With regard to Archie's boasts about being quiet, Dorno simply replies "I will show you how to be quiet."  "Now, stop breathing so loud.  Oh, and stop stomping your feet.  Oh, and you smell like honey.  And flowers.  And sweat.  Dorno could smell you over a mountain."  Dorno pauses and scoops up a large fistful of dirt and pine needles.  Rub this and on your shirt and your hair."  Dorno then turns away for a minute and then comes up behind Archie.  "Eat this, too."  He tries to forcibly stuff a very, very sour berry into Archie's mouth to make him pucker up and not talk too much.

Grapple / force feed: 10

Regardless of the outcome Dorno just shrugs and says "Ok, now you can try."  "Let's go look at the bad men.  You can ride so your feet are not so loud."  At that Dorno smiles as his form starts to shrink and then elongate along the ground and his grayish skin and brown hair and gear begin to grow lighter until suddenly there is a cougar staring up at the group.  The cougar steps forward and sniffs at Archie.

Archie takes all the items given to him to cover his scent and nods.  As soon as Dorno turns around he tosses it behind him.  With Dorno’s attempt to shove the berry: Archie accepts it but then spits it right back out before the taste gets to him.  

His eyes light up at the sight of the cougar and begins to scratch right behind the ears before jumping and saddling up.  “I’m ready, let’s go Big Guy.”

Dorno heads off towards the smoke with good speed at first, always looking around, smelling the air, and listening intently.  Before getting more than a few steps from the others, however, he turns his head around a bit, takes a big sniff of Archie, and then exhales loudly, shaking his head back and forth rapidly for a second or two expressing displeasure.  Otherwise they head out towards the smoke and Dorno slows their pace as they get closer, looking for long grass or cover and studying the watch towers and any other sentries he can find before making a final approach to get a good look at their numbers and camp setup.

The duo prowl steadily closer across the hillside, Dorno's fur blending into the long grass as he goes, his little rider equally inconspicuous. As they come upon the hill on which the watchtowers stand more details become clear.

The camp seems to be set into the side of a hill. One bandit is standing watch atop each tower and a rudimentary palisade runs the perimeter, with two gates to the south-east and south-west. One is open and another guard stands in the middle of it keeping watch. So far they seem to have gone unnoticed.

Archie dismounts the cougar.  Staying low in the grass .  Takes out his journal and begins writing down any patterns, counting men, guard shifts, any traffic in or out, how long each guard stays looking in one particular direction, etc.  he is willing to stay there until it’s beginning to get late and needs to head back and tell the group/ get ready for the assault.

Every hour, one of the guards is relieved. This alternates between the two so that each has a two hour shift and both are never changing at the same time. The guard at the gate is also relieved every two hours, though not simultaneously with a tower. Once an hour a guard will also walk a platform around the inside rim of the palisade. However, Dorno and Archie seem well hidden in the grass at this distance. If they want to get a better view of what is through the open gate, they would need to move closer.

After 30 minutes of watching or so, Dorno's cougar form tugs on Archie's pant leg and then begins to depart the area.  He wants to move out of range of the sentries before he exhausts the magical energies allowing him to shape shift and turns back into a firbolg.  Retreating a good distance and ducking behind a hill, Dorno returns to his naturally form and sits for a few minutes having a snack of acorns and berries.  After a brief rest, he turns back into a cougar and makes a large circle around the camp through the grass, far out of the range of those watching from the tower, he hopes.  He climbs up behind the hill the fort is built into and then heads in towards the camp again, looking for long grass and or various rock formations to hide amongst.  He does not want to watch from the top of a bald hill or anything of the sort.  There Dorno tries to look for the elf wizard the bad men have taken prisoner, counts buildings and bandits, etc.

Without having another person there to keep his wondering mind in check.  Archie decides to move closer towards the gate.  Staying the the tall grass trying to peer in through the gate.  Searching for any detail that would be of use.

Dorno crouches low amongst the long grass, just below the summit of the hill. He has a rough overview of the camp, although hiding amongst the grass makes it difficult to properly see. A couple of small wooden shacks have been erected inside the area, another large wooden construction stands nearby and in the centre of the enclosure is a large fire. Further detail is impossible to ascertain without getting closer than would be safe right now.

Archie, on the other hand, manages to sneak almost up to the guard at the open gate, while lying low in grass to the side. He can see that around the fire lie large logs, acting as primitive benches. Several bandits sit around laughing and chatting. From here he can recognise the wooden object that Dorno could not identify as a battered wagon, laden with goods. He counts at least eight men, including the guards, but he hasn't necessarily seen them all. He also sees the wooden shacks. Their doors are closed.

Dorno sneaks back around the hill and heads in towards where he left Archie to find that he is not there.  He retreats again and eventually finds Vark and the rest at their new forward camp tucked behind a hill a good distance away.  He walks into camp as a cougar and then his visage begins to stretch tall once again, eventually revealing the smiling face of the firbolg.  "Hello friend to giants!  Hello little man!  Hello big lady!  Hello shiny man!"

Dorno sits down and starts snacking again.  He begins to give an account of his scouting with his mouth full.  "I saw a fort on the side of a hill.  I saw a fence.  I saw two towers.  I saw men in the towers.  I saw a fire."  He rubs his chin a little and looks up at the sky.  "Hmmm, yup, that's it."

"Where's the tiny man?"

"Uhm... maybe we should get comfortable. It'll be awhile before night." Vark will walk back away from the fort, several hundred feet or more, until he finds a spot at the bottom of a hill where only the trails of smoke are visible. Once there' he'll unpack his bedroll, stretching out on it, not necessarily going to sleep but just resting until it's time to act.

Thurston will unroll his bed too and have some rest waiting for the night to come and they could get the badnits. 

"We should be quiet, if they can sound the alarm we could be surrounded..." 

Writing down what he saw from the gate.  Archie sneaks away back to the camp sometime shortly before dusk to relay the information to the crew.

Late in the afternoon, a raiding party of four bandits returns to the camp bearing loot.

(assuming Archie relayed that info too)

Vark sits straight up as Archie tells them what he saw. "Thats...uhhh...thats a lot of bandits. So... how do we wanna do this?"

“Well I think the paramount thing is to get rid of the guys on the towers. Maybe set off a fire on the opposite side to get the others attention stealthily take those guys out and infiltrate from the other side.” Archie starts pacing back and forth while hypothesizing ideas

Bründir smiles wide, a piece of grass wedged between his teeth, "I believe I can 'elp there. Got me a special somethin' from a nice lady."

Val thinks over the situation with a nod. "That is a good idea, Archie. Perhaps we could even set another distraction. One of us could sneak off and set a smokey fire off in the distance, maybe draw a few of them out to investigate. If that works, we set the fire on the far side of the wall, and then hit the other while they are distracted."

"If we're lookin' t'draw a few out before the big fire, maybe we can set an ambush?" Bründir dashes around the campsite, gathering twigs and stones and brings them to the center.

"See 'ere: This big stone is th' camp, th' stick're roads. One of us set a fire 'ere," he plants a stick a foot off from the model map, "Then they come runnin' t'meet th'rest 'ere," he drops a handful of pebbles to represent the party just outside view of the camp, "When the bastards come t'check out th'smoke, we get th'drop on'em."

Bründir smashes a leaf over one side of the, "We'll start a fire 'ere. May wan' t'leave a couple t'take shot at'em when they come. Th'rest can circle 'round."

The party spend a cold night huddled against the backside of the hill, unable to risk a fire for fear of giving away their position. The next morning just before the first light they wait low on the ridge for the raiding party to leave. Eventually the wooden palisade's gates swing open and six men come marching out. They're headed west this time, towards Eldren forest.

OOC - Stealth checks from everybody please.