Chapter 1 - The Beginning

"Nice weapon!"

Ütés admires the weapon for a few minutes longer and then puts it back on the rack.

As the dagger member closes the passage way behind your team and joins you in the room he introduces himself, "I am sorry for the haste, and the nastiness back in the tavern. Having heard your ordeal I'm sure a tavern is the last place you wanted to fight in. My name is Ramas. My job will be to get you in to rescue your friends", he nods to Aelar as he says this.

I trace both paths on the map with a finger and tell the others "It seems we have 2 options- the mountain pass to get behind the stronghold, or sneaking onto a caravan of some sort along the supply route around the mountain. Aelar, which option suits you?" I briefly acknowledge Ramas' presence, giving him a wary look. Can he suitably protect us in our journey? I surely hope so

Aelar approaches the table to look at the map, nodding to Ramas, "Any help you can give is appreciated," he says. He listens to Xadira and watches the paths that she traces on the map, "I'd have to know more details before I could answer that," he looks to Ramas and waits for his input.

Crollwell looks Ramas straight in the eyes. Crolwell smiles, showing his toothless mouth to the man. "What's the plan, my friend?'

Hearing the conversation between the others Ütés returns from the weapon rack and joins the others, waiting to hear what Ramas has to say.

"You're quite astute Xadira. I had heard your intellect was quite impressive, but I fear I underestimated you", Ramas says, looking genuinely impressed, "Few can pick up a cypher that quickly."

Ramas turns toward Aelar to answer his question, "Well neither is really any easier. Either way we are assaulting what is essentially a fortress. The mountain gives us the element of surprise, but the harsh elements up in those mountains are not to be tangled lightly with. The caravan would walk us right in through the front doors, but it is also heavily guarded and there is a complete guard switch half-way to the fortress. At this point we sort of pick our poison."

Next he turns to Utes, "I used to be a soldier myself, so I prefer the mountain path, less trying to sneak around. But the slopes themselves are quite treacherous. I will leave the final decision to all of you."

"The element of surprise would be most advantageous indeed but I'm not sure we're prepared to deal with the mountain elements." Walking back towards the weapon rack, she grabs the long sword she was inspecting earlier and turns to Ramas, "Either way, a fine weapon such as this would be of great use. With your permission, good Sir, I would like to take it on our journey."

"Of course", Ramas replies, "The Daggers have hideouts like this all around with similar weapon shelves. It's a sort of take an item leave an item system. If you ever find yourself without weapons and armor, try and find a hideout, you can resupply and rest up."

Ramas turns back and looks over the map of the island again, "Then the convoy may be our best bet. It would be best to get into the carts of the convoy before they change guards half-way through the route. So this cover of trees", he points to a small wooded area along the trail about a quarter of the way along the dotted path on the map, "This may be our best chance to try and distract the current guard and sneak aboard."

Ramas then produces a small set of notes with sketched pictures of people and creatures on them, "The first guard, from our intel, is comprised of a few human fighters, some goblins, and some bugbears. It would seem The Bard has been using his influence to coax more chaotic creatures into his service. The humans work for gold, we are still unsure why the goblins have joined the cause", he pauses to let you take all the information in.

Replacing the borrowed weapon with her own on the rack Ütés quickly holsters the new blade as she joins the others inspecting the map. "How long would it take us to get to the wooded area?"

Aelar thinks for a moment before speaking up, "You're both more experienced in this kind of thing than me, I will defer to you in this matter."

"... learned a cypher just like this when I was a child, so really it takes no effort at all. Anyone could solve it, really. Oh sorry, right. Convoy sounds like a most excellent plan." I nod vigorously.

"Hmmm", he sighs as he looks Xadira over for a moment.

He turns back to Utes, "We could reach this treeline by nightfall. It may be in our best interest to try and sneak aboard the caravan at night, the night should help us remain undetected. We will simply need some sort of diversion to get the convoy to stop long enough for us to get on board unnoticed. Are there any ideas for that portion of the plan?"

Aelar thinks for a moment, "I can handle the diversion with my magic. Should be able to distract them long enough for us to get where we need to go," he says to Ramas before turning to the others, "anyone have any objections?"

"What do you have in mind, Aelar?" Ütés asks as her military training kicks in. "Something subtle, I hope, as anything that appears as an attack may hamper our attempts to covertly board the caravan."

Aelar considers Utes' question for a moment, "Lights, sounds... a call for help, maybe, should distract them long enough to get us in there. Any suggestions would, of course, be appreciated."

"Agreed. If it looks like an attack they will more than likely turn the caravan around and security at the fortress will increase as well. However, we do need to distract as many of the guards as we can at once", Ramas says. He points to the woods on the other side of the trail, "If we could do something to draw them over this way, it may be our best bet."

"Consider it done. When do we begin this scheme of sorts?"

"The sooner the better." Ütés answers as she start securing her gear.

"We should head out as soon as possible. One doesn't know what we might run into along the way that might slow us down. Ramas, you seem to know more about the caravan than any of us. Open carts? Covered wagons? What would be our best approach to boarding?"

"Aelar, work out what you plan on using for a diversion. Xadira, gather your stuff and let's get moving. And for the love of the gods, Crolwell, stop that! Let's move soldi...."

The last word trails off quickly as Ütés realizes she's gone "full captain" on her new friends. Taking a deep breathe to calm herself - "My apologies. Old habits I guess...."

Ramas nods with Xadira's suggestion. "I agree. We shall move out just after this, but there is one more document we have received. Though the make-up of this caravan changes from time to time we do have the configuration from the previous supply trip", he says as he flips another piece of parchment onto the table.

It depicts a series of boxes with the same cypher labeling them. Xadira is able to crack it almost immediately, having figured it out before. The layout shows 6 wagons. The first two are open carts. The next two are covered wagons, and the last two are open carts again. Along these carts are 6 mounted riders. 3 on each side of the caravan spaced along the length of it.

"The riders are almost always guaranteed to be there. They seldom move from their spots along side the caravan, so this is why our distraction must be clever enough to distract, but not to make them think an attack is happening", Ramas explains, We can discuss plans more on the way but as Utes' said, we should indeed get ready and move out, unless there is anything else you would like to accomplish in this town?