"As soon as we can set something up."

She nods, snuggling into Elana's side. "Shouldn't be too much prep, though."

"Just something to draw them out."

"Well, there's the scrolls... There might be other ritual elements he needs, too."

"Which we don't know, because we're reading a different one."

"Yeah. And figuring out what he's looking for might be hard..."

"Maybe we could capture the next group of vampires to find us."

She nods. "If he just has bounties out, they might not be working directly for him - but even just scraps and rumors could help."

"We'll have to be a bit more obvious, then."

She nods with a slight grin. "I can do obvious."

"Hopefully without also borrowing too much trouble from the civil authorities."

"Depends on how you define 'too much.'"

"Not to a level that distracts us."

"I think I can swing that."

Kiss.

Kiss!!!

(Clearly time for a planning break.)

They have been working hard.

They deserve some treats.

Indeed.

Being more obvious isn't very effective in Dawnstar, of course. There's dens of lesser vampires near Morthal, but Harkon's networks concentrate in the bigger cities - Solitude, Windhelm, Riften... It's easiest to get to Solitude or Windhelm from Dawnstar, of course, especially if they're willing to take passage on a ship.

They can take ship to Windhelm. Elana has had enough of Solitude for a while.

Fair.

Windhelm is, at least, pretty easy to make themselves obvious in - and it's somewhere Harkon's fingers have gripped deeply.

So, of course, one night when they're walking through an alley on the way back to their inn, Lace tenses a bit, glancing into the shadows.

"See something?" Elana murmurs.

She hums. "We have company..." she says, voice barely a murmur.

"They who we're waiting for?"