Indeed, input would be good. Dave and I hashed out a plan to split the party prior to last session, which was subsequently abandoned at the outset of game day when it was clear that others demurred. We have a bit over two weeks to hammer something out here, folks.
I thought of the fact that a Selata exit strategy would pin us to a timetable, and agree that there are major drawbacks to this. OTOH, with the likelihood that pursuit would be mounted, fleeing overland has its drawbacks as well. Unless, of course, we can pull it off and flee before the murders are discovered. Given the high profile of the two targets, I should think the only way to pull off the latter and give ourselves a flight buffer would be to give the temporary impression that the Serolans are missing, as opposed to dead. The longer the deceit held up, the more lead time we would gain. But I shudder to think of us fleeing across a wind-swept god-forsaken wintertime moor on foot with mounted pursuers to our rear. We would preferably need to obtain or commandeer horses to stand a chance.
Let's just spin out some assassination scenarios for the purpose of assessing how viable they might be.
1. We obtain detailed information regarding the living quarters at the Temple, specifically the sleeping arrangements for the two Serolans. We infiltrate at night, kill the two in their sleep, and flee. Standard skullduggery fare here, which is not to underestimate the obvious challenges.
2. We manipulate some situation where we gain access to the two Serolans in private conference. Disguise would need to be pro-level stuff here - incredibly good to stand a chance. One means of obtaining such an audience might be to manipulate the greed factor. As a group, we collectively have sufficient access to gold coins, gemstones, baubles, etc, to perhaps entice the high priests with a fictitious story of a potential generous endowment to the local temple, with a backstory provided. The endowment would need to be presented as only a possibility, to lure the Serolans into pursuing it to get it. For instance, if we use the fiction of travelling east as I suggested above, we might include in our backstory some rationale for wanting to dis-encumber ourselves of the loot. Perhaps one of us is going east for the purpose of an arranged marriage, and would prefer our wealth (perhaps we're a wealthy widow) to be donated rather to fall into the hands of the future spouse, of whom we are not thrilled. Something like that.
3. We manipulate a scenario in Avertu with the intention of motivating the Serolans to flee to a safer town. We count on the two mighty Laranian high priests to save their own skins rather than stick around in Avertu. One way to pull this off would be to create hysteria in town regarding plague. Considering of the potential for mass hysteria to feed itself once the proper seeds are planted, we might only need a usable plan to stoke the fires sufficiently and convincingly, and then let the townsfolk do the rest. Think of the hysteria and paranoia attendant to the spread of the Black Death. We would need, however, a means of making a few innocent victims exceedingly ill (collateral damage, admittedly). The goal would be to ambush the Serolans in their flight, and we would probably need to ensure that the keep itself seems tainted enough to preclude their simply retreating behind the walls. Such a plan would require, certainly, much in the way of specific planning to achieve the desired psychological effect. One drawback, of course, is the likelihood that folk would blame strangers first for the plague (the Jews are poisoning the wells, etc.) (Hell, perhaps the Morgathians are poisoning the wells!)
I make no claims that any of these plans are anything short of lunacy, but am trying to get the ball rolling here