Episode 20: "Infiltratiooooooh, Sh*t!"

Quest Information

 * 4 Arah-Ululu
 * Kassithe, Hex 1294 (The Badlands)
 * Level 5

Primary Cast

 * Craganor, battle cleric of Innara
 * Daric, camel merchant
 * Ket-Ramat, soldier-scout
 * Lugal, Mage of Learning
 * Shoklen, swamp ranger

Secondary Cast

 * Tabni, plains ranger

Summary
The plains ranger, Tabni, tracked the marble mastodon in and out of the arroyos of the Badlands all day. The hot sun beat down on the party, but thanks to the ranger's skills, the party travelled through the wastes unscathed. Close to sundown, the mastodon's tracks suddenly stop, although the gnoll and xvart tracks continue. Asking the party to stay back, Tabni dismounts from her camel and creeps forward. Tabni's expertise has been indispensable: she not only understands the terrain and the habits of the gnolls, she even understands the gnoll language. The party's wait is not long: after a few minutes, she returns. "We have found the gnoll camp."

The party leaves their camels hidden in a sheltered gully, and climbs to the top of a nearby mesa. From there, they have the perfect, sheltered vantage point of the settlements. To the right, on the firm canyon ground, sits several enclaves of small wooden huts. "Those would belong to the xvarts", Tabni informs the group. Up in the bluffs, rising above the canyon floor, and dug into the soil, are many caves. At various levels, the bluffs connect with one another via long rope-and-plank bridges, and long ladders lead down to the canyon floor. "Gnolls prefer to live in caves to avoid the heat," the party's tour guide continues. "I'd guess we're looking at about 200-300 gnolls in this village, and another 50-60 xvarts".

As dusk approaches, gnoll cookfires appear in front of the caves. The gnolls begin to congregate for supper. One particular low mesa, just below the party's vantage point, appears to be the setting for a large gathering. The area has several large cookfires, replete with boars on spits, and in the center is a large pile of wood. About 30 large gnolls are gathering in the area, with a handful of poorly-treated xvart slaves. One particularly large gnoll ("he looks like a pack lord") steps out, grabs a burning log from one of the cookfires, and lights the bonfire to the delighted howls of the assembled gnoll leaders.

After a few minutes,  an extremely large gnoll, taller than any of the others by nearly a foot, emerges from the nearby bluff. He wears ringmail armor that must have been stolen in a raid, and a ragged cloak, through which is sewn what appears to be fingerbones. Strapped to his back is a greatsword, and he has two handaxes tied to his belt. He is accompanied by two muscled female gnolls, clearly his concubines, who appear to be almost as formidable as he is. Behind him emerges five more gnolls. These are wearing extravagant cloaks of red and black, upon which are runes, apparently drawn in blood. They wear elaborate headdresses consisting of the skulls of various animals (tiger, antelope, rhino, axe beak, and giant lizard), adorned with feathers and other, rustic accoutrements. Behind them march eight more large gnolls, each with a giant hyena companion, forming an honor guard of sorts.

The gnoll chieftain arrives in front of the bonfire, to the delighted howls of the assembled gnoll leadership. The gnolls are out of earshot, so Tabni can't decipher their crude language, but clearly the chieftain is being heralded as a great victor. The other gnolls toast and cheer their chieftain. Apparently a victory has been achieved -- perhaps the acquisition of the  ''marble mastodon. ''There is much snarling and backslapping (and the  occasional kicking of an xvart for good measure).

Ket-Ramat analyzes the layout of the camp. On the bottom level of the nearby butte, just to the north of the bonfire, is a cave that is guarded by two gnolls and two hyenas. The other visible caves, however, appear to be unguarded. "Lugal, can you turn me invisible? I'd like to scout those caves." "I'll accompany you", offers Daric, the camel merchant. Lugal nods in agreement, and casts the appropriate spells upon the duo as they vanish from site. The two sneak towards the butte, while the rest of the party waits at their post. The two men scramble down the loose soil with immense skill, barely setting a single pebble rolling down the slope.

