The Whispering Cairn, Part One

  When last we left our intrepid crew, they were setting out from a dilapidated mine manager's home to seek fortune in the Whispering Cairn.

  I'll skip the boring bits, and tell you the highlights:

• Upon entering the cairn, Sarnek noticed several sets of wolf tracks back and forth across the entrance.
• After the party locates a broken artifact, Wren recalls from his class on History of Air Elementals at Tarth Moor that the glyph on the base is actually the name of a powerful creature of air called a "Wind Duke." [Rolled a natural twenty plus his skill bonus in Knowledge (arcana), total 26! 50 bonus XP for a clutch roll for vital information.]
• Continuing further in, the party encountered a small pack of wolves. Sarnek successfully used animal empathy to adjust their reaction from hostile to indifferent. The wolves returned to their den, taking a bribe of meat thrown to them. [Dane did fantastic with his ranger here... 50 bonus XP for good roleplay]
• Minutes later, the party disturbs the wolves in their den, drawing an attack. All three wolves killed. Oh well. However, they do find an important piece of a puzzle: an indigo lantern.
• Entering the false tomb, they begin to muck about with the turning sarcophagus, discovering all sorts of elevators, and releasing a swarm of acid beetles and a nasty aberration. Wren kills the swarm with one well-placed Burning Hands spell. The aberration is dealt with swiftly, but not before it can kill Norman the Interchangeable, our NPC cleric.
• With the cleric dead, and most spells used up, the party wisely retreats to Diamond Lake, bearing the remains of their fallen comrade.

End of first night, but not even close to the end of the adventure... we play again in three weeks.

The Age of Worms has Begun!

  So, we played a little D&D 3.5 last night...

  My buddy Jim has been living in Gulfport, MS, for the last two years since he was called to active duty by the Navy. Anyway, he finally got back home a couple of weeks ago, and he came over last night. To celebrate, we all (Jim, my sons and myself) played some D&D for the first time in, oh, a couple of years! being me, and that meaning disorganized, I didn't really have anything ready to play. I didn't want to go back to the Caves of Chaos again, even though they have never completely cleared those fabled caverns.

  Then I remembered that Dungeon magazine had, a few years back, created an entire campaign, and that I owned most of the issues already, including the all-important first issue with the adventure for 1st-3rd level characters! RESULT!

  The party consists of:

• Wren Fredericsson, a Human Warmage, recently returned from his training at Tardath Moor, to his childhood home of Diamond Lake. He seeks the guidance of Allustan, the local wizard who helped him enter the Warmage school. Allustan arranges for him to band with other youngsters in an effort to explore one of the local cairns. [Jim]
• Sarmek of Bronzewood (self-styled 'the Slayer'), a Human Ranger. Sarmek grew up in the Druid enclave in the Bronzewood, not far from Diamond Lake. He has been sent forth to find his place in the world; the Druid Elders arranged for him to act as a guide for a small party of adventurers. [Dane]
• Degar Stoneface, a Dwarf Knight. Degar hails from Greysmere, the Dwarven stronghold nearest Diamond Lake. He was sent by the HoldKing, Hrogar Greysmere, to Diamond lake as part of his final training as a knight of the stronghold. His mission complete, Degar sought guidance from the head of the Greysmere delegation to Diamond Lake; the head delegate made arrangements for him to join with others through his friend, Allustan. [Greyson]
• Norman the Interchangeable, a Human Cleric of Heironeous. Norman is the name for all young clerics at the Diamond Lake temple. At the urging of Allustan, the head of the temple has provided one of his lower level acolytes to support the effort to explore the Whispering Cairn.[NPC]

   After meeting at an abandoned mine manager's home near the Whispering Cairn, the party ventured into the mysterious cairn...