Diamond Lake & The Whispering Cairn
Characters:
After her visit with Selena, Thalestris made her way to Diamond Lake, to follow up on the rumors that there were ancient Cairns in the area containing riches beyond her imaginings. There she met Rogar, a local ranger and scout from the Bronzewood Lodge who was looking for some excitement.
At the same time, another visitor appeared in town: Allsaran Telrün, a Sindolven Arcanist from Enstad, the Capital City of the Faerie Kingdom of Celene. He had come to visit with his old friend Allustan, with whom he had exchanged many letters over the years on scholarly topics, particularly the Elemental Planes, the nature of magic, linguistics, and the various histories of the Flanaess. They spent the day chatting and drinking wine, until the evening, when Allsaran decided to take his leave and visit one of the "quaint" local drinking establishments.
Barracus, in the meantime, had found himself working the mines of Balabar Smenk nearly every waking hour for mere copper commons worth of scrip, and sleeping on the floor of Jalek's Flophouse at night. It seems that the moneylender he had originally borrowed from was short on patience, and had sold him to Smenk as an indentured servant. In the nearly two weeks he had worked there, he had not even begun to pay for the pick and shovel he had been forced to buy on company credit, let alone the food he was eating. There seemed no end in sight. That changed when he spotted Thalestris walking with Rogar down the Vein, and called out to her. He quickly explained that he had attacked the dock rat in Nyrstran, and had "dealt him a mighty blow which surely snuffed out his life." Even though Thalestris did not fully believe his story, she felt sympathy for him, and decided to buy Barracus out of bondage, in exchange for his services as a bodyguard and porter.
The trio headed to Balabar Smenk's mansion, a run-down, shoddy place. After intimidating the small pack of thugs guarding the front, they made their way to the door. Although Smenk was clearly irritated by their presence, he allowed them to purchase Barracus' contract and sent them on their way. The decided to go to the Feral Dog, a local dive, to celebrate.
The Feral Dog was filled with smoke, poor miners, and the screams of those betting on the bloody dogfight going on in the central pit of the place. Standing out from the crowd were the hulking albino Half-Euroz Kullen and his gang of scum, who were given a wide berth by the patrons, and the sleek, self-assured Noldolve, Tirra, who was attracting quite a bit of attention with both her exotic looks and her talent for throwing knives. From the corner, Allsaran watched with interest. Boasting of her prowess, she soon engaged both Rogar and Thalestris in a wager. Although they both showed real talent, they were no match for the Noldolve' s nearly-perfect throws, and soon lost all they had wagered. During the game, however, Tirra revealed that she and her esteemed companions, the wizard Khellek and the gladiator champion Auric, were going to "strike it rich" by exploring the Stirgenest Cairn across Diamond Lake. After the group left the ale hall, Allsaran approached Tirra and spoke briefly to her in elven, then followed.
Rogar, being local, knew that the Stirgenest Cairn had already been fully explored and cleared out long ago. As the trio left the ale hall, he explained that there was another cairn, known as the Whispering Cairn, that was believed to be haunted, and the location of which was not common knowledge. At this point, Allsaran approached the group and offered his services as a sage and wizard, expressing his interest in assisting with the proposed exploration. The group accepted, and decided to set off the next morning.
Date: Sunday, The Sixteenth Day of Planting (Low Summer), known to the Sindolve as Blossom, and to the Nomads as the Month of the Frog, in the Common Year (CY) 581, which is also 1225 OR (Oeridian Record), 6096 SD (Suloise Dating), 5043 OC (Olven Calendar), 3240 BH (Baklunish Hegira), and 2731 FT (Flan Tracking) .
That morning, the four adventurers, Thalestris, Barracus, Rogar, and Allsaran, set out for the Whispering Cairn. After a little over an hour, Rogar brought them to an abandoned mine overseer's office to rest. He explained that this place was occasionally used by local rangers as a rest stop, and that their destination was not far. The cairn was located about ten minutes off the beaten path, obscured by brush and assorted debris. A yawning, monolith-lined portal led to a long hallway, dimly lit by the morning's light. A faint breeze brought with it a sound reminiscent of sighing breath. The hallway was covered in dust, and the walls bore horizontal bands of what once were likely beautifully painted geometric patterns, but now were hacked and eroded, the paint faded and flaked. Lighting a torch, Thalestris proceeded in, followed by the rest. As they slowly walked the hall, the wind picked up outside and the hallway was filled with what sounded like a chorus of whispering human voices. Eventually, it was discovered that there were small holes lining patterns in the walls, and the wind blowing through them created the semblance of voices.
