so i used the plan detialed int he post below. i stopped after my second death. the first was on the run from nanto to lin. i managed to recover everything on that one. the second was on the run from al-jalima to zaikhal.
after buying a bunch of supplies, and dumping a lot of the stuff she was carrying onto kat, we set off with a couple of level 5 buffs to help her move faster, we set about dropping stuff off at the various craftsmen.
i am pleased to note that some of the appretices (the ones that ask for more advanced concotions) award 10,000 xp and tradenotes worth 15k.
i decided after the death on the way to lin that i should get her buffed for real. so after a trip to the marketplace we finished the run to lin. that went as well as could be expected. outside of aljalima i just happened to run into an iron golem kingpin. i yeilded to the temptation and took him on, since i just happened to be carrying and acid dagger was was buffed, she beat the kingpin after a pretty lengthy battle. she doesn't have healing, and had about 5 minutes left on her buffs when she died within earshot of zaikhal.
it was getting late, and most of what i dropped was gear from the kingpin and a platemail top that i am not too worried about losing.
there are two flaws in the plan thus far:
1) there are two legs of the trip that far that require you to run thru the wild. the runs are pretty short, but for a mule at 180% burden, with no defenses to speak of even when she is fully buffed, that is pretty dangerous.
2) the run would go a lot faster if it wasn't necessary to research and make everything as you went. i had to drop mule some hotsauce for tinka to make the flaming kimchi for one turn in. crafting the stuff as you go helps to reduce some of the boredom of watching tinka run in slow motion, but finding out you need hotsauce when your standing in front of the crafter will definitely slow you down.
it will go smoother once i get a supply of the materials need, and i would imagine being buffed from beginning to end will help it all take less time.
so the frist run has been a flop for the most part. i will finish it up so i have all the gear for the next run.