"I don't see anything." Kendra answered Constantine nervously.

Garland's field of scan narrowed and intensified, his magically enhanced senses picking out the threads of undeath in the area. He detected a single aura of moderate necromantic potency.

Darcon stopped in his tracks when he heard Garland state his discovery. Remaining behind the priest he waited for him to reveal more of what he had detected with his magic.

Murkau grunted, waiting a moment before asking the priest "What do yer eyes see Garland?" The dwarf waited towards the front of the group, content to be a shield for the rest.

The spell fades a moment later and Garland looks back at the others. "There is a single aura of necromantic energy ahead. Thats all I could determine before the spell faded...I suggest we prepare one of the siphons and move inside carefully."

“Aye ready the symphony and I shall move forward into harms way.”

SCG waits for them to get set and then starts straight up the middle to the front of the room.

Kendra fished in her pack and handed Garland one of the delicate glass haunt siphons. He approached as closely as he could the edge of the aura, he was several feet away from the podium, and twisted open the supernatural trap. There was a sudden rush of ghostly energy and ethereal tendrils formed and writhed, drawn inwards into the haunt siphon. A low wail sounded and the temperature dropped slightly. Then it was over, and the haunt siphon began to glow with a sickly green light.

An examination of the now safe podium found nothing particularly noteworthy. Just a loose collection of moldy papers, ink smudged, dealing with the day to day operation of the prison. There was a duty roster and a supply request, but no illuminating clues.

Garland sets his hand on Constantines shoulder with a smile. "Im pleased that this did not put you into danger but please share some of that burden. You need not shoulder it all yourself my friend." he said, hoping that paladin would take his words to heart.

Garland looked at the siphon, taking in its details as he turned it every which way in his hands. Noting the only difference was the light. "I think I may have to study these devices more when there is time. I could write a full paper just on the few changes Ive noticed."

After a moment he removed his backpack, placing the used siphon into it before he began to collect the paperwork, page by page gathering everything together and placing it in his pack for further study and possibly even historical reference material. Once that paperwork had been collected Garland took a small piece of charcoal and a blank, partially burned page, placing them on the ground in front of him before he kneeled down, taking in a deep breath as he spoke to the spirit. "I want to help you but we need to speak to one another. Can you write your name for us?" he asked in a tone that betrayed his feelings of pity for someone trapped here. Garland was a scholar and a healer but these were not the wounds of a body wracked by injuries or disease, instead he was trying to heal the soul trapped here so it might pass on.

Keanala leaned over Garlands shoulder, her own interest piqued by the haunt siphon.  "I haven't seen one of those working before.  That's pretty useful.  Can we get more of these?"

“Someone must take point as we move forward; fear not I know that you can take my place should the need arise.”

He nods
“The detection spell was well done allowing us a foothold and a haunt removed.”

He looks at the siphon...
“Can it still be used or is it now filled?”

The remainder of the room shows little of interest so SCG looks around the room at the variety of doors...

The small area behind the room between this main chamber and the outer wall seems like a place that must be cleared next.

Garland's query echoed through the open chamber but the unquiet spirits didn't deign to answer, the charcoal and paper remained inert. His knowledge of the undead told him that such inquiries were unlikely to be answered directly, except by an attack. Unless one possessed something specific to the spirit being questioned, some object or person intimately tied with it, a mundane seance was unlikely to yield any answers. There were magics and rituals capable of pulling answers from the hostile dead, however.

Still, this particular haunt was unlikely to cause problems for some time. While most haunts re manifested after a single day, any haunt drained with a haunt siphon could take as long as two weeks to gather enough spiritual energy to re manifest.

Kendra shuffled through her bag, looking at the treasures that had been retrieved from the crypt.

"Well, we have one more. And Father Grimburrow would likely be able to make more of them, if he has this one to work from. We can likely buy more from the temple of Pharasma." She answered Keanala.

"That one is expended," She nodded towards the one that Garland was stowing "But the spiritual energy held within could be useful, I suppose."

Constantine's search of the southern wall of the chamber revealed little. He clamored up onto the knee height stage and searched the lectern and rear area but didn't find more than the moldy papers that Garland had already examined.

"No, I suppose it would not be that easy." he said aloud, shrugging a moment later knowing that not all hauntings were very vocal. "I am unsure if we 'should' use the other siphon. Father Grim burrow may need to study one before he or the other priests can build them and who knows what such an endeavor would cost as they are powerful magical items. Regardless, we should move on. Lead the way Constantine."