Further down the sides of the hall were a two pairs of alcoves. The first pair were about 25 feet deep, and were empty save for a pile of old, rotten rags. One of the second pair was covered by a collapse, but the other, 40' deep, contained what looked like a shattered ovular mirror frame made of a strange type of stone, set on a platform that had been carved with a large arcane glyph. Allsaran quickly moved forward to investigate. He recognized the sigil as a name in Vaati, an ancient glyph language believed by some to be the original written form of Auran. Vaati is the Auran word meaning "Wind Duke," which refers to the Wind Dukes of Aaqa, who forged the Rod of Law. This Rod was used to strike down the Queen of Chaos, Miska the Wolf Spider, at the ancient Battle of Pesh. Legend says that when Miska's lifeblood touched the rod, it was shattered into seven parts and scattered across the land. Allsaran recalled that a book, The Chronicles of Chan, had more details on this battle and the Rod of Seven Parts, as it is now called. Scattered around the platform base were shattered pieces of a substance that appeared to be black glass, but were as cold as ice to the touch. Further inspection revealed runes carved into the slot on the inside of the frame, and Allsaran was able to determine that this had once been some sort of planar gate, a magic so powerful that it is unlikely that any mortal would be able to reproduce it. He quickly gathered the shards and made a charcoal rubbing of the glyph.
The end of the central hallway opened into a large chamber with wings leading to the east and west. Directly across the chamber was a twenty foot archway covered in cobwebs. An eerie green light flickered behind the webs. As the party entered the room, Allsaran began to notice Auran words being spoken and whispered in the air: "hopeless, sacrilege, enemies, pain, death." The room smelled of wet fur and excrement, and the group soon discovered why. The eastern wing, which appeared collapsed, actually had a gap large enough to crawl through. From this gap came a Warg and two hungry-looking wolves. A melee ensued. After the beasts were slain and all wounds were bound, Rogar elected to search the lair. He discovered an old backpack half-buried in humanoid bones, which contained a beautiful hanging lamp made of some strange indigo metal, and set with indigo glass. He also found an silver and gold armband, intricately carved in a leaf pattern, which Allsaran identified as Noldolven in origin. Weakened by the battle, everyone decided it was best to leave and rest up at the abandoned mine overseer's office.
- Thalestris (Heather), an Oeridian "Woman-at-Arms"
- Barracus (Big J), a Touv Weapons Master
- Allsaran Telrün (Dan), a Gray Elven (Sindolven) Arcanist
- Rogar (Jeff), a Flan Archer
After her visit with Selena, Thalestris made her way to Diamond Lake, to follow up on the rumors that there were ancient Cairns in the area containing riches beyond her imaginings. There she met Rogar, a local ranger and scout from the Bronzewood Lodge who was looking for some excitement.
At the same time, another visitor appeared in town: Allsaran Telrün, a Sindolven Arcanist from Enstad, the Capital City of the Faerie Kingdom of Celene. He had come to visit with his old friend Allustan, with whom he had exchanged many letters over the years on scholarly topics, particularly the Elemental Planes, the nature of magic, linguistics, and the various histories of the Flanaess. They spent the day chatting and drinking wine, until the evening, when Allsaran decided to take his leave and visit one of the "quaint" local drinking establishments.
Barracus, in the meantime, had found himself working the mines of Balabar Smenk nearly every waking hour for mere copper commons worth of scrip, and sleeping on the floor of Jalek's Flophouse at night. It seems that the moneylender he had originally borrowed from was short on patience, and had sold him to Smenk as an indentured servant. In the nearly two weeks he had worked there, he had not even begun to pay for the pick and shovel he had been forced to buy on company credit, let alone the food he was eating. There seemed no end in sight. That changed when he spotted Thalestris walking with Rogar down the Vein, and called out to her. He quickly explained that he had attacked the dock rat in Nyrstran, and had "dealt him a mighty blow which surely snuffed out his life." Even though Thalestris did not fully believe his story, she felt sympathy for him, and decided to buy Barracus out of bondage, in exchange for his services as a bodyguard and porter.
The trio headed to Balabar Smenk's mansion, a run-down, shoddy place. After intimidating the small pack of thugs guarding the front, they made their way to the door. Although Smenk was clearly irritated by their presence, he allowed them to purchase Barracus' contract and sent them on their way. The decided to go to the Feral Dog, a local dive, to celebrate.
