The Whispering Cairn, Part III: Getting Our Feet Wet!

  Well, it's been a good while since we played, but our Heroes finally returned to the Whispering Cairn last Firday night. And, in what I thought was going to be one of the most challenging parts of the adventrue, breezed through with nary a difficulty!

  Having penetrated into an area where the laborers who built the cairn once lived, the party advanced to find the communal shower area totally submerged! What awaits them? After a deep breath of air (and a quick overview of the rules for holding one's breath and moving underwater), they proceeded into the murky depths:

• A small water elemental attacks in a whirling vortex! And utterly fails to harm the party, while Norman the Interchangeable (our NPC Hieronean cleric) repeatedly slashes him with his longwsword!
• A ghoul left over from a previous adventuring group (the Seekers) is in the locker room. Our warmage, who is bereft of his spells because he can't talk under water, is hit, wounded unto death, infected with Ghoul Fever and paralyzed! Happily for him, the paralysis prevents him from taking in a breath of water for two rounds, while Norman quickly pulls him out of the submerged area. A near miss - one more round under water and Wren would have drowned! (After leaving the cairn, Wren is taken to the temple of Heironeous in Diamond lake, where he trades a pearl of power for a remove disease spell.)
• Special treasure is located: the last of the colored lanterns (red) from the sarcohpagus chamber!

  Additional encounters follow, in the area of the cairn where the Wind Duke architect Nadroc once lived. Yet another elemental (this time, an earth elemental) is defeated. A fantastic roll on Knowledge: dungeoneering allows our ranger to warn the party about a brown mold, making it an easy dispatch. Great treasures are located and experience is gained.

  The party is now only one major step from completing the adventure: they must somehow gain access to the True Tomb of Zosiel, the Wind Duke lord buried in the Whispering Cairn! And, they have figured out how to get past the trap that guards it, so they are most of the way there... or are they?