You see Tommary vanish, then see a few random shifts on the damp rocks heading towards the temple.

OOC: I'm going to call that moving through the mud and water in front of the gnolls will call attention to your presence in spite of your awesome roll.

BUT you can sneak up behind them instead.

Your choice.

Quote from HomebrewMindFlayer >>

OOC: does just Tommery see the gnolls, or does Taslyn also see them?

if she sees them:

"Erg! it's 'em filthy gnolls!" Taslyn mutters, before running 25 feet toward the gnolls, and calling upon Moradin to smite the gnolls with a blast of white light

guiding bolt. Attack: 13 Damage: 16, and on a hit, next attack roll against gnolls has advantage.

 if she does not:

"what's all da commotion?" Taslyn asks. "is it magic?" she muses to herself, before casting detect magic

OOC: We’re 300 feet away. Guiding bolt has a range of 120 feet the same as my longest ranged spells.

Tommery is scouting ahead of the rest of us an is much closer to the Gnolls than we are.

Quote from IamSposta >>

Quote from HomebrewMindFlayer >>

OOC: does just Tommery see the gnolls, or does Taslyn also see them?

if she sees them:

"Erg! it's 'em filthy gnolls!" Taslyn mutters, before running 25 feet toward the gnolls, and calling upon Moradin to smite the gnolls with a blast of white light

guiding bolt. Attack: 13 Damage: 16, and on a hit, next attack roll against gnolls has advantage.

 if she does not:

"what's all da commotion?" Taslyn asks. "is it magic?" she muses to herself, before casting detect magic

OOC: We’re 300 feet away. Guiding bolt has a range of 120 feet the same as my longest ranged spells.

Tommery is scouting ahead of the rest of us an is much closer to the Gnolls than we are.

 (OOC: your right, but it does not matter, because Taslyn does not notice them.)

Tommary wants to preserve stealth over space, since he has the visual dimension out of play for up to an hour or urgent circumstances.  So, recognizing the conditions, he sneak up behind instead.  

*OOC highlighting Tommary's sabre/scimitar is a [magic item]Weapon of Warning[/magic item].

Ok, I **** at Tooltips.

Basically, while keeping my armor on, I"m doing my best Martin Sheen creeping impression from the end of Apocalypse Now.  (Sensitivity warning, there's both human and animal violence in the attached clip, really the still image is enough to get the vibe).  If one of the Gnolls looks like Brando or Dennis Hopper, I'm calling for an air strike. 

Quote from HomebrewMindFlayer >>

 (OOC: your right, but it does not matter, because Taslyn does not notice them.)

Everybody can see the gnolls, At present because you are far away (300 feet) and outside their direct line of sight they do not see you. Unless of course you make yourselves obvious.

 *Sorry I somehow missed your earlier post.

Tommary slides behind the gnolls, scrunching his nose against the strong smell of canine and rotten meat. He approaches the door and takes a peek inside. The interior is dim compared to the mist filtered sun outside. He sees a large space with what looks like shallow rectangular depressions evenly spaced about the floor. There are large pillars along the side walls with another statue of Yeenoghu at the back wall behind an altar. The statue has shining eyes and is being lit from below. One gnoll is standing before the image of the demon prince wearing a robe of sewn bones, arms raised holding a box. There are two other gnolls kneeling in the depressions.

As you watch, you hear the standing gnoll shout and throw the box into the light at its feet. There is a short pause, then a shudder in the ground. The light goes out and the thrum of steam stops. A little while later the noise and light resume.

Tommary sneaks back to the group, if he arrives without incident he'll maintain his invisibility if possible and make a map of what he's seen with available rocks and short reeds or whatever.  Return trip stealth if needed 22.

If I did my sneaky math right it takes me about two minutes to get to the party (stealth at half speed for 300').  So factoring round trip, I have about 55 minutes of invisibility left on this cast minus however much time it took me to witness the ritual type thingy that I saw, so like 50-45 minutes? 

OOC: correct.

*OOC: do we Waywatchers know the basics of Gnolls a la MM lore, etc. or are these basically alien evils from character poverties?

*quizzically* “So what’s the plan then? How do you want to do this?”
*viciously* “If you all want I can distract those mangy curs, they’ll be paying so much attention to me that they won’t even notice you sneaking up behind them until their throats are slit. Should that do?”
*pensively* “Although, I do have other tricks up my sleeves too.”

OOC: Toots could Enthrall them. Or she could use Faerie Fire, Hypnotic Pattern, or even a 4th-level Hold Person (can hold up to 3 Gnolls).

