Session 17 Part 2

    This session bagan with the heroes leaving Roysail with Areden traveling to Kalmath and then to Fernmire.  They stopped in at Crestways and Kelmen and Stayed at the inn of the temple of Fharlarghn at which Areden began binge drinking.  Along their travels they met with a dwarven rogue name Oskar Dankil who agreed to travel with the party for a while as he had lost sight of his goals and now sought only to kill people with the name Dan.  Finally they reached Kalmath and met with the Duke who gave the toy to his children and rewarded the party with 800 gold.  Bl'nx and Kyler argued over accounting for a while before the players got on their way.  During the visit with the Duke, Areden had gone to the tavern in town and continued drinking heavily.  The visit with the Duke was finished quickly and the players were left on their way. 

    They immediatly began travelling towards Fernmire and about an hour out onto the road a spectral hand began approaching them from the side of the road.  Bl'nx detected evil on the hand and determined it to not be evil and after some successful spellcrafts the party figured out it was a helping hand cast by a cleric of some sorts.  Areden recognizing it immediatly wanted to follow it and stopped the carriage and followed it on foot as it led him over the rough terrain of the hills.  The party followed fearing for Aredens safety and possible encounters with people named Dan. 
    After about 5 miles of travel the hand led them to a door built into a small cliff face with an image of the mountains of the north carved on it's face. Oskar recognized the architechture as dwavern made.  The door wasn't locked but had fallen slightly off it's hinges and required some application of strength to move.  Areden immeadiatly moved in through the door and brandishing a torch ventured forward claiming his keen elven vision would alert him to any danger far before the rest of the party.  After walking 15 feet into the hallway the floor gave way beneath him and he fell down a large shaft.  No sound of him hitting the bottom was heard and the voice faded into silence.  Upon investigation the party determined the tunnel to be longer than 150 feet deep.  The party jumped over the pit and continued down some stairs that stretched 100 feet deeper into the earth. 
    At the bottom of the stairs was a strange room that had about 6 inches of water in the floor and a metal grate placed halfway into the floor.  There were two metal doors across the room as well as 4 barred openings in the ways about 4 feet above the ground.  These opened to a hallway that traveled around the room which was accessable just before a player would reach the metal doors.  For convienience I've included the map (ignore the stairs measurements as I altered them later on).  Dankil checked the entry way for traps and deduced that non were there.  He stepped on a pressure plate.  The doors across the room locked and the sounds of chains on a crank could be heard from either side of the room.  Water began flowing up from the grate but instead of spreading out into the room it formed into a water elemental and began attacking the party.  Immediatly after it finished forming another began and so this continued until Oskar managed to pick the lock on the door and pull the lever in the hallway disabling the trap.

[Click for larger image]

    The party continued down the hallway and found another stairway leading down another 300 feet.  Oskar scouted ahead and determined there were 3 strange beings he had never seen before (see above).  He could only see one from where he was standing and saw it talking to others.  This room was lit by torches illuminating the whole room.  The sound of rushing water could be heard thanks to the underground fast flowing river that cut through  the center of this room.  On the close side of the river the architecture was in good condition however across the room the ceiling had collapsed forming a wall of rubble leaving only a small lip on the other side of the river to stand.  It was on this lip that there were the other two of these creatures.  There was a bridge linking these platfoms however only half of it now stood.  There was also a non dwarven boat attached to a mechanism and lifted out the the water.
    Oskar moved in to kill the first creature he could see and sent an arrow into it's back mortally wounding the creature.  The rest of the party charged in to kill the creature and it fled into the water to the other side of the river.  The other two creatures, one a cleric and one a warrior, stayed on the other side of the river while the cleric cast spells to buff the warrior and himself.  Kyler charged over the bridge attempting to jump the river but just failed his jump and his ability to catch the side falling into the river and being swept away.  This fight went on for a while with Kyler nearly getting killed and the party finishing off the 2 warrior creatures with the cleric fleeing the scene.
    The party took the boat which they found to be attached to a winch powered by a water wheel.  The party took the boat down the river till it took them to a water fall the cable stopping them just before they went over.  They were able to maneuver the boat to the side of the cliff end to the platform that looked over the large cavern they were now in.  In this room the water fall dropped 100 feet emptying into a pool of water at the bottom which slowly flowed out in a smaller river.  There was dock system built in this room with Areden in a cage at the end of it.  The party moved to his aid before a sea hag climbed on the docks.  Kyler felt his strength drain as he beheld such an evil wretched sight.  Before the party could reach her for the fight she pushed the caged Areden into the water leaving him to drown as she turned the face the party. Bl'nx called forth another celestial hippogriff and the party surrounded her killing her in a matter of rounds.  During the fight Zanben dove into the water pulling Areden closer to the side of the shore saving his life.  This is where we left off. Tune in next session for room looting and regular gaming.