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Is this a copper mine or an iron mine? In Dungeon #124, page 40 says it's a copper mine, while page 63 describes it as an "iron ore mine." So which is right?

What happens to the lanterns taken from the tomb when the yearly replacement cycle hits?

If "nothing," then isn't it quite conceivable that Diamond Lake is full of such lanterns, stolen over the years by the town's teenagers & other explorers?

Assuming Kullen spends the vast majority of the day toiling in Smenk's mines, why would he need shades?

Any information on the "scientific cult"/ "order of monks" who once used it? Were they monks in the PC class sense or the "monastic" sense? Were they devotees of Celestian?

Was the observatory built by the order? The text implies that the observatory was occupied by the cult "about a century ago," but this doesn't mean they built it. Does the place have any connection to the Grey College Observatory in Greyhawk?

How long ago did the sect die out? The text says "decades," but I was hoping for something more exact.

First of all, I've noticed that Diamond Lake is as old as the City of Greyhawk boxed set. This means Diamond Lake is not simply a "generic" town developed only for this campaign. However, it may be that Diamond Lake simply has not been heavily developed before. Anyone recall reading about it before now?

AFAIK, Diamond Lake has received minor treatment in the CoG boxed set & From the Ashes. The place was fleshed out a bit more in the Doomgrinder, featuring Lanod Neff & the Cult of the Green Lady, but nothing like what AoW is doing.

what about other possible character hooks. Suppose you have a character who wants to be associated with the Scarlet Brotherhood, or the Greyhawk Thieves Guild, or say you have someone who wants to take regional feats from Dungeon 315 or 319.

It's YOUR game, do what thou wilt. Your Scarlet Brotherhood character could be an undercover operative based in Diamond Lake. Your Thieves Guild character could've been caught in the midst of a crime early in his career & used as a fall guy, sentenced to work the mines for x number of years, finally finishing up as the campaign begins.

Other reasons for non-natives to be there:

Assigned to one of the backwater churches in Diamond Lake for some minor transgression;

Drafted to serve a stint at the Diamond Lake Garisson (this works best with natives of the Domain of Greyhawk);

Sent on assignment by relatives/mentors to work for Allustan, a mine manager, or some other personage of Diamond Lake;

Just passing through.

I thought of a solution. The text says that every year magic refreshes and resets everything, missing lamps are restored, etc. During this time, all the traps and doors are tested. Alastor, a very lucky young man, happened to enter during one of the yearly resets and managed to reach the face as the air spirits were testing to see if the door still opened properly.

Unfortunately for him, the spirits don't leave things deactivated long enough for anyone to actually make it to the tomb, so the door sealed behind him and he was trapped in the room with the iron ball trap as it came back "online." This sealed his fate and the lad was killed.

Here's the original link: http://paizo.com/paizo/messageboards/dungeon/ageOfWorms/dMQuestionsAboutThe WhisperingCairn

My solution was to have the mouth open just enough where a small, skinny, 13 year old could squeeze through (something like at least a DC 25 Escape Artist check), but your solution works just as well.

The only real "problem" with both solutions is that this allows for PCs to get in without the lanterns as well (albeit only certain sized characters or within a limited timeframe). However, chances are that most PCs will never recognize the problem, as IIRC, the only way given in the adventure to find out when Ulavant's band was there is to check the records of the Seeker Lodge in the Free City.

See if you can find a copy of the Living Greyhawk Journal #2 with the map on ebay or something.

Also, try google--you'll be amazed at what you come up with: http://melkot.com/locations/cogh/cogh.html

Also, I think there's a 2e adventure based around her. Not sure.

It's called "Fate of Istus," or "WG8" for short.

It was released to act as a conversion aid to convert campaigns from 1E to 2E. It's a multipart adventure (w/ several different authors) where each chapter "tests" a different character class--if the PCs fail, the class in question loses 1 point of CON or something. Oh, and the assassin class is converted to rogues, & monks get sent to Kara-Tur. There's good & bad in the adventure--some things are cool, but others are stupid (Asian monks allying w/ the Scarlet Brotherhood, for instance). It works much better as a sourcebook, as each chapter takes place in a different city, & maps & major locations are presented for each one.

There's also an AoW connection--the connecting thread between each adventure is a little plague called the Red Death.

2. Reading the vortex description, it seems creatures need to be Tiny or smaller to be affected by a Small elemental's vortex. So I would probably skip the vortex and just use slam attacks after the torch is out.

From what I read, it seems that only tiny & smaller creatures take damage from the vortex, but larger creatures can be caught up in it. What's the point of it using the vortex when it's unlikely anyone will be playing a tiny PC?

And another:

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Wind Warriors: Did anyone have them fly down & try to push or drop the PCs into the pit? I can just imagine the two circling that room at high speed & suddenly diving into a pc, knocking him off the catwalk.

Okay, here's another situation I envison.

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The water elemental in area 19 could seriously screw a party up. Here's a few questions I have for those who have run the encounter.

1. If the thing failed to extinguish the everburning torch on the first pass, did you have it continue to extinguish the torch until it suceeded, or did you just have it attack?

2. The vortex effect. If a PC was trapped in the elemesntal's vortex, did you have the elemental carry the PC over to the ghoul's room & leave him to face the ghoul alone? Theoretically, the water elemental could do this more than once--it'd just have to wait 10 minutes between vortexing. If this tactic is used, should the EL be raised?

3. What kind of movement did you use underwater, between attacks--tactical or local?

Why is it that the rival adventurers have spent an entire week blabbing about raiding the Stirgenest Cairn? You'd think they'd get in town, maybe take a day or two to gather info & supplies, & then head to the cairn.

