Day 10
Having secured the help of Brannak and Dav to aid at least with dealing with Filge, Viktor and Llyr bring the newcomers to the square to meet Alexis. She tells them of Alendar's decision to leave. The group finds themselves with little other choice but to carry on with the new help they've found.
The five, along with Moro, head to the old observatory to the north. Dav displays his lock picking skills but is set upon by a tiny creature of filth and teeth. The man begins showing signs of illness from a bite, but nothing yet able to slow him down.
The party first enters the observatory to be set upon by three skeletons. After Alexis easily sends their spirits onward, investigation make it apparent that these are the remains of part of the Land family. But Filge and one Alastor's sister's remains were still to be found.
As they explore the observatory, the group comes upon a disgusting dinner scene. In Filge's bedroom they find displays of the man's delusions of grandeur and vile tastes. When they reach the top, they find the necromancer's operating theater with a corpse flayed upon it. Despite their complete lack of stealth (in fact, Brannak was chanting inspiringly in draconic during the entire foray), the group manages to dispatch Filge and his minions with little harm to themselves.
As the group searches the observatory, they find a good deal of treasure, the remains of Alastor's sister, and a note to Filge from "S" outlining a cult operating beneath Dourstone Mine.
After the search is complete, the group piles the remains of bodies and the like in the top floor of the observatory and set is aflame.
The group returns the Land family to their graves, some business is taken care of, Llyr decides to sell the owlbear (which was steadily becoming more trouble than its worth), and Allustan is asked to identify magical items and expresses his concern about whatever is brewing beneath Diamond Lake (and specifically warns the group that the green worm referenced in the note is a sign of the Spawn of Kyuss). Overall, the group rests for a couple of days.
Day 11
Rest
Day 12
Having found dealing with Filge to be both exciting and extremely profitable, Brannak and Dav decide to continue with Llyr, Alexis, and Viktor. The group heads back into the Whispering Cairn and relights the torches in the lantern. As they pass into the room with the clay spheres, they find that Alastor's ghost has departed, but did indeed open the door first.
They make their way into a chamber with four "steam murals" depicting what the group later finds out from Allustan is part of the story of the Wind Dukes of Aaqa, particularly the involvement of one Zosiel. As the group begins to make its way to a pillar of air in the center, two suits of armor emerge from the pillar to challenge the party. While Viktor all but asks to be killed, the group manages to survive the onslaught. The group travels via the pillar to a level above where they find the true sarcophagus of Zosiel, whose name Brannak learns by a wise use of
comprehend languages. Inside the sarcophagus, opening by invoking Zosiel's name, the group finds further treasure, including a diadem inscribed with Zosiel's glyph and an inactive
talisman of the sphere.
With their treasure in tow, the group returns to Allustan and informs him of their discoveries. The sage gives then a lengthy recitation of the history of the Wind Dukes of Aaqa. To summarize: the Queen of Chaos fought against the Wind Dukes. The Queen of Chaos had recruited a Prince of Demons named Miska the Wolf-Spider to aid her in the fight. Seven of the greatest Wind Dukes, called the "Wandering Dukes", scoured the Great Wheel for a weapon to fight the forces of Chaos. With the lore they'd gathered, they constructed the fabled
Rod of Law. With the
Rod, the Wandering Dukes returned to a battle on the fields of Pesh and the greatest of them plunged it into Miska the Wolf-Spider. The
Rod of Law was shattered into seven pieces. It turns out that the Whispering Cairn is the tomb for Zosiel who was a minor warrior prince who fell in the battle just before the
Rod was used.
Day 13
Having rested yet again, the group attempts to decide what should be done about Balabar Smenk (whom they suspect is "S" from Filge's note). As it turns out, Smenk has already been looking for them. The group sets up a meeting at Smenk's home.
The crude and disgusting Smenk, sometimes in tones close to whining while sometimes tones of demand, tells the party that, indeed, a cult has taken hold of a temple beneath Dourstone Mine (the existence of the temple was confirmed with Allustan as well). The cult, called the Ebon Triad, though the name holds no meaning for the group, is sheltered by Ragnolin Dourstone. By Smenk's account, he was unwittingly pushed into providing foodstuffs and supplies for the cultists. He attempted to extract himself from that position, and subsequently found the severed head of his right-hand man in his bed the next morning. The dirty mine-manager tells the group that if they can free him from his undesired connecting with the cult, he will forgive their killing of his men.
Late 13/Early 14
After Midnight, under the cover of a
silence spell by Alexis, the party makes their way easily into Dourstone Mine. They easily find their way to the elevator leading to the cultists temple.
At the bottom of the shaft, they catch a glimpse of a large chamber with pool with doors leading off in three directions: one marked with the symbol Hextor, one Vecna, and one unmarked. Two masked guards, later discovered to be tieflings, raise the alarm in the Hextor camp. The party quickly barges into the the Hextorites domain and easily slaughters the first defenses. However, after a nasty battle against a wild boar, they find themselves trapped in what appears to be a type of battle arena. A cleric of Hextor has a set of controls that slam the doors, and the vile Hextorites reign spells and arrows upon the party.
Fortunately, the evil clerics make a mistake. As the party looks ready to be mopped up, some of the clerics leave the balcony to approach the door and enter to face them. However, Brannak cleverly uses the wand of
unseen servant to push the button to keep it closed each time the remaining cleric tries to open it. Dav's arrows make short work of that cleric, and Brannak's
unseen servant pockets the clerics wand of
cure light wounds. The party is then able to heal themselves up as the remaining Hextorites make their way back in to the balcony to discover why the doors didn't open for them. But now Brannak does open the doors. The party swarms up to the balcony behind the Hextorites. In a tough battle of attrition, the group finally brings the well-armored Hextorites to their deaths.
With the Hextorities out of the way, the party gathers up the loot from the fallen, locks all of the doors to the well-defensible structure, and settles in for some very well-deserved rest.
