Elfstan relates what he found to the elves and places the feather on the ground for Miron to examine if he wishes.
“I have a bad feeling about the crows’ roost I found. It reminds me of a story from my Grandpa Samwise. I think we’ve learned what we can here for now. While we have time, let’s return to our camp and inform the rest of the party of what we’ve found. We have many options open now. The party needs to decide which is best to pursue while we still have daylight on our side.”
So, no vampire tracks or other markings around the pillar?
None of the scouts found any signs of the Vampire. It should only take another hour to return to camp. Miron and Gil-Gandel will both confirm the feathers belong to Crebain.
At the camp, Renee says, “Ah Crebain, they still often worked around Minas Morgul with the orcs and others, I am not surprised they would be in league with orcs here. I would suspect this group might have another Shaman then.”
So the scouts head back and return by 10:45 am after a small delay to avoid the prying eyes of the Crebain.
So we have a hill with one entrance and at least 3 guards scattered about the hill. The Entrance is to the North.
Renee can now answer Elfstan’s question, “I would suspect the Crebain are in league with the Orcs or more specifically their Shaman, but it could be the Vampire.”
Says the Sea-Knight, “Thank you, my brothers-in-arms, for learning more of the orc-lair. Consider this: If we assault and take it, the vampire will surely come when no sacrifice is provided, as has apparently been the custom, and then we may surprise and slay the dark beast. Are any of you willing to enter the lair itself and learn the enemy’s numbers and defenses, ere we attack?”
Here we go again indeed. Another underground complex populated by Orcs with the possibility of a Vampire coming along at an inopportune moment.
I think I prefer keeping an eye on the Orcs to make sure they do not capture anyone to hand across and allowing the Vampire to deal with the Orcs instead.
From the bodies in the pit, can anyone tell how far apart it feeds? That will tell us how much time we have to work out our next steps.
Elfstan clears his throat a little and then replies to Mulligan, “From what Miron overheard from the orcs, they are expected to have a meal for the vampire tomorrow night.”
With a waver in his voice he adds to Thoroncir, “I… I will scout the lair if that’s how we want to proceed. Ummm… I think we need to carefully consider if we want to announce our presence to the vampire. Do we want to act now or watch and wait until the next feeding cycle?”
Now gaining confidence he continues to the party as a whole, “The two doors leading into the lair looked stout… very stout. I would have to dart in while they were open. As a thought though, maybe there’s a back door? I can’t imagine even orcs having just one way in and out. I wonder about those orc guards in their blinds. We could see how they change the guards. Maybe they have tunnels right to the blinds?”
“Also, we know that the orcs will be looking for a victim again tonight. The numbers inside would be the fewest while they are away searching. We should have hours to deal with the orcs inside before having to worry about the returning search parties.”
“One other risky gambit would be to let our mage put a search party to sleep. We could then wake and speak to them. Maybe they would be willing to help us rid them of the vampire? I worry greatly about trusting orcs though.”
As Elfstan’s monologue tapers off, he looks rather embarrassed at having said so much to adventurers as skilled as his companions.
Ghan points out that we don’t know how big the lair is; whether there are air vents; whether there are hostages; and how many exits there are.
Plus we have to make the gas, transport it undetected to the entrance(s) and wait for it to work. And hope the wind doesn’t change…
Miron is uncomfortable with an indoor raid, since it makes it harder to hide and reduces the effectiveness of his bow. He suggests playing messenger to Caramir instead, although he’ll be happy to back the party if they want another fighter in the mix.