Between the bluffs is a deep pit, eroded into the ground, crossed by a rope bridge. Suspecting that the rope bridge would sway, and give away their position, Ket and Daric skirt around the southern edge of the pit. They approach the wooden ladder -- more of a ramp, actually -- up to the next level. To the right sits the large, guarded cave. Momentarily, one hyena sniffs in the air, but it gives up and returns to it's perch at the foot of its master. The two begin to sneak up the ladder ... and quickly freeze in place.

Five gnolls have left the bonfire party, cackling and laughing in their snarling language. They approach and converse with the guards at the lower cave before going in. In moments, they emerge, dragging four scrawny humans (three men and one woman) dressed in rags. The gnolls drag the prisoners to the bonfire, and proceed to slap them around and otherwise torment them for the entertainment of their chief. "Well," Shoklen says from his perch, "at least we know where the prisoners are." The party winces as the prisoners are beat around mercilessly by the gnolls, yet have no choice but watch.

The two roguish party members continue with their infiltration. The make it to the top of the ramp without making a sound, and enter the top-level cave. The cave and subsequent tunnel system is well made, about 8 feet in diameter, carved neatly into the tuff. Heading deeper into the cave complex, the duo stumbles upon a gnoll's sleeping chamber. A crude mat of cloth and straw is in one corner, and along a wall sits an altar made of sunbleached wood. Upon the altar sits some half burned candles, bird feet, feathers, and bones of various creatures, and, most disturbingly, a clay vessel that appears to be filled with blood and twigs. Painted in red -- perhaps blood -- on the wall is a visage of a giant, snarling gnoll, with nasty teeth, and sharply taloned hands, wielding a three-headed flail, apparently lording over lesser creatures. It is a disturbing image. It is quite possible this is the den of one of the shaman. There is no sign of the ''marble mastodon. ''Ket and Daric move on through the cave, and come across a ladder going down through a large hole in the floor.

Meanwhile, the rest of the party continues to spy on the celebration going on below. The gnolls are taunting and tormenting the prisoners as the chieftain and his retinue look on. The gnolls taunt them with fire, push them around, and play a horrible game where they break the fingerbones of their victims, apparently in a contest of who can generate the loudest scream. The gnolls grabs the woman -- a brunette who may have been quite beautiful before her captivity -- and proceeds to push her around between them. One of them grabs her roughly by the hair, as if he is going to lift her clean off the ground by her scalp, when she braces and kicks high. The kick is true, right into the gnoll's nether region.

A painful howl leaps from the creature, but then his visage turns. Snarling madly, he grabs her by the shoulders, lifts her above his head, and marches off towards the pit. Followed by a few of his cackling, hyena-headed companions, the gnoll warrior marches her over to the wood slat bridge crossing the pit. Lugal is visibly disturbed by this, and moves to intercede. Shoklen puts a firm arm on the wizard's shoulder. "What are you going to do? Any action you take will alert the gnolls to our presence, and then we can help no one." Lugal slumps his shoulders and sighs. "I can't even reach her with a sleep spell," he moans. "At least then she wouldn't feel the agony." The gnoll gives a mighty heave, and throws the screaming woman into the deep pit. What horrors lie below can only be imagined.

Inside the cave, Daric and Ket take the ladder and descend into another chamber. This one appears to be the den of some warriors: four beds of straw sit in a room, surrounded by various weapons and personal effects. Another ladder descends through another hole in the floor. Ket again analyzes the layout, and realizes this ladder likely leads to the same level where the prisoners are kept. Daric whispers to the scout "we should retreat and tell our companions what we found, Lugal's invisibility won't last forever. Let's go back to the mesa and figure out what to do next." Ket agrees, and the two retreat back the way they came.

On the bluff, Craganor is impatiently pacing. "I could head down there and instigate a fight, in the chaos you could rescue the prisoners." "You would be torn apart," Shoklen says, stating the obvious. "Bah", grumbles the battle cleric. "At least we'd be doing something!" Out of the darkness, a disembodied-yet-familiar voice mutters "Well, let's talk about what we should do."

