giant Stirge strikes Matthious; the Stirge manages to grapple Matthious and in a blind panic Mathious thinks quickly and casts a powerful sleep spell upon the Stirge not considering the fact that it’s an area effect spell and that he would be in it’s radius. Matthious however found the Stirge was more powerful than he thought and he promptly failed his save verses his own spell and fell to the floor snoring softly. Sayuri and Hursk look on in amazement as Matthious drops to the floor; both realizing the error of judgment performed and not believing Matthious had made such a mistake. While the other Stirge attacks Sayuri causing some light damage to her leg; Hursk grapples the Stirge on Matthious and pulls it off him and waking him up in the process; then he attempt to bite said Stirge and manages to impales his mouth on the Stirges Proboscis; much to Hursks amazement and the Stirges delight. Sayuri and Matthious look on in a sort of terrified amusement as Hursk looks like he attempts phillacio upon the confused Stirge then Matthious draws his rapier and runs the Stirge impaling Hursk’s mouth through and it expires in a gush of blood. Sayuri slashed at the Stirge on her leg with her Kama and killed it outright. The villagers in the square all applaud but Hursk steps up to the child playing the pipes to snatch them away breaking them apart. The Child screams and runs away; he is no-where to be found and no-one knows who he was when asked. They checked for magic on the pipes and found none. They retire to the Laughing Demon where they have food and drinks bought for them by happy locals. The rest of the day is spent relaxing in the Laughing Demon over indulging in the local specialty Liquid Ghost’s which is a green glowing light ale. They stagger back to Kendra’s in a bad state having over indulged in the ale and having lost some blood from the Stirges. The Morning comes bright and sunny much to the disgust of the party as the over indulgence from the previous day makes its presence known in the form of hangovers and a low tolerance to light; Matthious is particularly affected as his already low tolerance to light is compounded by the hangover. A late breakfast is followed by a venture outside to investigate what all the commotion is about. There is a flow of traffic towards the Harrowstone Monument; upon approaching the monument they notice that a bloody ‘E’ has been painted on the monument and the blood of a piglet has been used and then splattered over the stonework. The Party resolves to investigate the prison later on in the day after they have collected their gear and are feeling a bit better. (Nice to be a part time adventurer) After a good lunch everyone is feeling significantly better and head to the Prison to investigate some more. They enter into the Prison and quickly move to the hole leading down where the lift to the lower level used to reside; looking down the hole they could see nothing down there that could cause them any problems. Tying off a rope and letting it down the hole Hursk descended first; holding the rope from the bottom Sayuri descends next, half way down both Hursk and Matthious are distracted by the Sorceress dangling from the rope (as a fine ass and boobs will do that) and Sayuri is too busy climbing down so none notice the skeletons approaching around Hursk. The first anyone see’s is a bone hand reaching out of the darkness and scoring fine lines of blood on Hursk’s back. Several more figures shuffle out of the darkness and Hursk is in deep trouble, Sayuri is dangling halfway up a rope while Matthious is standing at the top feeling somewhat impotent yet again. Hursk draws his sword and the damage he has endured triggers his rage and he vigorously waves his sword around to little affect. Sayuri unwilling to drop in next to the raging barbarian and his large sword hangs from her rope and casts a spell; a small ball of acid drops onto a skeleton and it looks up at her unable to do much about it they all descend upon Hursk and ravage him with their claws. Matthious in a brave attempt leaps into the hole into a space recently made by Hursk destroying one of the critters and falls prone onto the ground next to 3 skeletons; they look down in surprise at the victim now lying at their feet and descend upon him with their claws. Hursk smashes another of the skeletons receiving many wounds in return, blood pouring from him in torrents; staggering back almost driven to his knees by the unrelenting damage. Matthious casting a spell from prone infuses his hand with positive energy and touches one of the them causing it to fall to dust; rolling away from the skeletons to gain some space to act he draws attacks from several but they miss. Sayuri casts and two bright balls of force flash out and destroy two of them; turning them to just a pile of broken bones; Hursk smashes another and Matthious gets to his feet after healing himself. This draws another attack from the creature standing over him which mostly removes the damage he just healed. Drawing his mace he beats down the Skeleton and then goes to assist Hursk. Sayuri casts another spell and drops another one while Hursk drops to one knee from blood loss and swings low knocking one down. Matthious steps in and heals Hursk as the last one falls. They look around them at the carnage and heave a long sigh of relief as they were very close to being overrun. Sayuri typically took no damage while Hursk and Matthious were teetering close to dropping where they stood, pools of blood having formed around them. Healing themselves up with potions and wands they regroup and start checking the room out; nothing much is found bar the obvious remains of the skeletons and 4 exits at each point of the compass. To the north is marked the Oubliette, East is Hells Basement, South is The Nevermore while to the west is Reapers Hold; all are worked tunnels leading off into the darkness bar Hells Basement which has mostly collapsed. The