"I'm sure I don't have to remind you what will happen if you can't keep your jibes toward one another civil, boys."  The fourth, leading member of the party spoke up, though the tone of voice betrayed some mild level of amusement.  The voice was clearly female, but the owner of said voice didn't appear to be very feminine at all, at least in her current state of dress.  After all, heavy, restricting Full Plate armor could hardly be said to look anything at all like a fancy, corseted dress, and the figure in that armor was not only carrying a sword at her side, she was over seven feet in height!  "At any rate, if you two are finished, I think it's about time we got started.  We don't know for sure when the next patrol is going to be coming along one of these three trails, so let's not waste any time with pointless bickering, shall we?"<br/><br/>The tall, armored woman's name was Lady.  Obviously, it wasn't her real name, but given that even she herself did not know what her true name was, it served its purpose well enough.  She wasa devout follower of Band and a soldier for the Zhentarim, a warrior among mercenaries, merchants, spies and saboteurs, and thanks to her great size and special training, she was very, very good at what she was usually tasked with doing.<br/><br/>In this particular case, what she was tasked with doing was putting a stop to the influx of Purple Dragon patrols in the far side of the King's Forest of Cormyr.  All these random changes to the patrol routes and schedules were putting existing Zhentarim operations in the area at risk, and given how difficult it was to make inroads into places where your organization was known as a mercenary group led by a bunch of megalomaniac super-villains, being forced to cut their losses and retreat here would be a heavy blow indeed.<br/><br/>"Now then, since I've got a fairly simple plan thought up, I'm going to present it for consideration."  She stated, speaking with an authoritative air.  "If any of you don't like it, you're going to have to come up with something better, and if you can't, then tough, we're going with my plan anyway.  Am I understood?<br/><br/>"Good.  Now, as I said, my plan is fairly simple.  Some time soon, a patrol of Purple Dragons is going to come down one of these three trails.  At that time, all we need do is let ourselves be spotted, act in a generally suspicious manner, and, when they eventually attempt to arrest us, flee.  I'll pretend to be weighed down by this armor and allow myself to be captured, thus allowing you three to make clean escapes, and Ashran or Ulaw can Scry on me over the next few days, or at least keep in touch via Sending at predetermined times.  You'll all try to follow a short distance behind as well, so that you can move into position when needed.  While I'm under their guard, I'll find out what I can of their local operations and why their patrols have been so unusual of late, and when the timing is right, I'll start up a 'distraction' and give you three an opening to attack.  If we strike hard and fast, we should be able to raze even their base camp in this region to the ground in short order, and of course I'm more dangerous with my bare hands than I am with this sword at my side.<br/><br/>"And that's my basic plan.  Thoughts?"