"Yes, thanks Rauno. That would have been trouble if you hadn't taken out those two. Hopefully no others nesting here. We should check out these areas to the sides to make sure nothing comes at us from the rear."
Quintus looks around at the rest of the party. "Is anyone else wounded besides Kelkzar?" The priest looks a little taller than he did before, or maybe it's just that he's standing straighter.
Trevor finishes the wolf he stands above: "May you find peace in the next world."
You definitely can.
The eastern alcove is empty but there is a bedroll in the western side. Upon closer examination it appears to be quite old and brittle. You see wood shavings around the bedroll.
Lessien
You move steathfully down the hallway, twenty feet down two more alcoves open up from the hallway.
The western hall extends perhaps forty feet, ending at a small marble platform raised about six inches off the floor. A strange, shattered arcane apparatus rests upon this platform, its curved ovular frame giving the appearance of a noble's dressing mirror. Only a third of this frame remains. An unusual arcane glyph about the size of a man's head has been delicately carved into the base plate of the support platform.
The eastern passage continues for fifteen feet, a huge pile of collapsed rubble blocks the alcove from top to bottom, it looks like it would take weeks to tunnel through the densely packed debris.
The hallway extends for another thirty feet before opening up into a larger chamber, from which the green light continues to flicker and shine.
That was the bedroll
Trevor takes a torch from his pack and lights it. He then approaches the torch to the rags, keeping the torch between him and the rags, but not close enough to burn the rags.
"Looks filthy!"
He'll then use his axe to move the fabric and see what's under, and he'll wipe the blade on it to clean the blood off if he gets a chance.
The bedroll is hard and brittle and cracks as you examine it. It doesn't help clean your blade off at all. As you look closer there is nothing of value in it.
Lessien notes what she's seen so far, and continues to scout towards the green light, trying to discover what she can and identify any threats before she heads back and explores the new areas in detail with the group.
Rowena sneaks off, following Lessien into he next chamber.
Stealth:
Trevor proceeds with Kelkzar.
He keeps his torch lit for now.
He likes the warmth, but mostly, he likes the light!
Lessien and Rowena continue north past the device to the west and the caved in area to the right.
The central hallway opens into a large chamber with wings leading to the east and west. Across the chamber to the north yawns a twenty-foot-wide open arch draped from top to bottom in translucent cobwebs. An eerie green light flickers from beyond the webs, casting strange shadows about this room. The place smells of animal spoor and wet fur.
To the west
To the west, three short stairs lead to a wide marble dais, but the far end of the wing is obscured by darkness. You can make out part of the north and south walls of the dais and can see a faded fresco on each. Oddly, each wall appears to have a painting of hallways on them, but you’ll need to get closer for more detail.
To the East
To the east, huge slabs of cracked masonry and irregular piles of scattered debris choke much of the passage, but unlike the passage to the south, this one does have an area that, while not free of debris, looks passable.
First, Lessien checks the dark area to the west.
If she finds no threats there, it's time to head back to the team and start brewing another mutagen while we explore the area we've checked for enemies so far.
A wide dais spanning the back half of the western wing calls attention to the faded fresco upon the south, west, and north walls. From a vantage point at the center of the dais, the wall painting makes it look like you stand within a massive room with seven short hallways radiating outward from a central point. A chain dangles from the ceiling at the end of each hallway, and each chain bears a gleaming colored lantern. Clockwise, the colors are red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet.
You head back to the group and report your findings
"OK, this whole area seems to be clear of threats so far. I'm going to work on a new mutagen while you investigate what we've found so far, if you don't mind. If you need my assistance I'm right here..."
Quintus holds his scimitar higher to shed more light and looks around. "Didn't Allustan say that this place had already been looted? Too much stuff here for that, I think."
"Well, the old bedroll could have been left by a previous treasure hunter."
While Lessien brews her potion, Rowena has a look over the "device". "Rauno, what's this thing?"
Trevor is awed and intrigued. He's heard so many tales that have a "curiosity killed the cat" morale that he's a stays a bit behind, oscillating between cowardliness and curiosity.
