D&D 5E (IC) Scourge of Daggerford

"I'm good to go," says Tommi, helping Escella up.

"Let's kill us some gnolls." Lunn agrees "How many are there?"

OOC: Full, thanks

With no gnolls directly nearby, the Daggerfordians squeezed as much water from their clothes as they could quickly manage (the rest would have to "dry on the vine" as the saying went) and they set forth.

"They are going to notice when their scouts don't return from the river," notes Tommi. "It might make sense to lay ambush on their own camp, rather than try to bypass it."

Kobold Stew said:

"They are going to notice when their scouts don't return from the river," notes Tommi. "It might make sense to lay ambush on their own camp, rather than try to bypass it."

Click to expand...

"I agree. Right now we have surprise on our side. If we can approach unseen. Ideally, if we could remove sentries from one side like when we attacked that orc camp...only without splitting our forces this time."
Vairar nods at Tommi.
"Do you think you could do the scouting without alerting them? Maybe your companion instead of you? But don't take risks, you'll be alone. Just scout and return. We can than disable the sentries if that is possible. And we'll know is there even a chance to defeat the camp or we should move onward to the lodge that may be less defended."

Escella Bok
AC 14; HP 32/33; HD 1/1d8 2/5d6 PP18 SSdc 13 Slots 4/4 1/3 2/2 SP 5/5

"Yeah, I think we're good. I'm good at least. So how do we want to approach the gnoll camp. Helgrim, have you seen the camp recently?"

"I'm happy to provide some scouting, if that would help," says Tommi to Vairar.

"No sense running into danger unnecessarily."

Helgrim had been at the camp the day-before-yesterday. He had shot and killed a gnoll from a hiding spot, and then spent the day losing the gnolls that had chased him. He had finally settled down to camp at Nandar Lodge, which was when the group had discovered him there (and the gnoll hunting party had finally tracked him down).

The old dwarf tells his new companions about his experiences and what he's learned from fighting gnolls so far.

"Ye can't trust gnolls to stay down till they're dead," he says confidently. "Ye can taunt 'em into makin' mistakes, but some're smart enough to trick ye."

Helgrim looks at Tommi with a hint of compassion. "Don't think ye'll be gettin' too close without us, eh? Those teeth'll haunt ye for a while."

Helgrim lead the way from the river to the gnoll hunter's camp. It was impossible for him to say what they would face there - the gnolls were chaotic, unpredictable. The group at the ford had almost certainly come from there, so their numbers would be reduced, whatever they were.

The forest grew dim and twisted as they approached, cautiously. A cry of laugh-like yipping echoed through the forest as they approached, revealing activity around the camp. Gnolls could be active at all hours of the day - they napped in sporadic shifts and were notoriously underslept and irritable.

The Daggerfordians found a spot from which to observe the camp, from behind a rocky ridge. Two hyena-worgs patrolled the open ground in the shadow of the ridge. Beyond them, the camp had three large tents of stitched-together skins. Gnolls were no craftsmen; the tents were stolen, and only shoddily repaired by the gnolls themselves.

The firepit was unlit. Several gnolls stood near it, harassing an owlbear that they had captured and bound. They yipped in a spattering of strange noises and danced about, perhaps performing some sort of branding ritual. Nearby, there was a leafless, dead tree upon which a human and a dwarf were hanging by their wrists. Their tunics were torn open and their chests marked by ritualistic scars. In the tree over their heads sat a vulture, watching over them.