Session One, Sells Swords for hire

In the decrepit and declining city state of Rel Astra a posting read "Sell swords wanted. A dangerous job for good pay. See Oswic the Half Orc at 'the Kings Arms'. The Kings Arms was a decent inn and tavern 30 years ago. Now it was a seedy place for down on their luck folk. Oswic turned out to be a rarity, an educated half orc.
6 people showed up for the job, a halfling and a human rogue, two fighters, one dwarf one human, and two human priests, one of Hextor and one of Pelor.
Oswic told the them of a ship, called the Lucky Minstral. When the armies from the Great Kingdom shattered the See of Medegia twenty years ago, and reduced a large portion of the Capital of Rel Astra to ruin. The Merchant houses sent their ships to sea, the 'Lucky Minstral' was one such ship. It never returned. Now, word has reached the Merchant who owns the house, that a ship has been sighted twenty miles south of Rel Astra bearing the name 'the Lucky Minstral'. The ship has run a ground on rocks and may not be above the waves for long.
Osric related that the Ship bore a valuable cargo in a magically sealed box. He wants a boarding party to find the box if it is still on board after all these years, and secondarily to discover what happed to the ship that it was away for so long.
The six 'Privateers' were rowed to the ship by a pair of sailors who rowed to shore to await the Privateers signal, a lighted Sunrod will signal them to return and pick them back up, otherwise the seas and rocks are too rough to stay tied to the Ship.
The six found the ship listing and obviously taking on water. The main mast had shattered in the storm. Below decks they found a crude altar to some inhuman form, guarded by a huge Centipede covered in debris. Further below they found large spiders and swarms of smaller spiders. Webbed below decks were two orcs, when released they were zombies who attacked. One was destroyed, the other commanded by Prexus, the Cleric of Hextor.
The climactic fight with an orc druid and his snake pet was easily handeled, and the group went into the bilge to check for the sealed box. In the bilge, much of the cargo had been thrown years ago by the orcs who had somehow taken the ship. A pair of aquatic ghouls attacked and Kurgan, the human fighter was striken with fever.
The box was recovered, made of a strange bluish metal, it had little more than a seam. Also found was the remains of the former captains log. It showed maps and a description of the island the ship had been sheltering from a similar storm decades ago. It's last entry tells of exploration parties heading into the jungle to find supplies.
The 6 fled as something monsterous in the ocean started to rend the ship, and it took on more and more water.
They signaed the boat and returned to Rel Astra. The box and captains log were turned over and they were paid.
Hadrian, the cleric of Pelor realized Kurgan was stricken with Ghoul fever, and with bed rest and his ministations Kurgan returned to health. Being a lawful and simple fellow, Kurgan pledged his life to Hadrian for saving his life.
So ends Episode One