** Part I: Fire and Ash **

[Chris1234]

“I hear you, Drusilla. Give me a few minutes and we can go over it,” replies Karlane. “Would you do me a kindness and go send Sarancen in and then remain hidden there to watch the portal? Please be mindful that others can hear whatever is said near a portal, so we should mention no names, nothing specific near one.” She smiles a knowing smile to let Drusilla know that she’s saying the last thing to reinforce it to the others present.

As Sarancen enters the kitchen, the priestess catches her brother’s eye to let him know that she’s heeding his words.

“My thanks for joining us, Sarancen, your input could be invaluable her,” Karlane nods to him, but still not truly warmed to him.

She turns to the map and starts her briefing, “There will be two caravans on this road to the east of Harby. Both will be heading west, perhaps a day’s journey apart, both similarly disguised as wine merchants. The second, most easterly one, is the weapons shipment. It contains from small arms, perhaps daggers and swords, up to ballistae, broken down and packed for transportation. This caravan is run by a bald, tattooed man, well versed in magic. He is accompanied by seven elite mounted black guardsmen who may protect the bald man with their tower shields. They are heavily armed and armoured and their weapons are coated with a paralytic poison.
“The lead caravan is a decoy, and may even contain wine. It is guarded by seven mounted black guardsmen as those with the actual weapons consignment. Furthermore, it is a trap, aimed at Idrys and myself and they have furthers aims to work against Lor. The trap comprises a further seven exceptionally skilful adventurers: Morga (a female barbarian), Storm (a male cavalier), Kelta (a female Elsmyrian), D'yrnigon (a drow assassin), Mergatroit (an elven mage), Dagger a human thief) and Bowgentle (a male human ranger). Of the adventurers, only the cavalier is mounted. Again, the black guardsmen may use their tower shields to protect the spell casters.
“Assuming that I can get us into a location to be able to ambush each or both of these, I need you to collectively decide how we should best tackle each of the caravans, but not simultaneously. Can we tackle both today? Strategically the weapons shipment is more important. Tactically and long tern the adventurers are by far the greater threat to us. And we will need to start by entering a hidden base that some of us were using previously. It may have been occupied by a powerful cleric and whatever forces he has, which may include shade warriors. I can get us in there by way of a portal.
“Over to you. I’ll be back in about 15 minutes.”

Karlane smiles grimly and leaves to talk to Drusilla.

[spike]

Sarancen was speaking to Idrys about 'the plan', pointing to a map with his dagger where the decoy train's party would be. 'Only one kink in your plan' he said openly, then took a few objects on the table and placed them to the left and right of the decoy train's assumed position 'if this is a special decoy caravan, expect these variables with a high chance of accuracy, call it my gut instinct and intuition if it pleases you' he said, taking a drink out of awaterskin. 'A unit of shock troopers here, almost undoubtedly a merry band of worg rider goblins' then he pointed to the second object, 'and here, bet your collective arses these are conscripted brigands with real expertise in ambruscades. Not your typical bandit, but professional and more cunning than a drow elf' he said almost completely self assured. He then said 'easy enough, if we move here ahead of the decoy, we set a kill zone here and here' he pointed to the highway that the decoy would be on, 'spiked pits, logs suspended by rope and studded with spikes. We can put your new drow friend against theirs, and our Elsmyrian against theirs. Should prove entertaining to say the least!'

[Chris1234]

"Well then, a plan. Thank you, Sarancen. How long is it likely to prepare such an ambush? And therefore how far in front of the caravan must we be when we start? There is yet more to do this day but we shall speak of that later. And who else has more to add on sorting out either, firstly, the decoy or secondly the real shipment? Can we do both at the same time, for example?" expanded Karlane, trying to draw the individuals towards being a team.

[spike]

Garosh spoke 'I can take the real caravan, either alone or with aid of another' he said in a casual matter of fact attitude. 'Ah if only Orath or Aronis were here, they usually do all this business' he said with a exasperated sigh.

