Episode 1: The Salvaged Job

You choose to make camp and select a suitable spot against a rocky overhang. Rations are had, bedrolls are lain, and sleep is sound as Coda starts the first watch.

It is during the transition as Coda wakes Kalis for the second watch that both notice an odd smell, like a mixture of bile and rotten decay. It is not overpowering, but it is very distinct, as if someone's mess kit hasn't been washed in decades.

A small voice can be heard now, faint with distance. "Help! Please!" it cries.

As the white-haired goblin wakens, the voice is heard again. "Help! Please!"

Hearing the words a second time, it sounds like a young woman.

There is no movement beyond the flickering light of your campfire, though that distinctly sickening smell is still present.

There is silence now, and the white-haired goblin grips its walking stick and looks outward into the dark.

Then the voice sounds again, this time in a pained scream, loud and from deep within her heart.

Silence follows. Nothing seems to move, including yourselves, for what seems like an eternity.

Finally, the tension breaks with a rising yelp, high-pitched and repetitive. What sounds like nasally barks and yowls mix with throaty grunts in calls from one side, and animalistic cackling answers from the other. You also hear the heavy footfalls of a rapid charge in your direction coming from different angles.

The smell hits you before you see anything, a cloying stench of rotten meat and unwashed fur. Then a hunched humanoid figure bursts into the light, dog-headed with slavering jaws full of sharp teeth. A gnoll! It wields a spear in both hands as it charges toward you, yapping enthusiastically.

Another gnoll charges in from the flank, spear leveled like a lance. Movement shimmers at the outskirts of the light, indicative of more figures beyond.

The gnoll cackles as Coda's words wash through its tufted ears, but soon it begins to shake its head, as if trying to ward away an incessant fly. It becomes bothered so much by the sensation that it yelps loudly in pain, backing away and disappearing into the darkness.

The white-haired goblin grips its staff as it turns to face the approaching gnoll. It whispers something in a language none of you understand, but the effects are immediately felt as some energy seems to bolster your spirit. It then slips behind the campfire and seems to disappear amidst the flickering flames and jumble of bedrolls.

Maenor's glowing spear flies out and plants itself into the second gnoll, and Kalis' blast of fire knocks it backward. It growls, wounded heavily, but still in the fight.

A second fiery bolt streaks out from Kalis' wand and strikes the other gnoll in the back just before it disappears beyond the firelight, drawing another yelp of pain.

The gnoll still within the camp levels its spear and charges at Maenor, thrusting forward with both hands. The attack slips around Maenor's shield and stabs into the elf's body (19 vs AC 18, 6 piercing damage).

Suddenly, there are more barks as arrows fly into the camp. One lands right between Kalis' legs and thuds harmlessly into the ground (Advantaged 16 vs AC 17), but the other finds an opening in Coda's armor (Advantaged 18 vs AC 15, 7 piercing damage).

A keening howl is heard, and a large monstrosity leaps into the light. This creature seems to have the head of a badger spliced onto a hyena's body with the legs of a deer. A nauseating stench follows its arrival, whether it exudes from its horrible body or wafts out from a drooling maw filled with bony ridges is unclear, but it is a foulness of death.