Charles Plemons' Blog

Game summary for May 30, 2013, Carrion Crown Adventure Path campaign, The Haunting of Harrowstone adventure; PCs included Amras Amandill (half-elf inquisitor), Dinendal Ironbow (elf ranger), Gnok Thatek (dwarf monk), Irnadette Steelsoul (elan psion), and Malthus Brightray (half-elf cleric) accompanied by NPC companion Thorkatla Foamflagon (dwarf cleric).

The party, battered by the Lopper, fled back to Ravengro to regroup.  They went to various establishments trying to see if anything new was happening in town.  They grew suspicious of the interactions between Sheriff Caeller and Jominda the Apothecary.  The team had lunch at the Laughing Demon tavern and heard of a minstrel in town.  The group went to listen to him play his lute at the posting poles.

While Mel the minstrel played, a pair of stirges flew over the rooftops and attacked!  Both Irnadette and Thorkatla were grappled and had blood drained, but the rest of the group sprang into action.  Gnok splattered one with an elbow, and Dinendal skewered the other with is rapier!  Soon after the attack, the team met another traveler, Malthus Brightray.  This cleric of Sarenrae was intrigued by their adventures and decided to help them explore the prison.  The team returned to Kendra’s to rest and recover spells.

Bright and early the team went to Harrowstone Prison and did some research.  They discovered the histories of both the Lopper and Father Charlatan!  Refreshed, the team cast several spells upon themselves and delved back into the depths of the prison.  They went down to find the Lopper and discovered him back in his oubliette!  A brutal fight ensued, with Thorkatla wielding the Lopper’s physical axe, Dinendal using ghost touch arrows, Amras using disrupt undead, Irnadette using energy ray, and Malthus channeling positive energy!  The fighting was intense, with bloody slashes of the spectral creature’s axe ripping through the characters.  However, some well-timed healing, good fortune during the battle, and a strong desire to put this spirit to rest propelled the team to victory!  They then went down into the oubliette and discovered a number of coins and valuable equipment, including a magical mace!

The team then went down another hallway, found a guard room, and raised an obstructing portcullis.  They peered into the Reaper’s Hold and prepared for whatever horrors lie beyond.

Game summary for May 23, 2013, Carrion Crown Adventure Path campaign, The Haunting of Harrowstone adventure; PCs included Amras Amandill (half-elf inquisitor), Dinedal Ironbow (elf ranger), Gnok Thatek (dwarf monk) and Irnadette Steelsoul (elan psion) accompanied by NPC companion Thorkatla Foamflagon (dwarf cleric).

Early in the morning, Gnok, Irnadette, and Thorkatla went out into the Restlands graveyard with Sheriff Caeller and Father Grimburrow to look things over in the day.  They found the deputy and acolyte asleep, huddled together either out of fear or cold.  They claimed cold.  Looking around, Gnok found a tombstone with Thorkatla’s name on it dated 4661 AR.  However, we he and the others looked at it again, they saw a different name altogether.  They discovered Father Grimburrow saw something similar.  They discussed the year of the Harrowstone fire and started talking about the stories of the prison being haunted.  Gnok mentioned the group was having conversations with the ghost of Vesorianna Hawkran.  This lead the priest to believe they were controlled by evil spirits, and they spent the next few hours undergoing a ritual exorcism and cleansing.

Irritated, the group went to breakfast at the Laughing Demon tavern to eat some wolf balls.  They then checked on Kendra and met up with Amras and Dinendal.  The five then returned to Harrowstone Prison and tried to research more on the Five Prisoners, with no success.  They then went back down a rope into the deepest part of the prison.

The team traveled through the room wherein they had discovered the ectoplasmic humans and found a collapsed stairwell and three other passageways labeled with brass signs:  The Oubliette, The Nevermore, and Reaper’s Hold.  As they read, eight skeletons clattered to un-life around them, and a brutal fight ensued!  Gnok and Thorkatla found their bludgeoning attacks very effective against the undead, as did Amras and his disrupt undead spell.  Before long, the undead were put down.

