"Then to the Tannery we go"
Auri looks excited again, all puffed up and ready for battle.
You do not need to heed my warning and advice, but you are responsible for the safety of your caravan. If your group is picked off one by one before even seeing Kelmarane, then I doubt you will succeed in your goal of reclaiming the city.
A look of anger crosses Almah's face and then resignation. "If you think it is imperative I can send Garavel back with half the mercenaries. We are already too few though and I would like a better count on exactly how many gnolls actually inhabit Kelmarane. See if you can get a better idea of what the threat is and perhaps we can resupply sooner rather than later."
After descending the narrow trail down the bluff from the monastery, you follow the road back to Kelmarane and return to your lookout at the edge of the ruins. You find that although the gnoll patrols have increased, they still aren't particularly thorough and by timing your movements, you are able to cross the bridge over the river without mishap.
Once across, you move toward the old tannery evidently still inhabited if the thin column of smoke from the chimney is any sign.
Well my dragon friend, are you prepared for some scouting? This time staying close to the ground might be advisable as we are not at night. I would like to know what is in there before we march into the unknown.
From your vantage point, about 50 ft away, you see the door is ajar. There are no ground level windows, but small clerestory windows have been unshuttered to let light into the thick walled adobe structure.
"I shall stay ahead of the party, ready to retreat if things look dire"
Auri moves up ahead of the party to peer inside, he will keep within visual range of the party at all times.
Unless Auri sees something dangerous and tells us to stay back, we will slowly make our way to the open door.
Stealth:
Aurichalcum moves to the doorway for a peek. Inside he finds the tannery still in some sort of operation and still producing a foul stink that attracts flies that lazily buzz through the air over the various noxious cauldrons. The sole attendant is a tall well built woman who is currently scraping some hides for processing among the half light.
A dark veil covers her head and she is dressed in a simple black dress revealing that while still shapely, her arms are covered in sores. As Kzrira and the others approach she looks up revealing beautiful dark eyes amid the veils that gaze warily towards the door.
Auri reflexively backs away a little...
I also follow Kzrira's lead and move towards the tannery quietly, trying not to be seen.
Upon seeing the woman I carry on walking towards her, smiling and waving. Keeping an eye out, trying to make sure I am not seen by any of the Gnolls. Once I get to the door of the tannery I speak to her, "Greetings and good day; my fair lady, would we be allowed to enter your abode and strike up a conversation with yourself? I am curious how one; such as yourself, can live in this place without the Gnolls posing any threat to you. Maybe we could become friends too and help each other out?"
Kzrira cringes at the naivety of the elf, but nonetheless says nothing. She continues to have her bow in hand should she need it.
The tall woman drops her tool and moves back from the pile of hides with her hands held protectively in front of her. Taking in the elf's friendly bearing however, she lowers her hands and nods her assent. "Who are you?"
Slowly entering the building I nod and continue to give her a friendly smile, once we are all in I stop walking and address the woman, "Ah, how rude of me not introducing myself, especially to someone as pretty as you. My name is Faelar, Faelar Braegen and I am a member of the Pathfinders. Who; may I ask, do I have the honour of speaking with?" My Rapier is hung at my side, still sheathed and I am showing no signs of aggressive or malicious intent.
The woman self-consciously covers herself more thoroughly before responding. "I am called Undra. I am a slave. The gnolls believe I am a witch and it would be bad luck to kill me so I am permitted to live. I have lived in Kelmarane my whole life."
I look to her, "Ah, a slave. Apart from these fine gentlemen and this lovely lady, all of my friends are slaves. I hope this means we will be able to get along. Are you a witch? I have no problem with witches, from what I have read on them they are quite talented at making healing tonics from herbs. I am very glad that they refuse to kill you, it would be such a shame." Upon noticing her cover herself, "Do not worry; my dear lady, I have no intention of looking at you indecently or touching you indecently. So feel free to be comfortable around me, we are in your house after all."
