** Part I: Fire and Ash **

[Chris1234]

Karlane leaves to fly across to the boat to set up a portal on it.(She'll ask Valtor if he needs to come with her to get onto the boat.)
Just before leaving she asks, "Whisper, while I'm gone, please run an approximate inventory of the weapons and so forth."

[SARRMATT]

With the spoils of war accounted for, Whisper and his familiar attempted to do their best at ferrying the equipment through the portal( or stacking it all together to speed up the process of getting it through a portal to somewhere when it gets created?) while the more seasoned warriors stood watch. Taking a break from the manual labor of dragging two very heavy swords in the dirt towards the portal the young mage stretched his back and shook his scrawny arms to get blood flowing back to his muscles. Whisper was confused when a lovely brown and black sparrow alighted upon his shoulder forcing him to stop his stretching and shaking immediately. Such animal behavior was out of the ordinary especially when the bird spoke to him with a woman's voice about a scroll that it carried. Whisper took the miniscule scroll tube from around the leg of the small bird and offered it a couple of spiders from his spell components as payment for its service. "I understand, may the rest of your travels be safe small messenger."

[OoC] thanks for the letting me know where/when/what was going on. I lost track of the entire thing and could not keep anything straight. I'll put *tiny scroll tube to be opened in 2 days in my inventory, DM please let the PC know what happens 2 nights from now when he opens the thing.

[spike]

IT TAKES THE GROUP TWO HOURS to get all of the caravan spoils through the portal, on the other side Whisper found himself aboard a peculiar ship. It was invisible, but not only that it is later learned it could become non corporeal somehow, as Valtor made the main deck area where the goods lied become insubstantial the cargo melted through the floor and into the belly of the ship.

It glided downstream the length of the snake river, toward its intended destination.

The frigate dubbed the wraith is a impressive vessel, and Valtor later confides that it belonged to an arch mage who he had swindled in a game of craps.

After two hours, the telltale outline of a distinctive shape blotted out the the sun, casting the shadow of a dragon flying overhead. It swooped several times and then landed on the aft of the ship, bellowing a loud monstrous roar to announce itself and belching a bolt of lightening that tore through a nearby tree setting it ablaze. It was a blue chromatic wrym, not very large nor old looking but not lacking in fierceness.

Valtor said 'it's a blue, they love to talk' he muttered to Karlene. Garosh stood up when he finally noticed it, and he roused Azonia and Sarancen who had also been lounging about.

BLUE DRAGON: : 'What, pray tell do you insignificant fools think you are doing? And where are you bound?" it asked in a subtly hostile tone that carried a threat to it.

[SARRMATT]

[ooc] Whisper would be below decks trying to rest and memorize the three spells he used in the caravan ambush (4 hours right? ) unless conversation or combat becomes quite noisy I'll assume that he hears nothing and remains out of the action. Let me know when whisper is back in the action.

[spike]

Whisper: concentration is shattered as the wrym's roar completely disrupts your rest.

[Chris1234]

Once the portal is set up on the ship Karlane steps through it and announces that fact to those sorting out the weapons and so forth. On hearing Whiper' s inventory she says, "Thanks. Nicely done. Ok time to get it all loaded.
...

After the ship is loaded and everyone is safely through (that wants to be), Karlane sets the magical Wind to power up the sails (as previously requested by Valtor) and then goes back through the portal to the weapons caravan site. If all clear, she collapses the portal at that site and then Wind Walks to where she was supposed to meet Drusilla and Idrys (by a statue somewhere) thence intending to set up a portal there.

If Idrys & Drusilla are not in evidence, she puts the portal close but out of sight chalking (on the statue) some appropriately oblique directions (to the portal, including a password) that only Idrys would get. {OOC1: Happy to provide such details if necessary. Main objective is just to not have "Here I am!" indicators in plain sight for the general population.} She then returns to the ship, via the portal.
(If the drow is still alive,and on the ship, Karlane gets help carrying him threough the portal to emerge near the statue and then gets him carried and bound to a tree (out of sight) 100 yards from the statue and about 120° rotation away from the portal, intending to complete his questioning and then set him free if he cooperates.)

======
{OOC2: @Spike - Can you help me with some clarifications, please:
1. Did the two elves depart, i.e. leave our group?
2. What happened to the Drow prisoner? (He certainly wasn't going to be allowed to see or hear about the portals and would only be taken through one if confirmed unconscious. If on the ship, the drow gets bound hand and foot, hobbled, blindfolded and gagged.)
3. The munitions inventory contained a crate of "elven arrows"; how do they differ from ordinary (PHB) arrows?
4. Does Karlane get any visions from touching/being on Valtor's ship? ("No" is fine; just asking for completeness.)
5. When Karlane departs from the ship (through the portal) does the magical Wind powering the sails collapse?
6. Happy to conclude the Drow questioning in the Karlane thread.
7. I've left the timing slightly vague so that you can choose who is where and when. Intent is to check periodically for Idrys/Drusilla, move them to the ship, return through the portal, collapse the end near the statue, Windwalk from there to the road where Karlane and others have to be later today to meet a certain seer. set up a portal (out of sight) near the road and return to the ship..}

[spike]

1. The elves left, they're on a mission to find and collapse the tunnels they mentioned. They took the drow elf as a prisoner/guide in finding said tunnels.

