Episode 5.1

Torcyn, the halfling psion, joined the three as they explored the area beyond the gate. They began by talking to the dwarven child. They learned that the girl, Aliella, was a dwarven slave, one of a group of about fifty, that worked the mines. Going by what the girl told them, the slavemasters were gnolls, an ettin and a giant all led by a dragon. She also mentioned some type of monsters the gnolls kept as pets that sounded like either wolves or bears.

She told them that she had been performing a secret ritual every day at sunrise. Someone else had done it before her as far back as anyone could remember. A few days ago, the gate suddenly came to life when she finished the ritual and today, when she finished, the party arrived. She referred to the party "angels" that were supposed to take the dwarves to "heaven". She also said that the dragon had another gate that led to "hell" and that the dragon would punish people by sending them through it.

After making arrangements with Ceodoc to close the gate then reopen it 24 hours later, they asked the girl to take them to the leader of the dwarven slaves. She agreed and suggested that she stay ahead of them and look out for the gnoll guards. She led them through several rooms containing long sprung traps. She eventually ran into trouble when she was accosted by gnoll guards and one of their pets. Sensing that she was about to be eaten, she ran back towards the hiding party. A quick, violent melee later and three dead gnolls and one dead winter wolf lay at the party's feet. They took their equipment and dumped the bodies into a sprung trap that contained a pool of acid.

They ran into more resistance when they tried to exit the tunnel and go out into the main hallway of the complex. They could see daylight and feel very cold air coming from down the tunnel, but before they could get anywhere, they were attacked by more gnolls and winter wolves. After that, they decided to hide in the side passage, and wait to attack anything that opened the door.