OOC thread.
Rogues' Gallery.
As the sun's first light reaches out to touch the world, for some reason you all wake up with a sense of expectation...
But alas, as you go about your morning routines you find that Diamand Lake is still the cesspool that it was yestereve. No miraculous change has altered it during the night. But perhaps this meeting today would have the potential of freeing you from Diamond Lake, if the gods deem not to cleanse it. But you dare not hold onto such a hope too tightly, for you may choke it. You dare not speak such hope aloud, for the wind might wisp it away. But hope you must, for it is all that one can have in Diamond Lake.
Each of you approaches the abandoned mine office northeast of town from a different path. Perhaps you set off early so you could take your time. Or maybe you had taken a long way around, so as to avoid drawing attention to your destination from those that might have watched you leave. However, perhaps as fitting for a meeting in a grand story rather than for a meeting of a few desparate folk in this nasty place, you all arrive near the same time. The office is long abandoned, and the front door swings open in the wind. The roof on the second story has collapsed, the yard is filled with rubble, and the fence surrounding the yard is in disrepair. However, the interior of the ground floor looks decent enough, if in great need of cleaning.
You each enter the building and find that sense of expectation from earlier has returned. There is a tension, an electricity almost, in the air. For a moment, none of you, not even the bard, can find voice to break the silence.
Someone's breath catches, but before any words come out, the silence is shattered. You hear low, ferocious growls from the other side of the closed door leading to the kitchen. Something slams into the other side of the door and begins frantically scratching at it. Your presence has disturbed the inhabitants of the mine office... whatever they are.
As it turned out, the inhabitants were a pair of dire rats nesting in the building's kitchen. The group managed to kill both feral creatures with only minor injuries that Lartis easily healed by the power of Moradin. Fintan Tilgast, the grandson of mine manager Gelch Tilgast, proceeded to lay out the plan:
"[...]My dear Byron, I trust that you have brought along the map you showed me last night? Excellent, I apologize for any gruffness I may have exhibited, but you see, if this map is what I think it is, two-thirds of the Giant would have taken great pleasure in dragging us through the streets on the way to the garrison presumably to be hanged for theft. Let's see here...Yes...Yes...Yes, indeed this is almost certainly the map that was "liberated" from the garrison a few days ago.
"It mentions the Whispering Cairn, I haven't heard of that name crop up in a few years. No one has stepped forth into there since that girl disappeared. I wonder if those three from the Free City might be barking up the wrong tree? Maybe they caught word of an unlooted Cairn, but failed to catch the proper name. I don't know how they could mistake Stirgenest for Whispering, but not everyone cleans their ears regularly. Present company excluded I'm sure...
"So who's up for seeing if this map is actually the first step out of Diamond Lake for you? If it is a fake, we miss a day or two of our usual duties, but if it's legit...We could find the first unlooted cairn in decades! Imagine what we could do with those riches! A full shrine for Moradin, access to the libraries of the Free City, a smithy of your own, control over your destiny!
"We seem to work well together...well so far at least. I'll take the risk of a "haunted" cairn for the chance to possess what it hides with the four of you to watch my back. Who's with me?"
The assembled group spoke some more and decided to go with Fintan's plan. But before leaving the building, Sprout manages to find a hooded lantern, 8 pints of oil, 5 tindertwigs, 2 flasks that appear to be alchemist's fire, and 50 foot long silk rope among the filth in the kitchen.
Guided by their map, the party makes the 10-15 minute trek to the Whispering Cairn, and Sprout spots the entrance amidst some overgrown bushes. The party is treated to the errie sibilant whispers that undoubtedly gave the cairn its name. The group examines the geometric patterns in the walls and also finds a crumpled bedroll from childish excursions from the recent past. After becoming exasperated with Fintan's attempt to play the cairn by plugging wind holes, Vixtrin plunges deeper into the cairn. Sprout, with a word of caution, quickly takes point.
The group finds a few puzzling things. First, Sprout points out a green flickering light off in the distance to the north. Second, the group passes two alcoves. The one to the east is blocked off by a collapse that Lartis, the former miner, suggests would take weeks to dig through. The alcove to the west has the remnants of an apparatus that looks like the remants of a broken mirror.
