She isn't stopped in leaving.

She heads towards the mountain.

The feeling of malevolence grows fairly quickly, as the ground becomes more and more of a wasteland. There's a path along the river that runs from the mountain into the lake, heading towards a massive ruined city at the mountain's base.

She neither needs nor wants to get all the way there. Out of sight of the town is good enough. She reaches down to feel the earth. It's like drawing her hands through sludge.

The sludge doesn't go particularly deep, at least - but it's almost like it's trying to burrow down and north, to some other ill pulse.

There are mines, beneath the mountain, spider webbing out into the bedrock surrounding it. Dwarven make, strong - not as thorough a work as Gundabad had been, but still showing a craftman's eye, and several advances in architectural science since.

Smaug wouldn't fit in the mines.

Ellisaria won't fit in them either, or at least not as a dragon. A potential avenue for infiltration, if she can sort out something to do with Brisingr.

There are tunnels she would fit into but Smaug wouldn't, higher up. In fact, Smaug's likely limited to a very, very small range of halls.

Brisingr, being rather skinnier, would fit into even more tunnels.

Of course, the mountain has only one entrance - no, possibly two, there's a small tunnel, five feet tall, going from the enormous treasure hall Smaug sleeps in to a flat stone wall about the right thickness for a door, ignoring the utter lack of seams.

Both entrances are still too close. She could create a new one, but that would not be subtle.

It all seems to come down to distraction. She returns to Brisingr.

Brisingr seems to have made good on her promise to nap and not cause trouble, though she wakes up as soon as Ellisaria is in line of sight - or perhaps in line of the wind carrying her scent - raising her head.

"What'd you find?" she asks.

"Little of real interest. There are deep tunnels beneath the mountains that Smaug would not be able to fit into, but access thereto is by the main halls. The humans are poor and have little strength, though their hate for Smaug runs deep."

She hums. "We might want to avoid fighting in the tunnels, anyways - I'm crud when I can't maneuver, and my best tactic against bigger dragons I actually want dead has always been taking them out in a dive." She pauses, then - "I can get up higher than just about anyone, and I'm built for quick dives - that with the speed Song makes me really fast. It's tricky to aim, and tricky to not injure myself, but especially if a dragon doesn't know I'm there, I can usually pounce on their back and break their spine."

"Interesting. I have been thinking that what is needed is for Smaug to be lured from his lair."

"One of us should hide while the other plays bait, then - and gets him mad. He'll be reckless, then."

"Yes. The trick is in surviving such provocation."

She nods. "I'm pretty fast at running away, and his fire shouldn't be able to burn me - but if I'm bait it'll be a bit harder to arrange for me to ambush him later in the fight."

"I was considering inciting the humans to attack his mountain in order to draw him out."

"Think that'd work?"

"It would depend if the humans were willing to be incited. I doubt they could pose any sort of serious threat, but that's what we are for."

She shrugs. "I don't deal much with humans at all."

"That option would likely take some time. If we would prefer to resolve this within the next day or so, we should leave the humans out of it. When Smaug is gone they may wish to reclaim their old holdings, but that needn't be our problem."

"I like working fast," she says with a grin. "And, anyways, going fast will reduce the change of Smaug smelling one of us."

"Then I think it best I take the part of luring him out, while you wait above for an ambush."

"Alright. Today?"

"If you are prepared."

"Oh, I am."