group decides to investigate Hells Basement first and is rewarded with a large room with a pool. Hover they don’t find anything willing to jump out and try killing them much to their surprise so they spend several minutes wandering round refusing to go into the water; they head back to the main room and choose another way to investigate. Heading south to The Nevermore they find the way blocked by an iron portcullis; the adjoining room which hold the portcullis winch is badly burnt making the winch unusable; Hursk tries pulling on the chains to raise the portcullis but he does not seem strong enough. Searching to room they find nothing of interest. Back to the main room they decide to head north, while Matthious and Sayuri whisper along Hursk loudly stomps along the corridor alerting the creature in the next room. Out of the open door ahead steps a headless burning skeleton wielding an axe; (although how it heard them without any ears is anyone’s guess) Matthious draws his mace striking it while Hursk got his bow out and strings one of his undead bane arrows. Sayuri attempted to strike it with her Kama not wishing to hit it with her bare fists and found her weapon bounces off its tough bones. The headless burning skeleton which is the remains of the Captain of the Guards Called Gurtis Vortch swings its axe in a murderous arc and if Matthious was where Gurtis thought he was it would have easily cut him in half. However Matthious was not and his response was to crack his mace across his ribs shattering a couple; Hursk fired and caught Gurtis in the chest; the resulting blow broke several more ribs and extinguished some of his flames briefly. Gurtis struck out and Sayuri took a blow across her chest; a spurt of blood followed the track of the axe spraying it up the wall. Sayuri gasped and staggered back her legs feeling weak and almost falling to the ground while Hursk steps in drawing his sword and cracking Gurtis across his thigh. Matthious moves to flank and misses only just as Gurtis moves to the side erratically. Sayuri throws a ball of acid which impacts on Hursk’s sword missing Gurtis and startling Hursk, Matthious attacks and strikes Gurtis on the backbone causing significant damage; several bones fracture. Gurtis swings around lashing out at Matthious and deftly severs his head from his shoulders in one powerful blow; as Matthious’s body drops lifelessly to the floor as his arterial blood arching against the wall in rhythmic spurts. Hursk cries out and summons his god’s power directing it outwards as a blast of positive energy consuming Gurtis in a fire of holy revenge and anguish. Hursk runs to Matthious’s side and realizes it’s hopeless as his head rests several feet away in a puddle of his blood with a surprised expression on his handsome features as the last of his bodily fluids drain out making fanciful patterns in the dusty flagged floor. They swiftly wrapped Matthious is his cloak and retreat back into the village in a sorrowful procession to the temple of Pharasma; the accolades of the temple take over the body and clean it up. Hursk assisted while Sayuri went around the village informing those who would like to know that Matthious had been killed; Sarianna Vai took the news well apparently but inwardly she withered as she had treated him not as well as she could have. Hursk took away Matthious’s personal effects and Sayuri met him back at the Temple; they returned back to Kendra’s and spent the evening in mourning as they considered the loss of one of their number. Hursk went outside to his tent in the garden where he stayed away from where the “civilized” slept and Prayed extolling his merits to the Lord of War to accept him to his side; Sayuri Talked late with Kendra advising her of the death and discussing the events of the day. The morning came and a sad procession walked to the temple of Pharasma. Hursk was not too sad as he has died in battle which to him assured his ascension to heaven; Sayuri was feeling the loss keenly as his rapier wit was uplifting. They brought with them his effects, dressing Matthious in his amour, arming him with his magical silver rapier and placing his traveling hat on his head. His favorite hat was given to Sairianna Vai to remember him by. They progressed to the Restlands followed by many of the villagers as their short time has impressed many of the villagers; there were more at this funeral than there were at the professor’s who was a long time resident of the village. Sarianna Vai left a Banana on the coffin; Zokar Elkarid left a plate of Vampire Steaks and a bottle of Liquid Ghost. Several of the musicians left coins as Matthious was always free with leaving them coins when they performed. Hursk stood up and gave an emotional speech tears welled up in eyes all around as they recalled his friendly, easygoing nature. Sayuri stood up and gave a speech sufficient to stir emotions in solid rock and practically the whole assembly burst into tears; afterwards the funeral party went to the Outward Inn; free food and drinks were put on by them and from the Laughing Demon; most of the village turned up through the day to pay their respects, Hursk drank too much and sang a song in Orcish which no-one else understood. There was friendly bantering and drums playing in tune; it was a merry time in celebration of his life. All in all an emotional event and everyone went home at the end of the day feeling merry and sad at the same time. The following morning Hursk comes to breakfast and there is a letter from the Temple of Pharasma asking if they would like a specialist of the temple to join them to help defeat this undead menace. Hursk shows the letter to Sayuri when she came down and she is also in approval to this plan. It will take a couple of days for this assistance to arrive. They send approval to the temple and then wonder what to do for the couple of days it’s going to take. [/QUOTE]
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