The group went south into the Nevermore and found an old guardroom.  Within was a lever system which Gnok promptly broke.  They then found a portcullis barring their way.  They turned back north and found another guardroom.  Within a headless flaming skeleton swinging an axe emerged!  The terrible undead staggered Gnok in one blow and nearly did the same to Thorkatla.  Dinendal, who hates undead more than anything, unleashed a couple of well-placed arrows into the monster.  Meanwhile, Irnadette used cold energy rays to harass it.  Amras dealt some more damage with disrupt undead.  Thorkatla bought Gnok the time to drink his potion of cure moderate wounds.  He then moved into combat and used flurry of blows only to cause the skeleton to explode into fiery shards!  This explosion almost killed Thorkatla.  After nursing their wounds, they went further north to find a large metal grate.

Gnok peered into the darkness about 30 feet below and saw a horrendous spirit dart up through the air and slide right through the grate like it didn’t exist!  This cackling axe-wielding spirit wounded Amras, drawing blood from his neck wound to heal itself of damage dealt by Dinendal’s ghost touch arrow.  Gnok recognized the ghostly axe as a spiritual version of the bloody axe they found in the property room, which they had left back at Kendra’s!  The group fell back and retreated, with the spirit giving up the chance after a few moments.  It stood laughing and licking the blood off its spectral axe as the team ascended the rope back into the old training room.

Game summary for May 16, 2013, Carrion Crown Adventure Path campaign, The Haunting of Harrowstone adventure; PCs included Gnok Thatek (dwarf monk) and Irnadette Steelsoul (elan psion) accompanied by NPC companion Thorkatla Foamflagon (dwarf cleric).

At the Laughing Demon tavern, Gnok and Thorkatla met up with Irnadette Steelsoul, an elan psion passing through the area.  Interested in their tales, she decided to join in their adventure.  The team decided to investigate the statue of Warden Hawkran and found Deputy Vrodish standing watch.  They spoke with him a bit and then knocked on the door of a ramshackle hut to find Gibs Hephenus within.  He fussed at the group for disturbing him but seemed a bit intimidated by Gnok.

The group headed to the Unfurling Scroll and traded a used haunt siphon for a scroll of heat metal and a scroll of knock as well as a few coin.  They then headed to the Temple of Pharasma and found the group still had no real use for them.

The team went back to Harrowstone Prison and went to the old warden’s office.  Irnadette attempted to crack the safe but realized it was beyond her talent.  She puzzled through the knock scroll and used it to unlock the safe with magical aid!  Within, she found hundreds of gold coins and a trove of magical potions.  Wanting an item to pry up a flagstone, they went back to the branding room where the haunt triggered and sent searing branding irons at them once again!  Both Thorkatla and Gnok were branded with the Harrowstone Prison mark!

The group then went to the cold spot and put to test a theory they researched on how to get rid of it.  They used the heat metal scroll to superheat a copper coin and buried it under a flagstone in the midst of the cold spot and then buried it in hallowed ground, disrupting the haunt!  Irnadette tried to pick the lock of the metal door beyond but found it beyond her talent as well.  With their newfound gold, they purchased another knock scroll and used it to get past the door.  Within the room they found lots of property once belonging to the prisoners.

Loaded down, the team went to town to pawn off all the items and have dinner with Kendra.  In their discussions, they talked about how odd it was they found no items belonging to the Five Prisoners in the property room.  They went back up the hill to the prison and started searching each room very carefully.  Within the property room, they discovered a hidden vault with five items within:  a tangled mess of holy symbols, a bloodstained handaxe, a moldy spellbook, a smith’s hammer, and a tarnished silver flute.  They quickly took the items to Vesorianna, and she confirmed they were connected with the Five Prisoners.  She warned them they were powerful weapons, but they are also tainted by the evil of their former owners.

The group then returned to Kendra’s home for the evening.  After a short while, they heard Jominda screaming outside.  Rushing out, they found her running from a pair of staggering drunks.  The party yelled at the men who turned and approached.  About thirty feet away, in the light of the half-moon, the team realized they were faced with zombies!  A brutal fight ensued, with the party nearly beaten to death by the undead, but finally Gnok was able to shatter enough bones to put the zombies down for good.  Moments later, Sheriff Benjan Caeller and his deputies arrived.  After learning what happened and finding that Jominda was safe and sound, the Sheriff warmed up to the team just a tiny bit.  The group then tracked the mud and worms fallen from the undead back to the Restlands cemetery to discover two graves ripped open from the inside!  The Sheriff posted a deputy and an acolyte from the church on guard duty while he and the other deputies, along with the party, stayed the night in the church next door.

While the priests and the law slept, Gnok made use of the temple library and found it an excellent source of information; however, he lacked the time to uncover tidbits they did not already know.  The group awoke bright and early the next morning and prepared spells and powers.

