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Mikal

He listens to all the suggestions and information before answering Daxia's question.

"The advantage to splitting into two groups is that those on foot can leave thru a path that none will know of and none will know they've left. It will be extremely hard for anyone to find their trail, especially if Celi leads them cross country in a roundabout manner to our rendezvous spot. Probably not even any need for disguising the trail as none will know where to start looking and those mounted will be the obvious target to follow."

"In the meantime, those who are mounted, plus perhaps Longtooth who can keep up without slowing the riders, and who leave via the main gate will be known to have left and their hoof prints will be easily followed. However, they can move quickly. So quickly that only cavalry could possibly follow."

"The mounted ones will be able to tell if they have any close pursuit, and will be able to keep ahead of it. They will then lead the pursuers into an ambush, setup by those afoot at the spot Celi and I agreed to."

"To accomplish setting up the ambush, those afoot will need to leave several hours before those mounted. I'd suggest we all work together to remove the walls between warehouses, and once that is done those on foot all leave. Before midnight. The mounted ones can spend more hours moving the ore and replacing the walls and then leave a bit before false dawn. That will give those on foot a good handful of hours head start to get away and into position. Those mounted will meet them, and if closely pursued, will lead them into said ambush."

"Leaving the horses at the inn and picking them up on the way is a good idea, as this inn is much closer to the gates then the warehouse it."

Daxia
with the Gang in the Commons

Daxia listened as each person spoke, waiting until all had finished speaking, and Nessa had come with their meal and gone again, before commenting on their ideas. "Ta, many ideas. First, I say what... hmmm... connections, patterns Dazi see, ok?" She sighed and muttered something about 'Kassia' before continuing.

"Darian's question is key... which is more important, speed or stealth? And I think the answer is neither... or both.

"You are all assuming we are being watched every moment, and that pursuit is inevitable. However, I do not believe either to be the case.

"From Her rising to Her setting, yes... eyes are on us wherever we go. But when darkness falls, it is not ordinary for people to venture out unless they have a very good reason. Likely the only people out after dark are the Town Guard making their rounds. The Merchant Princes are snug in their homes, their bullies tucked in for the night. We have settled ourselves here, and here we'll stay... or so they assume.

"Mikal wondered earlier how it was that the Mark were ready to go when he and Celi left last night, how it was that the Mark followed them so quickly. Mikal thought there was someone spying on us, hence our subterfuge earlier today." She looked at her Second, grinning. "For someone who says he hates intrigue, you have an odd habit of looking for it, Mikal." She chuckled as she shook her head. "Why would the Mark follow you at all? It is because they thought you were leaving Cragside with the ore. The Mark wants the ore... or rather, their employer wants the ore. How did they manage to follow so quickly? Very likely their employer said, 'Stand ready all day, keep a close watch, do nothing else... unless the ore leaves the town.' Didn't Dama Kelleni say they were behaving exceptionally well, and that they seemed quite smug about something. I am guessing... but I don't think my guess is far off the target... they were tasked with 'escorting' the ore to their employer no matter who the buyer turned out to be. At the moment, the Mark are likely down at the Bar and Fire, doing much as we are now... having dinner, drinking ale, conversing with one another. They may be annoyed with Mikal and Celi's little trick yesterday, but they believe the ore to still be safely in the warehouse. And it is in the warehouse... for now.

"Hiding the ore -- as we will do tonight -- and making it look like it has somehow been taken out of town -- a task Dama Kelleni will handle, though it will take days or even handfuls to accomplish that -- will put the Dark Mark in the awkward position of explaining to their employer how they managed to fail so spectacularly." She paused to take a sip of her cider. "I think it would be a good idea if we stay away from Bordertown.

"So who will follow us? We do not have the ore. Everyone wants the ore, the Mark seems to think they will eventually obtain the ore... but we? We do not have the ore, and are not worth following.

"Ah, but what of this dead Imperial? That would be the business of Lord Shannon, who will likely arrive at the town gates after breakfast, at which time I would like us to be at least two or even three handful of miles down the road. The Lord will inquire of the Merchant Princes what manner of trouble they are causing, and they will have to explain that somehow a dead Imperial happened to find his way into town. They will, without doubt, deny knowledge of how such a thing could happen... it is, after all, their bargain with Lord Shannon that they not cause him any problems. They will point in a westerly direction and claim some strangers rode into town, caused all the trouble, and then -- as impossible as it sounds -- snuck out of town in the middle of the night.

