That evening, before the party turned in, the camp was disturbed as a wild wolf arrived. The wolf, eye of the malstrom, trotted to the party tent and howled at West. West howled back, and after a brief conversation, turned into a wolf himself. The two calmly trotted out of camp, leaving Oleg and Gronk to wonder. The next morning, West was in their tent as they woke. He uncompromisingly informed them he needed to leave, and could not discuss the reason. Oleg got him to admit it was "Nature stuff," but he would not elaborate. West assured them he would return as soon as possible. He then turned back into a wolf and left.
Oleg and Gronk were somewhat baffled, but resolved to soldier on. In order to track down the hobgoblins, they decided to head back to the outpost. Finding the place was a bit more difficult without West's superior tracking skills, especially given that Oleg had never been there. As Gronk led through the hills, the party noticed a rider closing fast. They prepared for the worst, but it was only a messenger from Tebur, who handed them a scroll and two heavy sacks, then rode off. The scroll read "Oleg, For services rendered and future considerations, T". One of the sacks held a 6-lb. lump of platinum, while the other held a 6-lb. lump of adamantine.
After a couple of hours, Gronk successfully located the outpost. After breaking for lunch a short distance away, Oleg and Gronk approached the outpost to look around. They immediately spied a fine-looking greatsword lying unattended on the ground. Gronk insisted it wasn't there before, which concerns Oleg. "Fine swords like this don't just show up out of nowhere!" he grumbled. They pondered the mystery for a few minutes, and then prepared to move on to examine the outpost.
Just as they were moving for an entrance, their surroundings suddenly shifted. They found themselves on a rough, dark loam, near a rocky outcropping. It was dead of night, and they were illuminated by bright beams casting down from above. There was no natural light -- no stars, no sun, no moons. Fortunately, the beams provided some illumination. Behind them, they saw a large bright, angelic figure. Then there was a great flash of lighting, and they spied a huge, viscious looking demon in front of them. At the edge of their light, they saw a smaller demon approach. It was gnome-sized, with blood-red fangs and ebon eyes. Also, between Gronk and Oleg was a third humanoid, a human sitting and reading a book.
Feeling compelled, the three fought the demon. During occasional flashes of lighting, they could see the angel and larger demon battle. Their battle with the demon was long and difficult. It regenerated wounds, and everyone nearby was wounded whenever they wounded it. Just as they were making progress, two more of the small demons appeared at the edge of their vision. A collective groan rose as they approached. The angel, seeing their plight, called down great bolts of light, slaying all three. The distraction, though, proved costly, as the larger demon ensnared the lesser with a whip and started dragging it in. Still compelled, Oleg and the third human attempted to break the whip, while Gronk charged! Their efforts were in vain, and Gronk's spiked chain disintigrated after striking the demon. Irritated, the demon waved a hand, and whirling black disks sliced into the beams. As each beam was broken, the humanoid underneath disappeared.
All three reappeared back in the glen near the outpost. Shaken, they met the unknown human, Triben. They learned he was from some faraway place, apparently dragged back to this plane by the weird magics they had experienced. Triben, a wizard-priest, was no more familiar with those magics than they were. The group determined it must have been some weird summoning spell, unlike any they had encountered before. Normally, summoned creatures are returned with no memory or aftereffects, but the sun was farther in the sky, and they kept their wounds.
As they spoke, they noticed a humanoid in the hills to the east, casting about as if looking for something. They also saw, to the west, either very low clouds or smoke from a large encampment. They decided to let the humanoid approach, then rest and head for the possible encampment in the morning. The trio wated on a nearby hilltop as the humanoid wandered towards their position. As he got closer, the group established he was of a race none had encountered before. The humanoid immediately attacked, wielding some unknown magics in addition to a greatsword. The party was quickly able to subdue him, with Gronk wrestling him into unconsciousness. After some study, Triben was able to identify him as a "Githyanki", though he couldn't provide much more information. They tied him to a tree, and kept watch over him all night to prevent an escape.
In the morning, they interrogated him. At least, they tried to. The githyanki refused to answer any questions. Indeed, he never spoke at all, instead glaring at whoever addressed him. The party determined he was after the sword they had found, and offered it to him if only he would admit as much. Getting only silence in reply, they got very frustrated. After about a half an hour, with no sign of any discourse, they got fed up, knocked him back unconscious, and left with all of his posessions.
The party headed for the low clouds, which did indeed turn out to be smoke. About a quarter-mile from the site, in a valley between two hills, they spotted a body lying down. They moved closer to investigate, only to discover it was the same githyanki they'd left tied up behind them! Suddenly, with a yell, four more came rushing out of the bushes, charging the group. The fifth stood up, yelling "Death to those who've touched the sword!", and joined the combat.
Despite the continued use of unfamiliar magics, the party was able to handle the five githyanki with relative ease. After they knocked the last one down, they heard clapping. Looking to the ridges above them, they saw about thirty hobgoblins, all armed and ready for a fight. After some banter, the party agreed to surrender to them. They were not asked to surrender their weapons, but were surrounded and escoreted into the camp, along with their githyanki foes.