From the diary of Feldon Quikchand

Day 17: Aridday 28, 595 CY

Ref's Notes: The players had decided to make Galehaven their home. They spent the previous two weeks moving in to new homes, building an alchemist lab, visiting with Hrodel about the contents of Uncle Kai's notes, and generally resting up from their last adventure. It seems that Uncle Kai had been investigating something wicked that was threatening Galehaven and Hrodel wanted to get to the bottom of it. The notes were unclear so Hrodel left to visit her father, Kai's brother, to see if he could help interpret them. One thing was obvious, Uncle Kai had been planning to visit the town of Iron Lake (Diamond Lake) to investigate some trouble there. The word "whispers" was written in these notes many times, but what that meant remained a mystery. Hrodel asked the party to travel to the Iron Lake region to see if they could figure out what Uncle Kai had been concerned about before his death.

At the start of this adventure, only three of the original Tribe members remained; Bella, Feldon and Dreyma. Barak's owner had left town so the party decided it was in Barak's best interest to stay behind in Galehaven. Three new players joined in at this point and all of them decided to roll up new characters who would originate from Galehaven. Since the Tribe were only recent additions to the tiny village, it did not seem fair they should be the only ones to risk their lives in its defense. Brave adventurers drawn from the current populace were needed to fill in the ranks. Stout Vardeen, the dwarven warrior; Sam, the wise accolyte of Obad-Hai; and mighty mini May, priestess of Ehlonna would all join the Tribe and defend the town of Galehaven or die trying.

Feldon Quickhand, The Tribe's footpad, has taken on the extra duty of chronicaling the misdeeds, the misteps and the miscues of The Tribe as they make their mark on the free city of Iguana Shores, the vast Empire and the mysterious era known as the Age of Worms. Please join Feldon in his recounting of this marvelous tale. I, the nosy referee, will try to keep my probiscus out of Feldon's journals as much as possible, but when the muse forces my hand you will know it by the bolded Arial type. Also, the Tribe's only vertically unchallenged member, Dreyma Playzitsafe, has taken up the hobby of scribing some of the wittier comments made by Tribal members (generally under times of duress). So later in these chronicles, you should begin to see some of Dreyma's Quotable Quotes begin to appear it italicized fontaface. Happy Reading!

In the annals of time the next set of adventures will be left on the cutting room floor.

After a relaxing break in Galehaven, where one of us learned of Hrodel’s alliance with a giant weasel (Ref: Dreyma spied the secretive Hrodel conversing with the giant beast one night just outside the village walls), we forged out to Iron Lake to follow up on a clue from Uncle Kai’s notes. Hrodel told us that Uncle Kai had been following something he called “whispers” and an even larger menace to Galehaven than a mind flayer.

We loaded our meager goods into our backpacks and headed through the wilderness to Iron Lake.

Day 18: Aridday 29, 595 CY

Ref: For you puritanical chrono-maniacs out there, the party safely camped for the night between Galehaven and Iron Lake.

This was a town with style. This was a town with pizzazz. This was a town with…drunks, swindlers, and generally rough people. We quickly blended in with the locals and began our search. Some helpful children let us know where Allustan the Sage resided and we headed to his house slightly north of the main town square.

Day 19: Aridday 30, 595 CY

Ref: The party found the abandoned mine office and camped the night within its walls.

I didn’t need the green light reflecting off their eyes and teeth to know that I should run. I could feel the hot breath of the wolf pack on the back of my neck as I ran for the safety of the Tribe. The wolves were almost upon me when I dodged around a corner and they crashed into the rest of the party. Fighting a pack of wolves in a darkened tunnel is not a good way to live to spend your treasure. Their pack tactics were a new lesson the Tribe could apply in the future. One wolf would trip a party member while a second wolf tried to gut them with its razor like teeth. Fortunately, our experience in the tunnels retrieving Uncle Kai’s body allowed us to fend them off. I will think of them fondly when I am wearing their fur as a cloak in the winter and I hope the strategic running and fear inducing screaming I did during the fight doesn’t scare off the new party members.

Allustan had directed us to an abandoned cairn further around the lake. It was the only place locally that he knew of that had ties to “whispers” and was even called The Whispering Cairn. Over quite a span of time people seemed to disappear in or around the cairn. The disappearances were almost clocklike in their timing. Every 30 years someone would vanish. The last person to disappear was a child who stayed in the mine overnight 6 years ago. Many of the other cairns in the area had been thoroughly explored over the years by other adventuring groups. One particular group was making themselves known when we were in town. They were called the Champions of Iguana Shores. Fortunately, Dreyma beat them at a friendly game of darts.

