Crossing Spain

Feel free to brainstorm as you wish in this space.

Hobbits think of this stuff first, don't they? So... here's a start. Kitchen goods: Tripod w/pulley and chain, grill, casserole and brazier, kettle, skillet, ladle, water keg, buckets, flour, bacon, beans, cheese, dried fruit, dried beef, vinegar, herbs, spices, eggs, nuts, salt, pepper, sugar, rice, tea, lard/tallow Camp gear: blankets, ground cloths, pillows, tent, poles, stakes, ropes. Hardware: ax, hatchet, hammer, spade, axles, wheels, king bolts, spokes, wagon tongue, heavy ropes, chains, washbowl, lanterns, lamp oil, candles

We can probably hold off on the extra meat, Bruenor got your chimney sweeps guild friend to procure us 3 weeks each of mutton that had been salted for preservation (At least Al said he had procured it). Also there's a magic 1 handed axe in the party treasure and possibly a non magic axe as well that could double as a hatchet, there was also my old non magic 2 handed battle axe if I remember right. As for blankets, you'll continue to see a full moon every night you camp with Bruenor even on an overcast night, because kilts are just blankets worn around the legs and body lol. Everything else on that list is a great idea though, I'd like to add some mare's milk and another cask though so I can make us some kumis while we travel. It might also be good if everyone has an empty belt pouch just in case we have the opportunity to pick berries when we stop to make camp. This way we could have preserved meat in one pouch and berries in another and wouldn't need to stop for meals, we'd still need to make rest stops but not as often as we'd need to stop for meals.

Okay, to be clear... all that food is for Victoria. She hasn't a clue as to how all of you can survive on such meager meals, although she is willing to share ;) If you want milk, get a goat or two; as for the nightly full moon... only if it's bright enough to read by is she worried ( She'll be wearing a sleeper's mask, thank you very much).

Wouldn't it be better to travel light so we can move quickly?  If we can hunt we can avoid towns as much as possible.   Would our contacts be of any help -- Victoria's contacts with thieves guilda and Jon & Emma's contacts with performers or circus folk?  What contacting elves or dwarves for help?

Well faster travel was the idea behind the preserved mutton, just put it in pouches and snack on pieces of it as we go all day and if we can get some berries along the way to go with it we can do the same with them to some extent. I was thinking forced march kind of travel, but we will still need to take rests to keep any horses and ourselves from dropping dead due to exhaustion. Bruenor would be all for contacting dwarves along the way, making dwarven alliances is something he needs to do for the future, but since he doesn't know any from around here he might not be able to do so (unless of course Al wants to make use of the license I gave him to alter names and places in my backstory to fit the campaign and say that some of the dwarven clans I've helped are along the way). If I'm not mistaken Spain/Portugal have some mountainous terrain, we could try to head into that and hide out in a mining town till some of the heat has died down. Mining towns are usually pretty isolated and it takes time for news to get to them, also it's probably the best place to make contact with dwarves.

Okay... so how many know how to ride a horse? Shall Frank, Bruenor, and Victoria ride in a howdah on a draft animal? Should the group get some healthy 2-year old horses and cast haste on all of them and ride like the wind or turn them into pegasi? Can the group ask the Great and Powerful Cuthbert for a flaming chariot to transport them over the Pyrenees? Shall they ask their collective pantheon to grant safe passage to finally get back to fixing the weather in Iceland... or are they too late? All this and more, tomorrow night at seven.