(Here goes my last spell slot... Let's hope it does something....)

Much as he had done on one of their previous battles, Bertolt will stow his crossbow and ready his lute. As he begins to play he will hum a haunting sound, casting Dissonant Whispers on the creature.

It needs to make a dc 14 wisdom save or take 9 Psychic damage or half and they don't have to run on a save.

@Talion
As Esme's hands move to grab you and drain your life, you feel weak and nauseous.  The specter doesn't move away, however, and stays within reach!  You manage to spit out a foul curse at Esme, and her eyes widen [what ability do you want to target?]
As you whip your dagger above your head, it catches ever so slightly, as if you were swinging it underwater.  It takes some damage but not nearly as much as you would have hoped - a hit!  You grin and whip your other hand forward, hoping to catch her again.  Alas, this time you're not able to connect - a miss!

@Erven
You reach in and swiftly try to unwrap the bundle.  At this, Esme looks in your direction and screams, "No!  No!  You can't have him again!  Don't kill him again!"  As the last bit of cloth falls away, you see a dessicated skeleton - a baby - looking back at you.  In its current state, it's barely recognizable.  It starts to shake a little and you watch as hundreds of small insects burst forth from little Walter's brittle chest....  

@Bertolt
Esme's WIS save: 5 

 * edit (in case it messes up, Esme failed (5).
Bertolt, your spell causes the specter to try to cover her ears and she turns her attention to you!  She can only move 5 feet but does so and ends at C1, it's clear she doesn't want to do this but she is compelled.

Sho and Onyx - what are you doing this round?
Map - last map is accurate, except now Esme is at C1.  She is flickering in and out and has lost a lot of her form.

Esme sighs and begins weeping.  She looks towards the nursery sadly.  "I couldn't protect him from the cult.  Who would do such things?!  I..."  She begins to sing the song you heard earlier...

Onyx looks over at the sorrowful apparition.  There was tragedy here, but she couldn't be left to linger.  He steps downwards, to B2, and raises his blade above his head.

"I'm sorry, but you need to move on.  You will be reunited with your child once you stop existing here."

Attack: 12 Damage: 12

(Whoops, forgot Inspiration had to be declared before the roll.  Oh well.)

Erven turns and says to Esme and says “What cult?  Those who have been tormenting us in this house?  Tell us and we may avenge you, and Walter!  Tell us who we should seek!”

Sho lets out a soft gasp as Erven reveals the sight of the diminutive and putridity infant skeleton, diminished to a pile of grey powder, the barely recognizable skull resembles a pair of large wide orbits, dark and dull, unproportionate to the small frame of the baby skull, emerging from its broken chest a million crawling insects... He shouldn't be surprised, expect the scene is too grotesque for him to turn his eyes away. He takes the corner of the blanket and recovers the baby, strides to the door and lifts open the curtain to see Esme, now hiding between the walls, distressed and distorted. "Walter will be put to rest," he says, "and so should you. Nothing left for you in the world of living and there is nothing here worth hanging on. Go. Do not linger any longer."

Sacred Flame: DEX Save 13 for 5

@Onyx

Esme just looks at you sadly.  She seems about to say something before noticing Onyx stepping towards her.  "The cult...sacrifice...why did he let her do that to us?  Put us to rest!"  She eyes the big warrior in front of her, her eyes lock onto the great sword.  "The sentinel will take me for a time..."   Her words are cut off as Onyx brings his sword down, cleaving Esme in two.  You watch as the sparkling motes that constituted her "body"  rise up through the air and through the ceiling.   She's gone.

End of combat!

“Bear, bear?  It’s ok, come back in here, it’s all over.”  Erven gets down on his knee and whistles for the dog to come back.  Then he starts to look through the room, searching for clues, items, in tandem with Talion.

Perception :  25

Onyx, satisfied that Esme had relinquished her rage for the moment, lowers his head and whispers a prayer. 

"Shining Patriarch, please extend your grace to this foul place. Allow at least the child and the mother warm oblivion."

He holds the sword in front of him, examining the blade. The ghost had recognized the weapon. Where did "The Sentinel" figure into the tragic history of this place?

In the reflection of the blade, he notices Talion, once again the worse for wear. Something in the back of his head was suggesting a causality at play.

"I am not a wise man, but I think some cult took root here. Killed the infant, perhaps two older siblings. Maybe the whole family. There are spirits that hate intruders - intruders like the cultists that first shed blood here. Intruders like thieves of life and of wealth."

“Madame Durst did this.” Sho explained, “when I entered the nursery, Esme called me Elizabeth, and said that…” He paused to let his memory resurface, with a wave of shudder across his body as he felt the intense hatred and desperation again, “that ‘I and my evil cultists’ took Walter away from her, and wished ‘me’ to die a million times. It seemed that Walter was not Madame Durst’s child either. A love child between Esme and Mister Durst, and Madame Durst killed them both.”

