05.1 Below the Waves Again

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Carlton Blacks Mercenaries
Company members:-
Krachtig (Vervalsing Voorwerp de Meesten Krachtig) – Gnome Illusionist/Thief
Taran – Half Elf Fighter/Priest of Mannanan Mac Lir, cousin to Carinne and Galvish
Carinne Rhianne Talynnart – Half Elf Ranger/Mage, Cousin to Taran and Galvish
Galvish – Half Elf Fighter/Thief, Cousin to Taran and Carinne
Barrigan Stonebeak – Dwarf Fighter/Priest, Company Engineer.
Lanneus Tuard – Paladin of Manannan Mac Lir
Derek Summers – Squire to Taran

Nothing worse than a wet gnome smell.

We have successfully presented the treaty to the ogres and make the several day journey back to Skullport, laden down with our treasures from the dragon and rewards from the giants.  Partway through the journey we are halted by a shabbily dressed man standing on the path in front of us, he demands that we hand the gnome over.  Taran enters into negotiations with the man asking after the size of the reward, which is now a rather amazing 50,000 gold.  Getting greedy he says that if we were to receive that sum then he is welcome to the gnome, otherwise prepare for battle.
A hail of arrows from one side of the trail and some fasting moving oriental types, together with some spells signal the end of negotiations.  The swordsman attacking us are moving as though hasted and wield curved swords in each hand, a type we have seen before in the slavers city.  Carinne hurls a fireball into the undergrowth and takes down some of the archers, Galvish, Taran and Barrigan fight off the swordsmen and make some attacks on the mage who doesn’t seem to take damage, probably being an illusion or an image.  Carinne rushes into face the hidden archers and is soon joined by the others, we manage to put all these mercenaries down but the main mage escapes – he was casting some devastating spells which would indicate a very experienced spellcaster – with the bounty that high on Krachtig, the assaults will likely become tougher.  We search the bodies and find some maps written in a strange tongue which Krachtig manages to decipher.  It would appear that our minions who are stationed at Manna (the coastal town we sacked some time back) are next on the hit list of the mercenaries and could well experience an attack soon.
We make our way quickly to Skullport and discuss the situation with the rebel leaders there, they can open a dimensional fold to get us there quickly and we can make our way back.  We do so with some time to spare and with this knowledge attack the ships before they can dock and unload their troops.  We are successful.

Lanneus has a dream that night that a temple to Mannanan MacLir is located nearby to Manna and is underwater, it is also the focus of his search for a holy weapon which could well be located there.  There is much grumbling from both the Dwarf and the Gnome, we cajole the dwarf into going but are not so sad (what with wet gnome smell and all that) when Krachtig cries off citing difficulty using illusions underwater.
We prepare waterbreathing spells on those who need them and decide the squire should accompany us as he has not been underwater before.
We march across the seabed and gaze upon the ruins of the temple with its broken altar which once stood proudly in the open air.  We note a couple of underground openings and make our way down into the gloom.
The first room we come to is swarming with Sahaguin and several sharks, we storm into the room and attack.  One noted incident in this highly successful raid was Taran being swallowed by a shark – the exfoliating properties of the sharks stomach acid having given him a sheen to his skin when he is finally cut out.
The next area we explore seems deserted but all of a sudden a bunch of giant eels emerge from holes in the walls and attack us, the dwarfs double axes chops these creatures up quickly and we emerge relatively unscathed.  Next up is an area with giant crayfish – all this massive seafood is making us hungry.
We push on deeper into the dark confines of the temple and are set upon by scrags – these are a serious foe underwater as we cannot burn them to stop their regeneration.  Taran remembers he carries a wand that creates acid gobs and withdraws from the hand to hand fighting after several of these creatures are laid out to retrieve the wand and melt these fiends before they can get back up, several of them do manage to get back on their feet but we gain the upper hand and kill off the last one.
We take some time to heal our wounds before exploring further, we enter a room to see shiny skeletons move toward us, these are identical to creatures we have fought before, they leave razor sharp pieces of adamantine in wounds and explode in a shard of fragments when killed.  Taran swings his sunblade in an ever increasing circle, Lanneus managed to turn half of them and couple with the mace of disruption wielded by Barrigan we overcome this enemy with no casualties on our side.  It should be pointed out here that Taran carries a large shield and only favors one sword whilst underwater – a departure from his two sword wielding style above the waves.
We move ever deeper into the temple and come across a wide corridor with several doorways leading off, Galvish and Taran open one side door and see many sahaguin inside, simultaneously other doors are open and more creatures swarm out, we call for Carinne to cast a lightning bolt but underestimating the effect under water stay inside the blast radius, causing damage to the cousins but with Tarans Scale armor lending him some protection against the lightning.  This huge electrical discharge wipes out the entire force of sahaguin.
We realize we must be near the final great room in this temple and move gingerly through the next set of double doors.
We enter and see many Sahaguin including a priest and shaman as well as the biggest squid ever, this must be the Kraken, several members of the party think of deep fried calamari with garlic butter.  Carinnes lets off a massive lightning bolt taking down half of the enemy while Taran, Barrigan and Lanneus rush to battle the Kraken.  The squire attacks the spellcasters but is soon held immobile; Galvish has a moment with some over vigorous sword strikes and stuns himself.  Carinne is surrounded by the sahaguin and lays into them.
The Kraken tentacles curl around the people attacking it, Barrigan manages to cut through some of the tentacles and the creature retreats in a dark cloud of poisonous ink, the priest soon follows it into the darkness as Galvish regains his feet and starts wailing on the creature.  We finish off the remnants of the sahaguin before the ink cloud dissipates and we rush in to hack at the huge Kraken, chunks fly everywhere and we emerge from the seafood soup victorious.
Lanneus picks up a trident nearby and feels a surge of power from the holy weapon of Mannanan Mac Lir.
We return to Manna with tales to tell and seafood suppers for everyone.