apology for delay

Since Vash is recruiting I thought I would post my spellbooks online so new players can get a general idea of what I come to the dance floor with.

I'm an 8th level wizard (universal, 3rd), Cleric (Sarenrae, 3rd) and Mystic Theurge (2nd) with the domains of fire and healing

I have 3 spellbooks, they have carved darkwood covers.

Elementary Invocations: (100/100) Arcane Mark on cover, written in Draconic
0 level
Resistance, Acid Splash, Detect Magic, Detect Poison, Read Magic, Daze, Dancing Lights, Flare, Light, Ray of Frost, Ghost sound, Bleed, Disrupt Undead, Touch of Fatigue, Mage Hand, Mending, Message, Open/Close, Arcane Mark, Prestidigitation

1st level
Alarm, Hold Portal, Unseen Servant, Identify, Enlarge Person, Feather Fall, Magic Weapon, Mount, Endure Elements, Obscuring Mist, Comp. Languages, Erase, Expeditious retreat, Hold portal

2nd level
See Invisibility, Continual Flame, Darkness, Invisibility, Bears endurance, Bulls Strength, Cat's Grace, Eagle's Splendor, Fox's Cunning, Owl's Wisdom, Darkvision, Rope Trick, Make Whole, Knock, Magic Mouth, Locate Object, Obscure Object, Arcane Lock, Spider Climb, Alter Self, Minor Image

3rd level
Phantom Steed, Gaseous form, Shrink Item, Secret Page, Illusiory script, Beast shape I, Rune of Durability, Tiny Hut

Incantations of War (69/100) Arcane Mark on cover, Explosive Runes inside (Trap DC 28), written in Celestial.
1st level
Shield, Mage Armor, Prot. From Evil, Grease, True strike, Burning Hands, Shocking Grasp, Magic Missile, Summon Monster 1, Sleep, Color Spray, Burning Disarm, Ray of Enfeeblement

2nd Level
Resist Energy, Spectral hand, Web, Touch of Idiocy, Flaming Sphere, Scorching Ray, Pyrotechnics, False Life, Blindness/Deafness, Mirror Image, Invisibility, Shatter, Summon Swarm, Summon Monster 2, Glitterdust, Protection From Arrows

3rd level
Haste, Dispel Magic, Explosive Runes, Slow, Keen Edge, Flame Arrow, Lighting Bolt, Protection from energy

Intermediate Invocations(0/100) Arcane Mark on cover

memorized spells:
Wiz 0 level
Prestidigitation, Arcane Mark, Dancing Lights, Mage hand

Wiz 1st level
Comprehend languages, Enlarge Person, Shield, Magic Missile, Unseen Servant

Wiz 2nd Level
Invisibility, Cat's Grace, Flaming Sphere

Wiz 3rd level
Haste, Phantom Steed (cast after memorizing)

Bear in mind as long as Aziel has his bonded object (his staff) he can cast any one spell
from any of his spellbooks as if he had memorized it once per day.

Cleric 0 level
Create Water, Detect Magic, Guidance, Mending

Cleric 1st Level
Endure Elements (cast after memorizing), Shield of faith, Divine Favor, Sanctuary, Burning hands

Cleric 2nd Level
Bull's Strength, Minor Restoration, Spiritual weapon, Produce Flame

Cleric 3rd Level
Remove Curse, Create Food and Water (cast after memorizing), Fireball

Feats: Scribe Scroll, Practiced Spellcaster (wizard, cleric), Arcane armor training, Craft magic armor and weapons, craft misc magic items.

Alright, concerning the trip to the desert dungeon:
Currently I can cast Phantom Steed 3 times a day, that means for 7 1/2 hours we can travel over most terrains at 60 miles a day. This completely wipes my selection of third level arcane spells, so on the days we travel, don't expect stunning amounts of flash from me, we can even hustle it so we are doing up to 120 miles a day if things get urgent. The Phantom Steeds are fearless but they are not warhorses, so don't expect them to hold up in combat. The Druid we are likely acquiring need to either take the form of a bird and fly above us or a small animal and ride with us in order for us to travel at this pace.

I'm planning on buying a Yurt (using the pavilion tent as a guideline) and casting shrink item on it, which should make it easy to carry for 8 days at a time, but we cannot travel by phantom steed on a day that I shrink the yurt because its a third level spell. Still a Yurt would be a sufficiently homey structure for me to be able to sit outside the dungeon and transcribe scrolls to my Spellbooks and for us to possibly do some item enchantments (provided I don't have to make the item from scratch).

I can also cast create water and create food and water, so we don't need to worry about hitting oasis's or having enough foodstuffs, though I would caution that the food created is bland.

My concerns about the dungeon is the lack of rogues on our side, the ability to spot traps is pretty valuable. I can cast find traps but it only lasts 8 minutes a day, and I am thinking of shelling out for a chime of opening as locked doors could become a bit of a problem (or a pry bar or a battering ram). I'll keep a Knock spell handy but a rogue could come in pretty handy. Our ability to be subtle is hampered (I hope the guy who is playing the druid is not the same guy as the one who was thinking about playing a rogue...).

The other problem we have is that the dungeon is in a secret door somewhere between two mountains. That is conceivably a large area to look through and its hard to know where the actual dungeon will be.

Yeah. The ability to find/disarm traps is sort of something we need fixed. Honestly, if we really have to, I can retroactively go back and do that last level I got at the end of the last session as rogue to get trapfinding and pour all of my numerous skill points into disable trap. But even without that class ability, I don't foresee us failing any checks to locate the things. My +15 to perception helps there. But the ability to disable the buggers is kind of key. No use finding a trap on a door you have to go through if you can't disable it.

Are you Aearonfar? If so, awesome, I would also like to point out that Eyes of the Eagle or a Lens of Detection would be a worthwhile investment.

Would it be useful for us to recruit a small group of npcs to travel with us as utility characters? we could form a small caravan, they could carry our stuff, provide low level special skills (trapper, merchant, accountant) and other such functions.

I'm liking this idea, currently I can feed 24 people (three meals is one mount's meal) with a single create food+water and if we do find the dungeon entrance we can form a fortified position around its entrance.

I also just learned that non-rogues can detect traps (another improvement on the pathfinder system) so we should be alright except for the hole locked doors thing.

I'm not sure if i class as great renowned (unlikely) but i reckon (GM allowing) at a minimum, using leadership, I can garner about 11 npcs (10 lvl 1, 1 lvl 2) + Asgrim + any others we can gather via roleplaying and/or skill usage.

Maybe not fortified though they would only be lvl 1's which pretty much are non-combat only for anything our lvl, so unless we're gonna get attack by like rampaging chickens they ain't gonna protect us.