"I think Lord Shannon is lazy. Or perhaps, here at the very edge of the Kierkegaard lands, it is wiser for him to look elsewhere; I don't know. He allows the Merchant Princes to run Cragside, however, because he doesn't like trouble. I suspect his attitude will be something on the order of, 'Well, they're gone... but I don't want this to ever happen again.' And he will happily return to The Rock."

Daxia paused to eat a spoonful of stew, and washed it down with more cider.

"I don't see any reason why we shouldn't leave together. Going to the warehouse will be easier if we leave the horses here; with the equipment Kadri spoke of, I would hope we can be out of town no later than halfway between midnight and Her rising. That should give us time to get us the three handful of miles away that I'd like.

"Masking our trail would be a purposeless endeavor... there is one road that goes in two directions. Eastward takes us into the Highgaard Reaches, and it would be a miserable journey during Storm Season. It would likely take longer than usual to reach even Highgaard Keep, and even I -- who grew up in these mountains -- would not want to make that journey. Westward is the only viable route at this time of year. Whether they see our footprint or no, they will know we have gone west. The simpler we keep things, the better.

"And don't worry about the horses being annoyed at a slow pace, Celi." Daxia smiled her. "They like to choose their paths carefully, so at night or in bad weather it's perfectly normal for them to accept the same pace as a walker. And sometimes I think Fern is rather lazy." She winked.

"There may come a time, however, when some of these ideas for evading people or confusing them might be useful. I hope not... but then I didn't expect Cragside to be quite so... interesting, either."

She tore off a piece of bread and soaked it in the stew gravy before eating it.

"So I propose we all go to the warehouse once it is full dark, all of us keeping most vigilant..." She turned to Kadri. "You'll guide us on a route most likely to avoid the Town Guard, da?" Daxia's eyes scanned the faces of her companions. "We will work diligently and as swiftly as is safe to move Elise's ore to Dama Kelleni's neighboring warehouses. When that task is completed, Kadri will guide us back here where we will collect Lisica, Fern and Talia before making our way to the gate where Mikal's friend will allow us to slip out. And then we will go westward together with as much speed as the night will allow. May we be blessed with a clear night."

Again she paused to drink her cider.

"If you have objections or think this plan needs modifying, please speak. But we have little time... even now, we are losing Her light."

ooc comment: Also, when it comes to the nuts and bolts of everyday travel, there is little time difference between walking and riding; most riding is done at an easy walk to not tire or abuse one's mount - the benefit, of course, being that when you arrive it is the horse that is tired, not you.

Pushing faster than that tends to tire not your horse faster than you'd wish; the only time - without extenuating circumstance - you would want to do that is if you had a way to exchange horses. Also, a horse worked hard requires much more time to properly bed down.

Oh! and an additional note ... it might be a bit risky riding your horse at night faster than a walk anyways ... especially if there was a cloud over the moons

Kadri:

She pauses.

"I can help in covering our tracks. I have some. . ability there. Learned back home."

Daxia
with the Gang in the Commons

Daxia raised an eyebrow as she looked at her friend, an odd smile forming. "Not so necessary, but make confusion... maybe somebody think funny, yes?" She winked at Kadri. "If easy, not make Kadri tired... Dazi think funny, too."

Darian

"We go together as we came together. They not know we all only meet at gate."

Celi

Celi stepped forward and made her case for split travel. "I am not trying to insult anyone's intelligence, but ... we are escaping, are we not? There will be people trying to prevent it. And these people will be chasing the riders, will they not? I say we have to consider the circumstances.

"A horse at a trot or canter will travel three to six times as far as a walking man, which over a ha'day or a full sun is a considerable distance ... and it is even more, if you can afford to gallop anywhere along the path.

"Trying to compare the two *when we are escaping* fails to take the circumstances into consideration. The horse riders will not be holding themselves to a slow walk. And if we go together, we may be chased immediately, and will not be able to set up any meaningful ambush to disconcert the pursuit."

She folded her arms. "These are my thoughts, since as Mikal can attest, the ambush will be mine to manage."

Bekkah

She accepted the gift of the apple from her sister and smiled at her as she sat down across from her. She was glad to see Lia returned to their company, she'd been worried about the young girl.

But now they were back to the seemingly endless plotting. While her journeys had been hard at times, they had almost always been simple. All this plotting made her head hurt. It was times like this that she realized the poor really did have the good life. Still she would support her sister and her new friends even if it meant once again giving up the luxury of a nice warm bed.

