The first stop for the party upon arriving in Torch was the town hall. There they met Dolga Freddert, an aged dwarven female and member of the town council. Councillor Freddert explained the current situation to them, including the reward for the return of Khonnir Baine. In addition to the 4000 gp reward, they would also include a scroll of resurrection if he was found alive as it was intended to bring Biane back if he was deceased. She also mentioned that another councillor, a cleric of Brigh named Jorum Kyte, would cast water breathing on the party before they headed down into the underwater cavern. Finally, she mentioned that Khonnier Baine's adopted daughter, Val, has made their tavern available for the use of any group seeking to rescue her father free of charge and that all the town's merchants would be offering a 20% discount on all purchases. With so many incentives, the party was eager to get started.
They headed off to the Foundry Tavern, owned by Khonnir and Val Baine. As they approached, they heard screams and a commotion coming from Baine's house behind the tavern. As they ran toward the noise, they saw a young woman busting through the front door with a clumsy, staggering construct in pursuit.
They charged forward. A well-placed grease spell from Augusto followed up by several devastating strikes from Targus and Grendal quickly rendered the construct into a heap of junk. The young woman, who was, of course, Val Baine, thanked them for her rescue and explained that the construct was the one her father brought back from his first expedition. It had not shown any ability to function until now.
The next day, the party headed for Weeping Pond. They had six hours of water breathing, so haste was the order of the day. They swam inside the cave for a short distance until coming upon an opening to the air. They were inside a larger cave complex within the Black Hill. As they were pulling themselves up onto a ledge, the party was set upon by a trio of fire beetles. They proved little more than a warmup for the group as they pressed on. A cave full of stalactites and stalagmites lay before them and at times, they were forced to squeeze through. They encountered the deceased remains of a female half-orc in the cave, most likely a member of a previous expedition. Continuing on, they came out into a larger cavern. At one end, they spotted what appeared to be a patch of cultivated mushrooms and other fungi. As they approached, a frog-like humanoid stepped out of the shadows. It opened its large eyes, which glowed with an intense light. Targus, Grendal and Edvin were blinded by the flash, only Augusto managed to avert his eyes. With three party members blind, the battle against the creature, which they later determined was a blindheim, proved difficult. The creature was tough and the melee fighters had difficulty hitting it. Augusto's spells and Edvin's negative energy channeling eventually won the day, but Targus was badly mauled and Grendal was down. Happily, the blindness wore off after about an hour and Edvin was able to heal up the fighters enough to continue. The aftermath of the battle also revealed another corpse submerged in the water. The party was able to loot it for some gold, a silver unholy symbol of Zyphus and two healing potions.
With a few hours left before their water breathing spells expired, the party continued on. Eventually, they came upon a large chamber with several huts constructed of fibrous fungal material and bits of technology. Approaching slowly and without weapons drawn, they were able to make peaceful contact with the inhabitants, a small band of skulks. After some negotiation with the leader, they made a pact. In exchange for chasing off a group of nearby gremlins, the skulks would give the party some technological treasures they had accumulated. The gremlins proved to be rather weak, but their numerous traps were not. Grendal and Targus endured several injuries as they pushed their way through the gremlin warrens until they finally encountered the leader. Rather than face certain doom, the gremlin chief used his dimension door ability to escape and the party had fulfilled their side of the bargain. They collected their reward (some silverdisks and five brown access cards) and returned to the surface for rest and recovery.
-Rognar-