Quote from MidnightPlat >>

*OOC: do we Waywatchers know the basics of Gnolls a la MM lore, etc. or are these basically alien evils from character poverties?

 OOC: They know gnolls from legend. You are the first group (presently alive) to encounter them in 400 years. The difference being these gnolls are armed with whips and javelins. 

But mostly gnoll

Quote from MidnightPlat >>

*OOC highlighting Tommary's sabre/scimitar is a Weapon of Warning.

 

 OOC: Yes, your scimitar has been buzzing along in its sheath warning you of bad guys. But there hasn't been anybody trying to surprise you so I didn't bring it up.

Elyona curls her lip in disgust as she watches the knolls from a distance, and tries not to fidget or pace while she waits for Tommary's return, lest she make too much noise in her armor.  One hand wraps and unwraps itself around the handle of her warhammer, as if she is itching to make use of it.  Quietly she says to the others "As you know, it is my habit to stick close to one of you during combat, to protect you a bit.  Who should I stay closest to, Tommary perhaps?"" 

OOC:  Elyona has the protection fighting style, which lets her use her reaction to impose disadvantage on an attack directed at a target within 5 feet of her, as long as she is wielding a shield.  [as and aside, both her auras have 10 ft radiuses/radii].  Elyona is a frontline fighting character, so it would need to be someone who is also frontline.  I'm thinking pairing with Tommary might be a good choice, because it also provides him the opportunity to sneak attack.  But I'm open to sticking close to someone else on the front lines instead.

Quote from ArwensDaughter >>

Elyona curls her lip in disgust as she watches the knolls from a distance, and tries not to fidget or pace while she waits for Tommary's return, lest she make too much noise in her armor.  One hand wraps and unwraps itself around the handle of her warhammer, as if she is itching to make use of it.  Quietly she says to the others "As you know, it is my habit to stick close to one of you during combat, to protect you a bit.  Who should I stay closest to, Tommary perhaps?"" 

OOC:  Elyona has the protection fighting style, which lets her use her reaction to impose disadvantage on an attack directed at a target within 5 feet of her, as long as she is wielding a shield.  [as and aside, both her auras have 10 ft radiuses/radii].  Elyona is a frontline fighting character, so it would need to be someone who is also frontline.  I'm thinking pairing with Tommary might be a good choice, because it also provides him the opportunity to sneak attack.  But I'm open to sticking close to someone else on the front lines instead.

OOC: Oethe is kind of a frontliner. He's better with a crossbow than a mace, unless he smites, but is AC is good.

*OOC: Do we want to go in as a united front?  I'm up for that, though my preference would be to have the party take on the guards while I maximize my invisibility to figure out what's going on in that temple area (like are those boxes with the gnolls in them some sort of breeding/generating pit?).  I think I can count on my magic, sneakiness and mobility to pull that off and pull me out of there if things put me on the receiving end of attack rolls.  So I scout, and then rejoin the guard fight if its still on or join up with the party to take on this cleric as they make their way in?  Who knows, if you all mop them, I can keep my invisibility going and keep scouting ahead if this place goes deeper (I'm frugal by nature and I guess that means I like maximizing the duration of my spells, I'm usually not on this side of the screen so am learning things about me, lol).

Taslyn runs toward the gnolls, casting detect magic

"gnolls? why are dey here?"

OOC: I had a character slot available, so I've added Oethe to the campaign. 

Quote from HomebrewMindFlayer >>

Taslyn runs toward the gnolls, casting detect magic

"gnolls? why are dey here?"

 Your companion runs towards the gnolls shouting. They look startled for just a moment turning towards the disturbance. Yipping excitedly, they uncoil their whips, wrap a length around javelins and let loose!

Attack: 4 Damage: 9

Attack: 4 Damage: 9

Attack: 16 Damage: 2

Attack: 16 Damage: 6

**ROLL INITIATIVE**

2 javelins fall short, 2 hit Taslyn but bounce off her armor. They look eager to fight.

*ROLL INITIATIVE*

Quote from Wysperra >>

Quote from HomebrewMindFlayer >>

Taslyn runs toward the gnolls, casting detect magic

"gnolls? why are dey here?"

 Your companion runs towards the gnolls shouting. They look startled for just a moment turning towards the disturbance. Yipping 16excitedly, they uncoil their whips, wrap a length around javelins and let loose!

Attack: 4 Damage: 9

Attack: 4 Damage: 9

Attack: 16 Damage: 2

Attack: 16 Damage: 6

**ROLL INITIATIVE**

*Oethe: 4*