Goals:

1. Find out all we can about the city and it's inhabitants.

2. Locate allies inside and outside the city (Dwarves, Shastans,

Dragon Newts, Overmen, slaves (freed or otherwise), other

parties from Kernan).

3. Don't get caught and maintain a low profile.

4. Maintain a safe base of operations.

5. Remove scars/marks/magical signs from affected parties.

This would be a general chronological list of what I think we should do:

1. Locate a base camp. Criteria:

Within one to two days travel of the city of She Who Waits to facilitate

access.

Well away from the trade route.

It should have a water source, grazing, and hunting available.

I vote for NW of the city, along the base of the mountains, as this is the

less desolate side of the trade route, and we have potential for locating

dwarves.

Proposed watches (pick one from each -- supplement each with 2 drovers):

Akir or Misha, Vochma or Kasmira

Neda or Corlis, Gerald or Halima

Moth or Issek, Bo or Querya

Farid or Vochma, Corlis or Moth

Bo or Issek, Gerald or Kasmira

Neda or Akir, Querya or Misha

Whoever is in camp should divy up watches along these lines.

Any marked parties in camp should use available resources to:

Remove markings from affected people.

Use divination to answer questions.

Generally insure everyone is healthy and well.

2. City observation. I think Querya, Issek, and Kasmira should do this.

Querya is the chief stealthy-one, Issek can handle contacts with traders or

travellers along the roadway, and Kasmira can provide some magical support.

This should be a complete stealth mission, with NO contact with city

forces. I recommend staying well outside the encampment area for day 1,

getting closer as caution and common sense dictate. Contacts with

traders/travellers should be made well outside the settled area if possible.

[Somewhere here, Grath and his tribe depart. I think they should take

messages to the Duke about the situation down here. They should also pass

the word on to their fellow tribesmen, and any other allies along the way].

3. Scout near camp. I think Moth and Vochma or Misha might be good for

this. Moth is the most woodswise person in the group and well balanced

between offense and defense. Misha or Vochma add different offensive,

detection, and magical skills. I think these trips can be short, so the

party mix can be varied.

4. Probe into the mountains. I think this should be a larger group, and

prepared for a night away from camp and more serious hostile encounters. I

propose: Corlis, Vochma, Gerald, Misha, and Bo. The others can use this

time to recover from their previous activity and maintain camp security. We

have a good range of skills in this group too.

5. Scout into the Great Waste. Issek, Farid, Kasmira, Querya. Ideally this

group should seek out Dragon Newts, and any Shastans in the region.

Timeline:

Day 1-3 Establish base of operations. Establish lines of

retreat and course to Shastan oasis.

Day 3-6 City observation, scout area near camp.

[assuming we discover no major dangers near camp and

all above is resolved peacefully]

Day 7-9 Probes into the mountains.

Day 10-12 Scout into the waste.

Auguries:

I have not assigned our seerer any task, mostly because I would like to

engage her in her art. Two sub goals here:

1. Find out what we can about the city and its residents.

2. Get word to the Duke about the current situation.

I'm sure Livana can give us some insight on 1, but I'm not sure about 2. As

a fallback, maybe the Shastans can be convinced to carry a message to the

Duke since they're headed north.

Some Questions for the seer:

What was the purple glow that struck several party members?

What is the name of the Queen of the City?

What was the spider creature we fought before the city?

How is Vine involved in the city?

How many sentient inhabitants are in the city?

Where can we find the other group from Kernan sent south?

Where can we find dwarves in the mountains?

Who will be our best allies in destroying the city?

Rules of operations:

1. Avoid any contact with any city representatives. Keep as

low a profile as possible. Several people have disguise skill

in the group, and illusion magic. Using this to cover our

tracks would be good.

2. If engaged, retreat rather than fight unless you are sure of

a victory.

3. If you are absolutely sure you are going to be killed/captured,

make sure you take as many with you as possible.

4. Do not, under any circumstances attempt to enter the city.

The group as it stands:

I think this is complete, but Joe & Rich can correct any errors:

PCs: Corlis, Bo, Moth, Issek, Querya, Kasmira, Gerald, Vochma

NPCs/followers: Akir, Neda, Livana, Farid, Misha, Halima

NPCs/others: Grath, Shastan tribesmen, 12 drovers, 12 camels

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Mark

Mark Thomas http://www.clark.net/pub/thomas