Session05

Summary of Events
The party continued exploring the lower level of the prison. They encountered Gurtis Vortch, the prison's captain of the guard, before coming face-to-face with the Lopper. Making quick work of him, the party moved on toward the Reaper's Hold where they dealt with the Mosswater Marauder. The party then split, as Warwick began seeing his name spelled out on the walls.

Malourne and Samuel headed on into the Hold while Dax and Warwick headed to the Nevermore, where they began repairing a broken winch in order to raise the lowered portcullis. In the Hold, Malourne discovered the body of the Warden in the torture room. At that time, Samuel saw Kendra trapped in the Mourning Maiden and ran to her rescue. Realizing too late that it was an illusion, he was trapped inside, leaving Malourne to deal with the crawling, severed hands attacking him. Malourne called for help and, rejoined, the party attempted to open the maiden with no success. Suddenly, Dax attempted to use a Haunt Syphon while on the rack, which was destroyed. The party then destroyed the remaining torture implements and the door to the maiden swung open.

Moving through a secret passage in the wall, the party headed into the Nevermore and made quick work of the Splatter Man.

The party returned the Warden's Badge of Office to Vesorianna, allowing her to keep the remaining prisoners in check. After questioning her about Lorrimore's death and learning that he was murdered by foul magic from the cultist leader, the party returned to Ravengro for a well deserved rest.

Dax's Journal
Twice in the night the song of The Piper's Flute filled my dreams. I fear I may be unable to shake the memory of that event for ages to come. Of course, ghosts do not rest and our time is fairly short. Thus continues our search of this damp dreary basement with of course the most obvious place for ghosts to congregate. The oubliette.

Of course we wouldn't go ghost hunting to save the world in, say, a park.

Upon entering the guardroom to the oubliette (a rare sight, considering this was a prison) the headless remains of what was once was a guard assailed us. Curious that this guard was the only one which rose along with the prisoners. Perhaps the other guards that fell have been unable to rise or were destroyed when they did? Regardless of my speculations, upon noticing that the winch within this guard post likely operated the portcullis to the oubliette, Warwick opted to be a sniveling little coward.

Once open, Malourne claimed to sense something fowl within. Before I could make my quip of Warwick being outside and not within, Malourne informed us of the presence of The Lopper within the oubliette. Foul indeed, but quickly dispatched. Samuel had remained within the darkened entrance of the room, and when the smokey form of the grisly murderer rose from the depths of the oubliette, the monster hunter slew the spectre with its own axe. The Lopper's axe seemed to continually return to Samuel's hand throughout the battle, allowing the Belmont to throw it numerous times.

The axe must have been cursed instead of magical, as once The Lopper had been dispersed, the axe's magic failed. In the meantime, we sent the chicken (Warwick) down (probably a mistake, given his untrustworthy nature if there were to be loot...) to see what lay below. He found the keys to the prison he'd been searching for the entire journey, a masterwork musket with broken mechanisms, a mace, a sword, and a stone of alarm.

As we continued our investigation of the oubliette for clues, Samuel solved the mystery of the portcullis: it opens and closes.

Next: The Reaper's Hold

Within the Reaper's Hold we found a room before the Hold's portcullis which contained three smashed skulls and the mummified corpse of a dwarf. Immediately I knew what lay before us: the last remains of the Mosswater Marauder, Isbyn Onyxcudgel searching for the correct pieces for his wife's skull even as the prison burned around him. A fight with spectres and ghosts soon broke out (surprise!) during which the form of the Marauder rose and joined our foes. In the middle of this fight Warwick once again showed his yellow belly, though the dwarf followed the pirate 'round the geol, and so the chicken came back.

Once the fight was over, Malourne took his hammer and once again defiled a corpse by smashing the dwarf's head. With his own hammer. I am beginning to believe he may be a false or wicked priest...

Or an idiot.

After dispatching Isbyn, Warwick screamed and claimed to see a 'WA' written in soot upon the prison wall. Fearing the Splatterman, we split up the group to cover more ground. The coward and I headed to the Nevermore, while the false priest and the hunter searched the interior of the Reaper's Hold.

When we reached the Nevermore, the box of gears which wound the cable to pull down the portcullis had been fractured apart. While we took turns attempting to repair the machinery and open the gate, Warwick heard a distant cry for help. Fearing another phantom had accosted Professor Lorrimore's other friends, Warwick and I immediately set off to check on them.

Upon arriving, we witnessed Samuel trapped within the old, soot-covered iron maiden. The Reaper's Hold served as, apparently, torture room and prison both. The curse within this room continued to take hold on each of us, turn after turn, until I popped a cork on a Haunt Siphon, shattering the equipment and freeing Sam from the maiden. As we recovered, Warwick claimed to have found a secret tunnel.

Dark, dank, and deep. I hate tunnels.

At the end, though, there was not much better. The Splatterman stood before us, murder in his ghostly visage. Piece by piece our names began to appear upon the walls of his tomb, and with each letter a piece of our soul was stolen from us. Once dispatched, the spellbook of this vile man had to be burned. I could not, in good conscience, allow such an evil....expensive....valuable...thing to be owned by any untrustworthy fool. Like Warwick. Especially not Warwick.

As the evil fled this place, at least most of it, we returned to Vessoriana the Warden's Wife and bestowed her husband's symbol of power on her, giving her the authority to contain the remaining spirits within. Our deal complete, Vessoriana gave us a troubling bit of information.

Professor Lorrimore was murdered.

By a cult named The Whispering Way.

I hate cults.

Shit.