Sarancen said 'one hour if I have some assistance, maybe less. Cut down a tree, sharpen some branches, dig some pits. The drunken mage can help in that endeavor (eying Whisper skeptically). There's some more details I haven't revealed yet. We only put a road block type of trap here, in front of the road, which will completely block advancement, the real kill zones are on the side of the roads, and we need to use missile fire to lure them from the decoy caravan. Soften them up, and reduce their numbers. It would be good if we can confuse the crap out of them. I want some oil spread in patches that we will ignite from afar. They will not be anticipating black cloak tactics employed against themselves' he said with a wry chuckle. 'Mage, during the commotion send your little bug in their midst to harass their spellcasters'

Valtor said 'I will confound them with a special spell I have in mind, a thick fog that hamper their vision, so they will not be seeing where our missile fire will come from'

Sarancen said 'I will require those darts with the black powder for some special traps I've in mind'

Azonia said 'the Elsmyrian will not fight against one of her own sisters, however this barbarian woman, be on your guard. Especially if she is a Nyriddian, they can be formidable as well as troublesome. I speak from experience and they are brutal as much as they unpredictable, able to turn ambush awry'

Nym said 'I will face her, I could use a bit of sport'

[Chris1234]

Karlane nods, “Good plan, Sarencen. Thanks,”and starts to hand over the darts with black powder. “We also have some darts that can polymorph the victim. Is anyone proficient with darts? Or does anyone not have missile weapons already? And we have a glaive, not sure if it’s magical. Whisper, you may as well take this. Worst that happens is you lose it in the bushes.“ She pushes the glaive over the table towards the reticent mage.

“Sarencen, unless anyone objects, you’re in charge of this ambush, including placing people, so let’s see what you really can do!” encourages Karlane as she smiles at the Black Cloak. “Now, let’s fill in any gaps. Do we have axes or digging tools? Or do we need to buy some? How much oil will you need? Does anyone have any idea how much we actually have? Do we need to go buy some? How will we ignite the oil? And how will we know when to close to melee? Beyond Nym taking on the barbarian, Morga, does anyone else have any preferred foes?”

Idrys slips in dead pan, “They all end up the same way. Dead.”

After any resultant discussion, the priestess concludes, “Very well, we finish up here, port across to our previous place near Harby, clearing that out if necessary. Might be nothing or else a powerful cleric, plus unknown troops, possibly shades. I have given some of you martial types a potion of invulnerability, gives immunity to non-magical weapons. Up to you when you use them. I can give out three more. Any takers? Does anyone have anything else they wish to distribute around? Healing is always useful.”

======
{OOC: @SPike - Have I got this right: Draft horse 12" movement, so can move 2x in miles per day =24 miles, but pulling a wagon etc is x0.5 so 12 miles /day? And Windwalk is movement x5 so for Karlane is 12" x 5(spell effect) =60" so in a day (2x in miles) is 120 miles. In other words the decoy and real caravan should be about 12 miles apart. Standard day movement is based on a 10 hour day (of movement) and so Karlane's WindWalk would, pessimistically, be 120m/10h = 12m/h and so its about 1 hour for her to close the gap between the two caravans. (Probably a little less as less rest time needed on only a short duration journey.)}

[spike]

SARANCEN nodded, then said 'we take up position here, in a trench, and wait for them to come to us, if they can manage to get past several pits full of impaler spikes. The ones who emerge to confront us we will pepper with missile fire and magic. Valtor's fog spell should help to confuse the crap out of them. The oil is easy, priestess. You will use a cantrip to ignite it from afar, have you no craft? You Lorian's are supposed to be cunning I'm told' he said with a chuckle, then resumed 'Azonia you're going to be mounted and dispatch any on foot with those crazy flying swords you wield, Elsmyrians are experts in the horse, lets see if your prowess can avail us all. Zym, you will use your drow magic to unleash that black ink ball over the spiked pits, so even if they leave Valtor's mist cloud they'll have magical darkness to further confuse the hell out of them'

The soldier said 'do not concern yourself with the tools, priestess. Whisper's pet bug will do all of the hard work for us, and in less time than all of us combined can. We have such helpers in he empire, so I know a thing or two about their capabilities. They are tireless workers and flawless in their labor. If the young fool can muster the wherewithal to offer his bug's service to us'

He paused for a moment then said 'this is what we will need: five caskets of wildfire, five slings, ten sling bullets, five scarecrows, which we will need to dress up as soldiers to present as decoy targets. I also need five crossbows, and twelve flasks already filled with flammable oil. Oh, and one last crucial supply: six two handed spears'

[Chris1234]

"We could probably get some proportion of that from the weapons caravan but the timing's wrong," Karlane nods seriously, all business-like. "Looks like some of you will need to go shopping. How much money will you need?"

