Randall:

"Sending invisible scouts ahead sounds like a great idea.  I'd like to get off the beach and go at least partway towards the goblin camp using the dry riverbed," says Randall.

"Agreed, let's move closer and see what is there to decide on next plans"

Quote from Brian_Avery >>

So, is your plan to stay in the dry riverbed and observe from there?

Or, get as close as the dry riverbed will allow and then try to stealth closer, or even into a goblin camp?

Or something else entirely?

 (Get reasonably close in the riverbed, so we're able to observe the camp overall, but are not close enough to risk discovery and far enough away to be able to move out again). 

Quote from Stormbringer4729 >>

"I suggest the familiars that can turn invisible do some scouting before we do anything."

 "Excellent. I shall send Irraxan. As I said earlier, let's try to find messenger or supply routes. I fancy we should be able to find out where their orders and their supplies come from." 

You find a place in the riverbed that runs about 100 feet from a medium sized goblin camp. (Goblin camps pepper the landscape and they come in 3 sizes, small, medium and large. There are lots of medium and small but not as many large.)

Irraxan proceeds to scout invisibly and sees some runners or messengers going from camp to camp but none heading away from or toward the siege line. He overhears common enough orders being sent and received, mixed in are disgruntled comments on the failed sewer tunnel plan.

(If any of you want to investigate further by getting closer, or entering the camp include a Stealth check in your post.)

(How many goblins are in small, medium and large camps? (approximately from what we and Irraxan have seen))

Petcan is perfectly happy to wait for Irraxan to relay information before we act. He'll just be keeping watch in the meantime

OOC. I presume disguises (even magical) are out of the question, as none of us would pass as a Small creature (I think we are all Medium). Do any of the messengers pass near the riverbed or some other place where we could ambush and capture one (without being spotted by the rest of the goblins in the camp)? Maybe it's time to have a live prisoner to interrogate. If not a messenger, could we try to find an picket guard or similar?

Small camps have 12 to 20 goblins, medium camps have above that up to 50 or so, and large camps have too many coming and going to hazard a accurate guess but are easily over 100.

No goblins come anywhere near the dry riverbed. If you want to try for a lone goblin it would require leaving the dry riverbed and making a Stealth check of some kind.

Over a short amount of time passing there are 4 options you could try for, or not.

1. Goblin messenger/runner.
2. Goblin picket guard.
3. Goblin relieving himself.
4. Goblin wandering drunk.

I could make someone invisible to go snag someone if they want

"I suggest that we should try to catch a lone goblin. Assaulting even a small camp would risk raising the alarm and having a to fight a multitude of Goblins. Ideally we want to pick someone far outside the camp, and one who won't be missed for a while so that the alarm is not raised while we make our escape to a safe location where we can interrogate the Goblin.

Petcan, could you case a more powerful version of your Invisibility spell to cover more of our group?"

(Using a 5th level slot for Invisibility should enable up to 4 people to perform an invisible ambush. Z is happy to sit this one out. I don't think we would need 4 people to subdue a single Goblin, but perhaps it would be wise to send 2-3 as we don't want it to escape).

(I would suggest a picket guard. A nice stationary target which we can carefully surround and ambush with invisibility. Maybe we leave behind an empty wine bottle to make it look to the other Goblins like maybe he has just wandered off. Not too keen on going for a moving/unpredictable target as we might well run into other messengers/goblins/etc, or follow it into a crowd)

I can absolutely upcast invisibility. Or just twinspell it. But I'm not sure I'm needed to go with after I cast it. 

Do we have anyone who might go?

"I'll go and give myself some bears strength to be sure I can grab the goblin. However, wouldn't a messenger be the best target?"

((I'll cast enhance ability for advantage on Strength checks))

Quote from Secretfool >>

"I'll go and give myself some bears strength to be sure I can grab the goblin. However, wouldn't a messenger be the best target?"

 ((I'll cast enhance ability for advantage on Strength checks))

 (I think whoever goes should choose whichever target they prefer. Z, like Petcan, will probably just wait in the dry riverbed)

"Before you go, let me lend you this for emergencies. If everything goes wrong and you are surrounded, this may save your lives", says Zenodor and hands over a pack of Dust of Disappearance. (It was expensive, so don't waste it. But if you're trapped or surrounded, this would be a handy way to regain invisibility - and would even cover any other creatures in the area ... such as an unconscious Goblin you are carrying)

Tempe looks to the ground and back "If we could find a commander off by itself taking a leak. It would give us more information than a simple coureur. If the commander is drunk, would make it easy to subdue. Invisibility is good, but, doesn't casting a spell or attacking something make you seen?" 

Quote from Stormbringer4729 >>

Tempe looks to the ground and back "If we could find a commander off by itself taking a leak. It would give us more information than a simple coureur. If the commander is drunk, would make it easy to subdue. Invisibility is good, but, doesn't casting a spell or attacking something make you seen?" 

 (Yes, that's why it's only useful for sneaking up. We still need to be able to do this unobserved - so well outside the camp)

After observing the siege line for a while and seeing only goblins in the camps it does seem more likely that a higher priority target wold have more info than a lowly soldier.

Randall:

”Perhaps we need to go further behind their front lines and look for someone who might know more,” says Randall as he watches, “Maybe even just follow a messenger to find a higher-level camp.”

Petcan nods. "I think we'll have to either put in our own footwork to find leadership or cause a distraction when we grab a middle management leader to squeeze info. I think Z seems to have a solid grasp of an overall plan, I'll let you make the decision. If you go with the distract and grab, I can wipe out one of these camps with little issue. I just won't be able to get you the invisibility."

"I agree that a commander would of course be more informed. But would we not expect a commander to also have bodyguards? I was not expecting the picket guards or other lowly ranked Goblins to have any knowledge of the plan or strategy - but one would think that they might know who the overall king/ruler/general is. And perhaps even which camp they are in. I still think we should start with a lowly Goblin whom no one would miss first, before going for a riskier target like a commander - who's abduction would no doubt raise an alarm and a response."

(Even an army of the lowliest henchmen would presumably know whom they serve. Goblins are not mindless monsters, but have the same average intelligence as normal Humans (Int 10) and a civilisation of sorts. I can't imagine they would not gossip and at least know the basics. Also, perhaps they shout "all hail xxx" or similar when they get orders. Even that would be a useful hint to start with. Once we know who/what to aim for, we can go for a bigger/riskier target)

"Let's just see what info we can gather, I'll go who joins me?"