Oh good. Back to the troglodyte caverns. Yanor has a third circle slot remaining, right? They don't have to sleep in the stench? Hopefully he does.

The party travels back through the long tunnels to the troglodyte caves. A silent image of darkness takes care of the violet fungus.

Yanor does have a third circle slot remaining. He won't conjure the sylvan hideaway until late evening. For now, they leave the caves and set up a small camp in the hills.

She isn't actually good at treating wounds, but she can do something to help Tomas with Julen's gouges. The Anytool is useful for cleaning out wounds and stitching together flesh as much as it is anything else, at least.

The rest of the day passes without incident. Yanor conjures the sylvan hideaway when the sun reaches the horizon. Berries are served for dinner and then it's time to sleep.

Going to sleep with a hydra right there and unscouted while she has two second-circle spells left for the day seems kind of silly, but she was solidly outvoted on that count, and hopefully the experienced adventurers have reasons for the choices they make. To sleep.

Yanor wakes them up in the morning. Breakfast is the usual.

How do Julen's wounds look in the morning, after care and a night of rest?

Julen seems to be in nearly perfect health. He has a small scratch on his left cheek.

"If the boggards hear of the xulgath leader's fall, they will likely attack. I know not their intelligence capabilities but we take a risk every day. I would like the hydra clear if we are walking into a tower which clearly still has at least seventh circle defenses active. A hungry hydra at an inopportune time could be fatal, one in a known location we can attempt to ambush much less so. Peace with the boggards would need to include the xulgaths to assist us, and I doubt in our ability to manage that. I think we strike at the boggards today, aiming to at least remove their champions and thus their advantage over the xulgaths, and follow that with the hydra if we retain sufficient spells. Two or three Bursts and a Dazzling Blade for each of you two should suffice if anything will, from me — if it lasts more than three spellcasts, something has failed, and we will be fleeing behind an Image rather than using further combat spells."

For her, of course, the help in circling is more valuable than any plausible amount of wealth they could acquire here. Well, magical knowledge could be useful. The others have no such clear prioritization, but this is a reasonable approach even for them. Everything she says is true, and they should prioritize their lives over the potential treasure recovered from the tower. Hopefully.

"The boggards will be dangerous. They don't live in an enclosed cave with convenient choke points. If they have ranged weapons it could be lethal quickly."

"I would prefer not to engage the boggards at all but it's likely we have no choice. We must maintain our exit route. The hydra's cave is almost eight thousand feet away from the entrance to the fortress. I don't expect an ambush without very poor luck. Hydras are not smart."

"Do we know where the boggard leadership is located?"

"No. I don't have a detailed map of their village."

"The cave connection most likely includes a link to the boggard village, and from that direction we would have a choke point. They might not conveniently assault us all in our prepared location, or it may not connect directly. We could infiltrate via Invisibility, at the cost of Invisibilities cast, but that would shatter the moment we struck. We could first strike at the hydra, and hold our assault upon the boggards for tonight when they will mainly be sleeping. They may leave sentries, but sentries are more easily handled, and images may force a regular wake until they disregard calls."

She stops and thinks. "Yanor, you said you had a war-distance plant awakening spell? That may disrupt them sufficiently to permit our entry, and perhaps our safety. Tomas, if you have any similar options they may work. Any such attempt can be aided with Images if we think it needed."

And back to Tomas. "As for the hydra, we should at least determine its strength, if nothing else. A five-headed hydra falls within moments if assaulted by an invisible and well-trained combatant, a ten-headed hydra is a hopeless fight and we know to stay well away and flee the area if we see a sign of its presence. Invisible observation should be possible, if nothing else?"

"I have one entangle prepared. It may or may not cover their whole village. It depends how large it is."

"I can prepare invisibility but I don't think it will be very useful in this situation. I suppose we can scout the hydra after we deal with the boggards."

"I think our best approach to the village is a central Entangle from a few hundred feet, then, followed by an assault on whoever we believe needs killing while they are trapped. Or to wait for nightfall and exhaust them until we can finish the leadership in their sleep. Either approach could work."

"That sounds like a decent plan. I'm still worried about ranged weapons but perhaps the entanglement will make it hard to aim. We'll have to go door-to-door looking for the chieftain. Probably checking the largest buildings first."

"We would be walking through the plants ourselves, in that case. This may prove difficult if we cannot immediately identify the leadership. Another illusory ghost could cause an alarm to draw out anyone bearing magic weapons?"

"Perhaps. If the boggards with magic are anything like the troglodytes, the ruse won't last long. Entangle can't be shaped but if the village layout is favorable I might be able catch the dangerous ones at the edge."

"It is a risk, and if our targets are central it may simply fail. The point is well made. Perhaps the nighttime plan, then."

"An assault at night will go very poorly in expectation. Boggards have both the darkvision of dwarves and the low-light vision of elves. Our party is mostly human."

Right. Humans are far worse at combat in the middle of the night. And apparently darkvision crept in somewhere? Frogs are no better at seeing in the dark! Well, they can see in light like she can, not like humans. Maybe that's enough? No point in arguing with reality, it is what it is. And it's good Tomas could warn them.

"Do they tend to sleep in the dark? Some with darkvision prefer a shifted sleep schedule, though I expect this is more true underground."

"I'm not really sure. I think it might depend on the tribe?"