Maybe It is Hot
There hasn't been much time to make a proper acquaintance of the Cinderlands. But from what little you've seen, they are hot. Dusty. Hot. The air is full of small bits of stinging sand blown along by overly warm breezes. And most of all, it is hot.
You traveled along the river and then headed west. You paid the toll to take the merchants elevator up the great cliff to Kaer Maga above. That city had seemed to be everything you had heard about it and yet nothing like anything you had heard about it. The city seemed to be perched on top of it's cliff, staring at the low lands below, and deciding whether it was going to be a victim or victimizer tonight. You stayed at a pricey inn and enjoyed hot baths and a fine dinner. You only had to chase thieves out of your room twice during the evening. Not bad for an inn in Kaer Maga.
You hit the Bazar the next day, stocking up in both goods and information. The Cinderlander is a mercenary known for his use of specialized crossbows and a private war with the various Cinder land tribes.
The shaman Selvin and Izzick had met before, Thousand Bones, had passed through the city two weeks ago. It is believed he was headed west, but where west is uncertain.
Nobody seems to know anything about the Red Mantis. At least, they aren't willing to talk about it.
You regroup in front of a fountain shaped like a mermaid whose face has long been worn away by vandals and apathy. Water trickles out of jug she holds in her stone hands. You compare notes and check your shopping lists. Time to consider your plan of attack...
I am skipping us over a lot of incidental stuff, which is frankly not very interesting. You have made it to the city named Kaer Maga, which serves as the entrance to the Cinder Lands, a large scrub desert type of plateau which is home to the various barbarian tribes. See the update in the RTJ about the various tribes to give you some basic info known to all of you.
I assume you have stocked up on basics. Provisions. Rope. Oil. Etc.
I also assume you spent the morning gathering basic Intel. The results of that are posted above.
Now then. To make sure we are all on the same page:
You have traveled here to find information on the Dragon skull Neolandus thinks has some bearing on the Queen's change in behavior. Since the skull was in a tomb built by the barbarian tribes that used to rule the area before Korvosa's founders kicked them out, your best bet for that information is among their descendants living here in the Cinder Lands.
Thousand Bones is a barbarian shaman your party helped before. He is probably your best lead at this point. You have to find him though.
The Queen obviously sent the Red Mantis to both eliminate you and for some other purpose. Maybe elimination of the information you are seeking.
You have no idea what part this Cinderlander fellow is playing in all this.
If you want to try to beat the bushes for better information, you may do so. Let me know how you are ready going about it, what skill you are using, and the roll you got.
You can also do some shopping if you wish. Kaer Maga is a big city. Let me know what items you may want, and I'll let you know if it's here.
Have those requests, questions, or comments to me by Tuesday please. This section of the AP is kind of sandboxy. So I plan to push things along so we don't get bogged down.
Thanks