Part III: The First of the Prisoners

As we continued our exploration of the fire-wracked ruins of Harrowstone Prison, we came across the laundry room, where, no doubt, prisoners would spend their time washing clothes. It was here that we encountered the ghost of Vesorianna Hawkin, wife of the prison warder.

She had some terrible news for us. Since the fire, her husband's spirit had been keeping the spirits of the prsioners in check. However, several weeks ago, her husband's spirit had vanished, as if pulled away from the prison. She had desperately tried to take over in controlling the prisoners, but they were too strong for her. She was losing control, and soon the ghosts would be free to escape and wreak havoc across the land. She begged us to destroy the five strongest spirits. And to help us, she directed us to a hidden room that held objects that were dear to the spirits, objects that we could use against them.

So, we first explored the upper floor of the prison, where the non-violent prisoners were kept. Each cell held the remains of a prisoner, each one having died of smoke asphixiation fom the fire of the floors below. The place was made even eerier by the mournful flute music that echoed around the halls. The music came from the ghost of the Piper of Illmarsh. One of the items we had picked up was the Piper's silver flute. Ichabod tried to play it, but was overcome by the spirit of the Piper, and he could not stop playing. Blood began to pour from his eyes, but he still could not stop. Crimbledon eventually managed to rip the flute out of his hands, breaking the curse. We then noticed that the eerie music that had been filling the area had stopped. But suddenly it started up again, and an apparition of the Piper appeared before us. Skalif grabbed the flute and began to play. The spirit thrashed around in pain as he played. While he was distracted, the rest of us attacked him with positive energy attacks. Soon, the spirit of the Piper was destroyed. One down.


The next spirit we encountered was that of Father Charlatan. Ellavorn took out the tangle of holy symbols we had found and held tham up towards the apparition. Again, he reeled from them, and the rest of us could finish him off. Two down.

With the upper floor fully explored, it was time to venture down into the area beneath the prison, where the dangerous and violent criminals were kept. We still had three spirits to defeat - The Lopper, The Mosswater Marauder, and The Splatter Man.

As we entered the charred remains of one of the cell blocks, Skalif was acting strangely. He kept saying that he could see his name written in blood on the walls. He had been affected by the curse that came with a moldy spellbook we had found and that he was carrying. He had become too scared to cast his spells, afraid he may never get them back.

We entered the main hall of the lower prison, and were promptly attacked by the skeletal remains of several of the prisoners. Ichabod took great delight in cleaving the undead with his greatsword.

We were now faced with three wings of the prison. Three wings to explore, and three ghostly prisoners remaining. Three extremely violent ghostly prisoners. We were about to engage in one of our most difficult battles ever...