"Be careful..." he says as he looks at the room, wondering what god had been revered in this place.
Kelkzar examines the unusual arcane glyph about the size of a man's head carved into the base plate of the support platform.
And then once Lessien and Rowena have given the all-clear, does the same in the chamber with the different colored lanterns.
Quintus follows the half-orc to the two sites and attempts to help him remember anything useful about them.
Rowena will also spend time searching the other alcoves.
Perception:
Rauno
Rauno spends some time studying the strange item. Around the item you see a few shards of an unidentifiable shiny black substance that feels like stone. When you pick it up, you are surprised at how cold it feels.
As you inspect the frame, you notice a number of glyphs and runes carved into a slot on the inside of the curvature. You are fairly certain that the frame when whole was circular and probably held the shiny black stone inside the slot like a mirror. You are also fairly certain that the arcane symbols found on the inside slot signified transportation magic.
You think the shards found could be worth about 20gp in total to the right buyer.
Quintus and Kelkzar
Quintus and Kelkzar examine the face on the "mirror" and know it is related to the Empyreal Lords in some fashion but can't come up with exactly what.
On your way to the dais you hear whispering a little louder in a language you don't understand.
Moving to the dais further in you confer once more on what you see. The frescoe is a bit faded but surprisingly in good shape for its age. You note there are seven lit lanterns of seven different colors. Seven has always been the number of the Empyreal Lords, even back when Sarenrae was one.
Rowena
Rowena starts searching the various areas and notices that there are thin hollow tubes hidden within patternwork along the wall. Putting her ear up close to the tubes it sounds almost like whispering but not in a lnguage you understand. You also feel a slight amount of fresh air coming out of the tube.
You move farther in to the second chamber on the east side and notice while there is a bunch of rubble here like the other eastern hallway, you easily notice a small passage under the rubble that you could crawl through to get to the other side. You also find in the rubble a marble index finger broken off of a statue.
Lessien
When you hear the whispering you think you understand what is being said. In the celestial tongue you think you hear the words "hopeless, sacrilege, enemies"
Trevor quickly gets bored of waiting. He proceeds to step in and investigate as well, but something stops him. He hesitates then says: "So?"
Rowena will crawl through the passage, calling to anybody not doing anything to come watch her back.
Trevor comes over after you call out. He nervously stands guard while you crawl underneath.
The far side of the rubble is rank with the smell of wild animals. Irregular piles of rubble litter the den, as do hundreds of bones and bone fragments. Most look like they belong to animals, but some are unmistakeably human.
You see an old leather backpack half buried under some bones in the north end of the room. The bag contains an elaborate lantern of metal inset with indigo glass panes. The lantern looks like the one depicted in the fresco on the western alcove.
Searching the southern half of the den you find an intricately carved armband of elven craftsmanship bearing a repeating leaf motif.
Ro carefully packs the lantern into the pack and gently pushes it ahead of her as she makes her way out of the wolves' den.
"Found something, or somethings," she says to the group, showing them the indigo lantern and armband. "Maybe this is valuable?" she asks, holding up the armband.
"Quintus? Kelkzar? Did you hear that whispering when you were near the dais? It sounded to me like someone whispering in Celestial. All I could make out were 'hopeless, sacrilege, enemies'. Watch my back while I walk in the same area? I want to see if I can make out any more."
"Quintus? Kelkzar? Did you hear that whispering when you were near the dais? It sounded to me like someone whispering in Celestial. All I could make out were 'hopeless, sacrilege, enemies'. Watch my back while I walk in the same area? I want to see if I can make out any more."
It is most noticeable in the main chamber right before the cobwebs and whatever is beyond. As you get further away (closer to the exit) it gets harder and harder to hear. (But if you put an ear up to one of the tubes you can make those same words out)
Trevor's skin goes pale, but still he inches forward and watches Lessien's back.
Quintus looks a bit flustered. "I-I don't speak Celestial, never learned it. At least now we know why it's c-called the Whispering Cairn."
"Indeed, that may well be. It's definitely whispering those words."
