Howdy Folks!
Okay, first question -- since it is plenty in advance, I can certainly change the 14th of September to be the 21st of September instead. Pete, was the potential Cloggers event ALSO on the 14th, or was that a potential conflict on the 21st? Anyways, polling the party base for preferences:
(a) Make September's date the 21st?
(b) Keep September's date the 14th?
Second, as long as you stay south of other encounter areas and then just come straight into the Four Elements Shrine from the south, you can do so easily, without having to play out any encounters, i.e. the GM will allow that easily enough, with any subset of the party which wanted to do so. Thus you could indeed, while Til'k is resting (partially or completely depending on one or two days of bed rest), return to that Shrine and let Soshi Ashi extend her Shugenja powers to bring in both Air and Fire Elemental Spirits for her and Noku to converse with. A day or two of such activity should indeed be sufficient to qualify as peaceful contact for the purpose of seeking out the initial mysteries of the fabled Elemental Lords.
Third, scouting invisibly and solitarily, as a ranger...hmmm. There ARE things out there which can See Invisible, so there might be some inherent danger involved. The GM is not convinced that he should allow THAT to be done by fiat -- at least not with just one character involved. But perhaps Gorvak has some stealth skills as well? If true, then a PAIR of rangers, both invisible and sneaky, might be allowable...because with two such individuals, if they DID run into something that could see invisible, they might well be able to defeat it -- or at least convince it that if they aree out prowling invisibly, and there are two of them, it might be too dangerous to attack them. (Many less savory creatures of the tales tend to waylay solitary travelers, but do not bother larger groups. TWO may not be a very large group -- but a creature which might be able to incapacitate one target may not be willing to try to take on two at a time, of unknown ability.)
So that depends on Gorvak's skills -- he is small, so should have a decent Hide bonus anyways (small characters get a +4 size bonus to hide checks), but he may not have put many ranks in stealth skills, I just don't know. (Mike? What are Gorvak's total bonuses in Hide and Move Silently?)
If that is the plan, the way it might work would be the party goes to the Shrine of the Four Elements, then cast some magics on the scouts, who go around the periphery 'just looking' while the spell-casters talk to the elemental spirits and the remaining warriors stand guard. That also leaves the Shrine as a fall-back position for the scouts to retreat to, rather than having to run all the way back to base camp.
Additionally, Isaku may be available to aid in scouting, or he may want to converse with the elemental spirits. What does Isaku have in terms of stealth skills nowadays? My sheet showing Isaku at 5th level only had a rank each in Hide (not that necessary if invisible) and Move Silently (a lot more important), so may not be that good at sneaking around, but at least he doesn't wear armor and does have some talents that could prove helpful.
(Ginny? The idea is a 'walk-about' around a large area of wilderness ground, just looking for evidence or more info on what might be found in the temple area overall, and Isaku could be involved in that, or else may be involved in watching Ashiko call up some minor elemental spirits -- including Fire, which I know Isaku has aan affinity for (grin), so he may want to stay at the Shrine and be involved in that activity. Isaku is currently at the base camp established by your barbarian friends about 4 miles from the Temple ruins; he remained there during the first trip to the ruins for reasons of his own, but is available for upcoming sessions, no problem.)
Note, by the way, with armor is not a limiting factor, Mulan, Gorvak and Isaku can all potentially benefit from Cat's Grace spells -- nobody has Gloves of Dexterity better than +2, so a little extra stealth could potentially be gained by getting more than that from spells. Also, a scout could be loaned an item or two that could make escape from conflict more viable -- i.e. if Ashiko loans someone her Boots (Tabi?) of Striding and Springing, that character would be much more able to get away from someone or something that might notice an invisible presence. Similarly, an item giving a bonus to WIS could be provided that would increase the scout's ability to Spot and Listen and make Wilderness Lore checks... Not sure what else would be appropriate, but you get the idea.
Fourth, Miya Hatori -- if you intend to scry out your new acquaintance, how many times during the next day or two would you do so, and at what times of day would you be checking on her?
In terms of time pressure, the indication from the Abbess was that excessive dallying and side trips probably were not a great idea, but that the task as a whole might take weeks -- there was no clear identification of who or what else might be seeking the Jade Yari or other items, just that there were indeed other interests. So probably a day or two of rest will not be a problem -- it was sort of implied that if necessary a trip back to Waterstone Temple for major healing (restoration of permanent ability losses, raising from the dead, etc.) would be acceptable if necessary, that pressing on at a risk of permanent reduction in ability was certainly not expected of you, so resting up an extra day for Til'k to get fully healthy certainly sounds okay, especially if while that is happening there is scouting or whatever going on which advances your cause at the same time.
And of course the Jade Yari, while a potent item in the proper hands, is
not the item that the Temple itself is expecting to claim -- so hey, if
tarrying overlong results in someone else getting that item, well... A
lot depends on just WHO gets it, of course -- but it is likely that
anyone of good heart who gets their hands on it will use it for its
primary purpose in any case. And if some evil force gets it, well, that
gives you guys even more incentive to retrieve it at that point!
So the GM thinks that a couple days of rest are probably appropriate, gives the spellcasters a couple days of contact with elementals of their preferred variety, a couple days of palantir...er, crystal ball scrying, and a couple days of walk-about scouting.
So let me know the answers and details and so on requested above, and any specific plans based thereon...
-- Ernie III