Sighing at Faelar's diplomacy: Let me rephrase that. If you let us know which Gnoll owns you, I will make sure that it is the first to receive an arrow in the eye.
Auri stays well away, lest the witch and her friends get curious as to whether his innards may be used in some wicthes tonic.
Undra's large dark eyes bounce between Faelar and Kzrira. "I belong to the tribe although the current chief, Kardswann, claims me for his own use. If you can kill him I would be most pleased to take you as my new master." Her eyes glimmer with hope and perhaps more as they settle on Faelar.
We take no slaves. We are here to free this town from its usurpers.
May I ask who was the ruler of this town before it fell to the gnolls? And how the town fell?
Turning toward Amir: Keep your eyes peeled in case we have any visitors.
Karethas stays back as Faelar deals with the mysterious woman. He looks over the surroundings, trying to discern what the foul stench is emanating from.
May I ask who was the ruler of this town before it fell to the gnolls? And how the town fell?
"The Yunan family ruled Kelmarane under contract with the Pactmasters. At least until Halruun... but it is better not to speak of such things." Undra shakes her head. "In the end, the Pactmasters razed this place and left the ruins to the vultures and jackals and now Kardswann rules over them all for the Carrion King."
"Once we free the town, you will be free to live your life as you see fit. I see no reason for you to leave Kelmarane either. I have heard of the Carrion King, but I don't know much about him. We have also heard about Halruun and even helped free a lost soul that was trapped because of him. If he is still alive, I would like to find him and give all the souls that were killed in his name, a chance to be avenged."
The more important question, is what can you tell us about this town. Are there weaknesses? Where are the guards stationed? Where does this Kardswann reside? We may be a small and unimposing group, but we have taken down foes much more powerful than us. Information and tactics are the key to success against a larger force, which clearly these gnolls are.
Undra's eyes grow wide as she listens to Faelar and Kzrira, "It was you who destroyed the Evil Eye last night?! You are powerful then. The gnolls and bandits dwell in the tower market above the town. The Kulldis gnolls are not so many... maybe as many as the fingers on five hands. The bandits are only there to trade so I don't think they will fight along side the gnolls.
"Gnolls are lazy and unorganized. I think Kardswann is the biggest danger. He calls himself the Voice of the Carrion King, but he isn't a gnoll or a human. I think he is a corrupted genie. He is powerful... and cruel."
Karethas realizes the stink is arising from the various cauldrons and pools around the tannery.
So, we likely have less than twenty-five or thirty gnolls. If we can take out a patrol or two of five or six, that would greatly weaken their numbers. Obviously we will have to take care with this lord Kardswann of theirs, but I assume he is mortal and killable, just like anything else. An arrow to the eye and he will suffer the same fate as the demon did last night.
Are you expecting any gnolls to come by your tannery today? We could take them out right here and then move up the hill.
If there are only two dozen, then they cannot have many guards so we should be able to quietly infiltrate most of the way picking off one gnoll or bandit at a time.
The eyes look fearful. "The gnolls only cross the river to get me when Master Kardswann desires. I cannot say when he will call me again, not soon I hope." She pauses as if gathering her courage. "I believe he can be killed. There is a great snake that lives in the mill near here. Bring me its head and I can give you poison to use against him. I can help you if I am brave."
Kill a snake. That sounds like something we can do. What do you know about this snake? How big and what type of attacks? And where in the mill does it hide? And, finally, is there anything else in the mill that we should worry about.
I turn to the others. Shall we go snake hunting?
"It is a great cobra that hunts along the river and nests in the fallen timbers of the mill. It is as big as a person and of course its bite is lethal. I do not know of any other dangers there."
Karethas runs from his examination of the vats, "Seeing that you have expertise in alchemical studies, I wonder if you perhaps have some antitoxin on hand? It would be a good precaution to have if we are going after this snake. We would gladly pay you a fair price for some."
