Carrion Crown: The Haunting of Harrowstone, Pt. II [IC]

[Tippnick]

Zauberei says, "Those that can't battle a haunt try to find a clue about it in the room."

Spoiler: crunch

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He will assess this haunt
SA: channel positive energy to harm undead
(d6)[5]

[lostsole31]

R4T13: Zauberei says, "Those that can't battle a haunt try to find a clue about it in the room." As he looks around, he channels positive energy. Perhaps it his lack of focus, but it seems the haunt fights against the energy (2 PE).

R4T8: Wren screams in agonizing pain from within the haunt.

Initiative Ends!

The sort of unsettled energy about the haunt seems to have ended.

Angelo is able to undo the latch and Wren is there, sporting dozens of deep, bloodless puncture wounds. He walks out, and appears to be much weakened, even if not physically harmed beyond the evidence of the puncture wounds.

There is no haunt to fight now. All is quiet. Now what?

[Tippnick]

Zauberei says, "This haunt can be put to rest by destroying every torture device in this room. Wren are you alright, do you need healing or anything else?"

[lostsole31]

Wren cries, "Pain ... everywhere."

[Tippnick]

Zauberei exams Wren to see what would be best for him.

[lostsole31]

It will be assumed that Zauberei assists Hargrimm in this endeavor.

Spoiler: Hargrimm, Zauberei

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Normally, being in an iron maiden would have very real, very current wounds of scores of puncture marks all over the body. Ex-sanguination is a common death for those who deal with such a device. Survivors tend to have significant health issues throughout their life. Wren doesn't "current" wounds at all. His body is hole and healed. The problem is that the marks on his body ... as if he were an earlier survivor of an iron maiden ... HAVE definitely affected his health. Wren was quite a hale man previously, but now his overall health is a little below that of a normal person. It doesn't affect his ability to fight, his balance, strength, or the like, but vastly affects his staying power in combat - or even in normal arduous tasks - and he is now more prone to other dangers like poisons and diseases.

Surely, there is some supernatural angle to this, possibly a curse, but you likely don't have a means of verifying that at this time.

[Ason]

Marius pats at the singed parts of his body and clothing after the fire, checking himself to ensure he is definitely no longer burning and that everything meant to be there is still present. He then drinks an extract of cure light wounds.

To the rest of the party, Marius sheepishly apologizes. "I'm sorry for losing my head like that, everyone. I don't know what came over me. But Wren... what can we do for you? What happened?"

While waiting for the others to finish directly examining Wren, Marius preemptively mixes another extract of cure light wounds and an extract of enlarge person for good measure.

[BuckGodot]

Alexandru begins smashing the Iron Maiden with his hammer.

[lostsole31]

Marius is fully healed after consuming his draught, then mixes another couple of batches of things quickly.

Meanwhile, Wren answers, "I saw someone from my past ... someone I cared for very much ... trapped and bloody in the Iron Maiden. I lost myself and went to free them, and then I found myself in darkness and trapped and nothing but fear and terror and then you rescued me."

[Ason]

Marius shakes his head in sorrow at Wren's words. "I'm sorry you endured that, friend. These old ghosts like to twist our minds against us, it seems. We can't be finished here quickly enough for my tastes."

Marius then pauses to watch Alexandru work for a moment, assessing his task before speaking to the man at work.

Spoiler: If / Then statements

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Note: I imagine it's a knowledge (engineering) check or the like for this, so I'll leave that roll up to the DM.

If it seems feasible for Alexandru to actually damage the object, Marius interjects, saying, "Alexandru, might I offer you my embiggening extract? It will make you large enough that shattering this device will go much faster." He then extends the extract to Alexandru.

If, however, it does not seem feasible for Alexandru to make much headway against the object, Marius interjects, saying, "Alexandru, I think the haunt has ended for now. We may as well just move on."

[lostsole31]

Seeing work happening against the old and long-since-maintained torture implements, Marius looks to the stronger brother and says, "Alexandru, might I offer you my embiggening extract? It will make you large enough that shattering this device will go much faster." He then extends the extract to Alexandru if he wants it.

[BuckGodot]

”If it will make this faster? Yes.” says Alexandru and downs the draught.

[lostsole31]

Wren will get up and take his recently acquired axe (Lopper's axe) and begin assisting in the dismantling and destruction of the torture gear with the now-giant-sized Alexandru.

As the two of them are making a ruckus, does anyone else do anything or wait for that task to be done?

