With their wounds tended to, the group began deciding which path to take. Or, more precisely, Santino decided for them. “This one,” he said, heading towards the hallway marked with the plaque reading “The Nevermore”. He walked over to the portcullis. “Just have to lift this,” he said as he bent down.
He yanked hard, but nothing happened. “I’ll help,” Vrodish said. “Come on, Alvin. Let’s do this.”
“I’ll try,” Alvin said. “But it looks heavy.”
“You’ll be fine, lad,” Heimish said. “I’ll help too.”
Natalya watched as the men struggled. It was clear they couldn’t do it alone, but she knew her own strength wouldn’t be enough to make much of a difference. “Let’s see if we can figure out how it’s supposed to be opened,” she said to Stein.
“I was enjoying watching them struggle,” the alchemist said. “But fine, we aren’t getting any younger here.”
The pair looked at the chain that was supposed to raise the portcullis and followed it into the next room. “The mechanism’s broken,” Natalya said.
“Looks like they broke it on purpose,” Stein agreed. “But we might be able to get it partially fixed.”
After several minutes, the pair managed to get the mechanism working well enough that they could at least help the others in their attempt to open the way. After several moments of struggling, the portcullis creaked and rose until it was high enough for them to crouch under.
As the gate creaked to a stop, Heimish looked around, alarmed. “Did anyone else hear that?”
“Hear what?” Natalya called from the other room, where she and Stein were jamming the chain in place so the portcullis wouldn’t close behind them.
“I thought I heard somebody laughing,” Heimish said. “We might be walking into something.” He tapped the flute he was carrying. “Maybe the Piper of Illmarsh.”
After all, Natalya had been carrying Father Charlatan’s holy symbols and had been attacked, so it would make sense that the bearer of the Piper’s flute would be the target of the phantom’s wrath. At the very least, caution was warranted.
Santino looked around quickly. “Keep an eye out for stirges,” he told Alvin, his voice nervous.
“What do I do if I see one?” the acolyte asked.
“Scream or something.”
“Can do.”
“Who goes first?” Vrodish asked.
“I vote we send in Alvin,” Santino said. “He can just magic everything to death like with the skeletons.”
“I’ll go first,” Heimish said. “Watch my back.”
“Right behind you,” Vrodish said.
Iron bars lined the walls of the partially ruined cellblock and several doors hung askew on their hinges. Partially burnt support timbers held up part of the ceiling to the north end of the room, but others had collapsed to the south, allowing water to slowly spill into the room through cracks in the wall and ceiling. The water drained down to the lowest point of the room, the barred opening of an oubliette at the center of the chamber.
As Heimish entered the room, he noticed a letter H appear on the bars of the oubliette. He felt strange, like something was missing. “Hey, that’s mine!” he said as he walked over and began scratching at the letter, trying to peel it off so he could take it back.
“What’s wrong?” Vrodish asked, but immediately upon entering the room, he noticed a letter V appear on the wall on the far end of the room. “They took it,” he muttered, and immediately drew his sword to try to take it back by scratching it off with the blade.
Back in the other room, Natalya turned to Stein. “Do you hear that?”
“Yes. It sounds like they’re dealing with some kind of fight. Go help them. I can finish this.”
Natalya nodded and drew a holy water as she went to investigate, walking by Alvin, who stood in the hallway. As she arrived, she saw Heimish with one of his icy starknives in hand, scratching at both the letters H and E. “It’s some kind of haunt,” she called back to Stein, before throwing her vial of holy water at the letters Heimish was attacking. She knew better than to enter the room, so she tossed the vial just past Santino, who stood in the doorway. As the water struck, the letters sizzled and disappeared.
“Alvin!” Santino called from his place in the hall. “We need some protection against ghosts.
Alvin arrived and cast a spell, touching Santino’s shoulders. “Be blessed by the protection of the goddess,” he said.
“I’m going in,” Santino said to Natalya.
“Good luck,” the fencer said dubiously.
As Santino went into the room, Stein arrived, a haunt siphon in hand. “What’s going on here? I don’t get it.”
“Letters are appearing and they seem compelled to attack them,” Natalya said.
“That can’t be hap-” Stein said, stopping when a letter S appeared on the wall.
“YES. I KNOW MY NAME STARTS WITH AN S!” Santino said, swinging with his axe at the wall.
Natalya raised her eyebrow at Stein before throwing a vial of holy water at the S. “Santino! You have holy water!”
“I do!” Santino said, still swinging at the wall.
“I stand corrected,” Stein said. “But now I have nothing to target.”
Natalya considered it. “Oh. Right. I’ll leave you the next one.”
Stein nodded and walked into the room. Paranoid, Santino swung at him, narrowly missing. “Really?” Stein asked, annoyed, walking past Santino to where the letter A had appeared. Meanwhile, Vrodish managed to scrape away the V and seemed pleased with himself.