Sho looked down at the cradle, tattered but well-cared, and continued, “I would assume ‘Priests of Osybus’ is the cult that she was talking about. Madame Durst fell with blind obsession to the cult. Perhaps we should investigate the book for more information.”

As the creature disappears, Talion sags onto the bed, drained and exhausted. It finally seems that something might have dented his usual enthusiasm -- escape from the near certainty of death, perhaps, or the realization that they still are no closer to escape. He listens wearily to Sho as he speaks, nodding occasionally in agreement, his eyes focused elsewhere. His words make sense and it seems that, despite everything, the mystery is becoming much clearer. The flicker of a faint smile appears on his face.

When Sho is finished, Talion looks up. "Yes. This whole place is a trap -- I thought it might be a test, but it's just a trap. I don't think intruders are offending it..." he laughs bitterly and glances at Onyx, "...I think they are the victims designed to entertain it or the cult. Esme mistook me for the master of the house. She too was a victim."

He closes his eyes for a moment, remembering the mist outside, "The body with the letter that we found on the road...the way we were forced here against our will..." he shakes his head. "We are all victims here, and any talk otherwise is nonsense. Where do you think that the packs we wear...the sword you carry...the food...everything....comes from if not from other travelers lured here, invited here...or forced here like us...to their deaths?"

Onyx listens, respectfully, as Sho explains the gaps in his understanding, and as Talion outlines his pessimistic take.  The armor-clad soldier's shoulders begin to slump slightly.

"A trap it may be," he agrees.  Then he pauses, reaching deep for the optimism he once had. "But I have seen no means of escaping this snare.  Either we give into despair and fall on our swords now. . . or we push on.  We are not dead until we stop fighting.  I have never seen a group of adventurers like you all - and I doubt our trapper has, either."

He lifts his chin, a thought occurring to him.

"We found much of this equipment not far into the house, and many of the recent rooms have looked undisturbed.  I think we have already chewed further through the snare than the other victims, yes?"

Erven considers Talion, Sho and Onyx's words, and then goes back to the cradle.  "Perhaps all of this is still an illusion.  But this seems real.  The body of Walter.  I believe that Esme's tale is real.  I think that we should bury Walter.   This place has an ability to get inside your head.  I think I have seen in my near death state the master of this house.  There will be a reckoning.  Perhaps not yet, but it will come..."  After searching the room as above and sitting for a moment to gather himself, Erven says "Should we head back up those steps, behind the secret door?"  He takes a blanket from the bed and after the insects have scurried away, wraps up Walter's little body / skeleton in the blanket and puts him outside near the stairs, for when they can descend from this place.  "Perhaps I'll place a marker in the front of the yard, to warn others away from this place, and create a final resting place for Walter."  

Talion takes heart from Onyx's words and stands a little shakily, "You are right! We are all very much alive and undefeated -- and have probably come further than any others". He looks around the room warily, half expecting more undead apparitions to appear. Whoever you may have been, thank you for your gifts. "I would like to make sure that we are the last to be tormented here."

As he steadies himself on his feet, weaker than he has felt in a long time, he listens to Ervan and shakes his head at the mention of illusion, "It felt very real when she was sucking the life out of me!" he rubs the spot where she touched him, noting that it still feels cold to the touch. "This is no illusion...but you are right about studying that book -- it might help us defeat them."

"I could do with a short rest...and perhaps someone could investigate that book. Or we could continue...we have almost reached the end of our climb" he finishes with no enthusiasm.

I wonder if the dog belonged to the last victims? Either way, we should save her. No more victims for this house!

In addition to examining the room, Erven looks around for, whistles for "Bear, bear, where are you?"

Sho watches as Erven gently carries the remain of Walter out of the cradle, and sets the bundle on the stairs. So fragile, the child skeleton, a strong wind could blow it to dusts. Sho wasn't prepared for a funeral rite, so he leaves it at that.

He turns back towards Talion, and frowns. It is his first time seeing the man showing signs of weakness, even with his usual sense of self-deprecating humour, he cannot hide the paleness from his drained face. In the midst of the battle, Talion had taken the blunt hit from the spectre, and Sho has heard that manifestation of spirits could drain life force out of the living. He puts the back of his hand on Talion’s forehead, feeling the cold and clammy skin, and he knits his brows deeply.

“Come,” he says, guiding Talion to sit down at the edge of the bed, “Rest. We shall study the book at the mean time.”

(( If we have a short rest and read the book, then 3 HP recovered for Talion -- bringing him from 6 back to 11... ))

Make an arcana check if you’d like to study the book. 

Bear whimpers and with a bit of urging, scratches forth from under the bed once more. 

Arcana: 19