After pausing for any replies, Karlane outlines her logistical thoughts, “, “I will cast ‘a Windwalk’ effect on myself & whoever it was that knows the Ranger to the south. The pair of us will go ahead until we can see the decoy caravan and then set a portal about an hour and a half to two hours ahead of the decoy caravan. Leaving the other to hold that position, I come back and fetch all of you, except Garosh, through the portal and then you all can prepare the ambush. I will go ahead again and place a portal to ahead of the real caravan. That will take best part of an hour. I will then come back through the portal fetch Garoth so that he can take care of the actual weapons shipment." She looks at Garoth, intending to tease him a bit, "That's quite a big undertaking you have, Garosh. Are you sure you don't need a hand with it? How long will you need?"

Back to business, the priestess continues, "Anyway, when Garosh is is position, I will return hopefully to be in time for the ambush on the decoy. If all goes well, we take out the decoy, get our breath back, take anything useful, and move up to Garosh's position and cancel the portal at the decoy site. Then we have a decision to make at to whether we split off any weapons for the elves. Either way, we can split off any manhandle-able crates through the portal to here while the larger stuff goes on a smaller caravan to Valtor's secret base and thence south by river. Depending on distances and time I might then Windwalk south to find the ranger, set up a portal there and come back to you. We could then manhandle all of the portable goods through to the ranger. Thoughts and comments?"

{OOC: @Spike - does Karlane have a "spare" portal capability in the greater stargem?}

[spike]

The dirty blonde haired fighter chuckled, affording Karlene a cocksure grin and smirked 'aye, I will be perfectly fine, worried about Graycloak are we?' he snickered, 'I'm the lord duke commander's little errand boy for a reason' he added. He produced six daggers, three in each hand and hurled them toward the far wall, they all moved in sync and somewhat slowly in the the air, but before they embedded they halted mid-air then, one by one returned to his awaiting hand instead and he sheathed them into hidden sheathes in the rib cage of his armor.

The fighter grabbed the glaive and handed it to Whisper, saying 'that's a difficult weapon to wield, and more for the likes of dhampir than wizards' he remarked, examining it fondly and denoting a mark on the blade 'enchanted to the first level of power, none too shabby. Don't recognize the smiths mark though, must be Kittish or Ghis' he added.

[Chris1234]

{OOC: @Spike - I think this lot slipped though the crack}

SARANCEN… paused for a moment then said 'this is what we will need: five caskets of wildfire, five slings, ten sling bullets, five scarecrows, which we will need to dress up as soldiers to present as decoy targets. I also need five crossbows, and twelve flasks already filled with flammable oil. Oh, and one last crucial supply: six two handed spears'

"Looks like some of you will need to go shopping. How much money will you need?"

{OOC: @Spike - Who's going shopping? How long's it likely to take? And how much is it likely to cost?}

… Karlane [says]… "That's quite a big undertaking you have, Garosh….How long will you need?"

{OOC: @Spike - How long?}

… the priestess continues, "… Then we have a decision to make as to whether we split off any weapons for the elves... while the larger stuff goes on a smaller caravan to Valtor's secret base and thence south by river. Depending on distances and time I might then Windwalk south to find the ranger…"

{OOC: @Spike - How far is it likely to be from the weapons shipment interception site via Windwalk to the elves place? And how far is it likely to be from the weapons shipment interception site via road to Valtor's secret base? And how far is it likely to be from the weapons shipment interception site via Windwalk to the Ranger's base base?}

{OOC: @Spike - does Karlane have a "spare" portal capability in the greater stargem?}

{OOC: @Spike - Want to keep the lesser stargem portals in place at the safehouse, at the assassins' base and at the salt bogs. One portal free for the above logistics moves/transportation which hopefully will eventually end up in Karac's tower. Need one more portal to facilitate the logistics moves. There's one portal in the greater stargem in the library/archive room and I'm presuming there's another portal possible with the greater stargem (otherwise it's a portal that can't go anywhere), but please confirm.}

[spike]

Sarancen said 'Send Garosh'

Garosh: 'Seventy gold should suffice, I will have spare which I will use for a worthy cause, I assure you'

Garosh doesn't know how long it will take for him to kill everybody considering he doesn't know how many he will have to kill. Minutes perhaps.

Ambush site to the Elven capital (cloudkeep)= 2 hr's via windwalk (vs. INT: failed

To Valtor's hideout: approximately 2 hours by foot, 1/2 by windwalk

No, no spares. She has no 'greater' stargem, they're both lesser stargems.

Garosh returns a half hour later after shopping, haggled down the price for all the ambush equipment to thirty gold, spent ten gold to get ten street children to be his lookouts around the perimeter of the safehouse keeping watch for anything out of the ordinary. And he spent five to hire some beggars to do the same thing, working in collusion with the children.

