Nash's attempt to persuade them to surrender had succeeded spectacularly. When Adele, Lisa, and the members of the Silvermoon Company entered the valley, guided by the signal flares, they saw throngs of gnolls piling up their weapons and armor.
The ferocious creatures who had given up the fight still glared at them viciously, but none dared step forward to provoke them.
More gnoll soldiers had put down their weapons and sat by the rocks nearby. They looked utterly exhausted. Some were already lying down and fast asleep, while others quietly soothed their frightened pups.
They told the pups that they would be home soon, and the innocent little ones cheered.
They couldn't understand why they had left home and crossed half the Dark Mountains to come to this strange place, or why they were now going back without having done anything. Their little brains couldn't handle such complicated questions, but going home was always a good thing.
They were sick and tired of starving and living in fear here.
Of course, some gnolls didn't trust the humans and vampires to keep their word. But with the "mind plague" spreading on such a massive scale, they couldn't gather enough others to resist even if they wanted to.
Even the most vigilant Adele was convinced, after seeing the gnolls' strange behavior, that they no longer posed any threat.
But what to do with so many prisoners was a real problem. Governor Murphy had already reached an agreement with the Wise Wolf: these old, young, and noncombatant gnolls would be sent to the Plains of Creation. However, given their current state of malnutrition and emotional exhaustion, forcing them to march would likely kill half of them along the way.
Hogg was still working on a solution.
Until he came up with a viable