“Nice trick, Elbert! Looks like the bandits normally cross the pool here,” concludes Taiga.

Carina looks appraisingly at Elbert.  "Well done.  Not only pacifying the frog but having it make a way across for us as it likely does for the bandits."

Still, she peers gingerly at the water without approaching too close, shield up.

"Can anyone see other croakers lurking in there?  Just because this one likes our ranger friend does not mean any others might not be feeling hungry."

She casts Minor Illusion once more, this time an image of herself teetering mid-way across the wooden beam, on the verge of losing her balance.  Meanwhile she looks for other giant frogs stirring within the water.  Unfortunately, her hesitation in getting too close obscures her vision a bit.

Carina's Perception:  11

Peering into the murky water, Carina finds no sign of any other giant frogs hiding within the dark depths. However, it's hard to be certain. As the Warlock casts her Minor Illusion, this time using an image of herself balancing upon the wooden beam — a second pair of gleaming black amphibian eyes part the surface of the pool. But before the other giant frog can breach the water, the one that stands before Elbert and Ragnus lets out a low croak, the shining skin beneath its mouth bobbing — and the other frog sinks back into the water without attacking. What do your characters do next?

Elbert will reach out slowly and cautiously to give the giant frog a scratch between her bulbous eyes. “Hopefully these bandits are as cooperative,” he muses.

Slowly, so the giant frog in front of him won't be alarmed, Ragnus moves to the beam and begins to cross. 

Taiga follows the other and crosses slowly while she comments, "I've heard about vicious guard dogs that let people in, but not out."

Brix scampers across behind Taigs, while keeping a constant eye on the depths below. 

While the party of adventurers begin to cross the wooden beam, the murky pool stirring closely beneath their feet — the giant frog beside Elbert gives the Ranger a final chirp before slinking back into the cold cave water. On the other side of the pool, the further depths of Croaker Cave await in darkness, the light from the snowy sky outside no longer reaching its walls. With their Darkvision, the majority of the party can still see — but Elbert has been cast into inky blackness.

To their left, the adventurers besides the Ranger can see that the cave opens into another wide cavern, from which a foul smell emanates. To their right, the cave continues on for a distance, and stalactites and stone block the party from seeing directly to the end of it. However, they can hear the faint sound of dripping water and wet flopping from further down in that direction. What will you do next?

Crossing the beam over the pool, Rel summons a new Minor Illusion ahead of them.  This time a replica of one of the giant croakers.

"Sounds like more of the croakers to the right from the flopping sound.  Should we check there first?  Neither the frogs, nor most humanoids smell so foul as the stench coming from the left.  Not even Tulgi with her disease.  So I am a bit reluctant to venture there uninvited."

She looks around at the party, noticing that Elbert cannot see.  "Anyone have a light for our frog-tamer?  And for my Minor Illusion?"

"Ok, let's head down to the dripping water. I'm not sure what we will do when we find more frogs, though. The first one let us go but any other from here on might just attack us on sight. Let's just be careful." Taiga says and lights a torch so that Elbert can see at all and everyone else can see a bit better. It looks to her that Elbert and Brix have two handed weapons and everyone else is with shield. She figures, she can be the one carrying the torch as both Carina and Ragnus seem to be more formidable fighters than she.

Feeling something amiss with the smell, Ragnus closes his eyes, mentally asking Tyr for guidance (Cast Divine Sense). With his God's guidance, he opens his eyes, which have taken on a golden light, looking for the source of smell, or anything else. 

Ragnus casts Divine Sense, seeking whether or not an evil presence might be the source of the foul scent that emanates from the left cavern. The Paladin's senses reveal to him no such presence or energy — leaving him to deduce that the unpleasant stench might simply be from something more organic. However, the Dwarf still feels a sense of unease despite his discovery. There are no infernal or undead creatures nearby, but perhaps there are beings who worship or seek evil deities within Croaker Cave.

"I don't sense any evil, or undead to tha left. Did anyone else hear tha wet plopping sound from tha right? Could be more croakers that way"

Brix stay close to Taiga. 

Elbert prepares his quiver and strings his longbow. Hitching them to his backpack, he keeps his glaive in hand as he follows the others toward the water sounds.

Deciding to avoid the foul-smelling cavern to the left, the party of adventurers proceed deeper into Croaker Cave — towards the sound of more potential giant frogs. The cavern around them widens as they travel further into the passage, and after weaving around a few stone columns — they all (aside from Elbert) finally spot the cave's back wall forty feet ahead of them. Taiga's torchlight doesn't reach far enough for the Ranger to see the back end of Croaker Cave, but it looks to be a blessing in the long run — your characters aren't the only one in the passage.

Another murky pool stretches across the far corner of the cavern, into which cold water from the stalactites above slowly drip. Beside the pool is a large wooden bucket, and more importantly — three bandits and another pair of giant ice frogs. The bandits — a Dwarf and two Elves bundled in thick winter clothing — appear to be tossing the corpses of bats into the air. While the bat bodies sail through the cold cavern air, the giant frogs leap upwards, snapping up the dead animals in their large mouths. All of the creatures seem to be engrossed in this training session, of sorts, and have yet to notice your party. What will you do?

As soon as Taiga sees the occupants in the cavern, she gestures silence to the others and retreats back out of sight.If everyone follows, once out of earshot of the bandits and their pets, she explains to Elbert what they saw. 

“Perhaps let’s try to find Hulil the other way first?” She ask them all. “Also, let’s be on the lookout for bats and hunt some, they can be handy in case we encounter more frogs. They seem to like them.”

Carina is just about to hail the bandits and attempt to charm and deceive the party's way to a meeting with Hulil when Taiga makes her suggestion.

Closing her half-open mouth, Carina nods and whispers.  "I am the outlander here.  The rest of you choose.  Just keep in mind that if we end up in a fight with something that is causing that smell, then the bandits and croakers may hear us and move up to attack us from behind before we can parley."

“Just walk past this lot like we belong here?” suggests Elbert as he takes a sip from his wine skin. 

"You think we have to pass them to get to Hulil? Well, could be. But best try to catch a few bats first just in case we need to distract and confuse the frogs," Taiga insists and looks around if there are any bats nearby. "I'm not sure how many bandits there are but I would assume that they know each other and it will be difficult to pass as one of them. Best way I can see is to suggest that we might be able to help Hulil in her predicament."