-----Finally, Marast runs over to the spot where the werecreatures had crawled underneath the building to look at the dug ground there. A while later, the elf fumes, simply looking at his employers and saying, "No tracks."
-----Kazel walks about with her hands in the pockets enjoying the new peace and quiet. "What about blood? I shot one of them."
-----The Dread Pirate nods at Kazel's remark, then says, "Also look fer human tracks. Maybe they waited til they were changed back to human form to flee the area. I guess they'd be barefoot human tracks. One of them quite a bit larger than the others. If we don't have any luck with that, I guess it's time to catch up to the wagon."
-----"Maybe the werewolves turned back into humans and went home?" Seth asks as he follows up behind.
-----Marast immediately circles again in front of the tavern building checking the grassy area for signs of blood. After what seems too long of a while, Marast fumes in frustration.
-----The elf then carefully runs out to where the limit of torchlight shone from the previous night. Just a few yards from the empty blacksmithy's building, the wood elf stops. He carefully squats down running his hand back and forth over the blades of grass. Quietly he studies the ground and then keeping his eyes on the ground, he motions his employers over.
-----As the rogues approach, Marast points out two sets of footprints on the ground. At first the prints resemble two large animals with the leathery pads of canines. The prints lead away from the buildings. In just a few feet, the prints appear to change in appearance. They seem to dwindle in size and narrow somewhat. Within a few yards, the impressions become those of human sized bare feet.
-----"Human female feet," Marast says lowly just above a whisper. The elf then stares ahead into the trees that extend beyond the village buildings. There the forest seems thick and the gloom deepens the shadows between the trunks. No sign of life is seen in that direction and strangely no noise of birds is heard from that part of the woods.
-----The Dread Pirate draws his cutlass and says, "I guess we won't be goin after the wagon after all. Kazel, ye want to scout ahead and see what's what? We'll be right behind ye, sneakin along."
-----"I'spose it's time to kill a female human," Kazel nods. "So, what do the piratical tales say about infection if they are in human form? And do you remember which werewolf scratched you?"
-----The rogues quietly advance with Kazel taking the lead. They enter the cover of the high trees with the branches hanging over them. A chill seems to accompany the breeze while overhead the clouds roll beyond the treetops. Here the light seems to grow mysteriously dimmer.
-----A leaf suddenly crunches under Kazel's foot and the half-elven butcher freezes while Marast casts an alert glance. Up ahead the tree trunks appear to thicken as if the woods refuse to give up her secrets. Listening intensely into the surrounding silence, the group begins moving forward only to be stopped again in a few feet by the loud snapping of wood.
-----Glancing backward, everyone sees an apologetic expression on Seth's nervous face.
-----The small troop then progresses further and soon they see something shadowed in the vines of one tree just a few feet off the ground. As they approach, the rogues see the bloodied remains of a man hanging upside down and tangled in the heavy vines. A pool of blood is positioned just below one dangling hand. The body looks as though it has been savagely ripped open. The remnants of leather and chain armor identify the person as one of the soldiers from Oakwood that perished in last night's attack.
-----Marast begins scouring the ground. In a few moments, the elf looks nervously around and mutters, "No tracks!"
-----The Dread Pirate shudders as he looks at the hanging body, then says, "I can't believe that they could rip this guy open, get blood all over the place and not get it on themselves. Unless the werewolves used some sort o' implement to gut this guy, they'd have to use their claws. That means they almost had to leave some sort o' blood trail as they brushed up against things with their bloody selves. Marast, look at about what would be hand height fer blood on the bushes and trees."
-----Seth looks around nervously as Marast carefully examines the surrounding trunks and greenery. The musician jumps when he sees movement in a distant sapling until he realizes it is due to the gentle breeze. Here, in this spot, the trees seem unusually thick in width and the towering branches tend to hang heavy with leaves.
-----Marast looks frustrated in his first attempts so he begins darting for the foliage a few more feet away. After he circles their position, he comes back cautiously and quietly to them. He squats and looks up into the high branches.
-----"Marast find nothing," he says in a slightly overwhelmed voice.