Arcade’s Journal -- Sunken Dell Finale

...next day Knock’d the door but found it obstructed from the outside. We expected trouble, and prepared accordingly. The staff consented to transport some of us into the outer chamber, but insisted on hearing a story beforehand!

Alix and I were transported in a green blaze to the outer room, where we found four ogres and an orc with a bow. It seems they had come to rescue Stavros. Things were touch-and-go for a while. Alix managed to tumble into position and move the bar obstructing the door. The party streamed out. I saw an ogre starting to drink a potion, and cast Shatter upon the bottle, spilling the contents down the ogre’s vest. (Luckily, as we suspect that it was a potion of Ice Dragon Breath.) I also managed to cut one ogre off with a moving wall, and attempted to dodge between another’s legs. Unfortunately the dodge maneuver failed, earning me a hefty swipe from a club and knocking me unconscious. Alix and Tao worked well as a team, felling ogres with precision and rescuing me from a deadly club strike.

Sadly, Grundo did not perform as well. He was so disgusted with his performance in the battle that he departed the complex when no one was looking, leaving his pack behind.

While I was still incapacitated and Grundo was absent, the metallic construct attacked again. This time the deactivation words failed to affect it in the slightest. Glimmer tried to oppose it, and nearly died. It was then that Velendo showed his strength. He prayed to his god, and glowing with a seemingly impenetrable aura, stepped between the guardian and Glimmer. The construct continued its assault, crumpling itself against Velendo. Tao hewed at it from behind for some time before it finally stopped moving....

...healed me. Debate ensued over the fate of Stavros. At first I was adamant, with the support of Glimmer, that he be turned over to the authorities for the reward, while the others wished to simply kill him. However, after a discussion with Stavros himself it became clear that he was not as evil as he appeared, but rather had been robbed of any opportunity to pursue a different path by a hostile society.

Taking a gamble, we offered him a position as bouncer at the Flaxen Manticore. We will have to pay off his bounty, and place a 5,000 gp deposit in trust with the authorities for his good behavior. He was tremendously grateful to be given a chance at a normal life, and agreed to help us get our horses back. We used the Gauntlet of Shrinking to reduce the cart and stone horse, moved it to the surface, and restored it to proper size. We then loaded the cart and took everything else with us....

...at Stavros’ direction we proceeded southwest and found a cave. Stavros sent the orcs living within on a wild goose chase, and we recovered our belongings. Sadly, there has been no sign of Grundo....

...returned to Rampart at last. We formally (and happily) accepted Tao and Velendo as new members of the Defenders. Sorry to lose Grundo, though. We installed Stavros in his new position as bouncer. Bought a few things and prepared to train. We entertained one Natalia Ballard of Lindilyn at the Manticore. We suspect that she may be a bounty hunter for Alix’s father, but she did not provoke any action....

...Nolin took Tephis Birdhouse’s map (the one obtained from "Deepleaf") to the temple of Morphat and paid for a Divination of the author’s name. He came up with Connor Hallowhorn. Nolin then wrote a very nasty (and catchy) song lampooning Hallowhorn, and started performing it....