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-----Returning the nod, Sol signals to the others to get moving again. The Gorian leads them back to the main road, then once more turns towards Black Bog.
-----The party continues southeastward out of the small marsh and soon the trail road leads across an open plain.
-----“If the town is not far away, we should be running into Raven soon,” Garrison says in a grim voice. He looks around the surrounding countryside but still there remains no sign of anything close to human activity in the area.
-----“Could what ye know o’ th’ stars tell us ‘bout Master Raven?” Dilton quietly asks Jeilin as they ride along.
-----“Perhaps it will not be the stars that will help us,” Lovan suddenly interrupts, “but where he who hunts would go.” The Storm Priest points to a large woods that the road leads to in a mile’s distance.
-----Dilton grunts in reply.
-----A few moments of striding through the brush led Whisper and Raven to the spot where the wood elf had taken to the trees. Raven looks at the vines before turning to examine the ground.
-----“You were chased here,” Raven says after a few moments. His voice almost sounds trancelike as he looks at the markings on the ground. “Luckily these vines were here for you. You leapt . . . ” The Hunter’s eyes follow up the vines to the branch that Whisper was standing on.
-----Quickly he looks once again at the ground when suddenly his eyes grow in surprise. “Damn!” he exclaims in a low voice, “The beast was very large, but . . these are like a wolf . . or a worg?”
-----Raven continues to move through the area searching the ground. “It had been struck,” he says. “It had been bleeding, but not enough to stop or slow it down.” Raven then reaches down and picks up an arrow; its tip covered in dark blood. He holds out the arrow for Whisper to take before turning back to the tracks.
-----“You fired at the monster but missed,” Raven said picking another missile up from the ground. He then looks again toward the tree. “The thing started running for the tree to climb it.” Raven then edges forward and picks up some of the sliced vines. “You chopped the vine down that it was climbing.”
-----Backing again from the tree, Raven looks at all the tracks around the tree. “You definitely made it mad,” Raven added in a grim tone. “It circled this tree wanting blood although you may have hit it a couple of more times.” Raven then points at where it had run off toward the road. Shaking his head, Raven finally looked at Whisper and uttered, “werewolf.”
-----Whisper frowned, then shrugged uncomfortably. He hefted the bloody arrows in his hands, thinking back.
-----"Minner," he whispered. "Cart... travelling."
-----Raven looks at Whisper curiously as if he didn’t understand him. Suddenly he raises a hand in alertness. He freezes as if trying to catch something he hears on the air.
-----He looks at Whisper again and says, “Riders coming in from the west!”
-----Whisper quickly raised his scarf and pulled his hood forward, then gestured for Raven to lead the way.
-----As they ride closer, the trail road angles more easterly and its track seems to lead straight into the forest.
-----Rinda suddenly perks up and gives a slight cry. She urges her horse into a gallop and the huntress rides across the remaining distance almost to the very trunks of the first trees. There a saddled horse grazes in the meadow.
-----As the others catch up to her, she is already off her horse and inspecting the stray mount. “This is Raven’s horse!” she says with a concerned look.
-----Sol frowns as he calls out, "Spread out an' have a look around, but stay in sight an' sound o' each other." The Gorian then rides past Rinda, into the line of trees. He slows to a walk, but starts to steadily work his way through, look both at the ground and surrounds for any sign of the hunter, or a possible struggle.
-----Strolum dismounts and begins directing Pil and Dilton into watch positions. Dilton watches the countryside to the west where mostly open plains lie. Strolum and Pil distance themselves on each side of the trail road where it enters the forest and the two watch the trees.
-----Garrison is already on the ground near Rinda looking for tracks. He and the Huntress exchange words before Rinda yells to some of the others to keep an eye on Raven’s horse. The two then follow what appears to be tracks on the ground. Just where the road enters beneath the tree canopy, the pair slow and examine what they can find.
-----Garrison looks up at Sol nearby and says, “It looks like Raven was still chasing one of the men that escaped from the village.”
-----Just a few feet away, Rinda stands and reports, “This is where Raven got off his horse.” She then looks toward some of the brush on the north side of the road. “His tracks move in this direction.”
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