Arcade’s Journal -- The Sunken Dell, Enter Velendo

...returned to the Dell with picks and shovels. There was no sign of anyone disturbing the area since we left. We tunneled through a wall into a corridor next to the guardian. There we found a back entrance, a set of lever-operated sliding walls (presumably to avoid the guardian and for protection). We also found a cart hitched to a horse made entirely of stone. The stone horse appears to be magical, but we do not know how it works, nor how to get it out of the lower chambers....

...found a store room. It contains packed swords, arrows, and minotaur wine. This, coupled with the foreign currency found on the giant, has led us to believe that Elzid was involved in a major smuggling operation. We found a pair of double doors, apparently trapped. Alix thought to set off the trap while hiding behind a wooden shield. Of course it turned out to be a fire trap, and Alix was mildly scorched.

Opening the doors released green slime from an invisible hole in the ceiling. This began eating through Alix’s boots! We attacked the slime with oil and flame, and retreated until the fire burned itself out. Beyond the double doors was a second set of reinforced double doors, locked beyond Tom-Tom or Alix’s skill. While we thought about the problem, Grundo wandered off. He pulled a lever protruding from a wall in the next room (he was bored), activating another sliding wall and detonating another Fire Trap.

We managed to put out his beard, but Nolin spotted the metallic construct approaching down a side corridor. As our doom approached and engaged Grundo, I yelled "Look out! The Guardian Most Maleficient!" Thankfully, it turned out that this was the deactivation phrase for the automaton. It returned to the entrance corridor, leaving us all feeling rather foolish for not having tried the phrase before....

...behind the wall was a huge octagonal room with a 10 foot wide, by 10 foot long, by 15 foot high, box-like structure in its center. From the rear of the box protruded a metallic hand with some black powder. Tom-Tom identified it as crushed diamond dust. From the side of the box, a metal rod topped by a green crystalline orb protruded.

Nolin tried several times to Jump onto the top, succeeding in cracking his head several times upon the ceiling. When he finally made it and found a Levitating Alix waiting for him, Nolin’s oaths were ear-blistering.

The top was covered with runes and inscriptions, intersecting rings with Elzid’s sigil in the center. They pulled me up to study it. The box appeared to be a complex machine, designed to gather power and release it using Alteration magic. I guessed that we stood atop a Teleportation Chamber....

...Alix and Tom-Tom got the chamber open. The walls inside were mirrors, with an identical rod and orb. Glimmer became fascinated by all the mirrors, so we went back to check on the double doors. Suddenly a loud noise ripped through the complex, sounding like a huge rush of air. We rushed back to find a somewhat bedraggled, middle-aged cleric in robes coming out of the chamber and bitterly complaining. Glimmer was gone! We quickly learned the fellow’s name -- Velendo, of the god Calphas the Wallbuilder. He had been kidnapped by pirates while traveling by ship from his home in Hunner’s Tide to Oursk. He was taken to the Citadel of War on the island of Sindara. There live the worshippers of Kord, the Wargod, largely consisting of minotaurs (which in one stroke explains the foreign currency, weapons, and wine.)

Velendo had been consigned to rid the Citadel dungeons of giant ants, a death sentence. He had been retreating from a horde of ants, backed into the chamber, and accidentally touched the orb, finding himself here. We quickly closed the chamber. Within moments, Glimmer was knocking to be let out. The chamber appears to consume the diamond dust for fuel....

...decided to try the double doors. I cast Knock, and we came face-to-face with a horrible skeletal snake with a human head. Although Velendo was reluctant to join in combat, he was actually quite effective. Alix again managed to step into one of my Color Sprays. Nolin was Charmed by the beast, and spent the combat in thrall. At last the fighters brought it down.

Place seems to be Elzid’s private living quarters. The door had been Wizard Locked, and it closed shut again behind us, unfortunately locking Nyquil outside with the rest of the party inside. I asked him to keep watch, and we searched the room. Found a few chests, metal bit for the stone horse, a paper with the deactivation phrase for the Fire Traps on the chests, a set of deep blue conjuring robes, a Citadel of War priest costume complete with a wooden identification card, and a 7-month-old receipt for coins being stored for someone named S_....

...mental warning next morning from Nyquil that our rope was being pulled up. I Knock’d the doors and we rushed for the entrance hole. I then had a brilliant idea, which was nearly fatal. I asked the staff to transport me to the surface. It asked why. I informed it that our supplies were up there being stolen, including it’s wood polish! With a green flash I found myself on the surface, facing eight hostile orcs and a nasty-looking half-orc. Our horses and Tao’s war dog were gone! I attempted to bluff them, gesturing dramatically.

"Depart, or face my wrath this day!" I bellowed.

The orcs froze, wavering and unsure. But the half-orc had other plans.

"I’m Stavros the Bandit Chief, I. And youse is outnumbered!"

The rest of the party began to ascend the hole, with Nolin yelling "Send in the dwarven legions!"

I managed to Sleep two of the orcs, but Stavros struck me with a thrown dagger and charged, longsword at the ready. He arrived in front of me just in time to catch my Color Spray in the face. He dropped, and the orcs fled. I killed two with Magic Missile, and Grundo and Tao finished off almost all of the rest. Unfortunately, one of them escaped. We tied up Stavros, and brought him down to Elzid’s chamber for questioning....

...searched the other chests and found diamonds and coins. Also, gauntlets that enlarge and shrink things, a Mortar and Pestle of Lovlorheim, and a golden rod that increases one’s attractiveness. Stavros was surly and uncooperative. He had been, apparently, Kronk the giant’s partner, and the recipient of arms for cash from Elzid. We decided to spend one more night in Elzid’s chambers before departing....