"Infected? What with? I've got a spell tha' can help with basic disease, though it ain't prepared now. 'm more concerned with killin' gnolls. As fer what I got, I'm a druid, I got a few spells an' th' like t' help, an' I've a friend tha' may be helpful out here, though he's a bit too large t' get in th' cave itself. He's o'er the hill there, but he can get in real quick if needed."

"It appears I have been infected with a particularly virulent strain of Lycanthropy. Most likely, it was those dastardly gnolls who did it. I seem to be turning into a were-hyena. So, a bit more than a basic disease."

"Ah. Feck. Well, I ain't got nae way t' help ye with that, so don't expect me t' be anywhere around when that happens t'ye. Anyhow, I didn't have much of a plan comin' in, d'ye got any of yer own or are we just flyin' blind here?"

Out of habit he tried to hide his surprise. First with the druid then with Nodheim’s honesty and lately with Ruthmum reaction. The drow half expected the man to leave the group after knowing that two of them were infected with lycanthropy. Better fight with the cursed than alone, he said with the voice of his mind as the conversation turned towards strategy.

“We are trying to take out the scouts before they can alert anyone inside and then infiltrating. Fight their numbers a segment at time.” Defeat in detail seemed like the only option. “Between the stairs and cages we should have enough wood to light a fire big enough to fill the cave with smoke. But we’ll need to block the passage if we want to avoid fighting everyone inside at once and they have any other exit it wouldn’t be that effective.” Veldruk turned to Ruthmum. “Would you happen to know if there are other entrances on the rock?”

The human found them by watching the hideout. To a former soldier that spoke of scouting, possibly of the whole area taken by the gnolls base. If nothing else he was sure to know place better than foreigners like them and the warlock had dealt with enough things to know that a small piece of information can be the difference between life and death.  

"I ent seen any other holes into th' cave, though if ye're wantin' to smoke 'em out ye'll have t' kill th' hyenas in the cages o'er there. Th' gnolls been feedin' 'em humanoid flesh, an' they're hungry fer it."

Evelyn remains quiet, brooding over Threla's situation and her own. She doesn't even seem all that surprised to find a talking lizard out here in the desert, but then again it was controlled by a druid so that made sense. After Olan signaled him the druid himself appeared, an older man. At least they now had an ally in their fight against the gnolls. The wizard's face fell as she realized the druid didn't know how to remove curses either. Though her symptoms were not as great as Threla's, she had still shown signs of the disease. The last thing she wanted was to become a were-hyena. How would she study? Would she be able to control her magic?

     "We shouldn't wait more than needed," Nodjeim notes after he feels refreshed enough to take on another fight.  "Delay just increases our chance of being spotted."  He had thought perhaps the infected would try a controlled change but neither seemed eager to do such a thing and pressing them on it could be more pressure and stress and just make things worse.  With nothing else to be achieved by waiting, Nodjeim was eager to get at the task at hand...

Quote from Kaemgen >>

     "We shouldn't wait more than needed," 

  "Delay just increases our chance of being spotted." 

 "I agree."

"Unless anybody has a better idea, I'll go and find a nice bush to hide behind and try not to leave too many dead bodies out in the open this time."

Well, then... what's everyone doing? You've got the earlier map to determine your actions by, not much has really changed. There is currently one more scout by the entrance, as well as a gnoll who seems to be maintaining the hyena cages, and the undead milling about. The undead can't speak, so they'll likely not warn others, but they'll definitely still try and murder you.

It is also now fully dark. Those without darkvision will struggle to see in the darkness, and the gnolls have not lit any lights, seemingly relying on their natural darkvision.

“Considering what you just said, Ruthmum, we probably should take them out even if we don’t try smoking the cave.” Otherwise the beasts were likely to attack them at the first opportunity. They were, after all, the right flavor of meal. A better man would have thought about how dangerous they would be for normal people in the area, he pondered. “We have this cliff clear and Nodjeim met no enemy on his side so I’m thinking we taken Olan route and try to end the archers? Maybe try to pull them away with a sound or illusion?”

