Thursday 12 July 1280, Morning (Planning Outside the Cave)

Gaven has the hirelings pick up the long bows to replace their short bows.*

"How shall we proceed?" the cleric asks. "We should not dally in case one of the raiding groups returns."

Pointing to the map, Gaven says, "Perhaps we should secure the first storage room and then light a fire between the first storage and living area to try to smoke out the others. Or maybe try to secure both the first storage room and the living area and then start a fire between the living area and the second storage room to smoke out Mackey."

He has Oloc ask Flox how long the pathway from the second storage area to Mackey's area is, in order to better decide where to light a fire if that is what the company decides to do.

Flox says he doesn't know, but one of the other bandits who claimed to have gone back once told him that it was "a long tunnel."

"First we must disarm the trip wire," Duran says. "I think we should secure the storage room, pool and living area. We could then try to smoke Mackey out but the smoke might be sucked back towards us if there is no other exit. Then again who knows how things will go in the cave. We might draw Mackey out after killing all of his men."

Looking at the cave entrance, Duran sees a waist-high, loose pile of rocks of varying sizes that half-block the entrance all the way across it from one side to the other. Just over the top of the pile, on the inside, is the thin rope Zander told you about, which, after traversing the full width of the entrance goes through an iron eyelet ensconced the rock and then upward into the shadows of the ceiling where the falling rocks must be concealed.

Oloc listens to the others consider various courses of action. "Whatever course we choose, I am of course without my spell until I have time to rest for the night and study. This means you can count on me for little in the fight."

He scratches his head before continuing. "But if we do attack, perhaps we should draw them out a couple at a time with Flox here. Like we did with the goblins before. Then we can ambush them before they warn the others. It may not work for long, but it could help put the numbers in our favor." Oloc will then defer to the 'fighting' men to make the actual plans.

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OOC: Actions?

*I've replaced the three hirelings' short bows with long bows, and I currently have the porters carrying two of the short bows, with one given to Flox. As you are discussing the possibility of using him as a decoy as you did with Dirtbag, I assume you'd want him to have some sort of bow to avoid suspicious questions as long as possible if you send him in.

If you guys decide to cut or otherwise disarm the trip wire, I'll need to know who specifically will do it (and any specifics of how it will be done, if you wish), as there is always a chance when disarming a trap that a slip will cause it to go off anyway.

If you decide to simply try to climb carefully over it, I'll need to know the order in which you go.

If you opt for some other means of getting around it, give me as much detail as you care to.

Time is about 11:00 a.m.