[quote=@Xartarin]
I'm a little confused on what information the characters have and what might have directly preceded the ceremony, as my post may have indicated. Is there any information about the thieves our characters should already know, or are they just looking for anyone suspicious in the general area? And does the group have general supplies shared between them, like food and camping materials, maybe in a cart of some kind? Do they know that they're waiting on someone else?
[/quote]

Yeah any one suspicious that gives off an unusual magic vibe.  For the other shima villages themselves it would be more specific to ask around, but part of this is to see if any other nearby non shima villages were bothered by anything strange, before heading to the guy that was mentioned to find more specific info.  

They don't know about someone else, he'll meet them when they go to head out, and they have group supplies waiting by the path out of town. That will be jumped too after the last few people go out as well, unless they want me to just go ahead and move it now?