The Whispering Cairn

General Summary

Triple T investigates a cairn largely forgotten cairn south of town, its yawning entrance overgrown with weeds and choked with collapsed debris. The cairn has since been a sort of community secret held by Winterhaven’s youth, who dare each other to disappear into its cyclopean entrance as a test of mettle. Occasionally, when the wind is just right, haunting, almost magical tones emerge from the depths of the forlorn tomb. Those who know of its location call the place the Whispering Cairn. The cairn is, in fact, the burial tomb of the Wind Dukes, a band of elite warriors that battled against the forces of Chaos millennia ago. Deep within the complex, the PCs come across the ghost of a runaway teen, Alastor Land, who fell victim to one of the cairn’s traps a decade ago. The undead horror blocks the PCs’ progress, promising to abandon the cairn if the characters return his bones to the small family cemetary on a farmstead just outside town. This encounter triggers a side-quest in which the PCs must take the ghost’s bones back to the farmstead, which is now an overgrown ruin inhabited by a nasty owlbear. The party are not the first visitors to the farmstead. Many of the graves have been emptied by black market runners bearing the brand of Balabar Smenk.
Events

Artophanx is discovered. Quagim buys out the mystic contract binding the small earth elemental to the Material plane. The party promises to return “Arty” home but gives him a job guarding Triple T HQ in the meantime.

Ernest Padraig’s vow of penance is fulfilled with his participation in this adventure. He returns with his family to serve in the new town council of Winterhaven.

Lady Dupree becomes the regent of Winterhaven under the governance of the town council. Triple T has a tie-breaking seat on the council.

Report Date

29 Dec 2021

Related Historical Events

• 1493
  The Whispering Cairn