You all spend the night in the forrest, Alaine stays near Valar and Thelanis, although she certainly hasn't been rude to the others. You wake up in the morning after taking a Long Rest. 

It will take much of the next day to get back to Erithon. If people want to spend their travel time fulfilling a particular role for the party, give me a description and a relevant roll. Otherwise, all i need is another D12 roll to determine if a random encounter launches.

Amiz answers the question asked of him "Though my kind is rare there are places where my people roam as nomadic clans. Leonin prefer the grasslands for their homes and tend to be isolationist as they have little trust for outsiders. I am more of a black sheep among my clan as I chose to seek coin as a sells word swinging my blade for whoever can pay," 

After eating his ration and taking a swig of water her rest for the night. In the morning, he stretches as sleeping in armor sometimes numbs his muscles. 

D12

 9

Draíocht listens to Amiz's response with interest. "I can certainly sympathize with your people's way. There's a serene peace to isolation." His voice is calm, thinking of the woods. He adds, "Though, perhaps selfishly, I am glad you have a different approach. You're an interesting companion to have. And your prowess in combat has certainly been helpful."

Before long-resting, Draíocht would spend his 2 remaining spell slots on Goodberry once again.

In the morning he volunteers to scout ahead once more if there's not a preference from another party member to do the task.

Sure, go ahead and roll a Perception, Survival, or Stealth check. Whatever you think will be best.

Thelanis rises, quieter than she has been after last night's talking, and gets ready to set out.

Quote from drumdigby >>

Sure, go ahead and roll a Perception, Survival, or Stealth check. Whatever you think will be best.

Thelanis already recalled the way back the day prior, so mainly going to be on the lookout for possible ambushes on the way back.

Perception: 18+5+2 (guidance) = 25

Ah ok, so Draíocht will act as a sort of sentry, while Thelanis leads the way unerringly towards Erithon. While nothing jumps out at you along the way, Draíocht does find something gruesome while scouting around, or rather smells it. In a hollowed out tree you find a body, clearly dead for some time. It could be human, but it is hard to tell. The face has been torn off completely, revealing the skull underneath. The remaining skin on the face is rotting and has been roughly torn.

(Let me know privately if you're triggered by gruesome stuff like this and i'll dial it back a bit.)

Draíocht frowns upon seeing the body. It was never pleasant to come across the dead. "Alaine, stay back." he says while signaling to the others. The person was inside a hollowed tree, possibly left there by a compatriot that couldn't dig a grave? Or were they ill and crawled into it for shelter before passing away? "Not sure who they are. But it feels wrong to leave them like that."

He takes a look around, wondering if there might be any animals such as squirrels or birds that have nests nearby. [[ Considering speak with animals. ]]

Survival: 1+5+1 = 7

No squirrels or birds around, but you do find a small colony of ants on the ground near the tree.

Thelanis looks around to see if there are enough rocks around to form a cairn.

"Thank you," says Draíocht to Thelanis as she prepares to make a cairn, "I shall see if I can ask the ants what happened. Though small, they are many. Though no guarantee they might have answers of some kind."

He'll take a seat near the mound and start ritual-casting Speak with Animals.

You cast the spell, the sounds of the Dim Wood taking on a new life as they change from song into poetry. Each birdsong and frog croak the same language.

The ants on the ground are all chanting the same word, "Work, work, work, work, work." Every once in a while on of the ants will tell another on it's way back to change direction and the line will move towards each crumb of food. Or in this case bits of flesh.

Amiz looks at the body and the surrounding area to see if he can piece together whether this person was attacked by beast or humanoid with a weapon. Though grisly he checks the clothing of the corpse in case there is some form of identification. 

Investigation

20

Survival

4

With your survival roll. You can't tell whether it was an animal or a person who did this. 

However, from searching through the pockets, you find a medal that you recognise identifies him as a soldier of Niniasha. Niniasha is the nation to the south of Toh'Riel, and often sends spies and assassins into these lands to destabilise the nation. Your people are from the lands south of Niniasha, very far away.

Valar will try to ascertain what caused the injuries, though with the amount of time, he knows it may be difficult. Perception:   13    Investigation:  19

Now would be a good time to introduce you all to my rule for re-rolling skill checks. Good news is, i allow it. Bad news is, you need to be proficient in the appropriate skill. So if Thelanis or Valar are proficient in Survival, which is the skill Amiz and Draíocht tried to use to work out what killed this person, then go ahead. Otherwise it will just need to remain a mystery.

Thelanis looks over the body.  [[Prof. in Survival]] 8

While the others investigate the body, Draíocht speaks to the ants, "Work. Work. Question. Flesh. How long? When start?" [[Since the initial one was simplistic, figure a simplistic style of speech fits with that. ]]

Thelanis - This face has been eaten off. The jagged edges are bite marks, from human teeth. That's the only thing that seems human about the attack, the body has been thrown around and stabbed multiple times by a jagged weapon as the face was consumed. Also the body is an wood elf male.

Draíocht - The ants talk to you, "Before, before, before." They don't seem to have a strong sense of time, but Thelanis could probably tell it happened about 3-4 days ago.

Thelanis relays her findings to her companions. "Whoever did this was not in their right mind."