Deeper Into The Whispering Cairn Report

General Summary

Patchwall 15, 595 CY

Session: 2024-04-17

Proceeding further down the corridor, they noted that all six alcoves had the same androgynous statues with hands out as if they were holding something. Investigating a bit more, they realized that a cushion of air seemed to be above each of the cupped hands.
The area got noticeably colder as they moved west until they came to a room with a large central pillar that broke it up. To the north the air was even colder, and the floor was covered with a brownish mold. Moving south around the central column, they found an alcove in the central column with spigots at about 8 feet off the ground, looking something like a shower. South of that was a large room, obviously someone's bedchambers.
The stone slab that acted as a bed had a layer of swirling air above the stone. The wardrobes and dressers, seemingly carved out of the stone were opened and obviously ransacked a long time ago. Behind the bed, the wall was carved in a relief of another of the tall androgynous figures, this one with a longish nose and outstretched hands. A glyph that looked like a stylized arrow marks the carved amulet around his neck.
To the west, the main room had door to a toilet in the west wall. The western side of the central pillar had a basin filled with an orange sludge. The brown mold was closer here, and almost seemed to suck the warmth out of the companions bodies. It seems like it originally fed off the orange sludge.
Malakai tried using his shillelagh, while Delilah tried her eldritch blast, but getting close to the mold only made it spread further, and neither attack was effective. With several naturalists in the party, they put their heads together and determined it was a quasi-magical type of brown mold which fed on warmth and heat. Malakai cast absorb elements on himself and used the cold damage he absorbed to attack the mold, resulting an striking it back as it grew more, a veritable tie.
Though there was another chamber to the north, the younglings had no way to traverse the mold and went back to the "elevator" room and back to the central chamber.
They had a few paths open to them. There was a passage far above the blue lantern, and there was a hole in the ground under the green lantern, where the elevator cylinder had collapsed. Tying a rope to the chain holding the green lantern, they began descending. Kaszu wasn’t strong enough to hold onto the rope the whole way down and fell, as did Delilah. While Delilah was far enough down the rope to only take some major bruising, Kaszu ended up on the floor, bleeding out. Luckily Malakai made his way down and healed him.
Tolman shushed everyone and let them know he saw large and small beetles up the corridor where rooms opened up to the east and west. To the west was a chamber with more stone slab beds a dog-sized beetle roamed the room, while to the east, another dog-size beetle wandered and those small acid beetles littered the room, enough for at least one swarm.
Kaszu started by firebolting one of the giant beetles, once battle was joined, Delilah used her eldritch blast on one of the giant bombardier beetles while Malaki used his chill touch to attack the acid beetle swarm. Crichton did some damage with his glaive, but it was less effective against the tiny swarming acid beetles. One of the bombardier beetles sprayed acid at Kaszu, which he managed to avoid. Feeling like the swarm was more of a threat, everyone but Argan turned their attacks to the swarm while Argan took his battleaxe to the bombardier beetles. Once the swarm was scattered the two giant beetles were easily wiped out.
The eastern room was full of the same orange sludge they saw in the other wing. It smelled almost like gravy, and covered more than one skeleton, probably victims of the beetles. Kaszu investigated one of the skeletons. It had partially eaten red leather armor with an eight-pointed star symbol embroidered on it. A half-eaten pouch held three vials of a red liquid. Further investigation proved that the orange sludge was some type of magically-produced food source, and the cairn was still producing this nutrient millennia later.
Heading to the western room, dominated by a large red statue on a raised dais to the west, the companions who entered the room began feeling sleepy, as the stone beds with their airy cushions beckoned them. One of the beds had been occupied long ago, the corpse still wearing the red leather armor with the eight-pointed star. As Tolman moved to a bed to rest, the statue came to life and moved to bash Tolman's sleeping skull in, the same thing that happened to the unfortunate soul in the red leather armor. The entire party moved to intercept, and managed to distract the animated statue enough that it missed an easy attack on the sleeping Tolman. The young tiefling woke and soon the animated statue fell to the combined attacks of the party.
Heading north, they found two alcoves in the sides of the passage where they believed that workers would hang their tools after their daily work, but anything good had been looted long ago. The northern passage ended in a set of stairs descending into a watery area. A blank wall hid whatever was past the stairs. As they descended into the water a water elemental attacked, not as large or as much a threat as a typical elemental, it fell quickly, unable to land an attack on the companions.
How ever, while engaged with the elemental, the party failed to see another threat, a ghoul plied the depths under the water and paralyzed Deliliah. Drwaing her underwater, the party seemed scattered and not sure what or where the threat was. Malakai was the first to see it and targeted it with a chill touch as it tried attacked Tolman.
With the entire focus of the , all-be-it, scattered companions, targeting the ghoul, it soon fell. Delilah, rescued from a drowning death lay on the floor, happy to be able to takes breaths of air.
With no more threats, the party explored the area, a submerged western locker area had a human body floating at the surface of the water, inches below the ceiling. The body had a red lantern, the only one missing, and a remarkably un-rusted shortsword. The eastern room, the home of the ghoul had a pile of tattered clothes shoved into a locker, containing coins. The ghoul wore a ring with the eight-pointed star symbol of the Seekers. Someone remembered the mage of the adventuring group from the Free City, Khellek, having a similar ring. They gave Tolman the surprisingly un-rusted shortsword, which proved to have a basic striking enchantment.
Heading back to the abandoned mine office, they decided to rest, and many of the companions would take a foray into Diamond Lake to buy and sell some of their treasures, meeting back in the mining office.

Campaign

It Started in Diamond Lake

Protagonists

Tolman K’hurzz

Malakai Steelbuckle

Delilah Raincloud

Crichton Eogen

Argan Agu-Ulakanu

Chaotic Good Goliath (Outlander)
Ranger 4

36 / 36 HP

STR
18

DEX
14

CON
14

INT
10

WIS
12

CHA
8

Kaszu Billowcase

Chaotic Good Rock Gnome (Guild Artisan / Guild Merchant)
Artificer 3

24 / 24 HP

STR
8

DEX
12

CON
14

INT
17

WIS
14

CHA
10

Report Date

30 Apr 2024