Kendra nodded.

"We'll try to save it, but I'm sure that the temple would be able to replicate even a filled haunt siphon. So, where too next?"

“There are two more doors out of this room perhaps we shoul keep going through these.”

"Outer door first?" Keanala offered, hooking a thumb in the direction of the door to A5.

Darcon watched the process of the trapping of the haunt with fascination, the green glow of the filled siphon reflecting in his eyes as he stared. "Interesting..." the mage murmured as the process was completed. Looking towards Kendra he asked curiously, "Since the haunts manifest again, albeit much delayed due to these siphons which I presume somehow drains them of their essence, is there anyway to permanently slay a haunt that you might know off?"

As Constantine and Keanala implied the group should get moving again Darcon nodded and replied, "Lead on."

“Aye the outer door first then.”


SCG cautiously takes ahold of the door to open it and find out if it is locked or barred.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:40, Sat 23 Mar 2019.

"Maybe destroy what ties them to the mortal plane? Just a guess, my knowledge of undead is more oriented towards the physical ones." Murkau adds in response to Darcon, stroking his beard with his off-hand. "Best to finish off a path before going to explore others, one of the first things I had to teach yer father back in the day," the dwarf nodded to Kendra.

Kendra nodded her agreement as she corroborated Murkau's assessment, happy to be discussing one of her fields of study. Or one of the fields that she had been studying for the past several days.

"Yes, like ghosts and other unquiet spirits you can't truly be rid of a haunt by damaging it with positive energy or otherwise dispelling it. You have to resolve the unfinished business that tethers it to our world. It's why researching the history of a place can be so important, knowing what caused the haunting can tell you how to exorcise it."

Our heroes followed Constantine cautiously into the next chamber, weapons out and spells at the ready. Their caution was unwarranted though. Nothing attacked them when they entered the room, and a thorough examination didn't trigger any traps or haunts.

The room looked like a storage room of some sort, two long sorting tables or work benches took up the middle of the space and the walls were covered with tagged bins. The tags had long since rotted away, but it was plain to see that this was where the prisoner's personal effects were stored. Almost none of the equipment here would ever be returned to their owners though, for more often than not the belongings would simply be held as a formality until the inmate was hanged.

The contents of the bins were mostly moldy rubbish, but here and there an item of value could be picked out. All told the group managed to scavenge a set of masterwork thieves tools, a silver medal from some long lost war (80gp), a small sized tapestry that Daron recognized as depicting the Battle of Ghorcha Pass (280gp), a fine ivory comb (35gp) and hair pins (20gp), a masterwork dagger, a masterwork silver war razor, a wand of lesser restoration with 12 charges remaining, and 724gp in assorted coins.

The most tantalizing feature of the room wasn't in the bins, however. Inset into the far wall was a large iron safe with massive hinges and a heavy handle. It was locked, the key hole rusty but serviceable.

---

“Perhaps a clue is preserved in the safe and fortune favors us with tools for opening such a contrivance; if anyone is a locksmith.”.”

Kendra rapped curiously on the safe, the dull thudding sounds of her knuckles a testament to how thick and solid the door was.

"I don't know anything about picking locks." She lamented.

"And I doubt we would be able to get someone from the town to come up to the prison to jimmy it open for us."

Darcon looked at the iron safe with interest, but he had no way of opening it. He did have another vial of acid but the door of the safe appeared far too thick and big for a vial of acid to be of any use in opening it, at least in his opinion.

"I have another vial of acid, but I do not believe it will be of much help in opening this," he remarked, gesturing at the safe with his staff.

“Perhaps it is not locked or is rusted out.”

He tries to just turn the handle...

“Did anyone see a paper with instructions for the safe?  Often in jails the information is written down so it is not forgotten by those working day to day.”

As much as Constantine heaved he wasn't able to budge the handle, and Darcon's assessment seemed more than reasonable. There just wasn't any melting into the safe, at least not with what they had on hand. The possibility of finding a paper with instructions was remote, the safe had a key hole and not a combination lock.

Recalling something, Darcon turned to face the group and remarked, "Shara, didn't you find a key inside the house earlier, when we were swarmed by the rats? Why don't you try using that on the safe here, but beware of any traps."

Taking his own advice Darcon moved back a few paces from the safe, just in case.

"Or maybe just bash it in?" Keanala offered though she was not very fond of the idea.  "Or can we take it with us and back to town where we can take our time opening it?  I don't have a lot of experience with locked treasures.  Usually we had a...specialist with us to open up the things."