-----As Sol and Raven ride to the patrol stationed at the northern side of the village, they see Garrison and his men staring off to the north. During the last day, Garrison and his men seemed to have taken some of the haystacks from the surrounding fields and made a quickly improvised barrier to observe from.
-----As the two heroes ride up, they can see that in the distance, clouds of smoke are rising into the cloudy sky. It is unclear if the smoke is rising from the scrub field the party had stayed in before their assault on Ku or if the smoke is coming from locations beyond that.
-----Sol rides towards the men keeping watch and calls a greeting to his friend enthusiastically, "Ho Garrison, anything o' interest?" The warrior's gaze lingers on the trail of smoke as he continues to try and judge the distances involved.
-----"We've been keeping an eye on that smoke since first light," Garrison says, clearly agitated by the distant rising plume. "Some of these men have told me that the front line is directly north from here, but I doubt that has anything to do with the fighting. The front line's about twenty miles north from here."
-----Garrison then shakes himself from his musing and looks at Sol with a frown. "By the way," he says suddenly remembering something, "What's this about a troll last night?"
-----"Troll?!" Raven echoes with alarm as he looks at the Gorian.
-----"Yes." Sol replies off-handedly to Raven, "We had a visitor last night, but he didn't bring his invitation, so we had t'kill him." The Gorian shrugs and looks back at Garrison, "How close do ye make th' fire? Is it close enough t'check out?"
-----"I would guess it's a mile or more beyond that scrub field," the woodsman replies. "I don't think it's in the field or all of those scrubs would be ablaze."
-----"Well," says Raven with his eyebrows raising, "you don't suppose it's someone else without an invitation? Want to go check it out?" He wipes his hand across his brow and looks at Sol.
-----"Very much so. Garrison, if we aren't back in an hour, assume we're doing something really silly." Sol grins and waves, spurring Thunder into a healthy gallop towards the affected area. Uselessly, he hopes the ride will help cool him down.
-----The two ride north but they skirt around the scrub field along its western edge. Raven grimaces and remarks that they are north of where the orc camp was located. As they continue, the hunter glances at the ground looking for signs of the humanoids.
-----As they reach the northern edge of the rough vegetation, they encounter a hill rising ahead of them. Just off to their right, they can see the rising line of smoke. Sure enough, the smoke comes from an open field about a half mile north from the scrub field.
-----As they approach the middle of the field, they are amazed to see a large hole seemingly blasted into the ground. The hole looks to be about five feet deep and about ten feet across. The dirt inside the hole is blackened and from the bottom of the fire pit is where the smoke arises from.
-----Raven dismounts and stares at the blackened smoldering pit. "You don't suppose lightning did this?" he asks Sol.
-----"I hope so, but I doubt it." Sol dismounts some twenty feet from it, and begins to slowly approach the hole, looking around the area for any clues at all.
-----Raven likewise begins searching the ground, but it is evident the hunter is looking for tracks. After a few moments, he nods, saying, "Some of the vermin we fought came through here." Moving closer to the smoking depression, he points at it and adds, "Some of their tracks lead to this location. I wonder if any of the orcs were hit by what did this?"
-----Raven then looks north scanning the horizon. Just to the west lies the hill they passed to get here. To the north, flat plains mainly dominate with a forest and some vegetation about a mile off to the northwest. To the east is more vegetation and hills that hide the trail road leading into Kulendra.
-----Still looking north, Raven says, "I wonder if any of the orcs ran north to inform Ravenhold's army of what's going on?"
-----Sol can see that the grass looks untouched around the perimeter of the hole. An ashy material also lines the inside of the hole and it looks as if there is something, maybe a charred rock or burnt piece of wood that the smoke originates from at the bottom of the pit.
-----"It's possible, though wi' orcs it's hard to tell. They might have just scattered... still even if they do aim t'inform, Howrun should be able t'reinforce Ku in time." Sol snorts wryly, "If not, we'll have more work t'do." As the Stormbringer talks, he tentatively leans into the pit a bit to see if he can get a better look at the object at the pit's bottom.
-----Unsatisfied with peering alone, Sol slides down into the crater, draws his dagger and flips it over catching it by the blade.
-----"Whoa," Raven says in surprise at the Gorian's action, "Be careful!"