I’m waiting for someone to tell me that the only thing offensive about an Orc Shaman is his stench. 
[deadpan]That would make him even more like our Wose companion.[/deadpan]
We shouldn’t forget that the dead spider could be spotted - or at the very least, its damaged webs even if we dispose of Lazy Lob’s mortal remains.
Really, the arguments in favour of an immediate assault almost write themselves. 
Shamans cast Clerical type spells. Bless, Cure Light Wounds, Chant, Speak to Animals…
Witch Doctors cast both Clerical and Magic user spells (but not normally Sleep, Lightning Bolt or Fireball.
I have 18 paralysing dart missiles, but (as already I told you) I don’t use poison.
My point is first we find out from Mulligan what the enemy dispositions are, then see if we can expect to take them.
This is your contribution to our planning? 
I am always up for immediate assault. I would just like a little recon first, and then a solid battle plan. No sense going in half cocked, I will end up being the only one of you left alive.
I can track - does that make me a ranger? :smack:
Where does your character description say you can interpret animal signs?
It’s so useful having you and your ideas on our team. :rolleyes:
No, my contribution will be finding out what is down there and then adding a small dose of reality to the various people who seem insistent on writing their epic finale.
If the party decides after that to try and take on all 100 Orcs, so be it.
Ready Gil-Gandel, your destiny awaits
That’s why I specified an intelligent falcon, which a familiar is. Otherwise, most likely I’d just be able to tell feeding, protecting home, and mating behaviour of creatures local to Dale. I’m not asking for any ‘special’ abilities to hold detailed conversations. It wouldn’t work with Brownie or Fang, as they are normal animals.
What happened, all we needed were a few people to go in different directions and suddenly the party is sniping at each other at the doorstep of an orc lair?
Is there a real problem here or am I whooshing myself?
Let’s makes this simple. Ghân & Brin look for a campsite/observation point/ambush point. Mulligan & Gil-Gandel head down into danger and the rest stay at the cave with Deor mainly acting as the eyes in the sky and will use Folca to relay info to Ghân if needed.
Sounds fine to me.
On Mulligan’s part, a severe case of nerves, nothing more. Never done anything quite this dangerous before.
Ghân apologises to the excellent hobbit scout, who makes a vital contribution to the party.
Would you (and Gil-Gandel) like to take 8 Goodberries each with you on your quest? At least you’ll have some healing…
Carrying eight good berries each:
The stealthy scouts head down quietly and invisible or nearly so. They descend a good 50’-70’ and the smoke grows heavier as they descend, but still nothing bad. The come to a long passage, a good 12’ wide that runs about 200’. The ceilings are only 7’ high in the middle and only 5’5” near the walls. The floor is smooth and as you approach, you see that the passage ends in two large door made of iron reinforced wood.
The doors are hinged on the other side. Listening to them, you hear the sounds of some orc activity on the other side, but nothing specific. Gil-Gandel notices some small vent holes over the door. Looking back, he notices the passage had sloped down from the stairs. Gil-Gandel could and does boost Mulligan up to peek
through the vents.
Mulligan sees a large semi-natural chamber with two more doorways and several alcoves. The floor slopes down to the middle where a fire is going. A quick count shows 10 visible orcs. They seem to be mostly sleeping except one doing something to his armor and one tending the fire.
Gil-Gandel & Mulligan check for traps. Gil-Gandel then very slowly pushes open the one door enough for Mulligan to slip through. Mulligan quickly ducks through and sees no one took notice. He motions Gil-Gandel in, who slips through and gently closes the door most of the way closed after look for traps.
There are double doors on almost the opposite side of the large nearly circular chamber. That would be about 100’ away. To the left are three alcoves, about 35’ along, another 20’ and then another 55’. To the right are an alcove about 55’ and then about 10’ after that a single door.
The pair cautiously moves along the left wall, Mulligan peeking into each alcove first. The first alcove has supplies in it. The second has a curtain about 3’ back, Mulligan very cautiously approaches and finds a small hole in it and peers through. He sees only darkness. They move on for now. The final alcoves has the sound of water flowing and you see many pots and pans piled up and a goblin female cleaning the pots. You notice she keeps a large meat cleaver handy.
Making your way to the double doors, you see these are simple wooded construction and cannot be locked. You also not they are rigged to make a gonging noise when opened. It should be simple enough to bypass this trap with a little stealthy work and a smidgen of luck.
Continuing to the other side, you see that the last door is strong and can be barred from this side. The final alcove has a foul smell and glows a little from a natural light. There is a large deep hole in the back of the cave and it smells strongly of feces and urine.
