-----"Don't know," Sol replies, a smile beginning to grow his face, "never met one. I'm guessing blue, though."
-----Sarah grins and rolls her eyes. "Sol..." She begins, pretending to be annoyed, then just giggles and smiles at him.
-----Within a few moments, the party moves into the small woods south of the field of brush. As the riders move between the tall sturdy trees, the air seems to stand still. A musty, boggy smell seems to permeate the air as if coming from a nearby swamp. However, no open pools are seen and the forest floor seems lush and solid. The leaves in the combined canopy of greenery overhead are thick making it difficult to catch a glimpse of the gray sky.
-----As they ride, they come to places on the trail where many leaves have fallen from overhead. Garrison pauses to gaze at the treetops. He stops and calls to the adventurers, "You suppose our dragon back there did this." The woodsman points out places among the tree canopy where the gray sky is more visible. In those places the upper most limbs look bent and stripped of many leaves as in a windstorm. The open spots in the treetops seem to form a line following north to south.
-----"Maybe." Sol replies as he sweeps his gaze around the woods, constantly keeping an eye out for trouble, "Seems a bit ordered fer that. Raven, how much time do th' thieves have on us??"
-----Raven looks up at the path left by the dragon, "Good eye Garrison. From the direction of the broken tree limbs we could even tell which way it came from."
-----Raven turns towards Sol, "How much time?" Raven rubs his chin, "No more than two hours I'd say. We are so close I swear I can almost smell 'em."
-----Raven walks over to Sarah, "I just remembered I have something that might come in handy when we face our ol' pals." Raven goes into his backpack and comes out with a vile of liquid. "I found this when we first started our journey." Raven pauses, "Anyways, I was told this has the power to control elves." Raven gives Sarah the vile. "You should use this on their elven tracker. I think I'll be busy with their guards. Besides your knowledge about this is much better than mine."
-----"Thanks," Sarah says to Raven, "I have a few tricks of my own I'd like to pull out first, but this will make a nasty surprise. Just if anyone is fighting that elf, remember to be careful if you see him start acting funny." Sarah takes the potion. She wishes the fight would be delayed just one day, because she's so close to finishing her research on the spells she's developing and would really like for the thieves to be the first adversaries to feel their sting.
-----"Two hours..." Sol echoes the hunter. The Gorian's body almost quivers with another surge of adrenaline. He looks around at the others briefly as he says, "Alright, just remember, whether we catch up to them in a couple o' hours or a couple of days, there's every possibility that it may come from a surprise ambush o' theirs. I now believe that if they see or hear us coming first, they will take steps t'ensure that they take us down from their vantage. That's not going t'happen."
-----"Fer pretty much everyone, yer well aware o' yer own capabilities so I'm going t'keep this short. Sarah, first we're going t'need ye t'neutralise Seth. He's their only spellcaster that we know of, an' yer our resident expert there. The rest o' ye, be aware that th' halfling uses some form o' poison on his blades. Only makes ye sleep, but it'll take ye out all the same, so be aware if someone drops fer no reason. Romney, fer this fight we'll need th' numbers so I'd like ye t'be more active. Abram, I'd appreciate it if ye kept on doing what ye've been doing. The rest o' ye, just take them down hard an' fast."
-----After that, Sol waits for Raven to lead on, again.
-----In a few minutes, the trail road emerges from the small woods and here the party looks out into the open plains beyond. They ride on now with a sense of purpose feeling that those they seek are almost within their grasp. As they pull farther away from the small woods, the pace begins to pick up though most in the party keep their eyes toward the cloudy gray sky. Everything remains as still as the air and curiously the sky is devoid of birds.
-----As the riders gain another mile, they pass a hill to their south and come within sight of the town walls of Redmarsh. The town itself looks just as impressive, or unimpressive, as the town they had left in Oakwood. Of course, here the town is surrounded by flat plains instead of the forest trees.
-----As they draw nearer, it becomes obvious that somehow this town is different in other ways. The large walls and gate appear empty of guards except for one man posted above the gate opening to the approaching trail road. He looks down at the riders and after coughing, he speaks down to them in a raspy voice. "Ho, there! (Cough, cough!) State yer business!"
-----It is nearly noontime as the riders sit atop their horses on the road before the gate. Another trail road joins here, this one leading away from the town toward the southeast.