Chronero - Single Player DnD

You step out of the building and you end up back in front of the stone hut. As expected, reopening the door no longer leads to wherever the ritual was performed. Mystery is waiting for Tomoe outside. Ingrid sees Mystery and ask, "Who is that, Onee-chan?

This is Mystery.  She works for me. 

I strive to please my mistress. mystery says with a wry smile.

Ingrid says to Mystery, "I'm Ingrid. Tomoe is my big sister. It's nice to meet you, Mystery. So does that mean you'll be staying with us? It's going to be fun."

Mystery smiles. It's nice to meet you . I go where mistress goes unless instructed otherwise. There is little that can be worse than my previous masters.

"Previous masters? Well... I'm looking forward to working and adventuring together with you."

Right, let us return to Kate and Lucia. Tomoe explains to Ingrid on the way back that she was gravely injured in the fight with Zhao, and explains as best she can that she found some clerics who saved her life. She does. It mention that Ingrid died, nor the creepy guys and their ritual as per the contract. She will keep to this story for what Kate and Lucia ask. 

Kate and Lucia stares at wide eyed-surprise as Tomoe enters with Ingrid. Tomoe gives the answer but... Kate and Lucia are more experienced in watching things die. Lucia has worked as a detective and has seen more death and dead bodies than most people. Kate has also seen her fair share and she was the one that carried Ingrid up the stairs. They don't seem to be buying the story.

Regardless,  Tomoe sticks to her story and is just happy to have her sister back. She will try to get their attention away from Ingrids miraculous return and back onto Boss Rat. 

So, what did you find out from Zhao?

"Ah let me show you." Lucia goes to a shelf and pulls out a map of the region Brass City is in. She explains as she points different parts of the map.

"See this river going down this waterfall and flowing west of Brass City? Well notice that the bridge to cross it is over here. Little bit south of it there is a stream that broke from the river. The stream flows westward and goes into this lake over here. Just before it does so, see this part which is next to a very low hill surrounded by a light patch of forestry? That is where the base is. It is west of Brass city and a little bit towards the south but not so far that way that we enter the swamp. On the side of this hill is Boss Rat's base. It lines up with the numbers. A base over there would cause the information lag we've noticed."

I would assume it is suicide to assault the base. So, what can we do with this I information? 

Lucia scratches her head and says, "You know, I'm not really sure. Maybe we can try and ambush Boss Rat outside the base at some point? We know where they're coming from so maybe we can cut off their information flow entirely? Not exactly sure how that will help us but it is something we can do."

Ingrid looks happy to see Kate again. She is respectfully waiting for the discussion to finish before talking to Kate.

Mistress, if I may make a suggestion? 

Tomoe turns to Mystery and nods a yes.

Perhaps if you can control the flow to this Boss Rat, instead of cut it of completely,  you could manipulate it to your advantage.

Turning back to Lucia , Tomoe says What do you think? Is that an option?

Lucia looks down and says, "That might be possible... if we can only let information that we want him to know pass through while blocking others it might work." Kate pipes up, "He would get suspicious. If we ambush his messengers to cut off or control his access to information and commands, he would get suspicious. He didn't manage to evade detection for this long to not realize when things go wrong. No, what we can do is ambush his messengers when they are coming to give orders to Brass City, we can give a message to Rat Liver."

So we need to subtly alter and manipulate the flow of information with out interrupting it to avoid suspicion. How do we do that?

Ingrid is happy, "You're really smart Kate. That sounds like a good idea." Kate does not say anything.

Lucia shakes her head and says, "I would suggest we try and pose as a messenger ourselves after we jump one and steal his mail, but they all know what we look like so that won't work."

so, we need a new face. But I do not know if we should put someone else at that much risk.

Kate steps in and says, "Then we can try guerilla tactics. Attack kill one or two or damage their walls and then disappear into the forest. If we can get a more people or damage their numbers, we might be able to assault their base and win."

We have taken down several strongholds within the city. What do you think their numbers are like now?

Lucia shrugs and says, "I don't know but I doubt the ones in the stronghold would be the type to go to and from the city." She thinks for a bit and says, "If you give me a day, I could narrow their numbers down to a closer range."

It would be nice to know how much we have hurt them so far. We need as many tools as we can get.