At the bottom of the apparatus the group sees a glyph. Between Fintan and Byron they discern that the glyph doesn't appear to be a letter in any common alphabet, although it seems reminiscent of arcane symbols representing elemental air. In fact, the letterform looks similar to an ancient glyph-language called Vaati, which some unorthodox scholars consider the original written form of Auran. It appears that this glyph represents a name, likely the name of an individual person, rather than a place or group. There are yet more symbols carved into a slot on the inside of the frame, where the "mirror's" glass would have been. You are pretty sure they are arcane symbols signifying transportation. Sprout also found a few shards of some odd shiny black substance that feels like stone and is slightly cold to the touch. If the apparatus indeed was a "mirror" of some sort, these shards may have been the glass itself.
As the rest of the group examines the alcoves, Vixtrin is beset by a trio of wolves. After a short battle, the beasts are beaten, and Lartis does what he can to heal Vixtrin's wounds. [size=-2]Lartis has used all his spells save one orison. Vixtrin still has 2 hit points of damage.[/size]
The group moves on and finds another intersection. The green light seems to come from the north through a massive tangle of webs. The group first checks out the passage to the west. They find a wide dais spanning the back half of the western wing calls attention to a faded fresco upon the south, west, and north walls. From a vantage point at the center of the dais, the wall painting makes it look like you stand within a massive room with seven short hallways radiating outward from a central point. A chain dangles from the ceiling at the end of each hallway, and each chain bears a gleaming colored lantern. Clockwise, the colors are red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. After studying the artwork, the group moves to the eastern passage.
They find that, while it looked blocked off like the earlier passage, there was actually an opening big enough to crawl through. Sprout and Fintan enter what was presumably the wolves den. Among a large amount of bones, they find an elaborate lantern of indigo metal inset with indigo glass panes, an intricately carved armband of elvinsh craftsmanship, and a curious marble finger.
After Vixtrin ignites the cobwebs leading to the north and Fintan walks into a wall in the fresco scene, the group ventures deeper into the cairn.
The wide stairway descends into an immense domed chamber. Seven short tunnels branch from the room in all directions, extending some thirty feet before ending in rounded walls. At the terminus of each passage, a thick chain dangles from an unseen high ceiling. Five of the chains bear colorful lanterns, but two hold nothing at all. Opposite the entry stairs, a bright green lantern containing what looks like a torch casts a weird, murky light about the room. Countless chips of glass and shiny metal inset into the chamber's domed ceiling reflect this light, giving the impression of starlight and falling snow. The dome starts about ten feet off the ground and reaches an apex about thirty feet over the center of the room.
Below the dome's peak, a long dais holds what appears to be a marble sarcophagus. A milky white bas-relief figure, perhaps of a human, rests passively upon the sarcophagus lid. Unlike the rest of the tomb, this room is completely silent.
The outfit the figure wears conjures ancient times to mind. While it appears human, the figure actually looks about 7 feet tall, has no hair, and is of indeterminate sex. Its arms rest at its sides. The figure's left hand is clenched in a fist, while the right is palm up, with the thumb turned in and all but the index finger parallel to the arm, and the index finger missing. The figure has a scarab-like amulet around its neck, inscribed with a glyph of some sort.
The sarcophagus itself rests upon a small raised platform that is carved in the shape of a stylistic arrow, with the tip aligned with the head of the relief figure and a short "shaft" extending from the foot of the sarcophagus.
Sprout places the finger onto the figure, and it indeed fits. It curves around the thumb, unlike the other fingers that are extended. His thorough search of the sarcophagus turns up nothing amiss.
Byron examines the sigil on the bas relief figure's amulet. He tells the others that it is a glyph like that found on the "mirror" earlier. Likely a personal glyph, it seems that this one represents a powerful elemental entity. However, it marks one of lower rank or importance than the glyph on the "mirror."
Meanwhile, Fintan returns the indigo lantern to its presumed rightful place at the end of the east hall. [size=-2]We still need to decide whether he left his torch it it, since that is the only way it would remain lit.[/size] As he begins a counter-clockwise circuit through the tunnels. At the third passage, however, while there is a blue lantern as expected, Fintan also finds the skeletal remains of a humanoid in a heap on the floor. As he looks around, Fintan also notices that in this tunnel, the shaft ceiling is not visible using his torchlight, unlike the first two he examined.
