Storm's hunting expedition was carefully hiking through the undergrowth.
Since civilization hasn't been in this place in an extremely long time, the plant life was terribly overgrown and the pathways in a state of disrepair.
The dwarves seemed not to have any trouble however, as their axes easily cut a path through the undergrowth.
The ones with the biggest problems were actually Storm and Aurora.
Their large frames made navigating through the undergrowth a nightmare, and more than once their long necks or wings got ensnared by the many branches or vines.
A few times it got so bad that they couldn't break free on their own and they had to wait for the dwarves to cut them free.
A tedious task that delayed the expedition by several hours.
After what felt like an eternity, Grombrim held up a hand to stop them.
"This should be the place where the ambush happened. We'll try to pick up the trail from here." Said Grombrim.
They advanced slowly until they came across the site of the attack.
A wagon was laying on it's side on a narrow beast path. One of it's wheels was broken off and laid on it's side a short distance away.
Shards of broken glass were shattered all over the site.
"Watch your step!! The glass is sharp!!" Called Storm.
"DAMN IT!!!!! THOSE DOGS DESTROYED THE SHIPMENT!!!" Shouted Grombrim in anger.
His voice echoes thought the area, causing birds to panic and take flight from the area.
"Quiet! Do you want them to hear you if they're still in the area!!" Whispered Storm.
"Those animals probably hit the wagon hoping to steal food.
They hit it from the side with a strong attack that caused the wagon to capsize.
This would have destroyed most of the glass held in the wagons, this shipment will be useless to me now!
Do you know how much this shipment cost me to purchase!?" Said Grombrim.
Storm looked at the side of the wagon.
A massive dent was made into it, the back wheel of the wagon had split in two from the impact.
"Something big and heavy hit the wagon. It takes a lot of force to capsize a heavily loaded wagon and shatter a wheel like this." Said Storm.
He looked around the area and saw that mixed in with the tracks of the gnolls, were larger, more reptilian tracks.
Storm kneeled down and examined them closer.
"Crocodilian? No! This thing walks on four legs not two! About the size of an adult griffin and clearly reptilian." thought Storm.
He sniffed the air.
"I smell blood... and something else? Sulphur? Maybe?"
He rose up and turned to the others.
"The leader might be a Chimera!" Said Storm.
Chimera was an abomination that was made by a particularly insane wizard by splicing the genes of dragons with those of lions goats and serpents.
These 3 headed creatures had a draconic body and head, along with a goat and lion's head, and a snake for a tail.
They were capable of both flight and even a dragon's fire breath due to the draconic body and wings.
The snake tail carried a powerful poison that could kill most creatures in an instant.
Though they were incapable of speech, they were cunning adversaries with all the wits of a dragon.
A particularly feral and sadistic dragon.
The wizard's creations eventually escaped it's bonds, and after devouring their creators, fled into the wild and began to multiply.
When dragons heard of this creature, they banded together and tried to wipe them out, but a handful managed to avoid being destroyed and have been keeping the species from going completely extinct.
"Chimera are dangerous creatures to face! Are you sure we can beat it?
Especially if it has a pack of Gnolls under it's command?" Asked Aurora.
"I... I don't know... " said Storm.
He cursed himself silently for not bringing Augustus or the Griffins.
"We first need to find them! We can decide if we have the forces to beat them once we know where the camp is." Storm said.
The dwarves looked around the site of the attack.
"Where are the bodies?" Asked one of the dwarves.
"They would have taken them for food.
Especially if a Chimera is commanding the pack." Answered Storm.
"Could they have taken prisoners?" Asked Grombrim.
"Possibly, Gnolls like to 'toy' with their prey before eating , and they like their food fresh.
I'm certain they took prisoners to eat later." Replied Storm.
An idea suddenly occurred to Storm, he sniffed the air and sure enough, he caught the scent of blood in the air.
"I can track them by following the scent of blood in the air! Follow me!" Said Storm.
He led them through the thick foliage and away from the attack site.
After another 30 min, Storm came across another scent.
"I smell smoke... And roasting meat.. we're close to the camp.
Stay quiet and keep an eye out!" Whispered Storm.
A yapping laughter sounded up ahead, causing all the dwarves to reach for their weapons.
Aurora and Storm went flat on their bellies and crawled their way up a hill.
A small village than consisted of maybe 15 crudely built huts were built up against the foot of a small mountain.
Several offerings of meat had been placed at the entrance to a small cave.
Two rows of stakes were placed on either side of the pathway leading into the cave.
A humanoid skull had been impaled through each of the stakes as a grim trophy of the pack's conquests
Several Gnolls were walking though the village, or were sitting in front of a large campfire roasting meat.
At the back of the village was a crude wooden cage that held several bloody, miserable looking dwarves.
"I place their numbers to be around 50 warriors. "
Storm grimaced.
"Too many for us to take on. "
"I say we take our chances! With you and Aurora on our side, I'm sure we can handle them." Said Grombrim.
"Dragons are not invincible, Grombrim! If they swarm me, even I would have difficulty fighting them off." Replied Storm.
"They have hostages as well. If we rush in, the gnolls might kill them before we can reach them!" Said Aurora.
"There might be another way." Said one of the dwarves.
Everyone turned to him to hear what he was going to suggest.