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Session 11: Into The Underdark

Three days later, the half-undead group boarded the "Stormy Voyage", a large merchant vessel headed to Freeport, then continuing on to Alranda. The captain, Sheila Dixon, agreed to hire the party as guards for the voyage and to let them off the ship at Dorfick's Cove. Dorfick's Cove is a small cove on the north shore of Lifeswallower used by a brave smuggler many years ago as a hideout. He was successfully headquartered there for almost a year before he and his entire crew disappeared without a trace. Dorfick's Cove was a good starting point for Albaran's maps. 

The first two weeks of the voyage were mostly uneventful. The group met a dwarven fighter named Garsh Hellforge who had also hired on as a guard. Garsh had just began his quest for a life away from his people, for reasons known only by himself. The group took a shine to the unorthodox dwarf, and soon he was practicing swordplay with Chiranjeev. 

On the night of the seventeenth day, the companions were roused by ringing bells on the deck. The bells were an alarm; the ship was under attack! Bannor was the first out the door, since he doesn't need any weapons or equipment to aid in the defense of the ship.

As he exited the door to the deck he was welcomed by a scene of complete carnage. A huge number of fish-people, known as sahuagin, had boarded the ship and were killing the sailors. As soon as they noticed Bannor, a large gang rushed towards him. Bannor took a defensive position near the door to keep the door free for his friends to act as reinforcements. His friends arrived quickly. Chiranjeev, Bannor, and Garsh took the lead in the battle, but Garsh quickly succumbed to his wounds, falling to the deck unconscious. Astaria maneuvered through the throng to heal their new friend. Garsh jumped to his feet in time to aid Chiranjeev and Bannor with the final few sahuagin. 

When their melee had died down, the group could still hear small amounts of battle continuing at the far end of the ship. They rushed to the other end, leaping the fallen bodies of the sailors and a smaller number of the fish-men. The sounds of battle were coming from within the captain's quarters. The group burst into the room and beyond a trail of sahuagin bodies, the captain was battling with a large sahuagin warrior. The captain appeared to be gravely injured. Astaria rushed to heal the captain even as Bannor rushed forward and locked a damaging hold on the sahuagin. With a loud crack, the sahuagin stopped struggling.

Although a majority of the sailors on the ship had been killed by the sahuagin, the remainder were able to get the ship moving on course towards Freeport. The crippled ship limped into Freeport a couple of weeks later. In Freeport, Captain Dixon hired more crew and the group continued on their way. a couple of weeks later the adventurers were in a rowboat, rowing towards Dorfick's cove. Garsh had decided to accompany the companions on their trip into the underdark. Dorfick's Cove was about twenty yards of beach with a nearly impenetrable mass of jungle foliage beyond. The group decided to set up camp on the beach and enter the jungle in the morning. Just before sunset, the companions spotted a large form emerging from the water. The one form seemingly multiplied until more than a dozen of the humanoid reptilian creatures rushed ashore to attack the camping adventurers. The creatures, known as Skum, were met close to shore by a raging Chiranjeev. The creatures were unable to stand before the barbarian's rage; he cut them down as quickly as they rushed him. Carkain dropped a fireball on another group, and Bannor, Astaria, and Garsh destroyed any skum that approached to close. The skum couldn't stand against the combined might of the companions.

The following morning, the company continued to follow the maps, traveling towards the entrance to the underdark. Three days later, while resting Astaria detected the sounds of something coming towards the camping group. She woke Bannor with a rock thrown from her perch in the tree. Bannor awoke and followed the sounds towards the approaching creatures. Not far away from his sleeping friends Bannor detected two large forms moving through the undergrowth. He hid and when one of the forms moved within reach he leaped out and attacked. The creatures were large, humanoid, and had bull-like head upon its shoulders. The minotaurs were obviously undead and Bannor's holy touch instantly began slowing the creature as the golden ice ravaged its corpse-like body. Astaria, Chiranjeev, and Carkain attacked the second minotaur zombie as Garsh rushed to aid Bannor with the other. Before the bbeast could do too much damage, the golden ice of Bannor's touch rendered the minotaur immobile. The rest of the group destroyed the second minotaur even as Bannor and Garsh destroyed the subdued minotaur zombie.

The group continued towards the cave entrance to the underdark. Arriving a couple of days later, they entered into the cave, hoping to find an adequate rest area soon after entering the passage. While the group was resting, Carkain heard a strange sound coming from the passage into the deeper underdark, so she awakened Chiranjeev. Chiranjeev grabbed his weapon and rushed toward the passage. Before he reached the passage, a huge, black mass turned the corner and began to undulate as it moved towards Chiranjeev. Chiranjeev raised an alarm, waking the rest of the group, just as a large pseudopod grabbed him and pulled him into the acidic mass. Garsh rushed forward and cut at the beast with his sword. Unfortunately, his sword dissolved when it touched the black pudding, but not before it cleaved the creatures into two nearly identical creatures. The newly formed black pudding grabbed Garsh and began digesting him immediately.

At this point, Bannor rushed forward and began pummeling the creature with his unprotected hands. He was obviously damaging the creature, but his fists were smoking from the acidic touch of the pudding. Carkain dropped a fireball on the creature, while Astaria used a spiritual weapon to attack. Bannor, seeing that Garsh was no longer struggling reached into the creature and pulled the dwarf to safety. Shortly afterward, the black puddings stopped moving, succumbing to the damage from the adventurers.

By the next morning, Astaria had healed the injured, and the group had rested enough to continue on their quest. They continued for three days until they entered an enormous cavern. They couldn't see the ceiling or the other end of the cavern. As they entered, a large number of arrows landed near the party and a voice shouted from the darkness in a language unknown by any of the group. Bannor turned to Garsh and said, "try dwarven". The voice in the darkness heard this and challenged them in common to tell him who they are and what was their business in his realm. The group explained that they were on their way to meet with Falon Gareth.  The man exclaimed that he knew the wizard and could introduce the characters since the necromancer was something of a recluse. The man, when he entered the range of the group's darkvision, was a human with a pair of spectacles that enable him to see in the darkness, long, unruly hair and beard, and ragged clothes. He was carrying a ragged shortsword as he approached. He introduced himself as Taylor Seacrest, an unfortunate sailor stranded to die on the coast of Lifeswallower. He found the entrance to the underdark and has survived in the darkness for an indeterminate amount of time by building traps to protect himself from wandering creatures. The companions offered to lead him to safety if he would introduce them to the wizard.          

   They rested through the "night" in Taylor Seacrest's sanctuary.

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