In this adventure, the characters were:

Markol (3rd warlord)
Samantha (3rd wizard)
Eli (3rd Ranger)
Anthony (3rd Warlock)
Arden (3rd Rogue)

The characters were sent to the town of Stonecairn, a mining town high in the Stonehorn mountains, in the west of Cormyr. To tie some continuity together, they were investigating mention of the town in the captured notes of Hareel Vaar (the evil mage in the Treasure of Talon Pass adventure that most of these folks played on Free RPG day) as well as rumors of unrest.

During the trip up the road, into the mountains, Samantha discovered a tin symbol of Moradin laying in the dust. This became a clue for later (although she missed the skill check, it was described as a cheaply-made painted tin holy symbol).

They arrived in Stonecairn, to see that the small mostly-human mining town where a sizable population of dwarves worked on contract. The two populations were noticeable tense around each other.

They learned that the former priest of Moradin in town had been found murdered several weeks earlier, and the replacement was a bit of a rabble-rouser. He could be seen on the far side of the town square inciting a crowd of dwarven miners about the unfair treatment they haven't actually been receiving.

The center of the town square was an ancient stone cairn of precariously balanced stones-- exceedingly ancient. Markol recognized it (via knowledge history) as a monument that had stood there since ancient times.

They also note the entrance of the mines. They set about looking for their contact in town, Kavolius Plumwine.
(to be continued)

Around this time, just as they spot the purple-robed Plumwine, there is a muffled explosion and a cloud of smoke spews forth from the mine entrance (there in town).

Miners come running out of the mine, followed by zombies-- tons of them. Dwarven zombies! They immediately begin attacking the town, and this was the first real encounter of the game.

D&D4 note: these were Zombie Rotters and Standard Zombies.

So we started with a raucous zombie battle, where the emphasis was on a large zombie horde of minions, with a few slightly more powerful zombies scattered in the mix. Civilians scattered through the battlefield made area attacks a bit more difficult and the PCs had to focus sometimes on dragging people to safety or getting in front of a murderous zombie before it devoured some citizen (I told everyone that civilians would basically get a saving throw to die each time they were attacked..)

GM note: what I perhaps should have done: The way I ran this is that the zombies basically ignored most of the citizenry and attacked the players, but in retrospect I could have added 8 more minions (or 1 zombie and 4 more minions) and instead had the zombies focus on eating the nearest civilians. The unbalancing effects would have been offset by the fact that the characters weren't actually in danger unless they decided to be heroic.

But on the plus side: the encounter didn't take long, and it was mainly meant as an introductory situation.  

Now, backstory at this point: The players are whisked away by Plumwine and given the scoop: weeks earlier, the miners had broken through into an area in the mines that was an ancient dwarven tomb. Although initial discoveries were exciting for human and dwarf alike, soon afterwards the Dwarven cleric of Moradin was found murdered, and dwarven zombies began erupting sporadically from the mines.

The decision was made to reseal the mine entirely, but this was difficult because of the zombies, so the players had been called to town in part to guard against undead while the blasting charges were set to collapse that area of the tomb.

MEANWHILE, the new replacement priest of Moradin had showed up with his six dedicated followers and been stirring up trouble and accusing the human lef town of all sorts of antidwarf sentiment (in actuality he was fostering anti human racism and resentment under the thin guise of power politics). The dwarf zombies spilling out of the open tomb was just icing on the cake, really.

After examining the evidence, here's where Markol made another interesting history check: The dwarves entombed here were never followers of Moradin, but supposedly a group of shunned heretics who followed an evil deity. Neither Markol nor Samantha was able to determine which deity, though. Also  they noted some signature runes from the zombies decrepit livery and burial shrouds was matched on the outer stones of the Cairn outside.

They also interviewed the crusty rabble-rousing dwarven replacement priest of Moradin (Burj Hallowgrum), and his 6 followers. Unfortunately a missed perception check kept the group from noticing that one of them was missing a holy symbol...the one that was found earlier.


(to be continued)

Ok, so they interviewed Burj the priest, which was fun, and got to see a bit of Burj arguiing with Plumwine about the unfair anti-dwarf sentiment in town (that didn't actually exist). They agreed to meet later that evening with a plan to re-seal the caverns. Burj insisted on going as the only dwarf and priest of Moradin who could put the spirits of the restless dwarven undead to rest, and the party was happy to hear that, because they had very little experience with undead up to that point.

The players broke off to go shopping in town because they had spare gold from previous adventures at this point. One of the characters bought a flamestrike bow with some saved gold.

Ok, so some running around town ensued, and then they reconvened for the plan: the player characters would enter the tunnels with Burj, and several charges of dwarven mining munitions. Burj would enter the tombs and cast a special blessing ritual, then back out, set the munitions which would be set off to collapse the tunnel on the way out.

Well, that was the plan.

In actuality they made their way back into the caves and wound their way down into the darkness. After a while Burj took the lead and seemed to be leading the deeper and deeper down until they got to a section of partially fallen cave where the entrance to the old dwarven tomb was located.

No signs of undead, although they did find a section of catacombs that was empty.

"This is the place.." says Burj, and he starts setting up the mining munitions- these were described as miniature kegs of explosives with a fuse on each one. They were placed in the rubble at strategic points in a concentrated section. Just beyond the rubble was a set of blasted bronze doors, three metallic egg-like structures, and a sinkhole.

After placing all 8 charges Burj moves over to the eggs. The pcs actually stayed back, unsure, until someone got brave and sneaked up while he was messing with the egglike structures to watch.

These were newish players (and new to me as a DM) so I got away with some things here that many RPG-players never would have allowed. I had Burj say "Stay here, I'm going in.."