Ref: The party makes an information stop at the Ferral Dog, where Dreyma manages to best Tirra at a game of daggers. The two part on respectful terms.

Further exploration of the tunnel revealed the lair of the wolves where we found a strange blue lamp; another tunnel had a broken magic mirror that was used for traveling by the creators of the legendary Rod of Seven Parts, and a big cobweb that we burned to the ground. At the far end of the tunnel there was a set of stairs that led to a large room with a carved stone bier in the center. One green hanging lamp burned in an alcove in the room and several lamps were missing which included the blue and the red lamp.

Ref: The casual reader may gasp in amazement at Feldon's cavalier mention of the Rod of Seven Parts here. However, one must remember that these are Feldon's views, alone. Our intrepid gnome illusionist, Bella Bogstrutter on the other hand, seems to be quite familiar with the legendary artifact and has some fair knowledge of the WInd Dukes of Aaqa, as well [5 ranks of knowledge arcana, a 17 intellegence and a natural 20 rolled on her skill check - you do the math.] At any rate, other party members, Bella in particular, are still trying to figure out how they picked their collective jaws off the dungeon floor after gleaning this information from the apparatus in Room 2. But for Feldon, unless an immediate payoff is in sight (and he's quite near-sighted for a gnome), then its just not worth the effort to get too excited about such things.

On inspiration we rotated the stone bier until it pointed at the alcove with the yellow lamp. A rumbling shook the room and drove us near to panic before a large cylinder with a black opening popped out of the floor in the yellow alcove.

Out of the depths of the dark opening in the floor we heard a horrifying sound. Years from now I will remember the sound and it will be as my fingernails drawn over slate. The sound made me cringe behind the stone bier in the room and pray to live another day.

“Where am I?” asked a high-pitched gnome voice.

Out of the opening came a gnome who we soon learned had been trapped in the hole for several days. He never saw where the opening led so we began our exploration. At the bottom of the shaft was a small room with a large block of stone straddling the path. To the left was a lever that could be pulled to summon the stelevator (my own word so if you don’t like it don’t use it). We could not pass the stone without some more time and tools or a lot of luck so we headed back up the stelevator.

Ref: Badger, his real name is too long to write and too difficult for non-gnomes to pronounce. A seventh player has now joined the fold and has developed a gnome monk to join forces with The Tribe. Badger has lived his entire life with his parents in the Twilight Monastery. For reasons only he can guess at, his order has sent him to live with his mean old Uncle Tidwoad down in Iron Lake for a spell. Badger can't figure out whether he was sent there to watch his Uncle or if he was sent to Iron Lake to keep him safe (he knows of the incident some years ago between the local miners and monks and suspects retribution on the monastery is a real possibility.) At any rate, Badger doesn't like his uncle much and likes spending time with him even less. Looking to find someone more on his age level, he approached two of Iron Lake's teenagers, Zoeb and Onega. It seemed that the teens of the town formed a pretty tight clique that required a bit of harmless hazing in order to break into. Soon Badger found himself prepped for a night alone in the Whispering Cairn, only by surviving the night within its walls could he hope to find acceptance with his younger peers. The night would have gone on splendidly, had he not gotten curious and investigated the green light at the end of the hall. His investigation unfortunately coincided with the minor wind spirit's centuries-old scheduled reset orders set by Nadrok. He stepped inside the architect's lair stelevator during the reset, and the door closed behind him, trapping him for days in between floors until the party's accidental rescue. Nuff Said.

The screams of my companions woke me from the shock of the floor I had just been standing on disappearing down a large dark previously nonexistent shaft. A swarm of beetles akin to a flight of locusts had shot out of where the floor used to be and headed for the Tribe. Clawing my way to the lip of the hole I could see the epic battle. A large form of bug was attacking several of the new party members, and the swarm, with its disgusting excretions, was about to engulf Bella the Illusionist. The next second the swarm parted as a fireball blossomed where Bella pointed and Verdeen the dwarven warrior had clobbered the bug in a very efficient military manner.