2. Elven arrows: inflict x2 damage to evil aligned creatures

3. She sees the ship being constructed by a mage on the astral plane, the last great achievement he made as a mortal before turning himself into a full fledged Lich. She see's him as a Lich, seated on a hovering throne before a crater where 20,000 human slaves are each executed and their blood pouring into the crater, which he then bathes in. Approximately 120 years later, a band of heroes called the Blades of Nyr rise up and destroy him. The vision vanishes.

4. The wind collapses

5. Assuming Idrys ignores his encounter with blink dogs + displacer beasts assume him and Drusilla make it back just fine.

[Chris1234]

"Keep an eye on my pretty little butt, huh?" Karlane murmers to Garosh with a brave smile and a squeeze of his arm.
She steps forward and strikes a stance, hands on hips, "Well, hello, mighty Dragon! I'm Karlane, true servant of Lor. Might I have the honour of knowing the name of whom I am addressing?"

[spike]

The blue wrym half sneered at Karlene, 'What's that? A priestess of Lor?! Out here trudging about in the middle of nowhere aboard a peculiar ship no less. And with vampire's blood...aha, you're a dhampir I could sense it. You may call me Araugauthos the blue talon. You should feel esteemed to have heard it and not be obliterated immediately after' it said, patting the side of the ship with its tail to cause it to shake and thrash for a moment. It lowered its draconic head to lock eyes with you and then spoke 'you do not fear me, much as the wise ought. But is not wisdom one of your ancient order's prime quality of note?' it asked, then continued 'I find it both both utterly absurd and completely ridiculous you are here when I just only moments ago told myself that I've need of an intelligent stalwart party. Particularly one of your order's specific talents, especially. Come to the base of storm mountain, to the ruins of the temple of Wrath there, it lies up in the Gate Mountains by months end. I must hunt at the now and regain my constitution and fortitude. Do you agree to come then?"

[Chris1234]

"Your awesomeness is readily apparent, Araugauthos-Blue-Talon," replies Karlane. "Lor allowing, within a month, I agree."
"It seemed that you wanted to talk and so we are. I have no desire to die but when I do, I hope to be received by Lor, and do not fear that."

She pauses, obviously thinking deeply, "Araugauthos-Blue-Talon, I would most humbly suggest that if you should have idle moments and it amuses you, that with the exception of my companion here," indicating the party drow, "you might consider smiting dark elves of the* <southern forest>. I understand that they have accumulated significant riches and treasures. If any of those were to come into your possession within the same month, I would happily detect any magical items for you should you so wish it and could Identify a few of them if you could provide a handful of suitable pearls."

{OOC: *If the dark elves live in another location/area please <insert the appropriate place name>, assuming Karlane would actually know it.}

[SARRMATT]

Upon hearing a very loud and unfamiliar noise that peaked both Whisper's interest and ire the young mage begins making his way up to the top deck of the ship from the stuffy room he had been attempting to study his spent spells in. "Blast! Can't even get a few hours peace to recover my spells. I hope we didn't scrape against something large and knock half the crew off the boat." The mage mumbled to himself as he made his way, being sure to keep one arm on the interior walls if possible as he went.

[OoC] I'm not sure when and where upon the deck of the ship the PC will emerge but this should be quite the treat. I probably shouldn't have used that phrase.

[spike]

Araugauthos: 'my awesomeness would only be lost on the blind and the dim witted, cleric. I've no quarrel with the drow of the dark elf lands, so nay I shant do your bidding and wipe them out at your behest, silly priestess. I said you lacked fear, I did not say that your wits were such that you should suggest imposing tasks on me, the other way around. The work I have in mind for you, if you possess the wherewithal to seek me out concerns treasure retrieval. Why pray tell is a drow lord amongst your team, then? It was he that drew my notice.'

Zym: 'no reason, mighty one, just curious what lied on the surface, tis all. I could return to my deep city as I please, if I wish to. These surface folk are...interesting people'

Araugauthos: 'I see, fret not drow your secrets do not interest me as they might some others (looks at Karlene accusingly). And who is this buffoon that stumbles in my presence like a dotard drunkard? And a mage by the look of his rainment (looking at Whisper). I'd eat him if he weren't so puny a morsel. You're fortunate, wizard that I just supped on an Ogre and you'd only give me indigestion. Wizards make my lightening breath more the deadlier'

[Chris1234]

Karlane bows to the dragon and waits.

[SARRMATT]

Whisper froze in place upon making his way up to the deck of the ship and catching a glimpse of what might have caused the commotion that had interrupted him and also jostled the ship quite a bit.
[OoC] DM: I have no idea if the PC can act or not in his current circumstance. Feel free to DM PC him .

[spike]

He can, the dragon said something to Whisper so respond IC.