Negotiate for the gate's location from a seer (??) I know.

Dreamer's myth. After struggling to understand their what was happening for the longest time, they managed to hit upon a path which led to a distant land, on a pirate ship. Reaching harbor, they explored the town for traces of the person they came seeking. The pirate ship, on its own quest, fought its way to the (kind of) evil cult leader type guy, and so our adventurers followed them and surprisingly non-violently secured his help to find the original target. Words were had, reasons explained, and they came home with the required knowledge (and some interesting souvenirs).