Ref: Translation from the Feldon: "Fireball: noun meaning anything unnatural which emenates from Bella that resembles fire", in this case, a Burning Hands spell. "Bug: noun referring to anything with more than 4 legs." In this case, the Mad Slasher.

We headed down the freshly made hole and reached a hallway similar to what we had found in the yellow cylinder. The difference being there was no stone blocking our path in this corridor. Inching down the hallway while the brave and loyal scout looked for the deadly dangerous traps that could wipe the entire party out we came to a fork in the hallway.

Ref: Me again. Couldn't help myself. The above entry in Feldon's journal is in need of clarification to anyone other than Feldon who may be reading it. The description of a brave scout looking for dangerous traps is merely a mnemonic device used by Feldon as a way to remind himself that his chosen profession is, indeed, that of a security expert, a.k.a. rogue, cutpurse, burglar; and that one of the important duties assigned to him, as the aforementioned resident burglar, is to actually check the path ahead for those aforementioned deadly traps. To this day I believe the matter is still thoroughly in question as to whether or not actual checking (identified by the sound of rolling dice) took place.

What is made of stone, crushes whatever is put on a stone slab, and moves like it has saddle sores? The room to the left of the hallway had a large statue of a man with a hammer. Just past one of the many aligned stone slabs was a bug that tried to kill the faithful scout. It sprayed a wicked concoction into the room but the nimble gnome dodged. Then it hopped up on the top of a slab and went splat when the stone man crushed it like…well, a bug.

There was a body on one of the other stone slabs dressed in leather armor with the symbol of an eight-pointed star representing the sun and a crushed skull. After pocketing several rings (Ref: One ring - but in the heat of battle who really thinks about accurate counting?) for the party we left to try the room across the hallway. On the opposite side of the hallway there was a room filled with bug sacs. We quickly left well enough alone and went down the center corridor.

Ref: Definition: "Bug Sacs: plural; noun used here to describe dried nutrient material in which several bugs were actually living.

Catcalls, lurid suggestions, and suggestive whistling would not deter our female dwarven warrior (Ref: Good ol' Vardeen. She's actually not old at all, being young enough to be incapable of growing a beard) from stripping down to almost nothing and going for a swim. Fortunately we did need to know what was on the backside of a room filled with water. When she started screaming about the water attacking her we just thought it was a joke. When she was swimming back to us we were prepared for her to be really angry with some of the suggestions we had made. When the water stood up and attacked us we were a wee bit surprised. She could have warned us.

The room with the water had many spouts sticking out of the walls. In the center was a large pillar that blocked the view of the other side of the room where a door was located. At the back of the room on the left and the right we could see openings into other rooms. After vanquishing the walking water our dwarf “volunteered” to go for another swim and inspect the door and rooms. She found, behind the door, a strange contraption with a pull cord for a drain. It did not drain much out but it was a total mystery what it could be.

Certain sages might debate that being paralyzed while drowning was not a requirement to drown. Our dwarf seems to think it is. She swam back to the room on the right and was exploring it. Realizing that the small figurines she saw would be a perfect gift for Bella, the tiny gnome female, so she grabbed one. Moments later she was paralyzed by the cold touch of undeath. We quickly swam out to assist Verdeen the dwarf before she drowned and were mildly surprised when an undead monstrosity swam out from the opening.

The holy power of Ehlonna, channeled through May the cleric, turned the undead away as we tried to swim for the dwarf. Soon we realized that the legendary rock that out climbed Bella (Ref: See Feldon's notes from Adventure #1, The Final Resting Place.) could probably do a better job swimming than most of the party. Eventually May reached Vardeen who was still clutching the figurine, and pulled her back to solid land. It was not a moment too soon to avoid the rabid attack of the ghoul. We made short work of it and then and there decided a good night's rest would be beneficial.

(Ref: Credits to Badger, the newest member of the Tribe, for landing the finishing blow to both the Insande Small H2O Elemental in Room 19 and to Ulavant-Ghoul, former inhabitant of Room 20. Kudos, little gnomie-monk!")

Day 20: Aridday 31, 595 CY

The mine office outside the cairn made a nice place to sleep and we woke refreshed and ready for some new approaches to adventuring. On top of the rest, we realized all those mine supplies we had overlooked earlier would come in handy. We quickly built a raft and headed to the water room to explore. The room where the ghoul had been hiding had some treasure but it was the other room that was the most significant. We found the final missing lamp and another of the bodies with red leather armor and an eight-pointed star. We returned to the room with the pulsing bug egg sac and the brave scout carried some oil towards it but was surprised before he could dump it on the sacs. The oil spilled all over the floor as he was running for his life from the queen bug. Some quick teamwork let us burn the queen bug and finish off the egg sacs only to find an odd fountain that exuded some form of edible food/drink.

