[Child of the 7th Age]

Alright everybody. Let's stop thinking about having someone croak and consider Bird's dragon attack.

Now, it seems to me that there is a serious dilemma which I brought up in the earlier thread: Because our rescue is one week before the flood, Sauron is going to know that there has been a special rescue for the hobbits, and he will remember this in the 3rd age. That means Frodo Baggins is probably toast! Not good.

When we first discussed rescue, it was supposed to be just before the flood so that Sauron would never find out. But, for legitimate tactical reasons, the rescue had to be pushed back one week before the flood. So we have to do something to cover our tracks. I had first suggested flinging open some prison doors of men's cells to make it look like a general prison break rather than a rescue of hobbits, but I think Bird's idea is even better (or the two could even be combined).

The two dragons would be sent out after the hobbits were safely in the ships and would flame everything at the base of the mountain. In effect, they would be a mop-up job, destroying all evidence. Sauron would never imagine that two dragons would be doing something like this for the side of the good. Since dragons love death and destruction, we wouldn't even need any other motive than the fun which they get from mowing people down. If the people of Numenor remembered anything from the rescue itself, it would be the sight of the dragons in the air. That's the spectacular part--a few puny fights on the ground with guards would never spread rumors, but the huge winged wyrms sure would.

It sure would get rid of all the leftover guards too. (Barbecued guards!--Very tasty.) Since Sauron is already out looking for dragons because of his contact with Angara, I think he'd totally tie into the tale.

Also, I think this whole thing would actually happen just the way i did on this tread. Cami would see the "flaw" in the plan and go banging on Mith and Pio's door (notice I use the singular here!) to tell them we've got a big problem. Of course, she'd have no idea how to solve the problem an neither would Mithadan. Just like this thread, Bird would have been the one to come forward with this solution. That's the way we should set this up, I think.