Rob Vest wrote:

The history of the Whispering Cairn mentions that Uluvant's band visited 60 years ago (535 CY) & Alastor Land died 30 years ago (565 CY) in the place. However, we know from the text on page 24 that all 7 lanterns in area 7 need to have torches placed inside them for the mouth of the bas-relief in area 8 to open, granting access to area 23. We also know that the Seekers took the red lantern to area 20 with them 60 years ago. The obvious question is: How did Alastor Land gain access to area 23 without all the lanterns present?

That's a good question. I am certain I had an answer, at some point, but I don't remember what it is now. :)

Good karma? The honest truth is that it's not critical that Ulavant's band explored the cairn 60 years ago. Absent a better solution, I'd have them explore the Cairn after Alastor died, perhaps 20 years ago. I still feel like I had a "smart" solution to this, but I'll need a little more time to think of it, because I can't think of it off the top of my head. It may just be a mistake.

How's this for a "smart" solution?: The mouth in area 8 is open just enough for someone with the physique of an unemcumbered small 13 year-old boy (or smaller) to wriggle through (with a very good escape artist check, of course). Lighting the lanterns opens it enough for larger people to fit through.

In addition to the discrepancy in "stair length", the description states that the water elemental will "wait until the torchbearer is in the middle of area 19 before attempting to quench the torch". If the room is completely under water, then it would be pretty difficult to get a lit torch in there.

Like Erik said, the text assumes the PCs have the everburning torch. Also, magical flame can be quenched by water elementals.

How does brown mold react with water? If you threw enough into a pool, would it freeze?

The new AP uses lots of background/histoy from the old RoSP boxed set. There's a side bar about the Rod in the Whispering Cairn adventure, but no actual reference to the original source material (it is a 1st Ed adventure, after all).

I have it (it's 2E, BTW), but doubt I'll integrate much into AoW (though I may change my tune once more of AoW is revealed).

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One of the Vaati in the Ro7P is Qadeej, the same one responsible for defeating Miska (but this role isn't mentioned in Ro7P, from what I can tell). In Ro7P, he's only a 13th level wizard, which seems kind of weak for defeating a demon prince (but Miska has only 100 hp, IIRC, in Ro7P).

Is there a woods or forest close to Diamond Lake? Since the local druidic community is the "Bronzewood Lodge," is there a Bronzewood Forest?

There are likely forested areas in the Cairn Hills, but my guess is that the lodge is named for the bronzewood tree, native to Greyhawk. EGG described them thus:

"These trees are slender until after many decades of growth. The average size is 40 ft with branches growing at 45 degree angles from the trunk. The bark is a reddish-brown and hard. Leaves are narrow and toothed, from eight to ten inches long. The wood of this tree is heavy and hard, so that only experts can work it properly. If it is carefully seasoned and especially dried, the outer part will become as hard as metal, while the overall weight of the wood is unchanged"

Good karma? The honest truth is that it's not critical that Ulavant's band explored the cairn 60 years ago. Absent a better solution, I'd have them explore the Cairn after Alastor died, perhaps 20 years ago. I still feel like I had a "smart" solution to this, but I'll need a little more time to think of it, because I can't think of it off the top of my head. It may just be a mistake.

Yeah, I was going to fudge it something like that--besides, it's not something that would likely come up in play, anyway.

That one's much easier. We're talking about a period of 31 years, so he can assume that some of them are dead (these aren't elves we're talking about, but dirt poor human farmers). He at least knows there's a family cemetary on the Land farmstead, since he would have seen his father buried there within his lifetime.

--Erik Mona

Of course, you can also explain it by saying that ghosts can sense if their immediate relatives or are alive or dead. And judging by the size of the farmstead (farmhouse, walls, family graveyard with headstones, & presumably a nearby barn &/or silo), Alastor's family doesn't strike me as very poor at all.

I don't have anyone in my hometown to play with for live sessions, and I'm looking to find an online game, but only if with dedicated players who won't be dropping out due to time or life constraints (within reason).

Have you checked your local nursing home?

While we're at it. . . .

The history of the Whispering Cairn mentions that Uluvant's band visited 60 years ago (535 CY) & Alastor Land died 30 years ago (565 CY) in the place. However, we know from the text on page 24 that all 7 lanterns in area 7 need to have torches placed inside them for the mouth of the bas-relief in area 8 to open, granting access to area 23. We also know that the Seekers took the red lantern to area 20 with them 60 years ago. The obvious question is: How did Alastor Land gain access to area 23 without all the lanterns present?

While you're mulling over that one, here's another: Alastor's mother & siblings were alive the last time he ssaw them, in 564 CY, so how does he know they're all dead?

Okay, I've browsed the adventure, read the backdrop, & am presently reading the adventure in detail. Reading, I noticed something curious:

Possible Spoiler ahead, but pretty vague:

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The Seekers symbol is an eight-pointed star--Did the Seekers adopt this symbol from Maure Castle? Did the Seekers have anything to do with the River of Blood murders (see S2 & Erik's "River of Blood" Living Greyhawk adventure)? Oddly enough, the symbol for Living Greyhawk is also an eight-pointed star, & whenever EGG posts to Greytalk he prefaces it with "Greetings Seekers."

All this may have been covered before, but this is the first time I've read of the Seekers official symbol.

Yeah, I know this adventure is a few years old, but I was curious if anyone knew which city the aventure was originally based in. Even though it's published as "generic," I have strong suspicions that it was orignally set in Greyhawk, mainly due to a player handout dated 591 CY. So, anyone have any info on this?

Oddly enough, before stumbling on this bit of information, I ran two of Leati's other "generic" adventures in Greyhawk--"Iriandel" in #83 & "The Shalm's Dark Song" in #87--both of which I placed in the Gnarley Forest.