>>5370166The smart play, you feel, is not to storm the gates. That will likely cost lives, unless you are quite lucky. Moreover, it will surely seal the fate of the Herbalist—it will be a slow process, and doomed defenders might well execute a captured traitor as a final and fatal fulfilment of their last great grudge. Waiting outside them and attempting a hostage exchange or other such negotiation would betray weakness and, more likely than not, force you to choose between your loyal lover and your mission—an unpleasant idea even to contemplate!
No, the choice is obvious.
“Thief, Agno, Igno,” you rattle off, “take what dwarves and kobolds you deem best. We will go with yoru plan.”
“And the rest of us?” the Novice demands.
“Pit-Guard, Bastard, Hunter—you will wait out here, mustering forces and rattling spears, and ready to launch an assault if we do not swiftly return.”
“‘We’?” the Thief and the Novice ask, as one, meeting eyes and then looking back to you.
“Yes,” you assert. “I am coming along.”
“Do not be a fool, Deg—Dragonborn!” The Novice hisses, barely catching herself. “You are our commander—you cannot just clamber into the bowel of this stronghold of beasts, attended only by… By secondary combatants!”
“I can handle myself,” you protest.
“And what are we to do without you?!”
The Novice pauses, tail flitting, eyes wide, as if suddenly aware she ahs said too much. None of the more lowly-born Reptilians dare to say anything, but there is one who has no such compunctions.
“We,” Jazkarmel asks, in her somewhat broken True Speech, with a sly smile, “or you?”
This draws a heated glare from the Novice, and hurled racial invective, which the Dark Elf Princess only seems to half-understand.
“I will return,” you promise the Novice, and she snaps her mouth shut and simmers down.
The Thief gathers his squad, subtly, so that any unknown observer would hardly notice them slipping out of the bulk of your forces. Your own departure, of course, will necessarily be more noticeable. You could still take the direct route, with a leap and a bound, of course. This would draw a great deal of fire, but this could actually BENEFIT the Thief’s squad. Alternatively, you could attempt to use the Amulet to enact a shrinking spell, and enter with the squad—then, you would have the strength and protection of numbers, and hopefully avoid detection until the time is right to strike.
Ultimately you opt to…
><Diminish Self> and join the assassination squad [Automatically learn a new spell, but slower progress—riskier to Davora]><Jump> into the fray directly, serving as a distraction and assuming <Augmented Dragonshape> to wreak havoc [Riskier to YOU, but bolder and faster]>Write-in 