Karwelas
Dwarf Taffer
Will read ideas and vote soon guys. Sorry for getting late, I don't have so much time now.
Write the outline of the plan as per this post and show it to Reinhard.
Preferrably, we should be done with this part by the time Mazzarin wakes up and asks us WTF is going on, because the Mage knows better than anyone that you don't need any special insulation from 'harmful influences' to use the Gate. If not, then, hopefully, Reinhard can either stall him until we are done (he has no idea of our plan yet) or explain why we are taking that extra step without him alerting the whole camp. Alternatively, we could inform him through Emrys.
We should ask Reinhard if there is a location in Stoneheim that is big enough to hold the entire army, and that is easy to secure and defend, and removed far enough from the conflict raging there that it has a reasonable chance to stay in one piece.
Sounds like a perfect job for Finn & Co. Night is when they are at their best.It is currently evening, if you want to screen the whole army before Mazzarin wakes up you will need to work through the night.
The scanning itself takes a few minutes, and then the guys would be free to do whatever they like again. Assembling the troops, though, that might take time.However, since almost everyone is off celebrating it will take several hours to break up the festivities and get everyone back to their proper units. Is is also likely to instill a bit of resentment on the part of the troops, since you will be breaking up their reveling.
Why is it difficult to secure? It is a stadium, right? Secure the outer perimeter and you should be fine.3. There is the old arena, in an earlier age the dwarves would make captives and monsters battle one another for their amusement, the practice has since waned though it is not actually against the law. The arena would be a bit small for an army and it may be difficult to secure though it would provide more protection than the park would once secure.
Is there a problem with that? How far is the city from there?4. The entrance to the grand mausoleums on the second lowest circle is a giant, clear field of stone. It will be free of obstruction and well removed from the Beast's army. Of course you would be starting right near the bottom of the city and would need to climb the rings up to the surface.
I believe a crude map might not be out of place. What different parts of the city are there, and why are they separated with gates?5. There is also the garrison's marshaling squares on the first level of the city. This would drop your army right near the fighting if you think that might be helpful, there would not be a lot of room though you could always make use of multiple squares, opening and closing gates to different parts of the city, come to think of it...
He would not have a lot of choice in the matter if Reinhard will back the plan up as the one that is most likely to secure Stoneheim. Mazzarin is a mage, not a general, and by what we have seen of him, he is a pretty lousy strategist. Given the choice between casting spells and looking awesome (which is all that is required of him), and coming up with an alternative and equally effective plan (which would not involve craling through the desert for a week), he should prove agreeable to the former.Also, he notes that a lot depends on how cooperative Mazzarin feels like being, but that fairly obvious.
Why is it difficult to secure? It is a stadium, right? Secure the outer perimeter and you should be fine.
Is there a problem with that? How far is the city from there?
Wait, 'second lowest circle'? What does the city look like? How many 'rings' are there?
why are they separated with gates?
Any other squares in the first ring? Perhaps closer to the city center? The army does not have to fit in one, we can occupy a whole district if needed.
What would he prefer? Suppose that no other magical shenanigans are involved and the choice of destination is fully up to him, which place would he choose?
Why?He would take the park on the third level if everything was equal.
Why?
Does he think we might have to act immediately upon arrival?
We will need to reorganize after we arrive and sort through the people - and we don't want to be interrupted. Perhaps the army would need to rest, too, given that the soldiers would be up half of the night being scanned. We'd likely have to wait before regain our top combat ability.
Fangshi I assume Finn is OK with helping us with the inspection?
The mausoleum entrance was my first preference, too, but there are some things to consider.Well, we probably need at least an hour to sort through the traitors when we get to the other side. It would be best if we were some place quiet and large enough to hold our entire force so we don't have to worry about the logistics of splitting our forces three ways during the portal jump. That leans me towards the mausoleum.
Why not do the whole force, then? Reinhard has the authority to call up an urgent meeting, and if he says he is going - which he is fully in the right to say, what are the Lords going to do, stay behind? Argue to leave Stoneheim for another week? Dare the portal - which they know nothing about - without proper precautions?If we are going to do the inspections tonight we might want to just do the main army as we can use Reinhart's authority to call them up for inspection.
We need to know what forces we have to scan with before we call everyone together. Fangshi.
Nevill said:Cropper has the 'Horn of Summon Finn', and the fairy king promised to respond to our calls. That's if Crop does not know where his lord is in the first place, which he might, given his penchant for eavesdropping.
So the plan looks like - get Crop out, find Finn, rope him into helping with the plan, and go from there.
I think we have a few scanning teams already assembled?
Voting like here, but with no identification. I expect that Maz might find out we using his student, if he is not busy enough.1. Captured Cropper (and Enrico): How do you wish to handle the situation?
E) You will leave Cropper and Enrico to make their own escape.
2. Mazzarin, the Impatient: When Mazzarin wakes up he is going to want to continue south. You want to screen the army however and that is liable to take a few days. You will need to convince him somehow to do what you want.
E) The Gate & Scan Plan + D) In the case if Mazz will need a time to 'think' about it.
3. Emrys and the mail: Did you try to get Emrys to let you look at Lyssa's letter to Mazzarin or did you deny your curiousity?
C) Ask Lyssa about the contents of the letter when you are alone.
4. You currently have a number of unidentified items on you. You could potentially try and get the Seekers to identify them, provided they don't know those belong to you. Do you go through with it?
C. No, you do not want the Seekers poking around in your magical items. Instead you will offer Emrys the opportunity of identifying them.
5. Provided that Cropper finds Finn for you and provided you succeed in your plan to stay at the oasis for a day or two, you can ask Finn to send a runner to Muirthemne to take care of some matters, like delivering a message to your team and recovering Gullveig's correspondence which might help you with the investigation. Will you go for it?
A - yes, send a runner.