The river bends off to the left, so from the river they have a clear line of sight to the right bank at the bend. In the fading light, all they can see are some twinkling firelights, so they pull out of the river on the right bank, where they rest and plan.

They decide that a few of them should use invisibility to go up ahead and explore the source of the firelights. Hooflepoof dons his Cloak of Invisibility, and Elfo uses a spell to make himself, Leosin, and Barry invisible.

The others stay with the horses, while the four invisible adventurers make their way up the river bank, where they find themselves on a beach. Just a stone's throw to the south, they see a wall just over head-height, with a heavy wooden gate. Other areas are obstructed by foliage, but roughly eastward a high stone structure, curved like the tower of a castle, rises above the trees. They can't discern the source of the firelights, which still twinkle in the northern and eastern directions, not too far away, but too far to see clearly even with darkvision.

They hold hands in order to stay together, and head down toward the gate in the wall. They can't see over the wall, and the door is heavy, but isn't designed to keep people out, more like keeping dumb creatures in. The lock is a simple one, a heavy wooden plank on a hinge, that rotates down across the door, into a slot to keep the door from opening. Hooflepoof steps up and casually pushes up the plank and opens the door.

Hooflepoof has no darkvision, so he can't make out much in the darkness, and nobody else is really in a position to see past the wall, but over the course of the next minute or so, he can sense that a number of large creatures begin to notice that their enclosure is open, lumber to their feet, and start stampeding toward the gate.