Now reunited (and visible), the party plots out their next move. They need to recover the marble mastodon, they want to rescue the surviving prisoners, but they're hopelessly outnumbered. The chieftain and his retinue of bodyguards and shamans will be a tough enough challenge for the party by themselves. But then there's the rest of the village, up to 300 strong if Tabni's estimate is accurate. "I suggest Daric and I take another scouting run, see if there's a way to sneak in and rescue the prisoners. Maybe one of them knows where the mastodon is." Lugal agrees, however he points out that he will need to rest afterwards, in order to recover his spells. He prepares to cast the spell, but is interrupted by Shoklen, who's been watching the camp.

"The feast is breaking up." Sure enough, the assembled gnolls begin to meander (some of them quite wobbly from whatever nasty draught they had been drinking) back to their own caves off in the distance. Several gnolls drag the surviving prisoners back to the guarded cave on the lower level. T he chieftain and his entourage retreat into the caves recently investigated by Ket and Daric. Much to the party's chagrin, guards (one gnoll warrior and his dire hyena companion) guard each of the bluff's many cave entrances. Letting out a sigh, Ket doubles down. "Let's do this, maybe we can distract the guards or find another way in." Lugal casts his spell, and again the two sneaks make their way back down the bluff.

Craganor, Lugal, Shoklen and Tabni stare down at the chieftain's lair, praying to their respective gods to protect their friends. At one point, they see the guards from the prison cave leave their posts and scout around, accompanied by their dire hyena companions. "Do you supposed they've been spotted?" asks Tabni, but eventually the guards resume their posts. If the rogues had been detected, they managed to avoid the keen senses of the hyenas. The minutes tick on, without any sign. The four watchers hope their friends are safe. Eventually, Ket and Daric reappear next to their companions.

The soldier reports in. "I tried to distract the guards and sneak in the prison cave, but it didn't work like I had hoped. These gnolls are savvier than I thought, these are not simple beasts. They've posted guards at every entrance, we couldn't find a way in that wouldn't expose us and leave us open to attack." Daric pipes in. "Maybe we'll have better luck during daylight, when the gnolls are out going about their business. They're in their own homes now, their own turf. We need to try when they're out." Craganor says "I will prepare a spell that should help us locate the mastodon in the morning" The party comes to agreement: the spellcasters will rest for the remainder of the night, the others will watch in shifts, and in the morning, they'll continue to spy on the camp and look for an opening.

Shoklen's first watch is uneventful. He wakes Tabni for her shift, but as he does so, he notices a flicker of light at the top of the gnoll chieftain's bluff. Apparently, there is a hole leading into the cave complex from there, for a gnoll with a torch rises from the ground and walks across the grassy top of the mesa. Tabni recognizes him as the pack lord from the earlier ritual at the bonfire. Out of the hole emerges more gnolls: the five shamans, in full regalia; the two brutish concubines of the chief; and finally, the great chieftain himself, 7-1/2 feet tall, in ring mail armor and a cloak intwined with the bones of his enemies, struts out onto the grass. He stands in the center of the bluff. The five shamans arrange themselves around him. His lieutenant stands at one end of the mesa, and the two concubines stand at the other, guarding the exit. Shoklen's eyes spot something else horribly familiar: he sees two of the flying creatures that have been plaguing the party since the attack on Ag-Rakade many weeks ago. "This can't be good", whispers the swamp ranger.

The five shamans, now surrounding the chieftain in a tight circle, form their clawed hands into fists. They reach out and touch knuckles with their neighbors. Now forming a ring around the chieftain, they begin to chant deeply in their yappy language. Tabni stares at the proceedings, and then notices something to her right. Shoklen has raised his bow, and is muttering to himself. "What are you doing?" she asks. Daric, apparently a very light sleeper, leaps to his feet and rushes to the swamp ranger, but it is too late. Shoklen looses his arrow, and the spell he cast seconds ago is successful. A hail of thorns erupts from the arrow, the original missile strikes one shaman true, and the thorns rain down on the gnoll chieftain and his entourage. The powerful beast howls out in pain.

"What have you done?" shouts Daric. Shoklen turns to the camel merchant. "Evil clerics casting midnight rituals is never a good thing." He quickly grabs and knocks another arrow. "Wake the others, and prepare for battle."

To be continued ...

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