Tuesday Knights - Age of Worms

The party examines the temple entrances, noting them as venerating Myrkul (a God of Death), Bane (a God of Tyranny), and Bhaal (God of Murder). A captured kobold admits that it's most often armored cultists from the Bane temple that boss them around, and that he never sees cultists of Bhaal. The party sets up an ambush to lure Bane cultists out from the middle door to take prisoners, and it works. They avoid a dangerous-looking arena and infiltrate the main living chambers of the cultists, engaging in a prolonged fight with a number of waves of the rank-and-file. Attempting to take a short rest, they are attacked further by a vicious priest and a scarred barbarian the priest refers to as "the Boarkeeper". At one point a thunder attack is "responded to" by another muffled thundering from the west side of the complex. Dravej falls to a necrotic attack but is healed before dying. The party is victorious over a significant portion of the Fists of Bane, for now.

Some of the party decides to visit the Diamond Lake Interfaith Friends Breakfast Circle with Deacon Fry to get some sense of rumors and happenings and are greeted by Ord of Oghma , the cleric of the Foursworn , the visiting adventuring party from Baldur's Gate. He puts the group a little on the defensive by being inquisitive and curious about their activities and in return Deacon Fry attempts to encourage him to have the Foursworn head north to the Serpent Hills to investigate the unkillable undead, with middling success. Afterwards the party regroups and scouts the Dourstone Mines , a tightly guarded mine in the northeast hill of town, and decide to try to bluff their way in as exploratory orefinders. Ragnolin himself considers their offer but doesn't seem quite convinced to let them run amuck in his mines with total freedom, and upon insisting he inspect their equipment (illusioned on Marvin the Mule to look like pickaxes and lanterns), Mesmer distracts him with a Tasha's...

Vodja, having attuned to the Windblade, uses its command word "Zosiel!" and the sarcophagus opens, revealing aTalisman of the Sphere, a Bardiche of the Aaqa, the Diadem of Zosiel, and a pair of Demoniac Horns. The party determines that this is the true, ancient treasure of the Whispering Cairn, and resolve to bring their prizes back to town for study (picking up a few beetle carapaces along the way). As they reach the outskirts of Diamond Lake, they find Kullen and his thugs waiting for them, having apparently suffered some backlash from their boss Balabar Smenk for the murder of Filge. Smenk's legbreakers have been tasked with getting retribution and damages paid, but the party is more than happy to take up the issue directly and talk Kullen into leading them to the mine boss's mansion. A chat with Balabar Smenk reveals that the boss is in fact in over his head with the cultists, of whom he apparently has been coerced into various dealings with, and recent attempts ...

The party spent the night cleaning out the observatory and planning what to do, and the next day purchased a cart to help return the Land family bones to their homestead and bury them in a ceremony, along with some other shopping and studying. After a night at Mesmer's, they prepared for another foray into the Whispering Cairn, and true to her word the ghost Alestra opens the door to them. They enter a gallery revealing several mist-animated scenes of the battles between Law and Chaos, and fight a pair of elemental Wind Warriors before magically descending to the true tomb, whereupon they are asked for the name of the occupant before proceeding any further.