Daxia
with the Gang in the commons

Daxia listened as the young woman spoke, attentive and nodding at the facts she presented.

"I hear your thoughts, Celi. Your words do not fall on deaf ears. What you say is correct. But what I think you did not hear in all my words -- I will admit there were many, so this is no fault of yours -- is that the base upon which you stack your facts and your plan does not exist.

"If a farmer discovers a rat in his barn, he will spend considerable energy to drive it away. However, if it should leave on its own accord and take up residence in an Inn a day's journey away, he will be pleased for the respite and give thanks to the Deity he serves. He will not travel to the Inn to continue harassing the rat.

"Yes, we are escaping Cragside.

"But they are allowing us to escape... for we are of no more interest to them than the rat is to the farmer."

Cesare

"For those on foot to get out, we need knotted rope pre-rigged, grappling hooks and lots of luck in climbing the walls that have guard patrols. The more of us there are, the harder it will be."

He does not comment on the ambush plan. Most here are not seasoned fighters and he doesn't think it will work. Besides he is fairly convinced that once away from town they are not important enough for others to pursue.

"One thing we do need to sort out, regardless of what plan is accepted, is that we are ready to travel. Do people have suitable boots? Warm clothing? Can they carry their own kit long distances on foot? Or could the riders walk and we use the horses as pack animals? Do we have all the supplies we need, food and water being the most important?"

Darian

"Me 'n' Longtooth be ready. We did walk many handfulls of days, more make no difference. Forage and hunt can be done as walk. We have done before. And water fall from sky soon if no stream found."

Her people did not ride. The places they lived and hunted were not meant for horse travel for the most part, and again, the wealth that could buy a horse was not over important to them. She knows of ambush, of laying in wait, but if it as as Dazi says, and she suspects it is, once gone they will no longer be of concern, then the extra time is best used to take food on their journey, whether by forage or hunt.

Kadri:


"Our best bet. .I think. . is to try to make it easy for them to let us go. We need to. . not too much act like we are running. Like prey when being hunted, running and acting like prey encourages the predator to act like a predator and give chase. Until we have to. . we do not want to give them a reason to give chase. If we run. . . they may loose. . . ."

She pauses, racking her brains for the appropriate term - she knows it in her native tongue, but not as much in the language of the realm.

". . lose. . honor, if they do not give chase. People who do not know there is a reason for us to flee would see us fleeing and wonder - why do those of the Rock not give chase? People in their position need to. . maintain an image. A . . comfortable lie that keeps everyone satisfied. We pretend not to be running, and they pretend we aren't important to chase, and the people pretend that there is nothing to chase, keep their heads down, looking at their feet instead of the horizon, and life goes on. The more interesting we make ourselves. . . the more interested they will be. We need to be ready to run if need be. . but we should not be running until they decide to give chase."

Mikal

Listening to Cesare expand on his route, he grimaces, glancing back and forth between Celi and Daxia. After their exchange, he speaks up.

"I had not realized it would be that involved, Cesare. An inn like this is unlikely to have grappling hooks, and it is late in the day to go thru town searching for them. I had hoped you might find a spot in town where a building's roof was close enough to the walls to jump the distance, then only a rope with a slip knot would be required to get out. But if not", he shrugs, "and added to Daxia's certainty that we are not personally a target, then I am satisfied for us to leave together."

He turns to Daxia, smiling slightly, "And the reason I hate intrigue, is specifically because every time I look for it I find it. And when I don't look for it, it leaps up and bites me in the ass."

Looking over at Celi, he continues, "I agree with you, Celi. I'd like to split up and get an ambush setup, then hope we don't need it and can continue down the road unmolested. However I am pretty sure the gate will only open for me, and only one more time, so if going over the wall is too complex then going out thru the gate in two separate groups is not likely either. We really have no option other than to go together."

He looks over to Cesare. "And Cesare brings up a good point. I am equipped for the road. All I need I carry on myself or Talia. I've traveled during storm season, and even winter at need, so I can do it again, but I don't know about the rest of you. I expect Daxia is likewise equipped and I am sure Darian and Celi, being used to the out of doors, are prepared. But what of the rest?" He looks around, coming back to Cesare.

"As for using the three horses to carry everyone's things I think you over-estimate what they can do. First, they are cavalry mounts, not pack horses. They are not used to carrying a load like Carters or Drafts. They can carry some extra, yes, especially if they are not ridden, but you will all need to pack most of your own gear on your backs."

