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[Dwarmin]

Eventually, the fire begins to die down in about 10 minutes or so-the group moves on, expecting more resistance soon, but Ari scouts ahead...

...

Hide/1d20+8=28
Move Silently/1d20+8=18

He glides through darkened caverns, attracting no attention. His first obstruction is what looks similar to something they just passed-a ditch, though this one is deeper and has a barricade in front of it. Oddly, there are no guards. It seems to have been hastily abandoned. After checking for traps and ambushes and finding none, he continues on..

Not some distance away, he begins to hear voices-shouting and arguing in Draconic. Some are small and yappy, like Kobolds-while others are louder and more guttural, like Trogs. He recognizes one voice as the former Kobold Captains replacement.

"You need to withdraw with us. There are too many of them to overcome, at least four bone warriors, a man who hurls fire and acid in his hands, an strange quiet elf and a Giant Warrior-along with two small ones that are maybe fey-folken.

Our fire wall has already bought enough time to evacuate the egg-bearers and young, though I do not believe they had slaughter on their minds-they are looking for something. No matter what happens the young are safe. But, we need not stay and die here. Let them have what they want, then they will leave-they spoke of something on one of the dead you brought for your alter. We can come back later...and improve our defenses. There is no honor in dyi..."

"I think the Yappers are too weak. The Great Maw has hallowed this place to gather sacrifices in his name. If we abandon it...no, no ,no! Seezer will not run! He has the Gods power! He will slay them all if he must, with his great cleaver, and feed them to the altar. Run if you want, yapper. Trogsons will hold this cave until we no longer draw breath. Our Priestess has gone and bade us defend this area while she prepares her ritual to smite the interlopers-and I shall not disobey her..."

"Then let it be on your own head, the fate of your clan. We will withdraw to defend the bulk of our people who cannot fight-and yours, I might add-while they retreat-and if you are here when we return then all the better."

There is a sound of many feet departing.

[Culise]

"Sure, Gracewyn. Hey Eirly, do you mind if I take that pot of salve?"

Eirlys nodded, hovering over the barrel with the plug.  "Hee hee, don't mind at all.  Take what ya need."

[lawastooshort]

Ari thought about sneaking back to gather his comrades, but something stopped him. He decided to risk further information gathering, intrigued by what he'd heard, and what the group had earlier read.

Sneak very slightly on, to see if I can get a sight of the enemy and make out who/how many they are. Run away if spotted, become invisible if in danger of being caught before reaching my comrades. (although if the rest of the group aren't within a turn or two of fleeing then I'd prefer to go get them first...) If I'm not spotted, once I've seen the enemy, creep back to report to comrades.

[Dwarmin]

Ari skulks forward, close to the ground-approaching the sound of the voices. Now, he can hear only a few...

The view is enlightening. Three troglodyte warriors armed with hastily gathered stone clubs and shields and simple leathers flank a much larger Troglodyte, one with heavy and ornate armor (made of what looks like humanoid bones), carrying a massive bloodied cleaver in both hands-he's also got a heavy golden belt on his waist of Dwarven design, and a truly ugly looking warhorn hanging from it, more like a twisted animal horn than an instrument. Behind this quadruplet of foes is a beast of an all to different color-what looks like a man sized bull frog, carrying a twisted quarterstaff-made of some sort of red crystal-and he wears decorated bone armor similiar to the larger warrior, who by his tendency to refer to himself in the third person is this 'Seezer' fellow. This Frogman constantly chants in an ugly, quasi-draconic language.

They are all wearing intricate, if extrodinarily ugly tattoo's, signs and markings that Ari suspects are religious in nature-yawning maws in bright splashes of red decorate their helmets and shields, rows of teeth line their bracers and boots, and each one seems to be missing specific parts of their body-fingers on their left or right hand, toes, the tips of their tails-among other things. Many of them are greatly scarred, as if they have made a habit of removing flesh often-and not a one of a them is more scarred than Seezer himself, his scaly hide pitted with ugly corruption. He's quite terrifying to look upon-Ari feels a chill in his what he might know his own spirit.

They are all arrayed before a pair of heavy stone doors that are of odd architecture and style. Ari would almost describe them as Elvish-he can see the remnants of intricate organic carvings upon it, though they are caked in grime and dust and disrepair. Yet they are completely stonework, and Ari has never heard of Elves working rock in such a way...

In any case, this motley band seems intent on protecting the threshold as long as they can.

As he watches, Seezer casually raises a hand, closing his eyes and concentrating on the corridor in front of him-where incidently, Ari is right of this moment. His eyes light up with cruel fire.

"Who is there? I can smell your spirit...come closer, a bit!"

Not waiting a moment, Ari sneaks back into the darkness to find his friends once more...

...

He returns and lays all his information out. Now all that is left is to plan the attack.

[GiglameshDespair]

Tyrileaf fluttered as she listened to Ari's description. "Couild lay a trap. Singing, singing, songs of sleep. They hear and either fall asleep or come to find us, and then..." She lifted her tiny arms in a childish depiction of a monster waiting to strike. "...We get them!"

[lawastooshort]

"Yes... I have oil, marbles, caltrops... fire to light the oil - and you two can fly above both, if you need to flee back to us... It sounds like a good idea."

[Culise]

"Right, right, sounds like a plan.  We can sing them a little song, and if'n it doesn't work, we can make them dance a little dance..." Eirlys grinned, holding up her own bag of caltrops as she mentioned dancing. 

[Zako]

Gracewyn scowls and checks over her weapons again.

"They sound like trouble, but I think we can take them. Make sure you get on their blind side Ari and stick one or two in the gizzard while they aren't looking, as I think we might need all the help we can get."

She looks over her shoulder to the skeleton commanding wizard.

"Have your skeletons flank them and push them to me, and try to focus on one trog at a time with them, as they are probably weaker. I hope you have some kind of spell or two that can help in this situation, lest you be stuck throwing rocks at them..."

[lawastooshort]

Examine the area for a suitable ambush position.

Edit: update to not doublepost.

Let them go sing. Whilst they sing, find a little alcove to hide in, a little in advance of the rest of the party - but not more than a turn's run. Prepare caltrops, marbles and the invisibility potion. If the song works, go in and probably coup de grace the lot in the most humane way possible. Feel bad. Then reason it's for the best.

If singing doesn't work:

As soon as I'm aware the pair are fleeing towards us and followed, throw out the caltrops, the marbles, and then take the invisibility potion. Hide hard. Hope the enemy runs past onto the trap. If I can without facing outnumbered combat, stab anyone who falls (if this is a sneak attack??); if no one falls, wait for the first opportunity to sneak attack the ugly caster.