And then he spent a round attaching something to 2 of the 3 eggs, and then  pushing into the bronze doors and disappearing.

The PCs came out and got closer.. they realized at this point that something weird was going on, but were wary about getting too close to the explosives.

The rogue (Arden) unhooked one of explosives to see if it was possible or trapped.. they weren't rigged to go off or anything yet- they all had been connected to a central fuse.

Then the three eggs came to life, opening up with a gout of steam. They sort of transformer-ized into constructs with extendable glaives and lamp-like eyebeams.

They spoke dwarven:

"Halt! You are in a Dangerous Area!"

They spent the next combat battling these dwarven constructs. The third one toppled into the sinkhole. They missed some history checks to learn about them (these were actually constrcusts that were meant to warn intruders away from a dangerous area, but Burj had made them suddenly hostile). The battle took place in the rubble field (difficult terrain) where the mining charges had all been set, so that they couldn't risk using their area effect and fire weaponry.

4e Note: I used Warforged for the Constructs here, and just re-described them as these steam-driven dwarven guardian creatures.

Eli kinda wasted a lot of time trying to pick up the mining munitions during the battle instead of helping out, and subsequently Markol ended up pretty badly wounded. But this was a pretty good battle.

By the end of it, they realized that they had been tricked. Arden also detected some movement in one of the adjoining side passages.

What should/could have happened: The characters kept the fight in the rubble field the entire time, and often fought right in the side passage.. There was one of Burj's followers hiding further down that passage for when the group had moved in, and his job was to set the explosives off, trapping everyone inside. But because Eli picked up all the munitions, and they never left that passage until the end of the battle, this didn't happen, so the follower gave up and retreated. Arden detected him running away.

(to be continued)

I know, I left off. This really all took place in a single 3 hour session, so I apologize for not updating.

Ok, at this point, they wanted to chase down Burj, and had gotten the idea that he was not their friend. But they spent some time looking down that sinkhole (there was a water reservoir underneath) and considering lowering themselves down into the cave underneath or trying some of the side-caves.

Eventually, after much debate, it was decided to push through into the next area where Burj went.

So in they went. The room beyond the door was a narrow ledge, suspended over a depressed area- a footbridge made of carved stone arched it's way gracefully across to the far side where it ended in another brass door. A ladder led down into the pit. They could see Burj at the far end by the door, hastily unlocking it with a magic ritual.

"Stay back!" he yells, and waves his hand, and several mysterious runes appear all along the footbridge.

"Explosive runes..!"

This was a trick. The runes were actually just dwarven runes that said things like "go back, stay away", etc. But they were harmless.

The players were wary, and both spellcasters were in the back of the formation.

Burj completed opening the door.

They tried to reason with him. "Why did you run away from us?"

"Enough of this charade!" bellows Burj. He hurls off his Moradin helmet and tosses his tin holy symbol (a complete fake, but players had missed their skill checks earlier and did not ascertain from the description that it seemed fake- perhaps I was too subtle) into the pit.

Burj begins cackling like a classic supervillain.

"At last, the true followers of Bazim-Gorag have found the jade belt of the Destroyer Cairn! Soon our cause will rise again, and all dwarves will bow to the elemental chaos! Bwah-ha-haah"

"He's insane.." mutters Markol, Arden and Eli begin firing arrows, several of which hit, but Burj slips through the door and it slams shut.

The players are still wary of the fake explosive runes but avoid heading down into the pit until the whole group has filed in. Markol begins directing traffic towards the ladder into the pit for an orderly crossing.. At this point, Anthony (the warlock) points out that the runes are harmless.

Arden then checks for traps and notices the flood-gates and the pressure plate below.. it was meant to drown the room.

"That fiend.. !"

They charge across and yank the door open.

Inside, Burj (priest of Bazim Gorag) and 6 of his dwarven followers are assembled- their fake Moradin garb has been discarded, and they now wear robes and strange froglike helms they have found in this room.

Bazim Gorag is the god of the Slaad. And Burj.. is half Slaad.

Massive polished stone mirrors are assembled, and Burj is wearing the jade belt that he has taken from the final vault here.

"Now, you will be the first witneses to see the town above smashed to pieces by the destroyer cairn!"

The mirrors shimmer and reveal the scene up above, and the cairn stones magically begin to reassemble into a powerful stone and fire elemental in the shape of a massive froglike torso and two arms suspended on a line of hovering stones. At first curious onlookers gather, and then with a gesture from Burj, the Cairn sweeps one arm and demolishes a nearby tavern, smashing into matchsticks.

He cackles wildly.

Melee erupts!

Insert detailed melee battle here!

Burj was revealed as having partial Slaad blood, the more wounded he became the more signs of corruption he displayed, until finally his entire dwarven outer skin sloughed away to reveal the frog form within.

The battle was pretty insane: Markol nearly died, (he was down to two failed saves and unconscious), and at one point the blast kegs collected from the previous encounter were improvised as grenades (which really turned the tide of battle). Arden was knocked unconscious as well, but luckily stabilized.

When the battle was finally over, Anthony took the Jade Belt and established magical control over it (via skill challenge) so that the Cairn Destroyer could be returned to its dormant form. Half the town up above was destroyed in the insanity, and two of the Bazim-Gorag followers were captured alive. Samantha (the wizard) saved Markol's life by doing a just-in-time healing check. Anthony used intimidate and beguile to force the two surviving followers to surrender.

The players determined that the Jade belt came from the same set as the Jade chalice that appears in Treasure of Stone Talon Mountain. They returned the belt to the authorities up above and that was pretty much the end of the adventure.