D&D 5E [PotA] Purpose of tomb of moving stones?

[rattokan]

Hi there!
I am about to start DMing PotA next week. As the players are lvl4 allready I'd like to start with a pimped up versions of the sinkhole encounter.
I always try to prepare for the obvious questions that the players would want to investigate and I think that encounter locations should at least make some sense.
So what do you think is the purpose of this whole stones-floating-through-the-air thing? Why should dwarfs build such a thing? Is it mentioned somewhere in the book (couldnt find it)? In the book they are depicted as stonehenge-style monuments, how did they get them in there?

I hope somebody allready came up with an something for his/her own campaign

cheers,

rattokan

 

[pukunui]

I think the suggestion is that the floating thing makes it easier to work on the stones - you can move them and spin them around easily. It's a magical stonecarving workshop that got co-opted as a tomb. That being said, there's nothing wrong with leaving its original purpose a mystery.

 

[rattokan]

I actually had an idea like that in mind but I was not sure where it came from. I probably read it somewhere in the book but didnt remember it
If that is the "official" version I am fine with it.

Thnx a lot for that hint!

To scale up the encounter I will probably make Larrakh summon a minor earth elemental (without multiattack and probably half the HP). I will have 4 - 6 players who have just finished LMoP and as it will be a full-day kick-off event for the new campaign I'd like it to be a bit tougher

 

[77IM]

I thought it was part of a storage system? Like, you put stuff on the floating stones so it's easier to move that stuff around.

This is from memory, so I may be off, but I'm pretty sure it's explained somewhere in the adventure. The point is that the moving stones are definitely NOT some kind of oracle -- the Believers are just idiots.

 

[pukunui]

If that is the "official" version I am fine with it.

See the description of the moving stones on page 159: "This area was a large storage cellar and workshop carved out by the dwarves of Besilmer thousands of years ago. The dwarves left behind an odd array of pillars, threshold stones, lintels, and carved stone doors."

Room T6 strikes me as having originally been part of the workshop too. I can picture the dwarves placing heavy stones in that anti-gravity column so they could turn them around more easily while carving them.