Gnoll

​​ A gnoll is a humanoid creature stretching up to about seven feet tall. When the Mighty Nein adventuring party encountered gnolls in Alfield, they had muscular torsos, thin dog-like legs, extended necks with spots of fur, ears curled upward, and dog-like snouts. They were strong and able to rapidly dart and leap across areas. They communicated in yips and growls and had a hyena-like laugh. As well as their bite, they used spears and longbows. They wore patchwork hide and leather armor over mangy fur that was coated in thick, oily liquid smelling of acrid, rotting flesh.

Society
Traveling in small, roving hunting packs of half a dozen at a time, these humanoids were generally seen on the outskirts of civilization. Such packs to roam from as far east as Bladegarden and the border with Xhorhas, to all the way to the south beyond Trostenwald.

Although to be easily provoked into violence, large-scale raids against points of civilization, like had occurred to Alfield, were generally too dangerous for their small packs, and they would only dare to do so out of desperation.

Aggressively hungry creatures, gnolls would eat what flesh they could get a hold of, though they had been to be opportunistic hunters, keeping to small game and the occasional person who had wandered too far from their fields. On occasion when food was scarce, it would not be uncommon for gnolls to turn to cannibalism in their obsessive hunger. Feeding on each other, gnolls would pile up the bones of the dead whose flesh they had devoured.

Worship
Worshiping dark powers, the gnolls were seen to have banners made of flesh with the mark of a demon lord of the Abyss called Yeenoghu. Through rituals performed in the name of this patron, the gnolls were able to take the corpses of the fellow gnolls they had consumed and raise them up as undead warriors in their service.

Yeenoghu
A demonic lord of the Abyss, Yeenoghu was a large, feral, bestial demon that had once roamed the Prime Material Plane. He was ever hungering, and ever wandering to conquer and devour all in its wake, leaving destruction, fetid meat, and wave and waves of yipping, angry hyenas that would devour what was left behind.

Gnoll Witherling (Undead Gnoll)
With clumps of fur, sloughing dried flesh, and exposed bone, gnoll witherlings were undead skeletal gnolls with part of their skulls pushing out of their snouts. They shambled alongside their living allies during the attack on Alfield and had gnashing teeth, claws for tearing flesh, and heavy wooden clubs.

According to Watchmaster Bryce Feelid's research, the witherlings are gnolls who did not survive food shortages. After they were eaten by other gnolls, someone raised them from the dead.

Gnoll Pack Lord
The gnoll pack lord was a dark-furred, thicker, more heavily armored gnoll that served as leader of the pack attacking Alfield. They wore ornate scale mail armor with thick, bony manticore spines that were woven into the shoulders, the back of their large helmet, and the sides of the armor. These spines, approximately 1.5–2 feet long, may have served a defensive purpose or perhaps only been an ornate adornment intended to look scary.

Loot
The gnoll pack lord wielded a longbow and a large, two-handed glaive with a giant ax-like hooked blade with spines affixed to the edge of it named Fleshrender. This glaive appeared to be especially deadly, containing some magical enhancement. The pack lord also carried a large shield, making its armor class 16.

Behavior
Conducting a ceremony to Yeenoghu, a priest placed several hearts onto an altar within the lair, then gave small, muffled barks and yipping sounds. After saying a prayer in broken common, the gnolls around them yipped in unison, then tore into and devoured the hearts.

This priest thought that the manticore was a boon from Yeenoghu, and that by feeding and growing it, the manticore would provide strength to the pack and thus more meat and power in the future.

Attire
Smaller than the gnolls, this humanoid figure wore a hollowed-out skin of a gnoll. Wearing the skin like armor, they used the jawless head as a hood, and sections of the arms like handless gloves. Part of this armor was discolored and rotting with long, bony manticore spines piercing through elements in the shoulders and head of the gnoll's hide that they were wearing. They also had had baubles and chains with symbols hanging from their neck.

Loot
Beauregard would later retrieve a dull red glove that had been affixed to the priest's right hand, as well a set of goggles with dark lenses, from the burnt corpse of the priest.

Manticore
This female manticore had a pair of large, red-brown leathery wings, and fur that covered its rhinoceros-sized, lion-like body. Massive and muscled, she had giant, clawed paws, a thick, red, fiery mane of hair around the neck, a long tail of thick spines, and a dark tanned humanoid face with a large, curled grin in a mouth that hung open with rows of sharp teeth.

She also had a small manticore infant that mewed and pawed at the air while its eyes had not yet opened. In an effort to distract the manticore and save her party and the captives, Nott killed this infant with her shortsword.

