Stormraider Keep (A M.E.T.A.L. Campaign)

The gnoll's fang-and-claw attacks find no purchase against the hardened steel of the paladin's armor.

Elyria's arrow hits the gnoll in the shoulder which mainly seems to make it snarl even louder as it continues to attack. 

(Flynt is up! Followed by Aurelius and Lady)

Flynt dashes to the downed gnoll. He plucks his bolt from carcass but realizes only 3 of the 6 will be usable. 

(The other gnoll is how far?)

 (They are roughly 30 ft apart.)

Round 3

Aurelius summons Lady back to the battle, and coordinates the timing so that his swordthrusts strike the wounded gnoll nearly simultaneous with the warhorse's trampling hooves.

First longsword Attack: 22 Damage: 10 magical slashing + 5 fire damage

Second longsword Attack: 16 Damage: 7 magical slashing + 11 fire damage

Hoof Attack: 14 Damage: Unable to parse dice roll. bludgeoning and if hit, target must make DC 14 STR save or be knocked prone.

If knocked prone, Lady performs as a bonus action a second Hoof Attack: 18 Damage: 14 bludgeoning

Seeing that the other gnoll is outnumbered 6 to 1 Flynt decides to let them handle it and goes about giving the corpse a good search. He pays particular attention to any tribal, or clan affiliation markings. 

Perception: 17

Both of Aurelius' attacks strike the gnoll and Lady provides a final blow, knocking it down permanently with her hooves. 

(Combat ended)

Flynt, you do not see much of interest. The hide armor is tattered and barely holding together.  It has no weapons and only a few odd teeth and bones in tiny pouches.  But you do discover a vividly purple handkerchief with a strange symbol on it.  From your initial look at it, it does not seem to be magical, but it does strike you as much finer than anything else this beast has.

The blink dogs continue to run about, stopping to sniff the air now and then.  They do not seem to detect any further danger. 

Flynt grabs the handkerchief and brings it over to the others. 

" You two have been here longer than I. Do you recognize this?"

"No, I don't Flynt. We should move on though, no time to waste." Elyria says and quickly sets off again towards Gwyllinwald.
Perception: 18 Aelric perception: 16 Survival: 11

"Just a moment. I'm going to check this one." Flynt says as he goes over the second corpse as thorough as the other one.

Perception: 14

Flynt notes that the other gnoll is wearing studded leather armor.  In stark contrast to the other, it seems to be in rather good condition.  Otherwise the pouches contain a few odds and ends - a button, small bones, and a plain brass ring.  From cursory examination you sense the armor may be magical.  The brass ring looks very polished but shows no sign of any magic. 

Aurelius will call upon his divine healing power, murmuring sacred words of power as he lays hands on Lady, restoring 14 hp to bring her back to full health. He will then retrieve his magical javelin from where it had fallen.
He studies the purple kerchief.  "It is not familiar to me.  By the way, you fought impressively Flynt.  You wield that weapon with deadly precision.  I'm honored to fight alongside such a skilled warrior. And Elyria, as always, you somehow make battle seem graceful.  Excellent fighting, my friends."
He then carefully removes any blood or ichor that may have smudged his armor, and checks his hair in the polished mirror of his shield.

As they resume their journey to the southwest, he shakes his head.  "Such a waste... driven by their demon lord toward endless violence and death.  They never stood a chance.  Odd that they would be out here all by themselves, usually they hunt in packs.... we must keep our guard up.

"On a happier note, it was good to let out some of my pent-up anger at Sylmare's pettiness.  Now it will be easier to focus on rescuing our friend."

He spends the next few minutes pondering what sort of title to add to his personal list of accolades. "Gnoll-hunter" sounds too much like "Troll-hunter".... perhaps "Gnollbane"? ...Seems a little pretentious after only killing one... Guess I'll wait to see if we encounter more....

"I do what I can when I can. You fought with courage has well, slayer of the grassy gnoll. " replies Flynt. He touches the brim of his hat and nods his head to reciprocate the respect. As he begins to undo the armor, he goes on to say, "I'm glad to see everyone is none the worse for wear. This armor is also in much better condition than I would expect a creature such as this to possess. In this land where it seems little is given freely any bargaining chips we find could be of use." As he finishes speaking the last buckle comes undone. He flips the front side of the armor over the gnolls head. Then with a grunt he rolls the gnoll over and picks up the armor as he rises. Giving the studded hide a good shake to remove any clinging grass and debris, Flynt slings the armor over his shoulder then grabs the ring as well. He slips it on his thumb for safe keeping. Flynt turns away from the dead gnoll and follows the other two as the trio set off again. Flynt pulls out the compass as they walk to see what change, if any, has occurred.

"Yes, yes, whenever you boys are quite finished with admiring eachothers battle prowess we could perhaps continue." Elyria stops and says with a smirk before picking up pace again.

(Any chance Flynt attunes to the armor while carrying it?)

The group continues on after Flynt grabs the armor and ring from the second gnoll.  After about two hours of wandering across the plains you spot the edge of a forest to the west. 

Continuing on, you also notice what seems to be thin plumes of smoke on the horizon further south of the forest.  By the time you reach the edge of the forest the day is a bit more than half finished.

(Magic items:  barring using Identify, a character can focus on one magic item during a short rest, while being in physical contact with the item. At the end of the rest, the character learns the item’s properties, as well as how to use them...   Wearing or experimenting with an item can also offer hints about its properties. -- quote from DMG

Attuning to an item requires a creature to spend a short rest focused on only that item while being in physical contact with it (this can’t be the same short rest used to learn the item’s properties). -- also quote from DMG

So you need a short rest.  AND a separate sort rest from identifying and attuning. Unless you just jump to attuning, which might be unnecessary and you still don't know much about the item, so probably can't fully use it.

During a long rest,  I would allow you probably have time for 2 "short rest" periods for this purpose though. 

If you can convince Elyria,  there is likely a short rest period while you travel.  Or you could take one now.)

Elyria insists on continuing, pointing out that there will be time to rest soon enough.
She will send Aelric high up to try to determine where the thin plumes of smoke emanates from.
Aelric perception: 12

Aelric can see a number of what seem to be mud and thatch style buildings in the distance. The smoke seems to be cooking fires or perhaps for warmth.  A handful of Harengon seem to live there.

 (If Elyria chooses to share what Aelric has seen....)

Aurelius brightens. "Lilliana's kin! I daresay they might be able to tell us something of the dangers of the forest, and perhaps also they have knowledge of this amulet and the other items we seek.  Shall we make a quick detour to gather information? Some of them even speak Common."

He then murmurs, "Tu me manque, mon cher..."

Elyria does share what Aelric have spotted :-) She tries to determine how close we are to Gwyllinwald and how much of a detour it would be to visit the harengon settlement first.