So you think you are a massive slab of rock, huh? So you think you are immovable and are going to block the hallway forever, huh? Have you ever heard of gravity? Have you ever thought of getting a solid foundation? Huh? We took another try at the yellow corridor. With a grappling hook and some teamwork we managed to topple the large slab of rock and proceed down the hallway.

(Ref: Feldon is still the brave scout, but is not yet the trapfinding scout. Bella and Feldon both failed their saves for the essence of oilcloud trap in Room 9 - Bella, the most serious failure, losing 6 strength points (from her anemic total of 9) leaving her incapable of just about anything. At the time of this journal edit, Bella still has May and Vardeen carrying the lion's share of her equipment.)

Stone statues were spaced every ten feet or so and only one of them attacked us. Well, the thing on the statue attacked us. With Vardeen, the mighty dwarven warrior, unconscious and the stealthy scout unnaturally huddled in fear in the stelevator the rest of the part decided to continue down the hall exploring after the battle.

(Ref: Chalk another final blow up to Badger as he waylaid the Lurking Strangler with a Flurry of Blows)

A large chunk of rock in the shape of an “I” met them in the first room. On either side of the room were openings to other rooms and a door was hidden behind the rock in the back of the room. The first room explored on the left contained a bed of stone with a large hand protruding from a stone man ensconced in the wall. Next to the bed was a pulsing stone on a table. The stone had swirling grays, blacks, browns, greens and reds. Upon being touched a short piece of dirt popped out and began attacking the party ferociously. The animated dirt, in an unnaturally deep and gravelly voice, proclaimed itself to be Artaphanx. I have never heard of him but regardless no one else will now.

Dreyma's Quotable Quotes: "Elemntals don't lay eggs!" - Dreyma Corrinnan. Stated just after Artiphanx arose from his egg-shaped fetal position.

We moved across to the other side of the room to inspect the opening but were stopped when the brown carpeting exploded and covered all but the mighty dwarven warrior in an unnaturally cold brown carpet. With the trusty grappling hook we were fished from the carpet and saved from what could have been a long and gruesome death by carpet that was not carpet. Apparently it was some kind of brown mold and was extremely cold sensitive. Bella’s mighty spell craft cleared the brown mold and we continued our exploration. There was another fountain of the strange food/drink material that started gushing when it was freed from the mold.

(Ref: This encounter actually took a full day to complete. I believe it was the halfling druid, Sam from Galehaven, who used a torch in an attempt to burn back the unnatural mold. After doubling in size and dealing enough subdual damage to render all but Vardeen into a frosty unconsciousness, Vardeen then fished everyone to safety where Sam and May spent the rest of the day and the evening nursing themselves and the rest of the party back to full health (except for Bella's loss of strength). When rested, Bella used a series of frost ray cantrips to beat back the mold for good. Excellent encounter, btw, Erik Mona, as we were able to explore with exacting details the departure of 3rd ed rules from how 2nd ed's handling of both subdual damage and brown mold! Thanks for the great opportunities!)

Day 21: Reapingday 1, 595 CY

In the gaps of the “I” we found a large stone block had fallen and crushed one of the red leathered guys. Behind the stone block were some strange instruments and what could only be magic items. We gathered them and headed to the next room where we found a large unfinished sculpture of a man holding what could only be a replica of the Rod of Seven Parts and a fully stocked alchemists lab. Dragging Bella away was going to be next to impossible. Sigh.

Dreyma's Quotable Quotes: "What is this, the Toilet Plunger of Seven Parts?" - Mighty Mini-May Thatsamysterytoall. Spoken after the party, in succession, discovered Nadrok's loo and alchemy lab. Referring, or course, to the segmented staff held in the statue's hands and the most plungering-like posture it apparently was sculpted in.

