The Whispering Cairn, Part 2

  An update from last week's D&D game:

  Having acquired the use (though not title!) of an abandoned house near the Whispering Cairn, our heroes (Sarmek, Degar, and Wren) spend some time and hard won treasure beginning to fix the place up. With the trash hauled out, the outhouse and well repaired, a new door and the broken windows boarded up, they set off back into the Cairn, to finish their exploration.

  On the way, they encounter a dire weasel, who manages to latch his teeth into Degar's throat and greedily suck a few pints of blood before being dispatched by the rest of the party (now including Norman the Interchangeable Mk. 2!). The resulting Constitution loss worries the party, and they return home for a few days to let Degar heal up. Obviously, they are concerned for the short but doughty knight!

  So, after a quick trip into town to pick up a few supplies (including a pair of cure light wounds potions, some torches, etc., again our intrepid quartet venture into the Cairn... It seems unchanged. They place the colored lanterns they have retrieved, but do not light them. The sarcophagus has mysteriously returned to the 'orange' position. Our Heroes spin the arrow about, activating the elevator at yellow, nothign at the collapsed green tunnel, nothing at blue, and a new location, indigo. Another elevator rises out of the floor, and Wren goes to investigate. His sharp eyes detect a sack of treasure in the bottom of the elevator, amidst a large number of bones broken into distressingly small, shattered bits. Snatching the leather sack, he ducks out just before the trapped elevator slams shut. Surely, Wren has narrowly evaded a gruesome death!

  Turning the sarcophagus to point at the violet alcove has no apparent effect, nor does sliding it all the way around to red. Momentarily stumped, Our Heroes investigate the alcoves once again. this time, Norman notices that the blue alcove's ceiling is higher than the others, and there is a shattered skeleton laying amidst the debris collected in the alcove. No treasure, alas, only a broken dagger hilt.

  A quick climb up the chain locates a doorway forty feet above the alcove floor. Wren and Degar follow Sarmek up the chain, climbing safely, if not easily, to the tunnel. No one notices the snaped dagger blade in the stone floor, but all notice several long scratch marks along the tunnel. At the end of the tunnel, an angry face - not-quite-human - is setin the stone. Suddenly, a blazing kaleidescope of mesmerizing rainbow hues comes from teh eyes of the face, and from the mouth, a strong wind blows. The mesmerizing light show paralyzes Degar, and the strong wind (which quickly ramps up to hurricane force) blows all three back down the tunnel. Paralyzed and unconscious, respectively, Degar and Sarmek fall to the alcove floor; Wren manages to grab the chain as he tumbles out. thankfully, Norman had decided the climb was too arduous in his heavy armor, and he was available for some quick healing. Out of spells, the party rests in the chamber overnight.

   The next object of investigation was down the green alcove. An easy climb, Degar still manages to trip and fall, injuring himself. A battle against yet mroe acib beetles, and their queen, a giant bombardier beetle, leaves the party badly banged up again. A potion revives Norman, who then uses the helaing power of Heironeous to restore his comrades. In the room, a few other human remains are located, and some treasure at last! The party climbs out (Degar falls again, is knocked unconscious, and has to be carried up after being stabilized by first aid).

  The adventuring part of the evening was done at this point. Time to do some book-keeping. All party members had enough experience to advance to second level now. Also, Wren's mentor Allustan identified two magical items the party had found: a pearl of power (1st level) and - ironically - a ring of feather falling. Needless to say, the ring now lives on Degar's hand...