Could he have been the galaxy-brain to
intentionally leave the lead and know we'd follow?
To do so and lead someone he felt would trail him to a certain doom, perhaps, but not know who would take up the trail after it was discovered.
Though, thinking about it, I think the Misfits and co. weren't Mindblanked?
So, conceivably, he was looking into this matter to escape at the start of this month, and, given that he is expecting us to act soon, in his usual battery of divinations found the Imperium's agents to be active in Oldtown, then subsequently sussed out what they were going after.
He decides then to set things up along the way, not arguing or stipulating harshly that Swift-Eye not sell-out to us, because he didn't trust Swifty to begin with and wanted to use that almost reflexive betrayal of trust as a lure. Then he made a deal with someone from the Golden Court (the sprite) who is perhaps less sanguine than most of her number about us, and she was more than eager to put in the path of the Jabberwock once she realized just how big a catch they really got, not just a team of powerful PCs, but the big kahuna himself.
Okay, fine, so maybe I want Perestan to be galaxy-brain meme too. It does seem kinda funny that the habitual schemer and conspiracy Maester would try to do everything in a "planned ten steps ahead of you fashion".