The woman shakes her head, "I own nothing. The bandits in the market sell anything that I am told to make for them. I am sorry."
So, Karethas and Faelar, do either of you know much about this giant cobra snake? Is there anything we can do to protect ourselves? Also, this sounds like a prime time for our mighty dragon to scout and relay information. If you could identify exactly where the snake is, but stay out of range of it's fangs. I could pepper it with arrows, as could Faelar and Amir. Likewise, Karethas could possibly hit it with magic if necessary although I would prefer he save his limited spells for a tougher fight.
Karethas rubs his finger along his chin, "Well,in general giant animals behave in similar ways to their smaller counterparts. Snakes hunt through stealth and patience, so it is not likely that the snake is just going to come out of it's hiding place to allow us to shoot at it from a great distance. I wonder if we can bait it out into the open?"
I look to my companions, "I believe Zataran would have some of these Anti-Venoms. We could go and speak to him?"
Noticing Undra keep her gaze on me, I turn to face her, "There is no need to be worried or scared, we shall free you. If this snake is an enemy of yours and helping you defeat this enemy could help us free this town, I will gladly be the bait. I can keep myself alive enough for my friends to slay it ... unless they have a better plan?" "Which I hope they do." "Speaking to us is proving your bravery and freeing you is something that I am very pleased to be a part of."
Auri still sits well away, watching his friends from a safe distance.
Don't snakes like to eat things like rats? Since this is much larger, perhaps there is a small farm animal or something similar we could catch and use as bait.
Undra, where do you get the pelts you work on here? What is the source of them. They look like whatever donated its pelt might be considered a delicacy to a giant snake.
Undra considers, "The gnolls bring me the skins to treat, but... in the ruins of the lower gatehouse they are breeding a pair of giant hyenas. They have recently had a litter. I think a giant snake would be interested in them."
I look to Amir :
Well, we can either snag a snake snack or sneak in and stake the snake without the snack.
"The hyenas may be used against us at sometime in the future, so taking them out could be a boon in any case. I suggest we go there first for bait against the snake. We just need to avoid those gnoll patrols."
Sounds good. If we can get there unseen, we take out the adult hyenas and most of the litter. Then snag two of the young. Bind their legs and toss them in for the snake to play with. Once it starts to consume the dogs, we hit it hard with ranged attacks. It should be slowed at least somewhat due to what it just ate. And in the end, we have less hyenas and one less snake to deal with.
So, what is the best way to get to these dogs? Can you tell us which building they are in and where you think the guards might be?
While everyone is finding out all the information they desire about the snake and hyena's, I stand quietly listening to what is being said. Once all of the information they want has been collected, I give a bow to Undra, "We shall return shortly, with the head of this snake. Although I am not a fan of poisons, I think even we may require an edge against Kardswann. Especially as he was a genie, maybe not a a big fighter, but even scouts have some fighting prowess."
Since Amir appears to be out of commission for the time being, I will assume he agrees to go dog hunting.
Keeping a careful eye out for any gnolls, we make our way over to the lower gatehouse.
You recall seeing a group of gnolls bringing chunks of meat to a building yesterday and realize they were likely feeding their pets. Crossing back over the bridge you head toward the lower gatehouse.
Stealth:
Perception:
Recalling where the gnolls took the meat, we carefully and stealthily make our way to the ruined gatehouse.
Rolling for Amir since he indicated he will not be around.
Amir Stealth:
Amir Perception:
Perception
Stealth
The mini-dragon is still avoiding the witches, not wanting to end up in a cauldron.
On a mission, the explorers don't even pause to consider the gnoll patrols until they hear the noisy pack making their way down the empty street towards them. Aurichalcum sees it all from his higher vantage point as Amir ducks into the open door of the common house and Karethas stumbles over a vacated tortoise shell. The patrol of five gnolls gawk a moment before remembering their job.
Auri
Amir
Karethas
Faelar
Kzrira
Gnolls