First and foremost, I want to thank everyone for their good thoughts for my health during this round of tests and hospital stays. I appreciate them greatly.
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Last night my group came upon a camp of some of Ol' Nic's helpers.
We snuck into the camp and captured all of them.
We took them far out into the desert.
I found an emergency water dig that was full of brackish water. We couldn't drink any, but it was fine for the camels.
After the camels had their fill, I had the captives thrown in for a good soaking. We kept pushing them under the surface so they would get thouroghly saturated.
We then took the ones that survived far into the wastes of the desert where there is no sustinance at all.
When the sun came up, we left them there to figure out how to get out of the wastes.
Just to make sure they were lost, we left in the opposite direction of the trail out and rode in random patterns for several hours, crossing over our tracks many, many times.
I think this 20 of Nic's boys are gone for good now.
We are continuing back to the trailhead at the entrance to NML to restock supplies and deliver fresh camels.
Safe travels out there, and keep your guard up against Nic and his "boys".
One step, and then another, will get you to where you want to be.
Larry the Caravan Master