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Message: <blockquote data-quote="kenobi65" data-source="post: 13756" data-attributes="member: 1515">Session #7 - 7/27/01After some discussion, the party decides to find a deep copse of trees to rest in, in order for the spellcasters to recharge.   It is decided to rest until the middle of the following night – this would allow the party to complete their travel to Agleshka under the cover of darkness.7/24The party breaks camp around 2:30 a.m, and completes its trek to Agleshka about 3 hours later, shortly before sunrise.  They quickly re-discover the holes that they had previously cut in a hillside overlooking the Draco camp.  After evicting a small lizard that had set up housekeeping in one of the holes, they settle in to watch over activities in the camp.The party believes that the "harps" and "plumb-bobs" are likely being stored in the main command post, so they focus on this building.  As they observe the camp through its workday, they see seven draconians (5 black, 1 green, and 1 red) enter and / or exit the command post.  A black dragon arrives in the camp, and the draconians follow it around as it apparently conducts an inspection tour of the facilities.  Before nightfall, the dragon departs the camp, much to the party’s relief.Over the course of the day, they see the green draconian fly away from the camp, but also see two additional black draconians arrive.  They also see a “wagon train” of Nyxalian (black) kobolds arrive with a load of lumber.7/25The party decides to go into the camp, in search of the items, shortly before first light.  They believe that this will minimize the opposition they will face, and also would put them back in Marington in the middle of the night, when the Gateway is under minimal scrutiny.In preparation for this foray, Whitefire shapechanges into a falcon, Nivek uses a Change Self spell to appear as a draconian, and the rest of the party utilizes Invisibility spells and potions.  In addition, Nivek has a Silence spell, centered on himself, but also covering Zeebee and Ulfgar.  Whitefire begins a Call Lightning spell, just in case he needs to call a bolt down from the heavens.  Finally, Ian casts a Locate Object spell, focusing on the “plumb-bob,” and is led towards the command post.As the party carefully approaches the command post, Ming-Jeh goes up onto its porch, and peers into one of the windows.  He sees a large conference room, dimly lit with torches.  In the room is a very large dining table, as well as two “planning tables” (large cabinets with maps etched onto the tops).  Ming-Jeh is close enough to the nearer planning table to make out details – it is a map of the Draconic States, with numerous small tokens spread across the map (apparently denoting the location of Draco resources).  Meanwhile, Whitefire keeps watch up on the roof, still in falcon form.As there is no sign of any life in the room, the party proceeds into the conference room through the unlocked front door.  Ian’s Locate Object indicates that the plumb-bob is in the cabinet underneath the nearer planning table.  A cursory investigation reveals that this cabinet is locked, with an unusual-shaped keyhole (a square hole, about ½ inch across).  Nivek is unable to unlock the cabinet, so Magnus opens it with a Knock spell.  Inside the cabinet, the party finds 2 “plumb-bobs” and 5 “harps,” as well as several platinum bars and two sacks full of gems.As the party clears out the contents of the cabinet, Ian considers activating the Gateway for an immediate getaway.  But, at that very moment, he receives a cryptic telepathic message from Winterhawk.  The message says that the Gateway is not functional, and that she will need at least an hour to restore it.The party then decides to take the loot and retreat to their hilltop.  At this point, they are suddenly, and unexpectedly, assaulted by several black draconians, coming from the command post’s sleeping quarters.  Although it is a short fight, several party members (particularly Phadian) are wounded by the draconians.  As the battered Phadian retreats past the far planning table, he realizes that the map on that table depicts the Draconic States, as well as the Dorlominian coast and two islands, lying between the two continents.  The island nearer the Draconic States has many “tokens” on it, while the island nearer Dorlomin has only a few tokens; there are several more tokens in the sea between the Draconic States and the first island.The party manages to dispatch the draconians without alerting the rest of the camp.  