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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Menexenus" data-source="post: 3320989" data-attributes="member: 8951">Session 6:  Zosiel's Tomb21st of Planting.  The party returned to the abandoned mine office after burying the Land family's bones at their family plot.  However, on the way, Katawan began to look feverish and complained of feeling weak.  Upon arriving at the mine office, Katawan collapsed unconscious.  Killick examined him and found evidence of a disease called Corpse Bloat, which is typically contracted from bites by undead creatures.  Remembering that Alees was also bitten by the Tomb Mote, Killick checked Alees and found that she was also in the incubation stages of the disease.  With Killick's help, Alees avoided suffering the effects of the disease.  The party stayed with Katawan for the rest of the day while Killick and Killian did what they could to help him recover. 22nd of Planting.  After noon, Katawan regained consciousness but was very weak - too weak to stand, let alone adventure.  A few hours later, Alexander returned from his trip to Greyhawk.  He gave each party member 225 gp from the sale of the baby owlbear, a ring, and an armband.  He told the party that he learned that the 8-pointed star symbol is used by a mercenary group called the Seekers that is renowned for recovering lost artifacts for the highest bidder.  The Seekers have a bad reputation because of their underhanded methods and because they are willing to work for *anyone*, no matter how evil.  Alexander chose not to draw unwanted attention to the group by selling the leather armor and the ring that had the Seeker insignia on it in Greyhawk.    Despite his feverish state, Katawan urged the party to return to the Cairn without him.  They reluctantly agreed to leave him in the wine cellar with 3 loaded heavy crossbows.  They also instructed the guard that Parrin hired (Gabriard) to watch over Katawan while they were gone.  The party returned to the Whispering Cairn without Katawan and retraced their steps back to the iron ball room - the room with a door that the ghost of Alastor Land had promised to open.  When they arrived they found that the door was indeed open as promised (and there is no longer any evidence of Alastor's presence).  The party cautiously entered the newly accessible room.  It was a large, round room with 4 expansive bas-relief galleries on four sides.  In the middle of the room was a round chasm with 2 bridges extending towards a column of illuminated rushing air in the middle.  (It looked like there were originally 4 bridges, but the other 2 bridges have collapsed.)  The column of air led to a platform about 40 feet up.  Since there seemed to be no threat in the room, the party took some time to investigate the bas-relief galleries a bit more closely.  They depicted the bald-headed race that the party has seen elsewhere in the dungeon being attacked by armies of demons led by a giant creature that looked like a cross between a wolf and a spider.  The party identified that one of the bald-headed figures bore the same glyph that they had seen earlier on the broken mirror near the entrance of the Cairn.  That individual seemed to be someone important, like a general.  The party also identified that another of the sculpted figures bore the same glyph that they had seen on the sarcophagus in the alcove room.  This second individual seemed to be one of the first individual's lieutenants or personal guards.  In the last gallery, the party saw the bald race's final victory over the army of demons was achieved by plunging a rod with seven parts (like the one Killick is carrying) into the giant Wolf-Spider and imprisoning it in a planar rift.    When the party was done looking at the galleries, Alexander made an Unseen Servant with his wand and tested the two walkways for traps.  Alees looked at the walkways for traps.  Neither Alexander nor Alees found anything wrong with the bridge.  However, as soon as someone stepped on to one of them, 2 warriors appeared out of the column of air.  They seemed to be animated suits of ceramic armor wielding 2 long swords each.  They got the better of the party with their swift blades and sonic attacks, but the party was able to escape the room in relatively good order.  The Wind Warriors did not pursue.  The party returned to the mine office to lick its wounds and strategize. 23rd of Planting.  The party spent the day at the mine office resting in order to heal.  Katawan is getting better slowly. 24th of Planting.  The party spent the day at the mine office resting in order to heal.  Katawan is slowly getting better, but he is still in no condition to travel or fight. 25th of Planting.  The party decided to return to town for a variety of reasons: Killian felt the need to protect his father from further retribution by Kullen/Smenk, the party was in need of rations, and they learned from Gabriard that they were wanted for questioning in connection with the Observatory.  They intercepted Killian's father (who had been driving a team of horses laden with ore along a circuit that included Greyhawk) and escorted him through town to the smelting plant (to turn in his wagon) and then to Parrin's residence (where he would be staying until his house was rebuilt).  Almost immediately after arriving at Parrin's, the party was taken into custody and brought to the Sherriff's Office where they were stripped of their weapons.  After initially trying to mislead Sheriff Cubbin, the party eventually told him almost all of the truth about the attack on the Observatory.  The Sheriff interrogated Luzane Parrin to corroborate their story.  