CH. 04 - Prince Hluuwee, Fabulous He

[Daos]

The following morning the party wakes up from their spots in the basement of the inn, where the other Kanatans are forced to stay.  The potlatch seems to be over now, as things outside have calmed down and gone back to normal.  They still have about a week before Prince Hluuwee passes through, so it's up to them to decide what to do in that time.

[HorizonsDream]

"So, what is the plan today?" Kalinda asks the others softly.

[MaltholLoth]

Terani quietly mused to himself in thought for a while. "I guess we have some time. It may be worse to see what plans there are for the prince's stay, as I imagine certain things will be made ready. It would also benefit us to know a much a we can to plan what we will do, how are will do it and counter measures for it's failure. At least for now, our current situation will be to keep working and prove ourselves as trustworthy." He gives a heavy sigh. "So... Basic plan ideas. We separate him. We ask him to join us in coming back and he says yes. We return. That's the ideal... So before we go into details, what're the other points of where things happen not according to this?"

[HorizonsDream]

"We are going to have to be extremely convincing to get him to come with use willingly," Kalinda says. "Providing that doesn't work, we are going to have to kidnap him under the cover of darkness," she says. "We don't know where he is staying, and if he has any guards."

[GravityEmblem]

"Well..." April starts, counting out problems on her fingers. "We need to figure out how to separate him--which will be different depending on who we're separating him from. Then of course, we need to persuade him somehow. And even if he comes willingly, his family aren't likely to just let him abscond to an enemy nation."

[HorizonsDream]

"But, if rumors are correct, he isn't exactly on great terms with his father," Kalinda says.

[Daos]

"Perhaps we can case the town, get a feel for it, and come up with some contingency plans depending on where he might stay?  Assuming we're waiting for him to come here, that is," Blitz offers.

[GravityEmblem]

"Good idea," April says to Blitz. Turning back to Kalinda, she remarks, "As a manner of principle, a ruler doesn't let her heir run away no matter how much they don't get along. And even if the prince wants to get away from his father, that doesn't mean he'll jump at the chance to run away to a foreign country and marry a man he's never met."

[MaltholLoth]

"Well, let's try and think of some strategies for each point in turn. How can we split him away from his group? A distraction event, then with misdirection or pushing him away, perhaps a small slipped note? Hmm even some kind of temptation? Or...?" Terani asks. 

[Daos]

"Perhaps we can disguise ourselves to look like some of his soldiers?" Blitz wonders.

[GravityEmblem]

“That’s a good idea. Although female soldiers might raise an eyebrow,” April notes. ”But finding some soldiers to steal uniforms from should be easy.”

[HorizonsDream]

Kalinda looks like she is holding back a small smile when April says that heirs usually aren't let to run away, but whatever she is smiling about is lost to the group. With a shake of her head. "I mean, I suppose we could try to disguise ourselves as men, but I agree that finding uniforms seems to be the best option. Poppy is the only one that knows the language though, so she'll still need to be the one that does the talking, unless someone has some spells that might make it easier for the rest of us to speak."

[Daos]

"Right, right," Blitz says, smacking his own forehead.  "I keep forgetting the whole 'no women soldiers' thing.  What a backwards people," he sighs.

"Perhaps we need more information before we can start making contingencies," Mizzle suggests.

[GravityEmblem]

"So the question becomes: what do we need to learn, and how do we learn it," April says, thinking aloud. She wonders where in town they could learn more about the Prince and his guard.

[Daos]

"What do we already know?" asks Mizzle.  "I assume you learned some things in your briefing with the supervisor?"