Veldruk genuinely believed that to be their best option, but preferred to let the others decide. To do otherwise was to risk appear taking someone’s choice and despite the apparently constant increase in trust among their group that was something he wished to avoid. The surface world had taught him that little was necessary for a drow to cause aversion. Truth be told the warlock worried if his fire related suggestions hadn’t been too pyromaniac for everyone’s taste. Well, the party had accepted well the presence of two lycanthropes, one of them from his very kind. Shouldn’t be much of a problem if he didn’t advocate for arson in the near future.  

"I suggest that I try to thin their numbers from a distance. Now that we have the cover of darkness I should be able to get a little closer."

He draws out a rough map in the dirt.

"I'll go back over to the other side of the gully and move in closer. Veldruk, your night vision is better than mine, and you can cast at range, would you join me?We can target those near the cave mouth."

"The others can move further down to the lower outcropping. Once you and I start attacking the entrance, they can take out those tending the cages. I think we can leave the undead until last."

"Does anybody have any objections? or suggestions?"

"I think an illusion would be wise. I could conjure a chicken to distract the gnolls, as I'm sure the hungry savages would love to eat one. I mean, if we had time, and the ability to start a fire without being caught, I would too. Then again, who needs the fire." Threla's voice changes slightly, becoming more gravelly "Meat fine raw. Tastes's better, actually." A hungry gleam flashes in her eye, then disappears.

     Nodjeim frowns at the night sky and kind of regrets his earlier comments.  He should have been paying more attention and noticed how late it had gotten.  "It will be difficult in the dark but I can try to do my part..." he notes.  

“I can see up to a hundred and twenty feet in the dark and hit anything on my sight." He said looking to Olan, with the precision of a former soldier. “The problem is that the damage capability of my raged attack is not that great. I cannot assure you that the two of us alone would manage to kill all of the scouts before they dash into the cave.” If just one managed to that things could take a turn for the worst. “Wouldn’t it be safer to have all our ranged attackers firing on the guards after the chicken causes a commotion?”

Even then there was no guarantee they would manage to kill all the guards by the entrance and fight for there. Veldruk considered the possibility of Ruthmum turning the hyenas against the gnolls but abandoned the idea before giving voice to it. He, better than anyone, knew how hard it was to override a creature’s training.

“And we could only attempt the fire after cleaning everyone outside the cave and as the resident cook I am really divided between asking if the preference for raw meat is your condition speaking or simply say that it all depends on seasoning and preparation mode.”

He tried to bring some levity to the situation.

(An important note: minor illusion only has a range of 30 feet.)

"Nodjeim, what if you threw a burning torch or something into the campsite? If you do it once the Gnolls, who I'm betting all my strategy are dumb enough to fall for this, have lost interest in the chicken, you could keep them occupied, buying Olan and Veldruk more time?

And if we have to fight, which we probably will, you can stay in the torchlight so you can see and and engage in melee while those of us who can see in the darkness can stay outside the light, using the shadows to our advantage. I know that I at least have much better night vision that those delicious pieces of meat...I...what? Did I say that out loud?  This curse must be really doing a doozy on me. What I meant was those dastardly beasts."

     Nodjeim eyes them a bit warily for a moment and then shrugs it off.  He himself is beyond eating, why would he question what another does for food?

     "Not a bad idea.  If I tied a flask of oil to the torch then perhaps when I lit and threw the torch we could get an even bigger distraction..." he notes and rummages in his gear to try to such rig a couple of torches.

If you're trying to rig something like that up, just roll me a flat Intelligence check, and if you roll particularly abysmally something might go wrong when you use it.

Nodjeim Int:  14

I'd say he's trying to do it twice so second roll, if needed:  4

Nodjeim manages to rig up a semi-serviceable precursor to the molotov cocktail.