Hyenas
At the bottom of the gnoll hierarchy, hyenas dwelt amongst the gnolls and acted as guard dogs. Pushed around by the gnolls, they were last to eat and would tear at whatever scraps remained.

Lair in Rill's Mouth Mines
Located a little over an hour and half to the east of Alfield and north of the Rillway Road, this old, abandoned mine was the lair from which the gnolls coordinated their attack on Alfield. The lair's entrance was located among a series of large, rolling hills, topped with broken shale, and surrounded by vibrant green grasses and tall weeds that varied from knee to chest height.

Mineshaft Yard
In a barren valley of rock and dirt, this yard contained large, wooden pan tables, broken boxes, pickaxes, the remnants of some rusted lanterns, and the three carts that the gnolls had used to haul captives and spoils back to their lair from Alfield.

Gathered around and licking the dried blood splatter that had soaked into the wood of the carts were three hyenas guard dogs.

Smart and cautious of being followed, the gnolls hid their lair's entrance by deliberately sweeping and dusting their tracks around the mineshaft yard with dirt. To further hide the location of the entrance, on an eastern hill within this valley, the gnolls had created a 12×12-foot blanket of interwoven grasses to cover it over.

Abandoned Shed
Around the corner, hidden among the cluster of hills above the mine, was an old shed that had long been abandoned and locked up. Shakäste found and used this shed to safeguard the survivors he'd rescued while he searched and rescued other captives.

Mine Entrance
As well as the wooden support structure of the interior, the mine shaft contained a partial barricade made up of piles of broken furniture, dry-rotted pickax handles, and wooden beams that were shattered and jammed into each other. Flanking each side of the entrance way, there was only around a three-foot-wide gap that acted as a path into the mine. This shaft was around 35 feet long and had only a faint amount of light that bled in from the entrance, beyond which it quickly became pitch black.

Common Area
Forty feet into the mine, the shaft widened into a more open area with sloped ceilings. The space was around 35 feet across, widening further to around 45–50 feet towards the back of the chamber, before descending down into two different pathways.

Both of these shafts had wooden frames for support and curved in opposite directions downward at a steady 45-degree angle. Neither tunnel showed signs of change in air current or temperature. Both of these passages seemed to contain equal amounts of footprints and traffic.

Trap
Stretched across the opening of the shaft into this chamber was a rope, which was connected to a large log affixed to the ceiling, set as a swinging trap against intruders. Nott failing to notice it and sprung the trap, which caused the log to loudly slam against the rock wall of the shaft and thus alerted the gnolls deeper in the mine.

Contents
Although the majority of what would have filled this chamber at one point was taken and used as part of the barricade at the entrance, this chamber had a handful of tables, some chairs, sacks of mildewed rice grain, and dry-rotted burlap bags of supplies, which were strewn about.

Additionally, there was an untapped ale and water barrel, a half-full hooded lantern that was partially rusted over, a crowbar, and a slightly rotted sledgehammer.

"Boom-Boom Stick"
The Mighty Nein adventuring party found a lightweight rod, approximately the size of a small rung on a small ladder, that had a waxed twine hanging from one end. The rod felt like it was made of a type of hard clay and smelled similar to that of the explosive catalytic reagent that made up alchemist's fire. When exposed to fire, the party suspected that it would create a large explosion.

Left Passage
Descending and curving downward about 15–20 feet, this shaft rapidly curved to the left and then to the right for a distance of at least 25 feet. Nott only partially explored this passage and found no traps, so the party chose to explore the right passage instead, with the expectation that more important sections of the gnoll lair would be trapped.

This area later became inaccessible, having collapsed into a cluster of rock and rubble.

Right Passage
As the party curved down the passage on their right, there appeared to be a slight depression on the right side of the shaft. In this depression, there was a three and a half foot wide pit that was concealed by a piece of burlap sack. The pit trap took up only a part of the passage, which was about 10 feet wide. From this trap, this passage continued down in a spiral-like curve for another 40 or so feet.

The party, informed of the trap by Nott, determined that this direction warranted further exploration and chose to descend down into and beyond it for another 150 feet before it slowly leveled out.

Ritual Altar Chamber
A long chamber of multiple levels, what once may have looked like a solid mining vein had become strewn with bones and flayed skin that was pinned to the rock walls with scavenged nails. Blood was spattered across them with intent, and a painted jagged smile of sharp teeth adorned four of these flayed hides. A faint source of light in the center platform of this chamber flickered from a small stone altar holding a cluster of candles. The altar had one of these marked, flayed skins stretched over it, as well as several glistening hearts, which were used in a ritual to Yeenoghu.

