Like wrestling a pin-pricked water balloon...

With catlike reflexes, Ash dove upon Manbearpig and held his squirming, peeing body to the ground.  "Shhh!" he shushed.

While their cacophony of terrified screams would be contained by Raelin's crafty illusion, they still might distract Raelin himself, from creating that very illusion.  Ash glanced to the side.  Tribby and Gluestick were thankfully running deeper into the forest, but, soon they would be out of range of the illusion... he glanced back at the skeleton (silently wondering what everyone was so afraid of in the first place) and wondered how well the well organized but still quite loud group would be able to hear something like an Ogre crashing through a forest a hundred feet away...

The Hobgoblin with a few more identifying ranks upon his uniform reported to the huge skeleton.  "Sir!" he yelled in Goblin (which Ash spoke), "We appear to have lost the trail, sir!"

"FAN OUT!" the huge behemoth screamed.  "FIND THE HALFLINGS!  I... I MEAN, THE SCROLL!"

The group of goblins and hobgoblins exploded in an exploratory asterix, some of which would intersect Raelin's illusion shortly.

However, Raelin, ever crafty, decided to abort his current illusion, as, it would remain for a long enough period of time for him to create a second, even craftier illusion.

At the end of the pathway, south of where they were currently, the fiery hummingbird flew past the path, and a group of familiar looking Gnolls chased after it into the forest.

"GREAAAAGGH!" screamed the angry skeleton, ripping the skull from the reporting officer, pointing in the direction of the illusion "FIND THEM!  FIIIIND THEEEEM!"

Raelin smiled.  Trickery seemed to come quite naturally to him.  Perhaps illusion might be something he would develop later...  He closed his eyes, and fortified his first illusion as the group continued on chasing his Gnolls in the direction of the Ogres.

"Maybe they'll all kill each other" he laughed to himself.

: How could you best encourage a blogger to blog?