Lessien shivers a little. "Eery. Hard to ignore warnings given in Celestial..."
"I don't speak Celestial either, but this place looks like it was once dedicated to the Empyreal Lords. But odd that it is whispering warnings. I wonder if it is warning us of something?"
"I s-suppose we'd better form up and see what's in those webs. Kelkzar, how are you feeling?" Now that the party's spent some time indoors, it's apparent that Quintus is still sweating a lot. He doesn't smell as bad as he did the previous day, though.
"Empyreal Lords? What are those? From the colours, I would have guessed Shelyn..."
"The great Celestial demigods, like Kelkzar's patron Ragathiel. My mistress, the Dawnflower, may have been one before She became fully divine, and She is supposed to be on good terms with them." There's actually a hint of some animation in Quintus' voice as he talks, but after he's done he quiets down and withdraws a bit again.
"When we have finished here, we should head on to Sanis. The Primarch may know of this place and it's intent. But for now, I agree, through these webs."
In response to Quintus, "I'm not about to fall over, but if we run into another something like those wolves, it may be a problem."
"I agree with you Rowena. I'm guessing you've never heard of a place like this before."
Looking at the webs before proceeding.
"Trevor, maybe you should burn some of this off with your torch."
"The great Celestial demigods, like Kelkzar's patron Ragathiel. My mistress, the Dawnflower, may have been one before She became fully divine, and She is supposed to be on good terms with them." There's actually a hint of some animation in Quintus' voice as he talks, but after he's done he quiets down and withdraws a bit again.
"So I guess they would get along with Iomedae, right?"
At Kelkzar's suggestion he turns pale, but swallows and tries to hide it: "Brilliant! Ok everyone stand back a little... Oh yeah, please shoot at whatever comes at me..."
"Get along with the Poacher? I guess, as much as any benevolent deities get along."
Lessien pulls her longbow from her back, attempting to cover Trevor.
Quintus briefly considers describing the theological roots of the Empyreal Way and their disagreement with the clergy of Iomedae, Shelyn, and Desna over ways and means, but decides it's not worth it. Instead he readies his scimitar and watches for anything about to attack the paladin.
After making sure his comrades are ready to come to his help, he takes a deep breath and starts to burn the web with the torch. Whatever laid these is probably either gone or long dead. Don't worry Trevor, it's a tomb! Everything is dead or broken or very old. Well the wolves weren't, but that's different. Old... That could be a bad thing really...
The light of the torch flickers, masking the hesitations in Trevor's movements.
Thick cobwebs completely cover the arch leading north. Getting closer to the webs, they are so thick that you can't see anything past it other than the flickering green light. There are also small spiders crawling along the webs.
Trevor puts his torch to it and in moments it burns away. As it clears you see a short flight of stairs that descends into another room. You move down to investigate.
A wide stairway descends into an immense domed chamber. Seven short tunnels branch from the room in all directions, extending some thirty feet before ending in rounded walls. At the terminus of each passage, a thick chain dangles from an unseen high ceiling. Five of the chains bear colorful lanterns, but two hold nothing at all. Opposite the entry stairs, a bright green lantern containing what looks like a torch casts a weird, murky light about the room. Countless chips of glass and shiny metal inset into the chamber's domed ceiling reflect this light, giving the impression of starlight and falling snow. The dome starts about ten feet off the ground and reaches an apex about thirty feet over the center of the room.
Below the dome's peak, a long dais holds what appears to be a marble sarcophagus. A milky white bas-relief figure, perhaps of a human, rests passively upon the sarchophagus lid. Unlike the rest of the tomb, this room is completely silent.
"Looters would've taken this all or died trying. When did Allustan say this was picked over?"
"Interesting, we seem to be missing the red and blue lamps. Thorough search for mechanisms, then start lighting lamps?"
Quintus walks over to the short indigo corridor. "Rowena, does the lantern you found look like the one here?"
"That would make sense." She unwraps it from the pack and hands it to Quintus to hang (assuming there's a chain or hook of some kind for it).