Rogues' Gallery.
As the sun's first light reaches out to touch the world, for some reason you all wake up with a sense of expectation...
But alas, as you go about your morning routines you find that Diamand Lake is still the cesspool that it was yestereve. No miraculous change has altered it during the night. But perhaps this meeting today would have the potential of freeing you from Diamond Lake, if the gods deem not to cleanse it. But you dare not hold onto such a hope too tightly, for you may choke it. You dare not speak such hope aloud, for the wind might wisp it away. But hope you must, for it is all that one can have in Diamond Lake.
Each of you approaches the abandoned mine office northeast of town from a different path. Perhaps you set off early so you could take your time. Or maybe you had taken a long way around, so as to avoid drawing attention to your destination from those that might have watched you leave. However, perhaps as fitting for a meeting in a grand story rather than for a meeting of a few desparate folk in this nasty place, you all arrive near the same time. The office is long abandoned, and the front door swings open in the wind. The roof on the second story has collapsed, the yard is filled with rubble, and the fence surrounding the yard is in disrepair. However, the interior of the ground floor looks decent enough, if in great need of cleaning.
You each enter the building and find that sense of expectation from earlier has returned. There is a tension, an electricity almost, in the air. For a moment, none of you, not even the bard, can find voice to break the silence.
Someone's breath catches, but before any words come out, the silence is shattered. You hear low, ferocious growls from the other side of the closed door leading to the kitchen. Something slams into the other side of the door and begins frantically scratching at it. Your presence has disturbed the inhabitants of the mine office... whatever they are.
As it turned out, the inhabitants were a pair of dire rats nesting in the building's kitchen. The group managed to kill both feral creatures with only minor injuries that Lartis easily healed by the power of Moradin. Fintan Tilgast, the grandson of mine manager Gelch Tilgast, proceeded to lay out the plan:
"[...]My dear Byron, I trust that you have brought along the map you showed me last night? Excellent, I apologize for any gruffness I may have exhibited, but you see, if this map is what I think it is, two-thirds of the Giant would have taken great pleasure in dragging us through the streets on the way to the garrison presumably to be hanged for theft. Let's see here...Yes...Yes...Yes, indeed this is almost certainly the map that was "liberated" from the garrison a few days ago.
"It mentions the Whispering Cairn, I haven't heard of that name crop up in a few years. No one has stepped forth into there since that girl disappeared. I wonder if those three from the Free City might be barking up the wrong tree? Maybe they caught word of an unlooted Cairn, but failed to catch the proper name. I don't know how they could mistake Stirgenest for Whispering, but not everyone cleans their ears regularly. Present company excluded I'm sure...
"So who's up for seeing if this map is actually the first step out of Diamond Lake for you? If it is a fake, we miss a day or two of our usual duties, but if it's legit...We could find the first unlooted cairn in decades! Imagine what we could do with those riches! A full shrine for Moradin, access to the libraries of the Free City, a smithy of your own, control over your destiny!
"We seem to work well together...well so far at least. I'll take the risk of a "haunted" cairn for the chance to possess what it hides with the four of you to watch my back. Who's with me?"
The assembled group spoke some more and decided to go with Fintan's plan. But before leaving the building, Sprout manages to find a hooded lantern, 8 pints of oil, 5 tindertwigs, 2 flasks that appear to be alchemist's fire, and 50 foot long silk rope among the filth in the kitchen.
Guided by their map, the party makes the 10-15 minute trek to the Whispering Cairn, and Sprout spots the entrance amidst some overgrown bushes. The party is treated to the errie sibilant whispers that undoubtedly gave the cairn its name. The group examines the geometric patterns in the walls and also finds a crumpled bedroll from childish excursions from the recent past. After becoming exasperated with Fintan's attempt to play the cairn by plugging wind holes, Vixtrin plunges deeper into the cairn. Sprout, with a word of caution, quickly takes point.
The group finds a few puzzling things. First, Sprout points out a green flickering light off in the distance to the north. Second, the group passes two alcoves. The one to the east is blocked off by a collapse that Lartis, the former miner, suggests would take weeks to dig through. The alcove to the west has the remnants of an apparatus that looks like the remants of a broken mirror.
