They took possession of houses full of every good thing,
Hewn cisterns, vineyards, olive groves,
Fruit trees in abundance.
So they ate, were filled and grew fat,
And reveled in Your great goodness.
Repurposing Nehemiah to plan for taking Minarsis. Add ideas and thoughts in this thread.
Information gathering
- metalsmiths- observing the easily observed, seeing only what Caldeth's doing now
may want update before spring; new spies?
embed undercover person going to Vemion
interrogate person coming back from Vemion
psionic scrying, other keeps if not Minarsis
are his allies, or attempts to gain them, a weak link?
who might be his recruits, confidants?
can we use someone from Baseta or Kolorn?
can we infiltrate via Laranian abbies (Lyntord, Irtivir, Halaina)?
can we visit Nenda via the Silver/Vemion ways (or up the Selene)?
can we learn anything from the miners' guild?
Counter-intelligence
Whatever we're doing, Caldeth is probably doing too. How do we stop it?
- look out for new people, be suspicious of eager volunteers (ours or allies)
keep planning on the DL
mentally shield the inner circle
watch out for subversion at Baseta, weaseling from Kolorn
feed disinformation to folks and see where it travels
invent plans for fake spies to feed Caldeth's suspicions
find out what mercenaries he's talking to
Straight up military conquest
This is what the Queen wants but it might weaken us or destroy the prize
Recruit more knights, soldiers; promise land and/or treasure
- contacts via our back stories or bar visits
invites from tourney entrants
hiring mercenary companies/caravan guards
bring in siege engineers and sappers (from Tharda?)
find out what Prehil is doing (as Sh. Vemion)
how to use Scina and Dariune's men
other foreign mercenaries? vikings?
Weaken/peel off Caldeth's forces
- put a thumb on his current vassals
hobble his horses, torch his forges
make sure Neph doesn't ally with him
Economic strangulation
This is a two-edged sword but could be used to threaten
- inderdict the wool harvest
spoil his harvest or growing crops
corner the grain market ourselves
Assassination
If there was no Declaen, and no wife/heir, why not accept the Queen's choice (Ewen). Sure, we can't have it be traced to us...
- send in Cekiya or hire Navehans
turn one of Caldeth's loyal retainers
set an ambush in Vemionshire
blow his mind, as much as that can be done remotely
character assassination to turn vassals against him?
