The Hidden Ones

MAL 17

 * Meanwhile, in Nick's absence Adriel went with Aler to tail the one-winged draconian Aler had spied leaving the scene of the attack. Aler observed him upstairs muttering into a crystal ball in a language he didn't speak. Adriel knocked on the door and engaged the draconian in conversation while Aler tried to sneak in the upstairs window. The draconian told Adriel his name is Alomar, he is a tinker, and he had no idea what the monster was, in fact he asked Adriel what it was. Adriel gave him her real name, but fibbed to him that the monster was a demon. Meanwhile Aler didn't find much, but he did pinch a letter in Draconian, which Adriel translated as being about Aluon. The letter writer, named Kafrak, seemed concerned that Aluon had disappeared, leaving his weasel behind, which made Kafrak think he had left the plane; he also asked Alomar to try to find information about the "Hidden Ones," who an earlier letter from Chavalk had suggested were League of Snakes members. Adriel tried listening in on Alomar's crystal ball conversations, but didn't get a great roll and caught only two snippets: "the fat little gnome" and "may be the one you're looking for." Those were not part of the same sentence. Adriel guessed this might be related to the Order of the Dragon, but didn't recognize the names Alomar or Kafrak.

MAL 18 & 19

 * Then the party, disguised as clowns, went to the Rivercity gang headquarters and broke in. Apparently expecting an attack, the thieves did not fight back but instead tried to use total defense, tumbling, and the deployment of traps to escape. Two escaped successfully, but the party killed one and captured three others, learning from them that they were in town to rendezvous with the drow necromancer Thrane Do'Ezzen and that they had been warned to stay away from someone called "The Hidden Ones."

MAL 23

 * As they left the Grey Citadel, Zadkiel was surprised to see his father waiting outside for him. They went to the Temple of Altaris to talk, and Zadkiel's father revealed that he is not actually Zadkiel's birth father, in fact Zadkiel's mother was already pregnant when he met her. They had used magical precautions to hide his parentage, but apparently something had happened to shake it loose, and a draconian had apparently observed it in Ruastin and told his dragon master, who now wanted to kill Zadkiel. "Why the dragon holds a vendetta against your birth father I do not know. His name is Hastaros, and he is an angel of Moradin." Moradin is a dwarven god.

MAL 24

 * After a certain amount of animated discussion on how best to avoid being turned into flambe, Zadkiel went to talk with Threndix, giving him information about the League of Snakes and the party's efforts to thwart them. With Zadkiel swearing a Draconic oath not to cause harm to Threndix as suggested by Jon, the firedrake seemed satisfied and allowed him to leave alive to go bother the League of Snakes further. Zadkiel also told him about the vendetta of the Aquan river god and Chavalk's plan to send the Hidden Ones after the Order of the Dragon, which gave Threndix pause.