It sounds like Miron, Gil-Gandel and Elfstan will head out and the rest will remain watching for the Vampire, more orcs and Riglo.
Is this correct?
I believe so.
Sounds about right. One of the hobbits should go and the other stay. I’m not sure if Gil-Gandel wants to go as well, but it might be good to take the two new guys out for some practice.
Miron, Gil-Gandel and Elfstan head out with Miron in the lead. Elfstan is invisible to add to his safety and all are moving quietly and stealthily taking advantage of their elven cloaks and boots and the invisibility spells and the elven ability to move quietly and Elfstan’s treasure finding abilities to sneak.
They set out early on morning of June 10th. (A reminder, Riglo is expected back today or tomorrow.)
They track for hours; the trail is easy to follow for Miron and looks well used over many years. (The orcs made this trail only hours before at 2am and the trackers start tracking at Dawn.) A few times Miron holds up and points out what to look for to Gil-Gandel and Elfstan. This main trail will be easy to follow for either.
Surprisingly the trail is leading slightly to the west and to a low foothill rather than a mountain. Gil-Gandel thinks the foothill may even be an ancient hill fort rather than natural.
It is only 8am at this point. How close do the 3 scouts wish to get?
Time of day seems to be in our favor. Do we have sunlight?
Miron is eager to please, and without any immediate reason not to he seems happy to go with whatever decision his two companions reach.
This is fine for Ghân.
We have 3 scouts with good abilities tracking the orcs and the rest of the party in a known (but hopefully secret) location.
The scouts close in with Elfstan now heading up first to look for lookouts. The two elves flit from bush to rock to scrub to remain unseen from so far unseen lookouts.
Elfstan silently and invisibly approaches the entrance to the dwelling. Near the base of the hill is a steep slope with large double stone doors sealed tight. The tracks obviously lead to here.
Elfstan moves back the way he came as carefully and quietly as he can to report what he saw to the two elves.
Assuming he makes it back to them, he adds the following to the description of the doors:
“I think we should continue to check for lookouts. After we’ve determined the location of any lookouts, we need to decide if we should report back or stay to observe these doors until nightfall. We may want to move the party near here, either immediately, or after the two days are up that the orcs mentioned. I fear that it will be very critical to be in the correct spot on that night. Which spot is right though… here or at the feeding site?”
Also, is Miron able to determine how heavily this trail is used so we can get a rough idea of numbers?
Miron will attempt to work out how heavily the trail is used.
In addition, he attempts to discern whether any non-orc tracks are visible on the path.
Exactly how long did it take for us to travel from the main campsite to the lair?
Miron finds only orc tracks and believes the main trail is used heavily and nightly. He finds only signs of Orcs.
It took two hours to arrive at the hill at a very slow pace. It should take only an hour at a fast march.
I’m off to Vegas for a couple of weeks 
, but will try to keep posting! 
If the trackers are splitting up, I can offer two Invisibilities, but otherwise, proceed as you were.
“It looks as if this trail is exclusively used by foul Orcs,” Miron whispers. “Evil ones, that is. Not smelly ones. I’m honestly not sure how they smell, I’ve been trying not to think about it. In any case, evil ones.” After a long moment’s cloak-fiddling and scowling restores his composure, he continues “The trail seems to be quite heavily trafficked, but my tracker’s intuition tells me that it is mainly used at night.”
Out of curiosity, how good is an elf’s sense of smell when compared with a human’s?
Warning: DM moving things along…
Gil-Gandel heads around the hill to the left as Miron heads right and Elfstan cautiously goes up to check the top of the hill.
Miron discovers a guard to the West side of the hill. The goblin is armed with a crossbow and peering about from the shadows of low earth covered flat tent meant to blend into the hillside.
Gil-Gandel makes two similar discoveries to the East and South.
Elfstan finds a strange stone pillar on the apex of the hill with a lot of bird crap on it and around it. He then realizes there are many black feathers near it.
In general as Elves are generally healthier and cleaner than the average human of the times, their sense of smell is better, however a healthy human with a well trained nose is the equal of the elves. Both are superior to Dwarves of course, but some Goblins and even Hobbits have much more advanced olfactory systems. Of course sense of smell only rarely comes into play in fiction and role-playing.
That stinks!
How big is the pillar? How big are the feathers? Sounds like it might be a roost or the equivalent of a helicopter landing pad. I don’t think even Middle-earth vampires have feathers; could be some other kind of nasty avian critter.
Back at the camp, Thoroncir decides to go hunting with his bow to get some fresh meat. Anyone want to come along?
Elfstan studies the area carefully, taking in everything in hopes of quickly recognizing a change in background noise or whatever. He also waits a shortish period of time in case there is anyone on patrol in the area. He scans any trees and the sky for the source of the bird crap and feathers. Elfstan then cautiously makes is way around the hill top making a check for trails and guards.
After being sure he is alone on the hilltop, he creeps closer to the stone pillar, but not too close. He scans the ground for pit traps and the like. Although he’s no ranger, he remembers the tracks created by the vampire and looks for similar tracks. He examines the feathers, including smelling them. Are they from crows or other birds he’s familiar with or something different? After sniffing the feathers and one last look to ensure he’s unobserved, he’ll tuck one away if there is no stench that will give him away. He would like the rangers to see one of them. Finally, but still from hopefully a safe distance, he looks for any markings on the pillar. With this scouting done, he slips back to the hopefully agreed upon rendezvous point to inform the elves of what he’s found.
Elfstan determines the pillar is in use by large crows. Probably the Crebain he heard Grandpa Sam speak about.
He makes his way back to the elves where they split up originally. (At this point it is a little after 9:30 am.)
Meanwhile back at the main camp: A flock of large crows fly overhead. They appear to be searching the ground. No one was exposed to their view hopefully but Folca was forced to defensively fly away fast. A few of the crows gave half-hearted pursuit but gave up quick.
Uh oh!
(posted mainly becuase I haven’t posted in so long, but I am following the game, I just don’t have a lot to contrbute at the moment.)
“I remember tales that Radagast sent birds at Saruman’s bidding to act as spies for him, during the War of the Ring,” Thoroncir says to Renee and the others. “Perhaps these are of their ilk, sent on a similar task? Probably best if we evade their gaze.”