Sweet, love the info. Instead of an old woman I think i would toss a small child in there who somehow was hidden in the floor of the wagon or something because then, the players are faced with another dilemma: If this is the heir to the trader do we keep the money from this at the end or do we provide for the child? What if we find his family, what then? Maybe the child can only read a little bit and thus, only certain words on the map would be translated, which could allow the GM to give some hints along the way. It would also allow the GM to have the kid suddenly recall what a certain symbol means as kids are prone to not always bother with correct specifics. Hopefully, child does this right after he's told the players that the symbol means cave in side of mountain...... **after huge fight with angry warebears** "Oh Yeah! This symbol can also mean room at a Inn...I forgot before."

Hehe, deviousness is fun.

Nice entry