[SwordChucks]

Not being well equipped to destroy torture devices, Hargrimm will look around the room. He will start with any baskets, barrels, or other containers and gather any devices he finds for the others to break.

[Ason]

Marius frowns as he inspects the damage caused by his dropped lantern, and he half-heartedly attempts to salvage what he can from it until the others' work here is either finished or given up on.

[Moriar]

Angelo will absently look around the room after casting an arcane spell.

Then if his brother needs help, will provide too late advice to "encourage him."

Spoiler: checking room

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cast sift

To look around the room quickly, while "helping" his brother.

[lostsole31]

After a solid hour of workout and a mixture of both clever disassembly and forceful mechanical separation, all of the torture implements are destroyed. With them, the glow from the fire pit goes away, as whatever unnatural force kept that lit for decades is no longer apparently powerful enough or present to keep it lit ... a good sign of the heroes' success.

But Wren is still crippled with pain .... that doesn't appear to be a "linked" injury that will go away with the destruction of the haunt, but a more lasting reminder of the evil of this place.

What now?

[Tippnick]

Zauberei says to Wren, "Wren I am sorry, to remove this requires more powerful magic than I have learned or Nethys had gifted me yet. I imagine we can throw ourselves at the feet of Father Grimburrow for his help, but we would probably be done with our exploration of this jail. If you feel you can manage you can go I would prefer to finish this and put to rest the last of these spirits. And find out what the Whispering Way was doing here. But if you feel you need to stop, I will take you Pharasman."

[Ason]

Marius shivers before saying apologetically, "Father Grimburrow would throw us in jail ourselves, I fear. Wren, your health is your health, so you should still decide your own path--not me or anyone else--but perhaps a good night's rest after we finish here for the day might be all you need?"

[SwordChucks]

Now that the haunt has been laid to rest, Hargrimm fishes a wand out of his pack and approaches Wren.

"I'm hoping this will have you sturdy as stone Mr. Elbourne. Let me know if you feel any improvement."

Spoiler

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Use the wand to cast Lesser Restoration on Wren. If he shows improvement, but still shows signs of weakness, Hargrimm will spend a second charge.

[lostsole31]

The wand is used, but it has no effect.

"I'm not going anywhere until we finish this day, because I'm not heading off alone, separated from the group," says Wren. "Now gather round. I'm seeing some changes in the stone down here."

And with that, he spends a few rounds to talk with the party about what he's noticed.

Spoiler: OOC

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He is redoing his Careful Teamwork, which increases allies Disable Device, Perception, and initiative.

[Moriar]

Angelo will carefully listen to Wren and keep a close eye on him just in case it looks like he could use any help.

[lostsole31]

Okay, what now?

[BuckGodot]

Alexandru comes to the group and asks, "Ummm... Sorry... But... If we're done... Can we move on? I mean it's fine if not and you want to stay here it's just that its cold and dark and I'd kind of like to leave and maybe eat and rest a bit but definitely carry on..."

[Moriar]

Both Tippy (comes out of tattoo to stretch his legs) and Angelo pat Lexi on the shoulders.

"Did you want a little pick me up brother?" Angelo asks. "Tippy and I are ok to continue on exploring here but understood if others need their beauty rest. "

[Tippnick]

Zauberei says, "Does anyone see an exit from this room? Shall we search or move on to the next area?"

[Ason]

Marius furrows his singed brow in thought. "I, uh, I think we finished everything in this western wing. Maybe we should go back to that center staircase area? Unless I'm overlooking something, I think south from there is the only route left now."

If the others agree, Marius grabs his equipment (minus the broken lantern) and Paula and then leaves this torture room behind.

[Tippnick]

Zauberei is agreeable, "Wren are you still able to direct us or should we have someone else?"

[lostsole31]

Wren nods his head, "No, I'm good. First, we actually haven't searched this room. We just broke all the toys. I recommend a long search, as before, as we are exploring, not on the clock, and looking for whatever clues can help us."

[lostsole31]

A deep search takes 3.2 hours.

The rags of a uniform that were ripped off of a skeleton to help put out the fire? Well, it appears that was the warden's body. Warden Hawkran's skeleton has ruined chainmail. Sitting inside of his skeletal pelvis are the warden's keys, symbols of his control over his prisoners. The wardens badge was used as a makeshift torture implement and inserted into the man's jaw to shatter part of his face. The badge is extricated from his jaw.

In addition, a secret door is discovered on the eastern wall.