Contents
Medicinal supplies chest:
 * 2 healer's kits
 * disinfectant herbs and fungi (enough for two uses)
 * When applied topically, the herbs and fungi could remove poisons if quickly applied to the wound that was poisoned.
 * a small, leather hand pack that contained 4 glass vials
 * 3 vials were shattered, and the last vial contained a greater healing potion.

Y-Intersection
The shaft beyond the altar chamber curved to the right in a wide spiral before eventually snaking a bit, then sharply turning to the right. It straightened out, and the shaft emerged into a chamber of mixed natural rock walls and simple stonework. Acting as a second common room, two other shafts, heading to the left and right, marked this chamber as a Y-intersection.

Breaking the open space, two thick, natural pillars of rock stood as load-bearing portions of the chamber, while a crumpled section of the floor dropped into a pit below. This hole was around 50–60 feet deep, and it seemed to have been an intentionally created well that had since seen disuse. Jester (perhaps jokingly) stated that the pit was used as a poop hole.

Contents
Similar to the first common area, this chamber contained tables and stools strewn about the area, as well as crates, pickaxes, shovels, and a variety of tools. Most things of worth had been either ravaged or taken, though on the edge of this chamber was an overturned box containing a "Boom-Boom Stick".

Right Passage
While the Mighty Nein party was moving through the gnoll lair, a loud boom shook the interior of the chamber, causing dust and rocks to fall from the ceiling. A cloud of dust and smoke came billowing out of the right passage, followed shortly by the emergence of Shakäste. Upon later inspection, this passage had collapsed and was no longer usable.

Left Passage
Along this branch, there were two closed doors. It continued deeper into the mine at a moderate grade for about 60 to 70 feet, before it leveled off and turned upward for another 20 to 30 feet.

Prisoner Cells
The gnoll lair contained prisoner cells. Upon opening the first cell's latched doors, a strong smell of decay emerged from four dead bodies that were in pieces and pushed to the back of the room. Two survivors were also housed in this room: a woman named Herma and her child Jules, who had just recently been removed to be taken deeper into the mine.

The second latched cell contained three dead bodies and an older half-elven man named Petrov, who was injured though still alive.

Stair Passage
Other than the large, 40-foot deep pit in the upper portion of this tunnel where part of the floor had collapsed, this passage was marked by rough stairs that rose for about 5 or 6 feet.

These stairs led off to a short tunnel that sharply curved to the left toward a large 8- to 10-foot wide archway, where a set of double doors seemed to have once been but had long since been broken off their hinges. Beyond this broken doorway, the tunnel grew rougher and continued to snake for 100 feet through 10- to 15-foot wide tunnels, before opening up.

The deeper that the party traveled down this passage, the more a musky smell that resembled a faint mixture of urine and citrus replaced the general smell of decaying earth and dust that permeated the remainder of the mine.

Manticore Lair
Opening up to a large rocky alcove, this chamber was filled with stalactites, which hung from an uneven ceiling that ranged from 15 to 20 feet above the floor. A rough slope descended from the immediate entrance of this tunnel and hit a short wall before rising past it to a small platform at about 70 to 80 feet in, where this chamber and the mine ended.

Marked by signs of abandonment, with broken digging equipment lying in the corners of this chamber and walls scarred by pick marks, this chamber appeared to have been the deepest portion the miners had dug to before having given up hope when the veins became scarce.

Nest
The manticore maintained a monstrous-looking mound of wood, rope, burlap, and scraps from within the mine. This large, amassed pile served as both the manticore's hoard and as the nest for its young.

The Mighty Nein found some loot in the nest:
 * A skeletal hand that had been mostly chewed through, though on a single fleshy finger it held a beautiful silver ring with a blue gem. It was later as a Ring of Water Walking.
 * A refined and well-carved stick, which was later as a Wand of Smiles.
 * Large chains, attached to a set of unlocked manacles. Made up of four identical loops of a little over a foot in diameter, the loops were all attached via chains to a larger loop that was about four or five feet in diameter. These manacles looked like they could have been the size for a manticore. Having been opened, the manacles had a single rune pressed into where their two halves would have locked in place, though there was no other visible locking mechanism. Compared to the makeup of the nest, they looked fresher and cleaner in comparison. Their weight was approximately 25 to 30 pounds. After being, these manacles appeared to no longer be magical, with whatever magic was in them having been released when they were unsealed.