ic - Underdogs
With a plan in mind, the party splits down the middle. Mogro and Ershe find themselves a sheltered spot from which to listen and wait. Assaq and Adokul slip in among the trees and are soon out of sight. Assaq's wolf follows, a grey shadow moving through the trees.
Adokul and Assaq
The two scouts push forward. Gradually they work they way through the forest, alert for any sign of the gnolls. They find a set of tracks through the snow, but it is at least a couple of days old. However, it looks like whoever made the tracks was carry a fresh kill. Blood stains the snow, and the prints are deep. They find another, fresher, leading in the other direction. Eventually, however, what they find is the camp.
It is set built on a low rise against a small cliff face. The area around the camp has been cleared of trees and undergrowth for about 100 feet. Much of the felled timber seems to have gone into building a low stockade around the campsite. Its rough, and doesn't complete enclose the campsite. There are a number of gaps through which the inhabitants obviously come and go. The snow around the gaps has been trampled into the mud. Within the wall there are a number of crude shelters and at least a couple of campfires, judging by the columns of smoke.
From their current vantage point the two grell can see little of what is happening within the campsite. The walls obscure the view. They would have to find a higher vantage point to get a clearer view. However, every now and then they spot movement through the gaps; a female carrying a bundle of sticks, a pair of pups chasing each other, a male dressed in fur and armed with a spear.
As they watch, a pair of females carrying bundles of clothes or blankets or something similar emerges from one of the gates. They take one of the paths through the snow, eventually disappearing from sight into the trees. A barking yap causes them to stop, look back and up, and wave. Following their direction of the their gaze, Adokul and Assaq spot a gnoll perched on the top of the cliff above the camp. He carries a bow and horn. From there he has a fine view over the camp and the approaches to it. At least once any new arrivals break cover from the trees.
As the two female disappear from sight, another gnoll, a young male this time, comes back the way the two females went. He staggers back towards the camp under the weight of several full water-skins.
A short time later, a single male gnoll appears in the clearing from the forest just in front of the two grell. He carries a bow on his back and is dressed in neutral coloured clothes covered in snow - a hunter it would seem. Although it doesn't look like he has had any success, he crosses the open area empty handed.
Ershe and Mogro
The two grell settle into wait. From their own experiences, they know that you can spend hours in the forest around the krel and not see another person. And you don't have to go too far from the edge of the settlement to do it.
Time passes. The once quiet forest seems to grow more noisy as the ear becomes accustomed to the silence; water drips on stone, the trees whisper to each other, snow falls wetly from branches, ice cracks and splinters. Time passes slowly when you have nothing to do but wait.
[sblock=ooc]Lets say the above took about half an hour. The two scouts are still within earshot of the others. But a shout at this stage would probably also be heard by those in the camp, if they were paying attention.[/sblock]