Game summary for May 9, 2013, Carrion Crown Adventure Path campaign, The Haunting of Harrowstone adventure; PCs included Amras Amandill (half-elf inquisitor), Dinendal Ironbow (elf ranger), and Gnok Thatek (dwarf monk) accompanied by NPC companion Thorkatla Foamflagon (dwarf cleric).

After the meeting with Vesorianna, the team met back up with Amras and Dinendal at Kendra’s home.  They sat at the table and discussed the situation for a bit.  Then, they returned to the prison where Gnok did some research and discovered the history of Hean Feramin, the Splatter Man!  They then spoke with Vesorianna some more and learned one of the spirits she had sensed with Abilard was not present.

The team then went back to the old training room with the gaping hole down into darkness.  The group tied Dinendal to a rope, cast light on the end of it, and lowered him into the depths where he discovered a shallow body of water.  He discovered it to be approximately waste deep.  He untied himself and looked around, seeing the ruins of an old lift and evidence of a collapse.  Amras followed him down into the water and went up on the shore.  Suddenly, two horrid ectoplasmic forms emerged and attacked!

Amras and Dinendal found themselves fighting for their lives as Gnok lowered Thorkatla safely down.  He then slid down the rope himself to enter the fray.  Dinendal took several deadly blows and was staggered.  Amras cut down one ectoplasmic spirit with his longsword but succumbed to the attacks of the other and collapsed in a bleeding heap.  Thorkatla channeled positive energy to heal her allies a bit and cast an ironbeard spell on Gnok.  The monk’s beard stiffened and grew into a shining metal barrier of armor which deflected at least one attack!  Gnok decided to hurl a flask of holy water at the remaining undead monster while Thorkatla again channeled healing power.

With Amras grievously injured but stable on the ground, Dinendal scrambling around for a healing potion, and Thorkatla nursing wounds, Gnok knew they were in dire straits.  He did the only reasonable thing—he grappled the ectoplasmic monster!  His plan, once pinning the creature, was to force his potion of cure light wounds down its throat!  Once he had it held, Thorkatla used her last channeling to surge the undead with positive energy, destroying it.  Gnok then rolled Amras over and poured his potion down his throat, reviving him.

Battered, bruised, and out of spells, the group scrambled back up the rope and returned to town.  They decided to go to the Laughing Demon tavern for lunch.

Game summary for May 2, 2013, Carrion Crown Adventure Path campaign, The Haunting of Harrowstone adventure; PCs included Abilard Athame (human magus) and Gnok Thatek (dwarf monk) accompanied by NPC companion Thorkatla Foamflagon (dwarf cleric).

Overpowered by the terrifying Piper of Illmarsh the party found itself temporarily scattered.  Gnok was rescued by a pair of adventurers, Abilard and Thorkatla, who were also exploring the prison.  The three of them regrouped at Kendra’s long enough for Thorkatla to cure Gnok’s injuries.  They returned to the prison and found the branding room.  Four branding irons surged to red-hot heat and flew toward the party!  Just as suddenly they fell inanimate to the floor.  Perplexed, Abilard took one of the brands with him.

The group then returned to the second floor and stumbled upon a trio of stirges!  The vermin began attaching to the party and draining blood!  Thorkatla and Gnok suffered the most from the little beasts.  Abilard cast magic missile to injure one, and Gnok’s flurry finished it off.  Gnok used flurry of blows on another to bring it down while Abilard cast shocking grasp and exploded the last one!  As the blood of the final stirge dripped down the wall, faint piping filled the air as the Piper of Illmarsh manifested!  Calling upon the power of their deities, and using a haunt siphon, the team directed sufficient positive energy into the Piper to disrupt the haunt!

The team then explored the rest of the upper floor but did not go out on either of the upper balconies.  They found a larger cell with a corpse within and days marked off with tally marks on the walls.  Abilard used chalk to add a few more, and as he did, Gnok caught a glimpse of an overweight spectral man sitting up from the bed, looking at Abilard, smiling, and disappearing!

The group then moved back downstairs to speak with the ghost of the warden’s wife.  They learned her name is Vesorianna.  She indicated she could sense a presence with them.  Gnok assumed it was the negative energy of the Piper contained in his haunt siphon, so he left the room, but she said the presence remained.  Abilard left the room, and the presence went away.  Vesorianna looked at him suspiciously and said she did not trust him!