The winds howled down the tunnel and our trusty scout held on to the chain for dear life. A fall from fifty feet above the stone floor would surely end his young life. After restoring the lamps to their respective places we proceeded to light them and hope for something to happen. The alcoves that we had previously ignored were thoroughly explored in the newfound light. Above the blue alcove we found a tunnel that lead into the wall. Scaling the chain the hardy scout could look into the tunnel and see a passage and that there was also a pressure plate trap that would be hard to bypass. Using the shrivlled hand he had found deep in the troglodyte lair in his last great adventure, Feldon levitated a torch down this lofty tunnel and used its light to explore the area beyond, With his sharp hearing he also heard a whispered voice that said, “ Whisper.” We had found a clue to the “Whispers” Uncle Kai had mentioned!

(Ref: And now, dear readers, we are in for a very specail treat! Rummaging around in my notes, I discovered this rare gem...a page from Bella Bogstrutters diary! The entry is for Reapingday 1, 595 CY - day 21 of the Tribe's adventure after fleeing Iguana Shores, and picks up right where Feldon's last entry seems to end.)

Dear Diary- Today, we had the most excellent adventure!! With a little bit of skill, and a whole mess of pitons, our daring rogue, Feldon, made a ladder up the shaft in the room of lamps, and we all climbed up to explore this last unknown reach of the Whispering Cairn. After ascending, by way of ropes, pitons, and finally just a lot of pulling, we soon came to a strange open door, carved in the likeness of a funny looking old man, and beyond, a great big room spanned by a huge beam (Well, it was huge to me!!).

Feldon, though short in stature, but tall in the things that really matter, immediately set out to cross the beam, just to see what was on the other side… Something must have caught his attention though, because he stopped just across the threshold, standing with his head cocked strangely to one side, as if listening to a voice only he could hear.. This didn’t seem unusual to me, as I have seen Feldon do some pretty strange things, but he wasn’t dead or screaming yet, so I figured things were safe enough.

The rest of the party was bent on discovering the meaning of life, or whatever they could by examing the surrounding stonework in great detail, so I decided I would just head out and see what was on the other end of that plank. It was just as I was passing by Feldon that I heard a voice too!! It told me I was very brave! I thought that this was a very nice thing to say, so I thanked the voice nicely, and kept going, but a gush of wind and a whistling soon caught my attention…

I tried to dodge that metal sphere as it streaked across the room at break-gnome speed… But, I didn’t quite make it, and it hit me!! I made great use of my gnimble gnomy reflexes, and promptly fell off of the plank and down into the mess of metal spheres, which I thought was a really good thing, because now I could use that huge plank as cover as I crossed the room.

I wasn’t really paying attention at this point to what everybody else was doing, but I did notice that suddenly people were screaming at me, to RUN!!!! Looking around, I didn’t really see anything I should run FROM, so I started to follow Feldon, who had bravely (?) descended to the floor of the room, and was picking his way forward.

Just as it exploded from under the metal spheres, I realized what I should be running from however, as a HUGE nasty snake thing attacked the valiant rogue, Feldon, piercing his body multiple times with spiked tentacles and slashing fangs. The sudden appearance of this montrous beast finally spurred the rest of the party into action, as our diminutive priestess, May, and our pint-sized monk, Badger, went dashing across the plank to Feldon’s aid.

Not wishing me to be alone, May bravely faced down a flying metal sphere, and benefitted by the aid of her fine halfling reflexes, went sailing through the air to land smack dab on top of the snake as it tried to drag Feldon’s bleeding corpse away for a tasty snack (obviously its sense of taste was damaged due to the relative lack of choices. Feldon hasn’t bathed in weeks…)

Badger, our intrepid monk, bravely faced the onslaught of flying metal spheres, desperately trying to slap one from the air, although none of them came anywhere remotely near him, as I, in proper fashion for a resourceful gnomess of my stature, cunningly blasted the snake thing with one of my shiny new wands, unleashing a screaming torrent of magical energy that crashed into the monster, with absolutely no effect whatsoever.

Sam, the kind (but none too smart) druid, seemed dazed and confused, conversing with something that only he could see, as the whole party came to aid in the battle with the titanic reptile! All that is, except for our mighty warrior, who with her gleaming magical sword and prowress of battle stood back in the relative safety of the hall, obviously defending us all against an attack from the rear!

With un-priestess-like skill, our halfling friaress finished off the snake with a powerful blow of her weapon, then casually bandaged up the unconcious Feldon (who, I may note, was by then snoring loudly)…

After the battle with the snake thingy, and a brief conversation with a ghost, we made our way out of the Whispering Cairn with yet more clues, and a horde of new questions, off to lick our wounds and face the challenges of a new day. Who knows what adventure awaits us tomorrow, but I, for one, will be there to discover it… -Bella Bogstrutter

(Ref: At this point in our story, the Tribe has the bones of Alistor Land and are headed back to Iron Lake to track down the Land residence.)

