Preparations for Assault

Mullory woke us up this morning, he and Daran were on the last watch together.  The night was receding but it was far from light.  Perhaps if there were not mountains in the east the sun would have been peeking over the horizon.

I'd spent some time during my watch cleaning and sharpening my sword, I'd borrowed Kenner's stone to do this. I had it looking like a proper weapon now and it is much sharper, although the handle still rattles.  Barr gave me some leather strips which I'd used to try and tie it in place, and these help, but they're not a cure.  My shield was looking better too after I gave that a good clean.

We ate breakfast, more trail rations - dried beef and something resembling Gimmet Bread but saltier rather than sweet, and not as firm - and sat while Mullory read a pre-battle prayer.  I was familiar with this, although I'd not heard it said in the common tongue before.  The last time I heard it in the Dzarraf tongue of Gora was on the morning before I was captured by the Gurgam.  I really hope history doesn't repeat itself.

We made our way out of the camp site and back towards the lair.  The plan was to observe the place for an hour or so, note any special tactics we might need, and then attack.  Again we wanted surprise - Barr was going to lead the attack, but not by charging.  We'd seen the guards on the entrance last night, and he was certain that he could remove both of them without making any sound.  I'm quite looking forward to seeing that.

It took us less than an hour to get back here to the entrance, we're a couple of hundred yards away on the edge of the woodland.  We're going to make our way through the undergrowth shortly, probably following the route I used when I escaped in the dark.  But for now we're watching.

We've already seen two Ogruks turn up and go inside.  They seemed filled with their own importance, they're much taller and stronger than the Gurgam, and make our job much harder if there are more than a couple of them in there.  Daran was concerned that this might be just the visible face of a larger Ogruk force.  Kenner didn't seem to care - he is so keen to just dive in and cut them all to pieces.  He thinks the insides will be a little tight for fighting, and so two Ogruks or ten will be little different.  Daran is probably right to be more careful, though.  If it were just Gurgam, we'd probably be safe to stride boldly in and keep attacking until they were all dead, but now we'll have to be much more cautious.

I briefed them on what I'd seen when I escaped too - that there was one tougher leader in there, but the others were no different to the Gurgam we'd already run into.  It didn't seem to concern them that there were young or females inside either.  They were pretty blunt - the Gurgam were never bothered about the women or the young Gnaeblin when they attacked their homes.  They would be quite happy to extend that same courtesy.  Mullory is going to lead another prayer in a few minutes, then we're moving in.