The Feral Dog was filled with smoke, poor miners, and the screams of those betting on the bloody dogfight going on in the central pit of the place. Standing out from the crowd were the hulking albino Half-Euroz Kullen and his gang of scum, who were given a wide berth by the patrons, and the sleek, self-assured Noldolve, Tirra, who was attracting quite a bit of attention with both her exotic looks and her talent for throwing knives. From the corner, Allsaran watched with interest. Boasting of her prowess, she soon engaged both Rogar and Thalestris in a wager. Although they both showed real talent, they were no match for the Noldolve' s nearly-perfect throws, and soon lost all they had wagered. During the game, however, Tirra revealed that she and her esteemed companions, the wizard Khellek and the gladiator champion Auric, were going to "strike it rich" by exploring the Stirgenest Cairn across Diamond Lake. After the group left the ale hall, Allsaran approached Tirra and spoke briefly to her in elven, then followed.
Rogar, being local, knew that the Stirgenest Cairn had already been fully explored and cleared out long ago. As the trio left the ale hall, he explained that there was another cairn, known as the Whispering Cairn, that was believed to be haunted, and the location of which was not common knowledge. At this point, Allsaran approached the group and offered his services as a sage and wizard, expressing his interest in assisting with the proposed exploration. The group accepted, and decided to set off the next morning.
Date: Sunday, The Sixteenth Day of Planting (Low Summer), known to the Sindolve as Blossom, and to the Nomads as the Month of the Frog, in the Common Year (CY) 581, which is also 1225 OR (Oeridian Record), 6096 SD (Suloise Dating), 5043 OC (Olven Calendar), 3240 BH (Baklunish Hegira), and 2731 FT (Flan Tracking) .
That morning, the four adventurers, Thalestris, Barracus, Rogar, and Allsaran, set out for the Whispering Cairn. After a little over an hour, Rogar brought them to an abandoned mine overseer's office to rest. He explained that this place was occasionally used by local rangers as a rest stop, and that their destination was not far. The cairn was located about ten minutes off the beaten path, obscured by brush and assorted debris. A yawning, monolith-lined portal led to a long hallway, dimly lit by the morning's light. A faint breeze brought with it a sound reminiscent of sighing breath. The hallway was covered in dust, and the walls bore horizontal bands of what once were likely beautifully painted geometric patterns, but now were hacked and eroded, the paint faded and flaked. Lighting a torch, Thalestris proceeded in, followed by the rest. As they slowly walked the hall, the wind picked up outside and the hallway was filled with what sounded like a chorus of whispering human voices. Eventually, it was discovered that there were small holes lining patterns in the walls, and the wind blowing through them created the semblance of voices.
Further down the sides of the hall were a two pairs of alcoves. The first pair were about 25 feet deep, and were empty save for a pile of old, rotten rags. One of the second pair was covered by a collapse, but the other, 40' deep, contained what looked like a shattered ovular mirror frame made of a strange type of stone, set on a platform that had been carved with a large arcane glyph. Allsaran quickly moved forward to investigate. He recognized the sigil as a name in Vaati, an ancient glyph language believed by some to be the original written form of Auran. Vaati is the Auran word meaning "Wind Duke," which refers to the Wind Dukes of Aaqa, who forged the Rod of Law. This Rod was used to strike down the Queen of Chaos, Miska the Wolf Spider, at the ancient Battle of Pesh. Legend says that when Miska's lifeblood touched the rod, it was shattered into seven parts and scattered across the land. Allsaran recalled that a book, The Chronicles of Chan, had more details on this battle and the Rod of Seven Parts, as it is now called. Scattered around the platform base were shattered pieces of a substance that appeared to be black glass, but were as cold as ice to the touch. Further inspection revealed runes carved into the slot on the inside of the frame, and Allsaran was able to determine that this had once been some sort of planar gate, a magic so powerful that it is unlikely that any mortal would be able to reproduce it. He quickly gathered the shards and made a charcoal rubbing of the glyph.
The end of the central hallway opened into a large chamber with wings leading to the east and west. Directly across the chamber was a twenty foot archway covered in cobwebs. An eerie green light flickered behind the webs. As the party entered the room, Allsaran began to notice Auran words being spoken and whispered in the air: "hopeless, sacrilege, enemies, pain, death." The room smelled of wet fur and excrement, and the group soon discovered why. The eastern wing, which appeared collapsed, actually had a gap large enough to crawl through. From this gap came a Warg and two hungry-looking wolves. A melee ensued. After the beasts were slain and all wounds were bound, Rogar elected to search the lair. He discovered an old backpack half-buried in humanoid bones, which contained a beautiful hanging lamp made of some strange indigo metal, and set with indigo glass. He also found an silver and gold armband, intricately carved in a leaf pattern, which Allsaran identified as Noldolven in origin. Weakened by the battle, everyone decided it was best to leave and rest up at the abandoned mine overseer's office.
posted by Malachias Invictus at 12:00 AM
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