"Indeed, our main obstacle is knowing when they leave. It might be worth it to keep someone on watch near the inn they're staying at and ready to give out a signal to the others for when they are about to leave. Arnar can probably do it in his eagle form, maybe listen in on a conversation or two as well, while the rest of us can plan and carry out the raid itself."
«Sounds like a plan,» says Arnar. «I suppose we can leave it for tomorrow though. If they have not left yet, they won't do so today, will they?»
"If you are gong to travel, you typically leave early in the morning so you have the whole day to make it to a place that is safe to camp. It's fairly rare for people to travel in large groups at night, unless their business is sinister i suppose"
Over the next days, Arnar checks each morning if the English magi leave town, and when they (or a smaller group) do, he is going to experiment with a new portfolio of weather pranks. As long as they stay in town, the four natives will meet and discuss potential raid strategies.
[OOC. If it takes more than three days, @silveroak, we may have second thoughts ...]
[OOC. I hope this is OK everyone. It feels as if we can move on ...]
On the morning of the third day a group of 5 magi begin heading out, headed west and slightly south.
Arnar circles the area, watching the English magi as they move inland. There is no need to trail them specifically, as the eagle's eyes allow him to watch them and a wide are as well. Where could they be heading? Is there a town ahead? Or will they have to camp in the wilderness? How quickly do they move? Do they have heavy loads?
After a couple of hours, I assume the English take a rest, and Arnar have been able to make a reasonable estimate of where they would end up by nightfall. Flying over the group, he tries spontaneously to create a thunderstorm over their heads¹.
As he flies away towards the city, he makes some circles, trying to watch their reaction. Again, he flies high between the clouds, hoping to be hard to spot. Close to the city, he picks up his clothes and go to meet his comrades, explaining what he has seen.
¹ Something resembling Clouds of Rain and Thunder at Sun duration and Touch range (L20 should be a small but sever rainstorm; if the rolled level is higher or lower, the rain is more or less severe) Roll 20 + Sta 2 + CrAu with weather focus 35 = 57 or L25.
The storm is quite severe, and the group sets up camp within a circle sized ward against rain that encircles the group.
Sionnach is the first to meet Arnar, having waited for him back at their base camp and having brought his clothes to him. Upon hearing of the storm making the group set up camp, he transforms and begins running in the direction of the storm cloud, leaving him with his possessions so he can catch up with the others and give them the news. He intends to arrive before the others and scout out the camp as much as possible without getting caught up in the rain.
Arnar makes his way back to the others on foot, assuming it is not too far. He is not sure if the English made camp for the night, or if they plan to continue when they have eaten, in spite of the rain. «Will you come and see what you can do?» he asks.
"I'll be trying to see what their camp setup is and if I get enough time try to set things up for the next step of our plan," he replies before changing shape and heading out. When he arrives, he first scouts out from the perimeter of the storm, primarily checking for what equipment looks most unprotected and easy to carry off. If nothing useful can be discerned from that distance, he goes inside the storm, trying to be stealthy but at the same time running in and out as to not get too wet.
At first word when Arnar reported that the group was leaving Bran gathered his things and left by another gate from the city, circling round and following them along the western route, though he purposefully moved slow and took frequent stops so as not to catch up to them. When he sees the localized rain storm he moved to the side of the road. where he waited to hear back from Arnar or Sionnach, having made arrangements last they spoke.
Having left the inn early, allow Bran to leave without the extra attention attracted by leaving with him, Ronan had slowly made his way outside of the city, taking the time to find a place to watch from to see where they might gather once more. He wasn't sure how much use he would be, while he was skilled enough in some areas, stealth and warfare was not one of them. Still, that is what this year was for, to explore ones abilities and do discover unknown weakness, before settling into whatever life you decided to make for yourself after that. Seeing the storm start to brew, he pulled his hood up and began to look for the others, certain that this couldn't be a coincidence
Since you didn't know which way they were going to go, how did you pre-arrange a meeting point along their route?
[My thinking was Arnar is a bird, he followed them for a little while came back to let us know which direction. I was also not thinking a specific meeting point but if Bran followed along that road, even at a slower pace, Arnar would just have to look for Bran. Anyway, I think this plan makes more sense if Ronan and Bran stay together.]
(updated)
Arnar did not expect Bran and Ronan to move so fast ahead. When he can't find them close to the city where he expected, he changes shapes, and picks up the pack with hist clothes using the porter's touch¹, and flies to find his comrades. He makes sure to land and change out of sight from the camp site.
At last the gather. «Hi, what do you think?» he asks. «I am not sure it is a good idea, but if you break that warding circle, they will get soaking wet.» he adds with a grin.
¹ should be relaxed; he is certainly outside the built-up area.
those who manage to follow the directions will arrive at the outlander's campsight just before dusk. The area they are in has stayed dry due to the ward, but there appears to be some discussion going on about heading out or making camp.
Upon arrival, Sionnach looks around and quickly surveys out the encampment. When the others come, he hurriedly changes shape and dresses with the clothes he'd entrusted Arnar. He grins as well with the thought of bursting the ward and soaking them. "A shame that they kept so dry but at the very least we got them to stop."
Did Sionnach manage to gather any useful intel on what they're more likely to steal or break? If so, anything he finds out he shares as well.
Their security seems pretty tight at the moment- they are keeping things secure not only from the outside but apparently from each other- for a group supposedly out to form a covenant there isn't a lot of trust there. Some have conjured structures for the night while others use tents, it honestly looks like the most mischief could be achieved by tripping their various alarms and keeping out of the way...
"The only thing I can think to do is walk right into camp and offer to play them a song, perhaps distracting them from whatever you might do. While playing I can probably make one of the grogs exceptionally angry at another but as that requires them to look in my eyes, I am unsure how wise it would be to be in their midst, casting a spell with my fiddle. I might also tell a story inciting some listening to have thoughts of rebellion or plant similar seeds of chaos, though my English is not very good," Bran seems to get a little wistful, "A terrible teacher but she was quite the lass."