Chapter 2: Skittering In The Dark

We begin with August taking watch over the camp, while Carric and Terra rest after the arduous battle with the dryad. During the night August took the corpse of the dryad into the woods outside of camp. Returning to an uneventful watch, he began preparing some of the deer they had slain the day before to break their fast on.
The scent of the deer roasting over their meager campfire wafts over to the sleeping forms of Carric and Terra causing them to stir groggily. They gently wake and shuffle out into the camp, where they break their fast as a group. After enjoying a meal of the deer and a couple eggs August managed to scrounge up while they slept. Deciding as a group to set out further to the cave described in their contract.
After about four hours of traversing the forest they come to a rocky cliff face. Looking around at the mass amounts of webbing, with a slight turn of his head August hears a muffled struggling from inside the cave. With a subtle nod to the cave he tells his friends there is something struggling inside. Looking into the darkness of the cave, August pulls a torch and proceeds to light it and cautiously nears the mouth of the cave. Stepping into the darkness before them and proceeding gingerly into the cave before them. Taking note of the thick spiderwebs throughout the walls of the cave, Carric says "I think we're in the right place."
Carric taking advantage of his darkvision takes the lead as they enter the cave. He was finally able to hear the muffled struggling of a humanoid further in the cave. Stepping forward around a bend in the cave hand ax in hand he spots the individual from which the sound emanates. Up ahead there is a dark elf caught in webbing restrained to the wall, his mouth covered muffling and sounds he attempts to make. Raising his ax he recklessly attempts to cut away the webbing. Striking a portion of the individuals clothing earning him a furious glare from the restrained male before him. Realizing how close he was to killing this seemingly innocent person, he decides to reach in to try and pull him out with brute force.
It's at this moment that Carric loses his footing and his booted foot plunges through the floor in front of the restrained individual. Falling forward his face almost touching this strangers lips, finding himself also restrained in the webbing. Flailing about his strength manages to weaken his web bindings and he manages to free himself.
August looks to Carric and smugly says " Maybe, a little restraint would be good. Perhaps we could gain a friend if you manage to not kill him."
Working together the three companions managed to free this stranger. With his hands free of his binding the stranger manages to remove the webbing covering his mouth. With a not so subtle glare of anger at Carric he replies "My thanks."
Standing before them is a lithe almost malnourished dark elf. Introducing himself as Xelgius Yaeldrin, the companions immediately ask why he is here. Xelgius replies with "I am here for the contract. I hate to admit it, but I may have overestimated my capabilities." Earning a chuckle from August.
"I propose we travel together at least for the remainder of the contract. Any objections?" says Xelgius
After thinking about it for a few minutes the companions reluctantly agree. After hearing that Xelgius is able to see in the dark better than Carric they decide he will take the lead. Following the twists and turns of the cave noting the gradual decline they continue forward. Their path began to widen out into a larger room before them.
Stepping into the cavern chamber they notice a long deceased adventurer stuck in webbing across the way and several stalagmites spread across the across the floor amongst the webbing throughout. Holding his torch high above his head August begins to look around. Several large spiders descend from the ceiling to attack this new meal that has moved into their home.
Surrounded by four spiders the companions strike out at them. Carric unleashing an eldritch blast, missing its intended target destroying some nearby stalagmites. Utilizing his torch to light the and of a bolt on fire, August drops the torch and fires into one of the spiders felling it and burning off some of the spider's hair. Terra launches an ice knife at another of the spiders freezing it in place. Meanwhile Xelgius punches down onto one of the spiders raining blows as it collapses on itself with a sickening splat.
Carric strikes out at the remaining spider with his ax slashing wildly above it. August quickly reloads a bolt in the hand crossbow and fires striking the spider. Terra tries to hit it with another ice blast missing as it skitters out of the way, while Xelgius lands another blow splattering the spider.
Having eliminated the immediate threat they proceed to search the cavern. Finding a long dead adventurer stuck in the web along the wall. After rifling through the corpse they uncover a healing potion, a small amount of gold, pitted and rotting leather armor, and a vastly deteriorated short sword. They then attempt to harvest venom from the spider corpses, managing to acquire two vials of the venom.
Taking a moment to tend to their wounds, they proceed down the passage to the right. Traversing the tunnel for several moments they come to another junction. Inspecting to see what they can of the two paths they decide to pass to the right. Moving into the cavernous space they find another long deceased adventurer stuck in more webbing. Taking note of the intense amounts of webbing they begin searching the darkness above for more spiders, as three more start to descend. They battle with the spiders defeating the with relative ease. Searching the corpse in the webbing they find another healing potion, another small pouch of gold, and more heavily distressed leather armor. Taking the time to harvest more of the venom from the new spider corpses they receive two more vials of venom.
Proceeding down the other path they come to a chamber with another corpse. Though this chamber also has a relatively decent sized water feature along an adjacent wall. Searching the room for any immediate dangers they find none and begin investigating this cavern. Drawn to the presence of the corpse Carric moves to start searching it. He finds a small coin purse, a rusted and pitted blade, and a small worn journal. Thumbing through it appears to be an adventurer's journal detailing his travels throughout the land, looking at the dates it appears to have been her for at least five years. While he searches and thumbs through the journal, Xelgius approaches the pool. Peering deep inside he sees something down at the bottom. Diving into the water without even a word to his newfound friends, he swims down to the bottom. Searching through a satchel at the bottom he finds a bag of coins, a fist sized black gem, and a small dagger. He also notices that there is a cavern at the base of the pool leading further back.
Seeing that their new friend has dove into the water she casts control water pulling the water from the center of the pool up the side parting the water on the cavern floor. Xelgius attempts to stealthily slide the gem into his pocket as Terra looks down at him. "Hey! I'll drown you!" she calls down. Carric and August stop dead in their tracks, mouths agape dumbfounded at this sudden callous coldness from their usually jovial friend.
Having only met these people no more than an hour or two ago, Xelgius looks up in horror, not knowing if Terra is serious or not. He stammers "I was just trying to hold them to bring them up to show you guys. There is a passage back here I'd like to check out if that's alright."
With a nod they let him pass. Disappearing into the underwater passage Xelgius is gone for a couple moments. As he breaches the surface he comes back into the pool with a gasp. "The passage goes on for awhile, but it seems to widen out."