(Well, that was all I had from Bella. Now we returned to our originally scheduled chronicler, Feldon Quickhand. Look at this! His next journal entry starts right where Bella left off!)

We returned to Iron Lake with the expectation of finding the Land family estate and finishing our adventure in the Whispering Cairn. When we reached town we headed straight for Tidwode’s to get some sleep and recharge our batteries.

Day 22: Reapingday 2, 595 CY

We asked around and found that the Land estate was a short ways outside of town so we headed out to it.

The open graves of the Land family were not a good sign. Their bodies had been excavated and removed. From the grave markers we could see that they had died of a disease called the “Red Death” and had been buried together. The house was still standing so we went in to investigate.

Owl bears look all cute and fluffy until they decide to eat you. With lightning quick claws and a razor sharp beak the mother owl bear attacked our party. We quickly dispatched her and explored the rest of the house. In the back room where the owl bear had come from there was a small mewling sound. We found a tiny version of the mother owl bear that we decided to name Fluffy and bring with us back to Iron Lake. The arm we had been staring at earlier and debating if a body was attached to it might provide a clue as to who removed the bodies.

Allustan agreed to find a home for Fluffy and told us the meaning of the tattoo. Cullen, the surly albino half orc, had a similar tattoo so we needed to speak with him about whom the arm belonged to and possibly where the bodies came from.

There are three keys to a good bar fight. First, all parties must display plenty of enthusiasm. Yelling, throwing things and jumping over tables is a must have. Second, lethal force should only be used in reply to lethal force being used by an amateur bar fighter. Finally, big smelly albino orcs are a must have for any good bar fight.

We learned that Cullen could be found at a local dive called the Feral Dog. Taking up positions in an out of the way table we scanned the crowd and waited for his arrival. The drinks were bad, the crowd unfriendly, and the smell of urine and sour beer were perfect for what we had in mind. When Cullen arrived we were surprised to see that he was not alone. Several companions of dubious looking character accompanied him.

Dreyma took the initiative and wove through the crowd to approach the table, hoping to entice the information we needed from Cullen. Cullen quickly dumped her on her butt and she retreated to the bar to sulk at the rejection of a half orc. This opened the door for some more serious negotiations by Feldon. Swaggering over to the table and pulling up a chair he quickly opened the bid with a request for the information. After the laughter stopped he attempted to bluff Cullen into giving up what he knew but with a slip of the tongue he threatened Cullen instead.

Taking a look at the rage on Cullen's face, Feldon knew he was in trouble and headed for an exit. The cronies of the orc would not let poor Feldon escape and began to pursue him and one even pulled a wand. Being of the shorter stature he knew that running was not an option. The first one charged in and leaped at Feldon but missed him and hit the table. Feldon clubbed him with his mace and then threatened him with further bodily harm if he did not stay down. Obviously he was intimidated my Feldon's ferociousness because he did not move.

The spell-casting associate of Cullen aimed a sickly green ray from the wand at Feldon. After missing Feldon he next took aim at Badger who was approaching from across the bar. Dreyma was in a quandary as to which target to attack and Vardeen charged one of the other henchmen and pinned them against the bar. When Dreyma finally made a decision she headed to the spell caster.

The Tribe quickly put down the rest of the gang with no deaths. When the Cullenite who attacked Feldon was questioned it was learned that one of the local mine owners had been conscripting bodies for reanimation as zombies and skeletons.

Day 23: Reapingday 3, 595 CY

The old observatory stood on the hill overlooking Iron Lake. Somewhere a shutter banged on the side of the building while the paint peeled in a leisurely manner. A set of stairs ran up the side of a wall to a door and there was also a door beneath the stairs. We crept like mice to the door under the stairs and threw it open with a bang exposing the swirling mass of bone claws. In the cramped room under the stairs it was difficult to fight with more than a couple people so we took turns popping in and out of combat.

After the closet fight, we began a creeping and inspection process as we went up the stairs. Creep. Look around in fear. Creep. Look around in fear. The door at the top of the stairs crashed open as we charged in and met the crossbow bolts of the skeleton archers. With quick weapon work by Cullen himself we managed de-animate the skeleton archers.

