New Blood

Session 3 Recap

From the Journal of Sister Carlotta Dumaine, Dawnbringer of Sarenrae

Sunday, 4^th of Pharast, 4712AR – Night



My head throbs. Blood stains several bandages about my arms and legs. I feel pain as I have never done before. I am lying on my side in a cell block on the second level of the prison, having narrowly survived a desperate battle against the shades of former prisoners, but more on that in a moment.



Last night, we returned to the first floor of the prison briefly, being careful to avoid the infirmary with the nasty phantasm in it. We discovered an old chapel wherein we found a few potions and a wand, which we correctly identified as a wand that healed wounds. After battling a few animated objects and a colony of spiders, we headed back to town.



Chaos greeted us. The Town Hall was on fire. After helping put it out, we were given a run down of the entire story. Earlier that night, a militiaman by the name of Vrodish had been murdered at the base of the Harrowstone Memorial Statue. The statue was covered in blood again and the letter E was scrawled across it. Unfortunately for him, Vrodish must have come upon the culprit as he was defacing the statue and met his end. Of the sheriff Benjan Caeller, there was no sign. A town meeting was hastily called. During the meeting – Councilor Hearthmount told us – the lamps in the hall exploded into flaming skull-like creatures and the hall was set ablaze. The ensuing panic and stampede resulted in more than a few deaths. The townspeople are frightened and believe their village to be cursed. I suspect more than a few will pack up and head to safer havens. At that point, obviously desperate, the councilor hired us to fix this problem and lift the curse from the town.



During the clean up of the town hall, we met another elf by the name of Eswin, who claims to be “just passing through town”. Thayel hired him to help us, believing him to possess skills that will be beneficial to us in our quest. I’m a bit skeptical of the rascal, as he seems more interested in money than anything else. Nevertheless, he fell in with our group, making quick friends of Thayel and Aeros, his kinsmen.



Gisley and myself went in search of Benjan, but we lost his trail south on the way to Harrowstone. The others followed the trail of blood from the statue to a shack belonging to Gibbs, the retired farmer who attacked us on the first day in the Restlands. They were convinced he was the culprit, but could not prove it beyond a shadow of a doubt. As a matter of fact, they believed he had been possessed by some spirit. Not knowing what to do with him, they left him as he was in his shack – a mistake I hope that does not come back to haunt us.



This morning we awoke and did some more investigating around town, picking up little information of consequence. Benjan has yet to return and even the potion lady, Jorminda knows not where he has gone. But his tracks lead south towards the prison, so we felt we may find our answers there. Once again however, we waited until nightfall to enter the prison ruins.



On the first floor we came across the restless spirit of Vesorianna Hawkran, the warden’s wife. She told us that she no longer feels the presence of her husband’s spirit within the prison walls and that it was he who kept the ghosts of the other prisoners in line. Now that he is gone, it is only her strength of will that is keeping them from bursting out into the lands beyond. She claims her own strength is waning and that very soon she will be unable to contain all the evil within the prison walls. She begged us to put a stop to the ghosts and return her husband’s badge of office to her. When we questioned her about Lorrimor, she claimed that she saw a group of cloaked figures hold the professor down and drop a gargoyle on his face, murdering him. She claimed that the leader wore armour made of bones and carried a staffed topped with a gagged skull – the symbol of the Whispering Way.



After hearing Vesorianna’s sad tale, we made our to the prison vault, where the possessions of the prisoners before they were captured were kept. With keen eyes, Gisley spotted a hidden chamber within where we found the belongings of the famous five prisoners at Harrowstone: The Lopper’s axe, The Mosswater Marauder’s hammer, The Piper of Illmarsh’s pipes, Father Charlatan’s prayer beads, and The Splatterman’s spellbook.



Next we made our way up to the second floor. In a secluded cell we found the remains of what we believed to be Father Charlatan: a skeleton in rotting robes, wrapped in heavy chains bearing various holy symbols. Thayel grabbed a prayer book tucked in the prisoner’s robes and we moved on.



As we entered the western cell block, we heard the haunting music of pipes. Our new ally Eswin grabbed the piper’s pipes we found in the secret room below and began playing. Blood poured from his eyes and ears and we couldn’t get him to stop. Finally, one of our number, I can’t remember who, got the pipes away from him.



Delving further into the cell block, we were assailed by six skeletons. As we battled them, a ghostly, reaper-like apparition appeared at the end of the hallway. I was draped in a tattered hooded cloak and was accompanied by two ghostly stirges. Gisley and Thayel moved to the front to protect us and Aeros cast a grease spell on the ground where three of the skeletons stood. As Thayel was hit by one of the skeletons, he dropped to the ground, seemingly dead. The rest of us fought on bravely. The apparition, which we concluded was the spirit of the Piper of Illmarsh, set about paralyzing some of us and attacking us with his ghostly stirges. Blood poured from the arms of those attacked, but they came out of their paralyzed state soon after.



Ghostly chains appeared around the body of Thayel and seemed to start crushing him. He was unconscious, but moaning in pain. I thanked Sarenrae that he was still alive, though for how much longer, I did not know.



It was at that point, that things started to fall apart. I was attack from behind by a number of skeletons. They tore into my arm with their sharp claws and I screamed in pain. Having taken care of the skeletons in front of him, Gisley turned to help me, but slipped in the grease created by Aeros’ spell. He tried flinging his hammer from the ground, but unfortunately (I was told later) he hit me in the back of the head, knocking me out.



I was out for sometime, but eventually, the light of Sarenrae swept over me, bringing me back to consciousness. Eswin stood over me with the wand of healing (he has more tricks up his sleeve than I guessed). I was considerably more wounded than before. Bandages were wrapped about my wounds in a haphazard manner. Later, I was told by a shame-faced Gisely that he tried binding my wounds, but in the heat of battle failed miserably, causing me more harm and bringing me precariously close to death’s door.



I struggled to my feet and noticed that Thayel was still wrapped in the ghostly chains and the Piper was still attacking us. I called to Sarenrae for help and blasted the Piper with divine light. It seemed to damage him a bit. Gisley, now wielding the Lopper’s axe, tore at the chains about Thayel, freeing him and bringing him back to consciousness. Everyone was bleeding from multiple wounds and it seemed as though we were all on our last legs. Aeros cleverly used a haunt siphon on the Piper, causing him more damage, yet still he and his pets came on. Finally, in a desperate effort, Gisley charged the undead creature with the Lopper’s axe and tore into its incorporeal body, forcing it to dissipate.



Our first major battle resulted in the near deaths of all of us. Everyone has wounds to lick and I can see a grimness in their eyes that was not there before. The arrogance with which we initially waded into the prison with has disappeared and more than a few of my comrades seem less than enthused about the prospect of fighting the rest of the spirits within these walls.



Sarenrae guide me in this trying time. Though this battle has tested our limits, I feel that there are more dangerous times ahead.