A Gallacan Expedition

Despite the previous night's magical darkness encounter, we decided to stick to the plan. We brought our map to Miguel, a local merchant who knows the Tiera Lanternas (Lantern Land) swamps better. With Gash along, Miguel & I charter an aero-propulsion boat from a gruff man, who ominously mentioned "dark things" in the "Sierras". Faolan and Bea buy the supplies for the 6-day round trip, and the four of us, along with Miguel & the aeroprope's skipper.
 
As soon as we leave the city, we go into the dark swamps, their canopy blocking out more of the sun until it is as dark as night. The swamp is lit by these glowing polips and spores, suspended in the warm, dank air of the swamps. After uneventful 3 hours, we were attacked by a Froghemoth, a giant frog-like monster with tentacles. Proceeding much slower while Gash & I mend the boat splinter by splinter concurrently with Miguel, Faolan, and Bea bailing the water. This took the afternoon. We picked up to a steady pace as evening set in, and I took my trance in order to take over the boat through the night. We push deeper into the swamps, with the noise of our boat becoming the only noise aside from the environment.
 
Day 2
During Gash's watch, we were attacked in a similar fashion to the break-in at the inn. Incredibly determined to use magical darkness, Gash and I used counterspell and dispel magic to keep the playing field level. We defend ourselves, but not before my fireball and the attacker's scorching ray set the surroundings on fire. Bea summons a water elemental to put out the fire, and we pick up our pace to make time. We proceed another 8 hours, and enter the heart of the swamp. It becomes hard to breath, as the marsh gas begins to become the majority of the air. We see pale shapes, moving silently through the water, and as I make contact with detect thoughts, their ancient tongue unintelligible to me. Miguel informs us that these are aboleths, and that they predate "the gods".
 
As the day winds down, I take the boat so the skipper can rest, but before long I noticed a maelstrom of aboleths. Together, the boatman, myself ,and Faolan attempt to keep it steady, but our strength is not enough and we begin to get sucked in. In a final push, our collective strength and Faolan's tenacity get us just outside the lip of the vortex, and the skipper throttles the engines to full before getting us to safety and handing control back to me.
 
Day 3
We reach a new part of the swamp, with stone spurs poking up and the minuscule amount of water clearer. Smooth sailing gives us all the rest we need from exhausting ourselves in the maelstrom. We are also relieved to see no aboleths below. The spurs increase, and the water gets ever shallower and cleaner. We even glimpse a few rays of sun before nightfall. We pick up our pace after dark, and reach the archeological site, a small plateau of rock still partially submerged in the shallower parts of the swamp. We pull up, and wade our way through the muck, reaching solid ground for the first time in three days. While inspecting the site, I stumble through some muck and find a decent hole in the ground.
 
I cast alarm, and we rest peaceable.
 
Day 4
We awaken under a bit of sky, not a lot, but a bit. I peer down and can see it descends about 30ft feet to a stone floor, and I infer that dynamite was used to blast into it. We begin traversing the cave, and discover some diamonds and intense cinnamon smell. Deciding it's likely a trap, we push further. We find two barred doors (concerningly barred against the direction we *came* from). Unbarring the north door and making into the northern room, we find the journal from an expedition by the renowned Tealastrian pirate D'Souza. The expedition, already on low provisions and down several men, makes their way into the tomb of the last Yulan-Tai king. They manage to hold out, but opening the sarcophagus awakened undead, and they wasted away, trapped in their own safe room.
 
Making our way to the east door, we find a hall and some undead capable of controlling dead bodies and skeletons. A fight ensues. I take two big hits out in the open, and quickly have to fall back and let Gash and Faolan. After defeating the gaoden and their undead servants. Exploring the level, we found the entrance. We then went down two levels, and found the room with tools that we'll take on our way out. We then went down another level, after sending one of my newly created thralls, Carol, down as the proverbial canary. We discovered a spider den with dead spiders, with a tunnel to the surface that we're incapable of climbing.
 
Further in, we discover a shrine used by the desperate, with expeditions ranging back a thousand years. We discover a break where the swamp is reclaiming the King's tomb. Onwards, we find a room with archeaology tools, two statues - a scholar and a warrior. Looking closely, there are two holes at the bases of the statues. Another passage and the natural cave with the swamp's thick, thick slimy water. We return to a room found earlier adjacent to the shrine and take a short rest, to plan before returning to the surface to inform Bea.