The Carrion Crown Part 4

Session 4: The Professor Returns (17^th October 2012)

The Pathfinders

Kazimir – Elf Fighter
Moebius – Elf Conjurer
Nicolai Alamrys – Human Rogue
Zef – Human Ranger

From the Diary of Nicolai Alamrys (Day 6 – mid-morning)

The stirges and centipedes have left me really wobbly on my legs. I still needed to rest up, so much of the next few days I spent resting up whilst the others work on this mystery. As I have previously noted in my diary, our meals with Kendra are becoming increasingly bland. I am sure she doesn’t want us around, but I am unsure as to why when her father put her into our care for at least the next month.

Anyway, on with our tale... The rest of the party visited Father Grimburrow to find out what those vials contain. He mentioned they were something called Haunt Siphons; receptacles for spirits that can be used for combating the undead. When the vial breaks, the spirit contained within will attack the closest being to it upon its release.

Kazimir paid a visit on Zokar to see if he could get something from the rumour I told him about from my last visit there. He was invited out back to watch the preparation of his meal, but nothing untoward could be found out. He proceeded to eat his fill. Meanwhile, Moebius had visited the Unfurled Scroll and found out some more useful information…

1. Harrowstone Prison was built in 4594
2. Ravengrow was founded at the same time as the prison, in order to supply it
3. The fire killed all the prisoners, many guards and the warden’s wife
4. A statue was built a month or two later, honouring the dead
5. The prisoners had revolted and taken control of the lower dungeon. The warden and 23 guards prevented them from escaping
6. Five of the prisoners in particular we re notorious for some reason
7. The warden, prisoners and guards were all trapped inside when the fire broke out

‘E’ for…? (Later that evening)

Whilst we were preparing for bed, we got a slow knock at the door. Sheriff Benjen was at the door and he told us that it had happened again. We accompanied him to the scene of the crime but noticed this time that the letter daubed on the statue was an ‘E’. We found no other clues other than the usual footprints and that the blood used was found to be animal blood (but which species we do not know). I put my thoughts into motion on these meagre clues but the only connection I could come up with was that ‘V’ and ‘E’ were the first two letters of the warden’s wife’s name: Vesorinna Hawken. I am not sure if that helped anyone but it made sense to me when the children’s rhyme was added into the mix.

The Professor Returns (Around Midnight)

We returned to Kendra’s and I headed off to bed due to the lateness of the hour and the need to still recover from the centipede and stirge bites. Around midnight, there came another slow knock at the door. Luckily Kazimir and Moebius were still up so they prepared to open the door, not knowing what to expect this time. Upon opening the door they came face-to-face with Professor Lorrimor! The zombie called for Kendra and struck out at Kazimir. The fighter made no hesitation in cleaving the body in twain. The fighter picked up the again dead pieces of the professor and deposited them within a rolled up carpet from the hallway. Moebius used a few of his little cantrips to clean up the mess, whilst Kazimir took the body and hid it in the wood pile for further investigation the next morning.

Another Encounter with Gibbs (Day 7)

We awoke early to yet another knock on the door. The incessant rapping annoyed us all, and upon seeing Gibbs’ face Zef had to be held back (Gibbs, if I recall was the townsman who assaulted Zef when we were carrying the professor’s coffin to his grave). Anyway, Gibbs ranted on that the professor had risen and it was our entire fault for not allowing them to bury him outside of town. Zef had had enough and thumped him; we did not stop him this time. Gibbs left rather promptly. It was at this point that the missing hall carpet caused Kendra to question our movements the night before. Some quick thinking bought us the cover story that it was all Kazimir’s fault for drinking too much. We promised to clean the carpet and return it to its rightful place.

This encounter with Gibbs spurred us into swift action. We loaded the professor’s body onto Moebius’s mule (which didn’t like it that much until Zef calmed it down with some well-chosen words and platitudes) and took it up to Father Grimburrow. He took the body off our hands and proceeded to rebury it in the same style as the farmer from the day before.

Fire at the Town Hall (Evening)

Due to all of this commotion we had forgotten about the meeting at the Town Hall that evening until reminded by the cleric. As there was a lot that needed investigating we decided to split up. The rest of my companions decided to head to the meeting to see what it was all about, whilst I cried off ‘sick’ and went down to the statue to stake out the area in case the perpetrator of the nightly daubing came back. I took Kazimir’s horn with me for an alarm in case I got into difficulties.

As the evening wore on, I got slowly more bored and cold. After an hour or so, I spotted three flaming objects leave the prison area and head towards the Town Hall. At around the same time, I heard a commotion going on up there. Not sure if that was just the general goings on from a town meeting I decided not to investigate that but the appearance of those flaming skulls made my mind up. I winded the horn just as the shouts from the hall turned to screams. I decided to leave my place of observation and sprinted up to the Town Hall. I got there just as the last of the fire was being extinguished. Moebius told me that the three flaming skulls came crashing through the windows a short time after all the torches in the building suddenly flared up. No cause was found but the townsfolk treated us like heroes and called for us to be the investigators into the mysteries surrounding the common undead appearances, even offering to pay us a reward! All were happy enough to collect us all together and drive us into the Laughing Demon to ply us with more drink than we could handle.

The Investigation Begins Proper (Day 8)

After another thin breakfast I decided enough was enough and popped out to the baker’s to buy us a proper meal. Moebius had plenty of reading to do, so the three of us (Zef, Kazimir and I) headed on up to the prison under the true guise of investigators. The walls were actually in a worse state of repair than I recalled from my last visit. The towers were all empty except for the one containing the swarm of rats which we decided to leave well alone.

The manor house at the centre of the grounds was in an even worse state of repair. One of the walls collapsed when Kazimir poked it with his glaive, and the first floor balconies looked as if they would do the same if we tried to climb onto them. Anyway, we managed to find some inscriptions around the base of the wall that repeatedly spelled out ‘LYVAR HAWKRAN’ – presumably the name of the warden. Around the back of the building we could only find the remains of the prison cess pit, which we decided not to investigate further. Poking our heads inside the open main doors showed us a large chamber but nothing in there of any note that we could see through the gloom.

We decided to head back to town, but wanted to take another look at the lake on the way. Kazimir decided my small stone probably wouldn’t have had any effect, so proceeded to lob in a fairly hefty boulder. Nothing happened to begin with, so we started to walk away. A few seconds later, the water started to bubble up and three skeletons started to emerge from the depths of the pool.

 

This scared me so much I was physically ill and I got out of there quickly, leaving my companions to their fate.