"I can have a closer look if you want". Elmin conjures his owl and suddently his eyes goes white. Elmin is only making one with his familiar and flies over the camp, trying to count and remember where are the ennemies. The owls stay to a maximum of 100ft away from the halfling to keep the connection.

Elmin:

Currently you ate too far from the camp. The base of the hill that surrounds the camp is about half a mile (ca. 800m) away from you. 

The elevation however can give you a good view of the area (I will add a picture tomorrow).

Swan:

When you describe infiltration plans next to Smithy, he grins a bit.

"I don't think that would be a good idea... You will stand out as a pig on a wedding party..." he adds looking at Tyto's giant figure and at Katarina. 

 "I don't think that even mercenaries are THAT exotic... but who knows? I couldn't pose as one for sure."

"That is true..." Swan murmurs, considering Smithy's suggestion. Then she says, "Perhaps some of us could scout ahead, get a better look of the camp, then decide our next step from there."

Katarina can't help but giggle.

"After Katarina's last attempt at sneaking around, she would prefer not to try doing it again for a time," the feline says with little smile.

Cerau, still shaken from her dream forces a smile. Focus on the task at hand. It was only a dream. It was only a dream.

"I suppose if we can't disguise ourselves or approach too directly, we need to come from the side or split up." Frowning at the idea of splitting up, she continues. "Maybe trying to sneak closer from two different directions could work? If I can get 90 feet of a lookout unseen, I may be able to put whoever is stationed inside to sleep."

Cerau, straightens her clothes and bestows her Vigilant Blessing on herself as she prepares herself for the anticipated conflict.

As Elmin is scouting via his familiar, later he is able to give you a more detailed layout of the camp.

The camp is well below the edges of the plateau with quite steep walls. There are two lookout towers visible - one near the entrance, the other on the rocky parapet above the camp.

There are numbers of tents, simple huts or jurts throughout the camp with lots of creatures. It was impossible to count as some are moving or tending their chores, but a safe guestimate would be at least a hundred, if not more.

Those in front look simpler and less prominent than those in the main part of the camp.

doubled posting, sorry.

Elmin explain to the others what he saw. « They are hundreds ! A front confrontation will only mean death. » 

« We could approach the north watchtower and take care of the watcher. This should give us a better view. Our job here is to get information and possibly find a certain… Léonin … » he adds unsure of the name.

The sun is rising slowly up in the sky. Smithy, who was sitting all the time quietly, asks with shyness in his voice: "Well, do you think I could go now? I promise I will not go near the camp or will ever speak of you to anyone..."

OOC, perhaps you'd like to ask me anything to clarify the situation?

“There are a lot of people in the camp, we definitely don't want a direct confrontation. I still think the best way to get information is to try and blend in with the camp people. Posing as mercenaries or simple travelers could be our key to gathering information without raising suspicion. If Tyto can manage a disguise, it'll certainly aid in making us less conspicuous." Swan suggests after hearing Elmin's description of the camp. 

Cerau nods at Swans suggestion, "If we wanted to split up momentarily and put someone in a watch tower to sleep, I can try to sneak across the top of the cliff." As she continues, an imperceptible breeze sweeps though the blue strands of her hair, "If someone wanted to accompany me, I can get us down into the camp safely using the wind. When you grow up in a windy place, you learn a few tricks."

Katarina pauses, scratching behind her ear absent mindedly, trying to think of a way to defeat the entire camp and only succeeding in giving herself a headache.

"Um... Katarina doesn't want to see Friend Cerau and any other friends alone without Katarina's help..." the feline says, looking towards the camp. "But Katarina also can't sneak in... also..."

The Tabaxi pauses, and you can all tell that she's blushing from embarrassment under her thick fur.

"...um, Katarina cannot remember what she and her friends were sent to do. Can someone please remind Katarina?"

Tyto gave Katarina a warm smile.

"Well, the governor's request was for us to find out information about the attackers - we know where they are now and how many of them are there - now we'd need to get more information about this mysterious sorceress, what it is she is trying to achieve, and what exactly the attackers were looking for in the towns they attacked. As for me - I'm all but an expert in espionage, but I know how to blend in with humans if necessary. I can disguise myself convincingly, and as long as we don't give anybody cause to scrutinise my appearance, we should be fine. I could even try to look like..."

Tyto turned around to Smithy with a half-apologetic shrug "like your... companion. I take it he was the leader of your small group? What was his role in all of this, can you tell us about him?"

"I think we can let this one going, but..." and Elmin turns toward Smity "If we see ever once your face around, we will shoot to kill, trust me"

"I think we need to act now if we want to look around: I am ok to go around, on the top of the cliff and surprise the watchmen from the North. From there we can either get the Intel or try to blend in..."
Elmin is sending his owl once more arounf the watchtower to know exactly how many guards there are and in witch direction they are looking most of the time.

As you are discussing the plans what to do next, as Tyto turns to Smithy he thinks for a moment. He sits on the ground and starts talking with a bit of a sad voice

"He was my cousin and a friend... We grew up in the same village and few days ago he came and talked about that sorceress. He has talked about how unfair it is for the nobles to gather all the wealth for themselves..." he pauses for a moment but continues with a chuckle "She's used that funny expression... Wealth distribution. As he talked about that, that sounded fair.He has showed me a dagger with precious gems he got after he spoke with one of them and told us he could bring friends with him... but when I saw that city burning... I've realised it's only a moment when it would come to our village and we'd  be in the place of these poor people..."

As Elmin speaks towards Smithy, his face gets a bit pale, but he nodes with his head. "With god's favour, ye will never meet again..." he stands for a moment as if thinking about something.

"They greet like this..." he raises his right hand up, palm towards you, with fingers spread apart.

OOC As you are south of the camp (down on the map) to exercise Elmin's plan, you'd need to get around the camp to approach either of the watchtowers (either A or B - see below).  I don't want to choose for you, so, just let me know in the next post which watchtower you'd like to approach.

Elmin votes for the B watchtower

After leaving Smithy behind you go north (I presume you take a safe distance from the edge, to avoid detection). For a moment Smithy watches you go, and after a while he turns and heads east.

The approach towards the watchtower is quite easy, although it takes about two or three hours. Trees are fairly separated with some low bushes and tall grass growing all around. 

The tower is less than a hundred yards away from you.

If you want to approach closer, please make a stealth check.

if you wast to scout first, please make perception check.

"If we want to try and blend in, we should avoid sneaking around, that would be too conspicuous. Perhaps we should split up, some of us will approach the watchtower and talk to the guards, try to convince them we have business here in the camp. Others can try and sneak in while the guards are distracted. That way, even if we are turned away by the guards, some of us might still manage to get inside the camp." Swan suggests before the party approaches the watchtower. 

Can Elmin send his owl to count how many sentries there are in the watchtower ?

@_Grimnir_ Yes he can. Would Elmin take over her sences?