Climbing the ruined road to the remaining entrance revealed that it was now claimed by a strange band of gnoll refugees led by a witch with an affinity for giant spiny lizards. The gnolls were conquered, but at great cost to the elves: Daeron was blinded and Chitleen cursed by the foul witch. Indeed even the slaves had all been deafened by the cruel gnoll witch.
The explorers established a base in the caravanserai of the Grand Transept, but were quickly forced to defend it from an assault by a tribe of werebats led by a wily bandit they had met before not far from Solku. Another party member was lost when Daeron defected to the werebats. Not willing to face another assault, the group moved quickly to attack the lycanthropes in the upper armory only to be led astray into the haunted keep. After braving the restless spirits within including a forgespurned dwarf, the party chased the bats out of the vents, but not before Daeron threw himself to his death.
Masters Truther and Trathis arrived just in time with a caravan to resupply and trade at the new outpost. Upon finding that the upper levels had not yet been cleared, they chided the adventurers and gave them another month to do so before they returned. The adventurers pushed on to the shadowed back of the Grand Transept and the rumored Shoosuva.
The Shoosuva it soon became clear were a tribe of demon worshiping gnoll ghasts that had claimed the old Treasury. A strange darkling offered the password to enter the warded structure and disappeared. After an initial victory against a fiendish stone altar, the explorers ran afoul of the Gremlin Tower. A closed off section of the Treasury was infested with pugwampi and other vexing gremlins which in turn harried and goaded the party until a weakened Tararr was slain by charging into a devious trap. After a taxing battle, the gremlins were defeated, but at high cost and battling back through the undead gnolls, the party returned to the relative safety of the caravanserai. Regrouping once more, they pushed forward and in a hard fought battle finally defeated a cult of gnoll ghasts and their demon patron.