Mulligan oils the iron hinges and carefully cleans them, they both check for traps and then Gil-Gandel carefully opens the door and Mulligan again peeks through. Beyond is a passage leading upwards. It is exceptionally dark and not even Gil-Gandel can make anything out.
Since Renee has stayed behind with the main party, Thoroncir will remain with her, sword drawn and vigilant against any foe.
Ghân: Are we planning to summon the Cavalry?
Given that Folca can communicate with both Deor and Ghân, would Brownie make an alternative messenger?
P.S. Fang is with Ghân, who Speaks to him, asking Fang to be alert for danger.
No point going on then - I don’t fancy fighting orcs in the dark. If that “stealthy work and smidgen of luck” can be done now then let’s do it - I’ll delegate that to the burglar, especially now he’s a level higher than me. Then we’ll be out and reassemble the party, giving the hairy eyeball to anyone who’s been bickering 
and put the following proposition to the rest of the Nine:
"There is a large chamber below where, if we are speedy, we can deal with the first ten of this band while they are still napping. There is one door we can bar, and we should do so. There is another entrance whence reinforcements are likely to come, and we should be glad of this for we can prepare ourselves to meet them piecemeal. We are in a position to make a fighting retreat back the way we came if we are hard pressed. If necessary we can use smoke or Obscurement to cover ourselves and make it difficult for the enemy to see if it is safe to pursue. This will reduce the effectiveness of any archers or offensive casters they have.
"We should, if we adopt this plan, first prepare to shoot any reinforcements, relying on their being scattered and disorganised. As the reinforcements become more numerous and better formed, we move into the formation we previously discussed in the entrance tunnel - Gwaelur, Theogrim and Thoroncir to the fore to make the most use of their shields and armour. I know that this gives Brin and Mulligan less to do once the initial missile engagement is over, but I am sure we will all pull our weight before everything is done.
"Any of these elite Hunter-Killers or any shamans are to be suppressed by whatever means suggest themselves - a smoke bomb, summoned insects or heated armour all sound excellent. Deor waits for a good crowd to let loose his Sleep on. And our Healers do all in their power to keep the three tough fighters on their legs.
"If we must flee, we will have Moose and perhaps Fang close by to help shake off any pursuit. We will then, I think, have to rely on Brin’s advice to make our trail as hard to follow as possible, and light the signal beacon. {I hope those outside have taken the opportunity to prepare one.}
“We may, of course, find that the initial skirmish succeeds and no reinforcements come. In which case - we are ten orcs to the good, and can consider our further progress: probably through the door that cannot be barred, after barring the one that can.”
I’m in favor of attacking- we can easily overpower a mere ten orcs. If we can keep the orcs from escaping out through any doors, they can’t summon help, and with five excellent archers in the group (including Gwaelur), a slinger, and a (whatever the noun is for a person with a blowgun), the orcs probably won’t even survive the first volley. Deor can use spells, but it seems unnecessary if there are no reinforcements. If there are, of course, I’ve got a pair of Sleeps at the ready.
ok, Gwaelur is on board with the play (though he doesn’t know why, his good sense tells him that the elf is mad). He suggests that before we engage in this battle we build our signal fire and post someone who will not be able to aid in the combat outside the caves so reenforcements will come to our aid as quickly as possible and will be able to find us as quickly as possible.
If we time it right, this could work out well.
Advice from the DM please. Is the interior large enough for me to use my two handed axe if I should enocounter an HK, or am I best off sticking with my shield and small axe?
I’m going to assume we will send the message with Brownie.
The outside scouts find a good spot to build a nice large signal fire and another spot to observe well hidden the entrance we did find.
**Renee ** offers up a small bit of help, “I have a very special bauble that might help. I can get it to glow quite bright. It is a treasure from my mom, who got it from her mom who got it from hers. It is quite old now, but once I get it glowing I can hand it off to someone. It would defeat my cloak and protections, would someone like to carry it?”
It sounds like **Deor ** is prepared.
From Gwaelur: Is the interior large enough for me to use my two handed axe if I should enocounter an HK, or am I best off sticking with my shield and small axe?
The chamber is plenty big, the passages not so much. Over all you are better off with the two weopons but I agree, if you directly encounter a well armored opponent switch over.
Aren’t you mixing your English high-fantasy enchantresses here?
Thoroncir silently wonders if Gil-Gandel is leading them all to a glorious death, but agrees to go along with the plan.