As they are about to leave the command post, they decide to take several of the draconian bodies back with them, in hopes of being able to use Speak With Dead to interrogate them (and perhaps convince Governor Renard of the situation).  They retreat to their lookout hill, at which point Whitefire triggers his Call Lightning.  A bolt of electricity arcs from the clouds to the command post, blasting a hole in the roof directly over the conference room, and starting the building on fire.  Believing that this new (and apparently perfectly natural) emergency will keep the Dracos occupied (and cover any evidence of the party’s actions in the command post), the party moves away from Agleshka as they wait for the Gateway to be restored.After an hour or so, Ian tries the Gate Key, but nothing happens.  He tries again 15 minutes later, again with no effect.  The party continues into the swamp, and Ian waits for another 45 minutes before trying the Gate Key a third time (as each use of the Gate Key proves to be very draining to Ian, he does not want to try too often).  This time, the shimmering form of the Gateway appears, but in a very strange shape – it is about 7 feet high, and about 3 feet wide.  After a moment’s hesitation, the party hustles through the Gateway, and find themselves in a living room in a private residence.  Winterhawk is there, as are Genevieve, Rory, and Aren.  The Gateway Stones are now affixed to a door frame, separating a living room from a dining room.  Winterhawk apologizes for the delay, and explains that they are in her private home.Winterhawk continues, explaining that the past few days have been very trying.  The Council of Governors has forced King Kenton to remove Winterhawk as the commander of Dorlomin’s armed forces; in response to this, Winterhawk has resigned her commission.  The new commander will apparently be following Renard’s policy of focusing on Dorlomin’s defenses, rather than actively assaulting the Dracos.The Council had  also convinced Kenton to deactivate the Gateway.  Renard and his supporters had argued that the Gateway provides the Dracos with too easy a way to attack Dorlomin, as well as being too open to unauthorized usage by Winterhawk; thus, they ordered it to be taken down and put into storage.  However, Winterhawk continues, the king was not truly in agreement with the Council on this matter, and allowed Winterhawk to smuggle the Gateway Stones out of the palace.  She had just accomplished this, and just set the Stones up to retrieve the party, when they returned on their own.  She also points out that Renard is still suspicious of her, as evidenced by the numerous guards keeping watch on her house from various vantage points in the neighborhood.Just as Winterhawk wraps up her tale, a burst of light erupts from behind Magnus, and four large and agitated crocodiles pop into existence (apparently being the result of an undiscovered trap back in the command post).  A chaotic battle ensues, as the party stumbles over furniture and tries to fight the crocs in the close quarters of Winterhawk’s home.  The crocodiles do some damage, but are eventually killed.After delivering a plumb-bob and a harp to Winterhawk, the party discusses what to do with the draconian bodies.  Winterhawk sends Rory to fetch Aryl, the cleric of Heironeous.  Rory quickly returns with the older priest and several younger acolytes (all grumbling about being dragged out of bed in the middle of the night).  Once the situation is explained to him, Aryl agrees to bring the draconian bodies before the Council and the king, and use Speak With Dead in their presence.  It is his (and the party’s) hope that doing this will be sufficient to convince Renard and the rest of the council that the Dracos are intent on wiping out all of Dorlomin.As Aryl and his acolytes depart with the Draco corpses, Winterhawk gives the party one more piece of news.  Several days ago, the king received a message from the elves in Caradhir.  This message stated that the elves were politely, but firmly, asking all non-elves, including the Dorlominian diplomatic envoy, to depart from the trading village in Caradhir (the only place within the elven land where non-elves are routinely allowed).  The elves have also recalled their own diplomats, and have informed the king that Caradhir’s borders would be closed to non-elves “for an indefinite time.”  Finally, the elves have informed Kenton that they will not be asking for permission to pass through Dorlomin on the river this year – this is a request that the elves have made every year for centuries, in order to conduct a diplomatic trip to another elven kingdom to the south.</blockquote>

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