At the bottom of the apparatus the group sees a glyph. Between Fintan and Byron they discern that the glyph doesn't appear to be a letter in any common alphabet, although it seems reminiscent of arcane symbols representing elemental air. In fact, the letterform looks similar to an ancient glyph-language called Vaati, which some unorthodox scholars consider the original written form of Auran. It appears that this glyph represents a name, likely the name of an individual person, rather than a place or group. There are yet more symbols carved into a slot on the inside of the frame, where the "mirror's" glass would have been. You are pretty sure they are arcane symbols signifying transportation. Sprout also found a few shards of some odd shiny black substance that feels like stone and is slightly cold to the touch. If the apparatus indeed was a "mirror" of some sort, these shards may have been the glass itself.
As the rest of the group examines the alcoves, Vixtrin is beset by a trio of wolves. After a short battle, the beasts are beaten, and Lartis does what he can to heal Vixtrin's wounds. [size=-2]Lartis has used all his spells save one orison. Vixtrin still has 2 hit points of damage.[/size]
The group moves on and finds another intersection. The green light seems to come from the north through a massive tangle of webs. The group first checks out the passage to the west. They find a wide dais spanning the back half of the western wing calls attention to a faded fresco upon the south, west, and north walls. From a vantage point at the center of the dais, the wall painting makes it look like you stand within a massive room with seven short hallways radiating outward from a central point. A chain dangles from the ceiling at the end of each hallway, and each chain bears a gleaming colored lantern. Clockwise, the colors are red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. After studying the artwork, the group moves to the eastern passage.
They find that, while it looked blocked off like the earlier passage, there was actually an opening big enough to crawl through. Sprout and Fintan enter what was presumably the wolves den. Among a large amount of bones, they find an elaborate lantern of indigo metal inset with indigo glass panes, an intricately carved armband of elvinsh craftsmanship, and a curious marble finger.
After Vixtrin ignites the cobwebs leading to the north and Fintan walks into a wall in the fresco scene, the group ventures deeper into the cairn.
The wide stairway descends into an immense domed chamber. Seven short tunnels branch from the room in all directions, extending some thirty feet before ending in rounded walls. At the terminus of each passage, a thick chain dangles from an unseen high ceiling. Five of the chains bear colorful lanterns, but two hold nothing at all. Opposite the entry stairs, a bright green lantern containing what looks like a torch casts a weird, murky light about the room. Countless chips of glass and shiny metal inset into the chamber's domed ceiling reflect this light, giving the impression of starlight and falling snow. The dome starts about ten feet off the ground and reaches an apex about thirty feet over the center of the room.
Below the dome's peak, a long dais holds what appears to be a marble sarcophagus. A milky white bas-relief figure, perhaps of a human, rests passively upon the sarcophagus lid. Unlike the rest of the tomb, this room is completely silent.
The outfit the figure wears conjures ancient times to mind. While it appears human, the figure actually looks about 7 feet tall, has no hair, and is of indeterminate sex. Its arms rest at its sides. The figure's left hand is clenched in a fist, while the right is palm up, with the thumb turned in and all but the index finger parallel to the arm, and the index finger missing. The figure has a scarab-like amulet around its neck, inscribed with a glyph of some sort.
The sarcophagus itself rests upon a small raised platform that is carved in the shape of a stylistic arrow, with the tip aligned with the head of the relief figure and a short "shaft" extending from the foot of the sarcophagus.
Sprout places the finger onto the figure, and it indeed fits. It curves around the thumb, unlike the other fingers that are extended. His thorough search of the sarcophagus turns up nothing amiss.
Byron examines the sigil on the bas relief figure's amulet. He tells the others that it is a glyph like that found on the "mirror" earlier. Likely a personal glyph, it seems that this one represents a powerful elemental entity. However, it marks one of lower rank or importance than the glyph on the "mirror."
Meanwhile, Fintan returns the indigo lantern to its presumed rightful place at the end of the east hall. [size=-2]We still need to decide whether he left his torch it it, since that is the only way it would remain lit.[/size] As he begins a counter-clockwise circuit through the tunnels. At the third passage, however, while there is a blue lantern as expected, Fintan also finds the skeletal remains of a humanoid in a heap on the floor. As he looks around, Fintan also notices that in this tunnel, the shaft ceiling is not visible using his torchlight, unlike the first two he examined.
Last edited:
