Raven takes the lead, following the muddy footprint path.

Stealth: 29

Perception: passive is 20.

You walk through the gnome ruins, following the path.  The ceiling becomes a lot lower after you leave the large square behind, and you have to crouch as you move along. The  burrow is in worse shape, too, many of the glowing lights gone dark. Most of the dwellings you see are collapsed or buried in rubble or completely overgrown with the purple fungus.  It looks like the stuff has been burned back from the path in several places.  Before long, you can hear voices ahead, growls, and tapping noises...ahead, there is a doorway with brighter light beyond it. 

Raven moves up and peeks through the door.

Elwin summoned his spear as he waited for Raven's reactions.

Quentin pulls out his wand and casts mage armor on himself, just in case. Quietly following.

Del  Messages Eggric You can put the ring on and wait in a pocket, or you can ride in our dungeon. Or keep quiet, or go back.

Eggric looks at Del speculatively and asks, "What ELSE is in your pockets?"

Raven peeks out the door.  She is extremely stealthy, and fortunately, the two gnolls guarding the door are bored and half asleep, and the hyenas at their feet are completely asleep and snoring.  They don't even notice her...for now

Beyond them is a huge cavern. There seems to be a sort of translucent dome covering the entire area.  Poking down from the center hang the ragged ends and tendrils of a gigantic network of tree roots. You can see sprites and pixies flying up among the roots, and you can hear the sound of axes and saws.  A steady rain of wood strips falls from the roots to the floor.  Below, you can see the gnome child you followed gathering some up into a bundle, with a couple of other urchins.  One finishes, ties up her bundle, and races toward a door on the other end of the room.

In the center of the room is a thin, ten-foot-tall pedestal with a sparkling blue orb at the top.

On the far end of the room, you see a band of about twenty gnolls.  They seem to be mainly ignoring the other goings-on, some training with swords and others doing archery practice. 

Between your door and the pedestal is a table.  It's ornately carved, and its four short legs have been enhanced by being propped up on boulders...no doubt taken from one of the gnome ruins.  At the table sit two Dusk Hags and two fierce-looking gnolls in skull-studded armor far better than what the average grunt is wearing.  They seem to be chatting and playing cards.

Raven nearly growls at seeing the dog-headed humanoids. She has heard so many stories of them from her father that she cannot hold back as she draws forth her rapier and strikes at the one closest to the door.

booming blade

To hit: 26

Damage: 20 magical slashing, 11 sneak attack, [2d8[/roll] thunder, and 18 radiant.

Thunder: 12

 The gnoll Raven hits practically explodes, spattering tufts of odoriferous fur and charred meat chunks in every direction. The sleeping hyenas jump to their feet, the gnoll warband turns at the noise, the hags and gnoll captains drop their playing cards and stare at you, open-mouthed.

Roll for initiative!

Initiative: 13 

Knew it! Del says as he draws out the crwth 

Initiative 9

 Rolling separately for groups:

The door guards: 13

The card table (70 feet away) 10

The warband (200 feet away) 9

 Anyone who rolls higher than 13 can take their action right away.  (Note: My job has switched to summer hours, which means longer work days during the week. And my boss is working hard to keep us busy so our paychecks are justified in spite of doing only curbside service, and having maybe 10 customers all day.  So I am not available quite as much as before.)

Raven initiative: 16

(( Elwin's Initiative: 7 ))

Initiative: 22

Elwin's eyes widened as he watched Raven lash out, almost not recognizing her. Quickly collecting himself, he raced forward with his shield raised, determined to make a coordinated assault out of the attack.

MOVE: just out the door beside Raven
ACTION: Two attacks at the second door Gnoll (if Elwin's first attack finishes it, then his next goes to the first hyena)
 - First Spear Attack: 14, Damage incl. crits: 10
 - Second Spear Attack: 27, Damage incl. crits: 9
BONUS: Third attack at whichever target is left near the door (the Gnoll, first hyena, or second hyena, in that order)
 - Bonus Spear Attack: 16, Damage incl. crits: 7

Charging out the door with a roar, the warlock fixed his gaze on the second guard, forcefully thrusting his spear toward his target. Reassessing, he struck again, and then a third time before finally stepping back and spinning into a defensive position behind his shield.

Dissatisfied with his strikes, Elwin quickly struck twice more at the targets, determined to clear away the opponents at the door.

Elwin activates Action Surge to take another ACTION, same target order as before
- First Spear Attack: 16, Damage incl. crits: Unable to parse dice roll.
- Second Spear Attack: 18, Damage incl. crits: 9

Finally raising his shield back up, he yelled out to his companions, "Watch out for the hags!"

((Hmm... do I do the stupid and totally Mindartis thing and start dashing for the hags? Or do I do the smart thing and wait till the party joins me...))

(( I say play it as Mindartis would, but either way should be fun... in a manner of speaking ))