“I think there’s a ghost in there,” Natalya said to Alvin. “Can you protect yourself with magic and cast the ghost out?”
“I’ll try,” Alvin said, casting his spell.
Stein activated the haunt siphon, drawing in the power of the haunt and causing the siphon to begin glowing. But Santino and Heimish didn’t notice. Instead, they spotted a face in the water in the oubliette.
“In the pit! In the pit!” Santino chanted, swinging at the bars. Vrodish didn’t even notice it, too busy trying to attack the R that had appeared on the wall.
In a moment of clarity, Heimish pulled out a wand they’d acquired and poked Santino with it. Santino found his mind beginning to clear, but just a little. He continued chanting as he poured a vial of holy water into the pit.
Heimish poked Vrodish with the wand next, clearing his temporary insanity. Alvin walked into the room, unleashing a wave of positive energy into the room. “Oh! He’s mad in the pit!” Santino yowled, laughing at the grimace on the face in the water. “He’s mad in the pit! He’s mad in the pit!”
Suddenly a number of giant rats appeared and attacked. And in the corner, a ghost appeared. “There you are!” Natalya said, tumbling past the rats and throwing holy water at the ghost, but only hitting it with a glancing blow due to the acrobatic maneuvering.
Alvin tried to get the wand from Heimish, who resisted and used it on the acolyte to no effect while Stein used the filled haunt siphon on a rat. Santino swung at the ghost, but missed the visceral feeling of cleaving flesh and got bored, going after a nearby rat instead, which Vrodish was already trying to skewer with his sword.
The ghost sneered and disappeared into the wall, reappearing on the far side of the room and launching a volley of magic missiles at Natalya. Stein threw a healing bomb at the ghost, causing it pain.
Natalya pour magic oil on her weapon and waited for the ghost to move again. “Brodish!” Santino said as he stuffed rat guts into the oubliette. “Hit the ghost with the hammer!”
Vrodish swung, and the hammer went right through the ghost. “It’s not working!”
“You’re holding it wrong!” Santino complained. Meanwhile, in another moment of clarity, Heimish used the wand on himself and could feel the fog on his mind begin to clear.
The ghost moved through the wall again, and Natalya dove after him, connecting with her rapier just after he unleashed another volley of magic missiles. The ghost winced in pain.
The scene continued for several moments. The ghost would move and Natalya would chase, Santino would kill a rat and try to dump its organs into the oubliette, Heimish continued trying to mend himself while Vrodish and Alvin tried to help where they could. Until at last, the ghost, deciding that he was not faring the best of the exchanges, moved into the waters of the oubliette, where none could follow, and began casting a spell.
Stein had an epiphany. He quickly drew out the spell book that had belonged to the Splatter Man. “Vesorianna said we could use this against them!” he said, holding up the open book towards Santino.
“So what?” Santino asked. “Do I read him a bedtime story?”
“No! Slash it, stupid!”
“OH! I like this plan!” Santino said, cleaving the book with his axe. From in the water, the Splatter Man unleashed a howl of agony and faded away, beaten and destroyed.
Heimish moved over and used the wand to heal Santino’s mind from the damage done by the ghost. “Feeling better, lad?” Heimish asked.
“I think so. Not sure why I kept wanting to go into the pit.”
“Maybe you saw something in there worth getting?” the preacher suggested.
“Nah. That can’t be it.” Santino squinted. “Can it?” He moved over to the grate over the oubliette. Peering within, he spotted something. “You’re right! There’s stuff down there! Brodish, help me open this grate!”
Santino had the others help him pry the axe from his hand and tuck it into his belt, then dove down into the water. A few moments later, he swam up, several items in hand.
“Anything good?” Natalya asked.
“This sword glows a little!” Santino said, holding up a longsword. “Now I can hit ghosts with two weapons.”
Natalya frowned. “Santino. You should give that to Vrodish so he can hit ghosts too.” In truth, she wanted it, but it looked too heavy for her.
“But he has the hammer…” Santino whined.
“Which doesn’t hit ghosts.”
“Because he’s holding it wrong.”
“Santino…” Natalya said, glaring at him.
“But it’s mine…” Santino whined again. Natalya answered him with a withering look. “FINE,” Santino said, handing the sword to Vrodish. “But it’s mine, so you have to give it back after we finish clearing out the ghosts. Okay?” He was looking at Natalya as he said this last.
“I don’t care what happens after,” she answered. “I just want to survive this.”
“Yeah, that’s fine,” Vrodish agreed. The remaining items found were given out without any drama, including a magic dagger and a magic ring.
“I’ve used most of my magic,” Alvin said. “We should rest before continuing on.”
“Vesorianna’s room should be safe,” Santino said immediately.
“Maybe a short rest,” Heimish agreed. “We can let Vesorianna know that we’ve made progress, at least.”
“And then the final three,” Natalya said. “I’m ready to be done with this place.”
“Agreed,” answered several of the others.
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