At this point, I know you are asking why Cullen would be helping us. We had learned that Cullen was not local to the area and had needed a job. He did not necessarily agree with the raising of bodies from the dead and he agreed to help us, at least temporarily, to oust the evil necromancer living in the observatory.

(Ref's note:, also, being bested by the party, Cullen (who changed his name to Rump) realized that his gange wasn't the toughest in town any longer. Never one to feel comfortable on the losing side of things, Cullen/Rump jumped ship and joined The Tribe.)

We were definitely not dressed appropriately for the dinner of the dead we found upstairs. Dead skeletons still fully clothed as if dinner was about to be served surrounded a large formal dining table. They managed to creep us out even more than the floating claws and skeletons we had previously encountered below the stairs.

When we went up another set of stairs we located a bedroom and small study. Next to the bed was a waiter/butler holding a plate with a head on it. The tongue of the head was extended and a coin sat on the tongue. There was a small alchemy area and a desk. On the desk was a jar with a strange worm preserved in a greenish fluid. Maeve heard some noise upstairs so Badger and I snuck up there to check it out. We could see a strange looking man holding a metal object. Strapped to a table that was centered in the middle of the room was a humanoid figure that had its innards removed. Four columns stood just off the corners of the table and inside them was a greenish liquid with a humanoid figure. A skeleton assistant attended the crazy looking man.

The necromancer invited the rest of our group to come on up. As a group we progressed up the stairs and stopped as the first person reached the top. The necromancer addressed us in a mocking voice and then struck the floor causing the 4 glass columns to rupture. The contents of the columns were large humanoid zombies who proceeded over to attack our lead party members.

The battle was not pretty. Our fighters stood in the front and prevented the zombies from reaching the spell casters. Badger our short monk tumbled through the battle to engage the skeleton and Filge. Using a Tanglefoot bag found in an earlier encounter the brave and relentless rogue rooted Filge and limited some of his spell casting abilities. Badger was soon pursued by two of the zombies and only occasionally could he make an attack on Filge or the skeleton. Feldon and Sam shot arrows and bullets at Filge and hit him several times doing significant damage and forcing him to use some nasty metal objects filled with fluid, on himself. The skeleton was dispatched but Filge managed to get a spell off that feared Badger. From the effects of the spell he ran and hid in a spot by the stairs. The massive zombies followed and we thought for sure that Badger would see the end of his life.

Meanwhile, Bella used her crossbow and then resorted to a wand to weaken the zombies. The massive zombies hit Dreyma solidly and just about killed her in one blow. By keen observation we learned that the zombies were quite slow and could move or attack but not both. Unfortunately, this information did not save Dreyma from dying at the hands of the zombies. A massive blow struck her while defending Sam and Maeve from a bugbear zombie. Vardeen finished off the zombie and the group started to focus on the other zombie directly in front of them.

The blows of the zombies struck the walls adjacent to Badger saving him from being crushed while Vardeen finished off the other zombie menacing the main party. Filge was presumed dead from the barrage of Feldon and Sam and the healing power of Ehlonna channeled through Maeve had brought Rump/Cullen the Barbarian back up from the ground. Badger broke free of the unnatural fear and once again tumbled through the zombies to lead them around again.

We could now focus on filling the zombies full off arrows while staying out of their grasp. Unfortunately, Vardeen misjudged how far they could move and was pinned to a wall where the zombie crushed the life out of her. Feldon in an attempt to tumble past the zombies and finish off Filge who started showing signs of life was crushed by a wayward blow knocking him unconscious. The rest of the party finished off the zombies and looted what they could off of Filge and the bodies.

Having several party members dead, unconscious and seriously hurt it was necessary to go back to Tidwoad’s and recuperate. Maeve provided what healing she had left and the party slept until morning.

Day 24: Reapingday 4, 595 CY

The darkness of night sheltered the party as they slept. Waking at Tidwoade’s they could feel the bruises and sore muscles from the previous day. The small bits of morning light accented the edges of the buildings and made eerie shadows appear where no creature could possibly be. Something was moving in the street. As Feldon looked out the window to see what was moving the piercing shriek of primal fear echoed across the town square. “Murder! He has been murdered!” We knew it was going to be a long day . . .

LINKS


False Tomb Map
Architect's & Workers' Map
True Tomb Entrance Map