[Chris1234]

As she's counting out some money for Garosh's shopping, Karlane queries, "If we get the weapons and so forth to your hideout, Valtor, who gets it to the Ranger down south? And how much will that cost? Will he have need for the big stuff, balistae and so forth? Or should we just try and destroy the big stuff?"

As Garosh goes off on his shopping, Karlane approaches him quips, "I hope to see more of you later." She leans in close and whispers what the password will be for him to get to the weapons shipment portal. With deliberate ambiguity the priestess adds, "Don't use it without me."

After she hears Valtor's answers, unless the answers change anything, Karlane invokes Windwalk on her and Valtor and unless anyone else has business, she says, "See all of you in about half an hour or so. Be ready to leave on the instant, please. Whisper, you've got that long to get another spell or so in memory." Gently beckoning Valtor, Karlane calls, "Ready? Come on then."

She leads Valtor through the safehouse portal to the portal in the assassins' den. Advancing stealthily from the hidden passageway (that leads to the Lorian prayer room), she looks for signs that Idrys and Drusilla have had combat. (Or worse). If nothing untoward, she closes the secret door behind them and says to the air, "If you're listening, don't say anything, but I haven't forgotten. I will see you when I said." ~She thinks, I hope Lucian picked that up. I'll try and come back tonight for some more training.~

She leads Valtor out of the assassins' den and the pair walk off into the air along the east road. While they're walking she tells him, "When we find the right place, I'll leave you for a couple of minutes to guard the portal while I fetch the others." Heading east they look for the decoy and then pull back towards Harby to the point where the decoy is likely to reach in about an hour and a half. She then puts up the 'spare' teleporter fuzzy ball off the road behind suitable plantlife so as to be hidden from the roadway. Leaving Valtor she steps through the portal to the safehouse to get the others, apart from Garosh, and return with them to where she left Valtor.

[spike]

Valtor smiled and rubbed his goatee saying 'I've a secret means, which I do not yet wish to disclose to any here. All in due time. Destroy? Nay, I think not! Siege weapons are precious to the likes of kings, queens and emperors of the inner realms. I would lay claim to the arbalests myself, if you haven't any desire for them' he said in earnest anticipation of acquiring them.

The dweomer of the gem activates and powerful wind lifts and hoists you away with crazy speed, and you establish the portal. Everyone emerges one by one until they are no longer in the safehouse by on the side of the road in a dense forest.

It was just at this time that a giant spherical rust red colored beholder with protruding eyestalks emerged out from behind some trees and floated eerily toward the party, its animated eyestalks aiming each at a different individual target. This one was small, perhaps the equivalent of a small boulder. It croaked in a throaty monstrous voice : xinbah logollo garinungkadol mothrig'

Valtor's slanted eyes narrowed even further then translated 'It wants to see what we have in our bags' he explained in an irritated tone.

REACTION

[SARRMATT]

PC is ok with loaning beetle for digging/ setting traps and will even whittle sharp stakes and stack them neatly. The PC will decline the throwing glaive, him trying to hit an ac 10 is not good and should that fail trying a dex save at half would prove fatal most likely. Which job had the tie in with Lomag?

[Chris1234]

... The PC will decline the throwing glaive, him trying to hit an ac 10 is not good and should that fail trying a dex save at half would prove fatal most likely. ...

Rightly or wrongly it appears you're very negative about this. No need to be. Let's try and make you positive.

If you don't want to use a magical glaive then why are you proficient with a glaive? Terrible waste. (In case you didn't know, a magic user that isn't proficient is at a -5 penalty to hit.)
All level 1 char have the same THAC0 so no need to sulk about that.
It you made the Dec check (60% chance) then you catch it and can use it again. If you dont catch then it disappears into the undergrowth. I'd guess it only hits you on a natural 20 and you might get a save v paralysis to avoid.
The magical glaive gives you the ability to be able to damage the likes of lycanthropes. wights etc.
When you run out of spells, the possibility of hitting something becomes rather important.
Over to you.

Valtor's slanted eyes narrowed even further then translated 'It wants to see what we have in our bags' he explained in an irritated tone.
REACTION

Karlane flicks a glance down at her arms.

{OOC: @ Spike - Is the central eye pointing at Karlane? Is yes, can she see herself clearly? i.e. is the cloak's magic working or not?}

[spike]

Karlene doesn't see any refection in the large eye.