Reynwyn absently rubs Jareth’s feathers as he examines the strange mist. He draws upon his Lady’s Guidance and his eyes go wide as he recalls a tome he’d once read in Candlekeep of a first-hand account of hunting a green dragon. ”Hold friends! This could very well be the lair of a green dragon! The mists reek of their brood. And the lack of prints on the ground... makes sense for a winged creature.”
"We could let the evil wretches deal with each other. If they gnolls flee we can lie in wait here. If they are victorious they will surely be weakened. If the dragon wins then hopefully it too will be weakened... on the other hand they may be far more potent to deal with if they recover whatever it is they seek."
Perhaps we can enter and attack the gnolls and simply talk with the dragon, like the enemy of my enemy type of discussion?
"I too would advance. I say we surprise the gnolls!"
Carric and Revjak head into the mist advancing towards the gnoll sounds together.
"Alright but if we're to advance let's try and use stealth so we can get a true grasp of the situation."
The party creeps forward through the moonlight-suffused mist, and though visibility is only about five feet you all get the sense that the space is opening up into a clearing, although you can't be sure how large the space is. Having moved about 20 feet forward as silently as can be expected, you become aware of the gnolls' general location: about ten feet further in and about 15 to 20 feet off to your left (northwest). Staying in a tight group, you all eyeball each other, and it becomes clear that you could probably surprise the gnolls (of which there must be at least three) with a swift and sudden assault. Alternatively, you could attempt to continue sneaking through the clearing without disturbing them.
Revjak feels the fury building. It feels like an age since that last happened, though it has surely not even been a day. And then, he stalks and strikes!
Arthur moves forward trying to catch a gnoll of guard and quickly put it down... would they find the beast still living or had it died at the claws of the dragon?
Carric steps up close and fires at a gnoll from point blank range.
Everybody springs forward in unison, and after five or so steps you burst upon a group of three gnolls. Revjak grunts as his brings Azuredge down directly into the skull of one of the creatures. He yanks the axehead out of its head, and blood sprays across the big northman as the gnoll falls, twitching. He turns to attack another, but the second gnoll dodges his blow with a yip. As it lands, Arthur's rapier pierces its side, and then Carric's arrow appears in the middle of its chest. It looks down at the fletching, confused, then its head is engulfed in eldritch flame that springs from Reynwyn's raven ring. It falls to the ground as the smell of burning fur fills the clearing.
Piety thunders in at the third gnoll, his metal fists crackling with electricity. He pummels it twice, sparks flying, but he doesn't manage to quite fell it. It scrabbles to get its spear and shield up as you all turn to face it.
Carric steps up again and fires at the remaining gnoll from point blank range.
Arthur does his best to put the last gnoll down, if it falls to his blow he'll pull back, hoping to make them a less tempting target for a dragon's breath.
Roaring a lusty battle-cry, Revjak drives the head of Azuredge directly at the remaining foe!
The last gnoll falls to the fury of the group before it has time to so much as yelp. You all look around at each other in the thick fog, trying to minimise the sounds of your slightly laboured breathing. After a few moments, it seems the alarm has not been raised.
The fog swirls in all directions. It is virtually impossible to determine how big this area is or what it might hold.
"Check the bodies, is the beast amongst them? If not we must press on."
Carric looks about.
Let's proceed Two-by-Two with a hand on the shoulder of your partner as we try to search the area and move through.
Carric places a hand on Revjak's shoulder.
Arthur checks the corpses quickly, but finds nothing of value - a couple of coppers, nothing more. Carric scans the area as best he can, and after a moment of straining all of his senses, concludes with reasonable certainty that there are exits from this clearing to the left, right, and straight ahead.
"I would press on, and in pairs makes sense."
He looks to the ground to see if he spot any tracks.
You all begin to follow the left-hand "wall", although the barrier is composed of tightly intertwined trees and brambles. It moves northwest, away from the entrance, then begins to bend north. This area must be large, as you follow the tree wall for at least 150 feet before coming to a tunnel made of trees that leads off to the northwest; the branches bend overhead and knit together to form a "ceiling". The fog seems a little less dense inside the enclosed tunnel. Beyond the tunnel, the tree wall seems to begin curving around to the north-northeast.
"If we want out of this damned fog, that tunnel beckons."
Indeed, let us proceed...
Arthur nods in agreement and once in the tunnel if it becomes a little easier to see will check for gnoll tracks.
Arthur examines the turf as you progress into the tunnel, but the darkness makes it particularly difficult to make out any details. You all push on as the tunnel swings around to the north.
After a few hundred feet the tunnel ends, opening up into another clearing that is open to the sky. This one seems as large as the last, and although the mist is not as thick the visibility is still reduced to around 60 feet. Although the mist is too thick for you to make out the other side of the clearing you can see that it is filled with multiple huts positioned around a central fire. Gnolls are visible in the aread between the huts and the fire, and they all seem to be heavily armed.
Carric peers in carefully, trying to count heads.
He whispers to the others,
Do we want to tackle all of the gnolls, or maybe draw them out?
"Drawing them warns them something is off. We should surprise them like last time. The sooner we start killing them, the sooner they will be dead."
Six gnolls are visible around the campfire from where you are at the tunnel entrance, and from this vantage point five huts can be seen..
"Six gnolls, five huts.", Revjak quietly growls as he readies himself to move in.
Piety's strange mechanical head swivels around, taking in the scene before you. In a low, emotionless voice he shares his opinion, and the reasoning behind it. "Given the number of huts, and the distribution of the implements of war around them, I conclude that there must be at least fifteen of the savages living here. There may be more huts beyond our visual range, and given that even the data I can see is incomplete, there may be as many as thirty living here. Whether they are all here at the present time is impossible to say."
Revjak turns to Piety and goes quiet for a moment.
"That many? You are not short of insight, metal man.", he says with a respectful if frustrated tone.
"I am still willing to advance, but I will listen to other plans.", he concludes, still clearly eager to engage the foe.
"For other creatures your words would hold more truth. Experience has given me a hard earned education. I have faced many gnolls in my time. They like to sleep in large groups within close quarters. With five huts, I'd say the number could be more like twenty five or even more." He looks at Revjak "Against such numbers, perhaps we can triump but not all of us will live to tell the tale. This would require cunning."
"Perhaps we could set fire to their tents discretely. In their haste they may leave weapons and armour behind. Using the deck of illussions may cause further confusion, perhaps to confuse the gnolls guarding the camp site. A few arrows might help thin their numbers while we reap the rewards of their chaos."
I will certainly pepper them with arrows from around the outskirts of the camp. Unfortunately, some degree of a frontal assault will be necessary, though.
Revjak grins at the last.
"And I will be ready to lead it."
Reynwyn confirms Arthur's suspicions. "I agree, there is likely up to 25 gnolls within the encampment. If we can keep them from spreading out, that would be best; however, my spell selection is limited to direct attacks. I do not have any large area spells. Although I know a spell that could grant us a short period of utter silence within a small radius. It takes me around 10 minutes to cast, but I could place it upon the huts and we can go into each individual hut once the spell has been cast. This will prevent any of the others from hearing the fight within? What say you?"
Can you cast it on a person that can carry it with him or her into the hut?
Reynwyn shakes his head. ”Only upon an area, but I can do it anywhere within 120’. Therefore I could cast the ritual from here, then send in our fighters. I will be of little to no use within the spell though. I could handle any that escape.”