She turned in Filge, who had been a prisoner in her basement all this time.  Parrin was fined an unspecified amount for Obstruction of Justice (failing to hand over a criminal) and for Inciting Unlawful Behavior (hiring the party to trespass at the Observatory).  The Sheriff kept the party locked up all night while his constables tortured Filge.  In the morning, the Sheriff let the party go, mentioning that Filge has kept strangely silent despite the torture.  As the party left, the Sheriff warned them that he doesn't like uppity adventuring types in his town.  He insinuated further that, if they didn't keep their noses clean, they would not fare as well with the law next time. 26th of Planting.    The party left the Sheriff's office and took the opportunity to do a little shopping.  Alees placed an order for masterwork thieves' tools, and everyone bought extra rations.  The party returned to the abandoned mine office outside of town to find Katawan gone with an unsigned note that says, "We have your man.  Meet me at Parrin's at dusk."  The party returns to town and waits.  At dusk, Smenk, along with a phalanx of bodyguards (including Kullen's gang), walked up to Parrin's residence.  He pretended to be making a social call, but once inside, he quickly got down to business.  Smenk confirmed Filge's account that he was being blackmailed by a cult (or multiple cults) underneath the Dourstone mine.  He told the party that Katawan will be returned unharmed if the party eradicated the cult and brought him the head of the cult leader - a man with no face.  Smenk told the party that he was being blackmailed into supplying the cult's physical needs, and that he made weekly shipments to Dourstone's mine.  He suggested that the party hide inside the crates until they had gone down the elevator into the cult's temple area.  After a bit of haggling by Alexander, Smenk also agreed to pay some clerics to heal Katawan's Corpse Bloat.  He also promised to pay to have Killian's father's home restored.  Smenk said that his next shipment to the cult would be in two days, so the party should complete any unfinished business they had in town before then.    The party headed back to HQ and attempted another assault on the Wind Warriors.  They find that the Wind Warriors have not fully healed from the party's first attack.  One Wind Warrior was destroyed by Alexander's Magic Missile, and the other was destroyed by a powerful blow from Killian's great sword.  Now that the room was secure, the party tied a rope to Alees and sent her up the column of air.  On the ledge at the top, she discovered another sarcophagus, identical to the one in the 7-lantern room.  Behind the sarcophagus was another bas-relief gallery showing the man on the sarcophagus being killed by a demon bearing a black sphere in a metal loop.  As Alees approached the sarcophagus, the sarcophagus started to glow with a bluish light, the bas-relief animated, and in her head she heard the man say "What is my name?"  Since she didn't know the answer, she kept quiet.  She searched the sarcophagus for traps.  She found no traps, but she also found that there was no way into the sarcophagus - it seemed to be a block of solid stone with no lid.  Having no way to get in, she returned to the party.  Alexander tried the same thing, and the same thing happened to him.  Since the party doesn't know the answer to the question and has no way to open the sarcophagus, they left the dungeon somewhat frustrated. 27th of Planting.  The party returned to town.  Alexander paid Allustan to identify the glyph on the sarcophagus.  After revealing some information about the man, Allustan was able to find the book he needed and he identified the glyph as that of Zosiel.  Allustan explained that eons ago, a race called the vaati fought a demonic incursion into the Prime Material plane led by Miska, the Queen of Chaos.  The vaati were losing this war until they sent 7 of their best warriors on a quest.  These warriors returned with the secrets to creating the Rod of Seven Parts.  Once assembled, the vaati (sometimes called the Wind Dukes of Aaqa) assembled to face the legions of Miska in a final, apocalyptic battle of Law against Chaos.  (Apparently this battle took place somewhere on Oerth, north of the Nyr Dyv.)  The Rod was wielded in battle by the finest of the vaati warriors, and when the Rod came in contact with Miska, both were destroyed, opening a planar rift which imprisoned Miska forever.  With their leader gone, the vaati were able to defeat and scatter the remainder of the demonic host.  Legend says that the 7 pieces of the Rod were scattered across the world, but that the pieces will allow themselves to be found and re-assembled when the world is threatened once again by great Chaos and Evil.      Armed with this new knowledge, the party returned to the Cairn, and spoke Zosiel's name when prompted.  This caused a searing blue light to reveal the sarcophagus's lid.  The lid swang open easily.  Inside was a pewter box, a circlet, and a pair of demon horns.  Opening the pewter box revealed a handle with a loop.  Both the circlet and the loop radiated magic.  Alexander spent the rest of the day identifying the objects.  The circlet was a Circlet of Wisdom +2, and the loop was of such awesome power that the Identify spell did not function properly on it. 28th of Planting.  The party returned to town.  They went to Tidwoad's gem and jewelry shop and each party member bought a 50gp emerald for future castings of Identify.  There were only a few hours left before the party was scheduled to report to the Feral Dog to start their mission against the cult lurking beneath Dourstone's mine...</blockquote>

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