"Which leaves food and water. I think water will not be too much of an issue. It being storm season the rivers and streams will be overflowing. A water-skin or two apiece should suffice. Food is another matter. I carry dried rations, but not enough for all. Fresh food will rot in a few days. I suggest we ask the innkeeper if he has any dried meat and", he glances at Daxia, "perhaps you can convince Captain Dandelion to part with some of the Horde's remaining stock of travel rations? It won't last thru the winter anyway. They'll need to restock so she's just going to throw it out."

"The rest is personal gear. Good, warm cloaks and something to keep you dry in anything short of torrential downpours. Some extra quarrels and arrows would not be amiss either."

"As for travel, yes West. But where? Brementown is closest, but is it too close for comfort? We can continue on to MacMurphy's Tavern, close to the Sakefla Plateau. That ought to be far enough from here."

He looks at Daxia to see if he missed anything, and finishes, "Unless you were considering Trundle-on-the-hill or going all the way to the coast?"

Kadri:

"There is a passable tavern about a day's travel from here, along the main road."

Bekkah wonders where those taverns were on her travels

[OOC: Bekkah obviously did not travel the main path. ]

Daxia
with the Gang in the commons

She grinned at Mikal. "Oh, I will gladly speak to my Temple-sister, I am only concerned with the number of coins her Quartermaster will want after he tallies everything up. I am prepared for travel, of course, as that is what I am meant to do during my seasons outside the Vale." She shrugged, and swallowed another spoonful of stew. "Under no circumstances are we going to Trundle-on-the-Hill," Daxia said seriously, though she maintained her smile. "Ah, I should amend that... any of you who are suicidal are free to travel there. Do you forget why we are leaving town tonight? As Camelia can attest," she said, nodding to the young woman, "Trundle is an Imperial town. And as for going all the way to the coast..."

She sipped on her cider, and her grin was once again directed towards Mikal.

"Why not? Kadri and I certainly have reason to travel that far, and you may wish to join us. Katshka... ah, you did not meet her, did you? No matter, her father is the best trainer of horses on the mainland. I don't believe that to be bias on her part... while many Dayalans have Kierkegaard-trained destriers, the best horses come from Mikaelsson Farm. He did a fine job of cavalry training Fern; why should I not have him destrier train her, as well?"

Darian

Darian shrugged at suggestion of traveling all the way to the Coast.

"We sent to find new territory. Not know where it be. Mayhap find new Pack too."

[ooc: edited to reflect the proper distinguishment of time and distance measurement. Sorry for the confusion, boss!]

Daxia
with the Gang in the Commons

Daxia's attention swiftly shifted to Camelia, a very surprised look on her face.

"Hoi!" Then she shook her head, and closed her eyes for a couple of heartbeats. When she opened them again, those sapphire blue eye looked directly at Camelia's, and there was a soft smile on her face.

"I invited everyone's opinion, Camelia. Yours is as welcome as everyone else's. But I do not like the idea of splitting the group in town any more than I like the idea of splitting up when we pass through the gates. Here is why: among the eight of us, Kadri is the one most intimately familiar with Cragside, though I don't doubt Cesare, Darian and Longtooth have discovered some parts of it. In a group, Kadri can guide us through the safest routes. You did well last night keeping watch as we returned to the Inn; so we managed to avoid one of the Town Guard patrols. If you would be willing to do the same tonight, it would add value to our endeavor and keep all of us that much safer.

"I have somehow managed to become leader of this small troop, and as such I cannot allow you to needlessly sacrifice yourself. We are..." She paused to regard each of the other members of their party, before returning her attention to Camelia. "We are a single unit. We may not work together well, we may not like one another, we may not even really know one another... but those are things only time can work out. Right here, right now... we are a single unit that will leave Cragside together, or we will stay in Cragside together." She, too, chuckled wryly. "As much as I would enjoy spending the Storm season with your sister and her Horde, it is infinitely safer for us to be elsewhere."

She paused, and started to turn back to her meal... but instead refocused on the young woman, head tilted to one side. "Ignorance can be cured, Camelia. There was obviously something I said or did, for we seem to have been mostly at odds since the moment we sat down two nights ago with your sister. Perhaps, if you are willing, we might talk as we travel tomorrow to discover how we can work together, and learn more about one another. I would never claim to know all there is to know about anything, but what knowledge I have -- aside from Temple secrets -- I am most willing to share."

The Dayalan's gaze, though friendly and sincere, did not waver from Camelia.