After weeks of traversing the mountain range, the party descended from the high pass to find itself in a thick forest. After fighting off a nest of large spiders, the party discovered the body of an unfortunate traveler from a nearby settlement named Mirror Stone. The poor man had been out on the road in search of his wayward wife. At the least, your courage kept him from the eternal embarrassment of being spider kibble.
The party headed further down into the strange land, following a trail laid out by a series of ancient elven waystones nearly buried by the forest overgrowth. Suddenly the cries of a young girl broke the calm quiet of the rainy day. Hurrying toward the commotion, the party fought off several groups of kobolds harassing a villager named Samuel Greenleaf and his daughter Alicia. Samuel explained that they were from Mirror Stone and had been on their way to visit the girl’s grandfather, Joshua Pollian, when attacked by the kobolds outside of Joshua’s house. Wanting to get his daughter back to the safety of the village, Samuel asked that the party see after Joshua.
Finding the Pollian's shack ransacked and determining the old man had fled for his life toward the village cemetery, the party took up the chase.
Pollian, the aged caretaker of the village’s cemetery, had fled into the cemetery’s mausoleum with the kobolds nipping on his heels. A fateful decision as the kobolds cornered him in the mausoleum with no apparent chance of escape.
By the time you arrived, Joshua was dead and the kobolds were rummaging through the meager treasures of the tomb. A large group of the kobolds pushed past the party to escape back into the forest, their war chief triumphantly holding an ordinary-looking urn above his head.
After dealing with the remaining contingent of kobolds, the party examined the corpse of poor Joshua Pollian, revealing two oddities about the old man. First, his half-elven heritage, thin but unmistakable. Second, strange tattoos around his wrists, written in the same ancient elven language you found on the way-stones, named the dead Joshua as a ‘Keeper’.
An even more exhaustive search of the mausoleum uncovered a secret entrance to an elven tomb unknown to even the townspeople of Mirror Stone. Worn elven lettering above the doorway identify the entombed as the ‘House of the Golden Eagle’.
Leaving the mausoleum, the party ran into Saffa, the matriarch of Mirror Stone. After thanking you for helping her friends, she explained that the town and the kobold tribes have lived in relative peace for long years. She had no reason for the sudden attack on the town’s graveyard as certainly nothing of interest to the kobolds could be found among the town’s burials. Questioning other villagers provided little useful information. You did learn, however, that Joshua was the only caretaker of the graveyard for as far back as even the oldest citizens could remember.
Following the trail of the kobolds into the hills overlooking the town, the partycaught up with little nasties just as a large group of undead gnolls fell upon them. The chief of the ‘bolds, no longer sure of whatever power he ascribed to the urn, tossed the ‘relic’ to you, obviously hoping you could wield its ‘magic’ to turn back the gnolls.
As the undead killed some of the kobolds and carried others away, you hurried back to Mirror Stone, the urn safely in hand. Just as morning broke over the mountain range, you ran into Saffa and a knot of townspeople following your trail to lend what aid they could. Saffa confirmed your thoughts that the urn was just that, an urn. Why the kobold chief thought differently, no one could guess.
Already concerned about the kobolds’ sudden agitation, once she heard of the undead gnolls, Saffa asked for your help in keeping the town safe.
Convinced that the kobold unrest and appearance of the undead gnolls are somehow connected to the elven tomb you discovered (or perhaps just because the tomb offered more promise of treasure), you headed back into the mausoleum. Before entering the tomb, you realized that during the night, someone had entered the mausoleum and taken a ring off Joshua’s finger.
Entering the tomb, you were beset by the stone sentinels and skeletal guardians of the Golden Eagles. After releasing and defeating a red drake that had been captured by a minor Eagle mage, you decided to withdraw and gather your strength before venturing further into the tomb.
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