Merric carefully examines the large thorn he extracted from the dead beast, trying to jog his memory or gain any insight into what could have left this behind.

Perhaps an old halfling story or tale or description heard from a passing adventurer brings back a memory of a similar description.

"Heys...anyone's haves any thinking bouts' what coulds be leavin' sumtin like this?"

Intelligence: 10

Harivaldr gave a mildly sardonic look to the farmer. "While I can appreciate your suspicions, I'm not so certain that the source of these attacks is as simple as orcish banditry..." He seemed to mull something over for a moment, then furrowed his brow and said, "Then again, we'll only know for sure once we finish our investigation." He nodded to Dathyra and added, "My thoughts exactly. Once we've finished up here, north is our best lead."

He then took a deep breath, and stepped back into the barn to survey the carnage. It was... at least as bad as he remembered it being the first time. Somehow, it may have gotten worse, if anything. Thanks to his newly emptied stomach, he was able to walk towards Merric without too much difficulty, and he tried his best to focus on the large thorn he'd pulled from an unfortunate horse's flank. "I've seen a few things with large spines before, but I can tell you right now I've never seen the likes of this thing." He looked back at the stinking mass they'd just put down. "Which just begs the question... what in all creation is it?"

“If you can follow the tracks Dathyra, I think we need to follow those. The longer we wait, the bigger the head start they’re going to have on us.” Sen jumps on board with agreeing with Hari. “Something like this is beyond orcs. At least that’s my take on the situation. That thing we killed is beyond this world.” Sen moves out and starts looking for the tracks. 

"It's not really tracks, so much as..." Dathyra started, but then realizing some of the more gruesome details would be best said outside of mixed company, "well, something else. You'll have to see for yourself. But, I think we can follow it for a ways." 

Dathyra leads the group to the trail of blood leading through a broken bit of pasture fence and continuing on to a game trail in the adjacent Northwood.  Her earlier investigation suggests that several bipedal creatures were dragging cow corpses northward.

The snowfall is beginning to get quite heavy. The Northwoods has that quiet peaceful feeling to it that sometimes occurs during a snowfall when sounds are muted. The game trail and prints are easy enough to follow as you enter the woods but it is not too long until the tracks become obscured in the snow.

[to continue tracking make a nature or survival check at disadvantage] 

Dathyra really, really hated winter. She shivered again, and tried to pull her cloak closer to her skin, if that were possible. Oh, sure, there was a time when she really did enjoy the colder months. With nothing to grow during that time, there were no chores to be done on the family farm. Many times, she spent the day out in the snow with her brothers and sisters, playing until it grew dark out. By then, her parents would have a warm fire started and they would enjoy a warm evening with each other. She missed days like that...

Now, winter only made her miserable. True, she was very grateful for her home in the temple, but it just wasn't the same. The temple was old and drafty, which meant the cold seeped in much easier than the thick forests of the north. And without their family all together, it just wasn't the same. Vaquen was as serious as ever, spending most of his time training in priestly duties. Eryn was older now and expected to take her studies seriously. And she was busy tending to the sick and injured. There just wasn't time for the kind of fun they remembered together.

Winter had another significance to her as well. It was hard to believe it had only been two-decades ago, a very small stretch of time in elven perspective. On a particularly cold day, everything changed. Just when she was getting used to her new life in the temple. Just when she was about to build the life and home she had always wanted for herself, and it was all gone before she had time to realize it. All she had left now were the painful memories, a scar that would never heal, and a future that could never be.

As she tried to forget these things, she slowly became aware that the trail was being covered up in snow. This was a problem. How would they find...whatever they were looking for now?

Nature: 19

Tracking (Nature): 19

"This snow keeps comin' down like this it be buryin' me alive...might one of ya's have to carry me soon!" Merric cheerfully jests to the others.  "There be some more tracks..." he points out, thinking he sees something.

With a  heavier snow fall tracking becomes nearly impossible. The tracks that you were following is covered by the snow. It is with only careful tracking that you follow the game trail to the Maple Stream. Merric and Dathyra pick up the game trail on the other side of the Maple Stream, by this time the snowfall has become light again and their skill reveals the frequent use of the northeasterly game trail by human sized bipeds.

Throughout the day the light but steady snowfall has continued, covering the wide, easy to follow trail in two inches of snow.

The trail rises and falls throughout the gentle slopes of the Northwood, providing a brisk but pleasant hike.

As the trail descends into a shallow valley and winds its way around a steep slope you are confronted with a striking sight.

Some forty feet ahead of you stands a stout orc female – bloody spear in hand. Next to her growls a massive wolverine the size of a small bear, and she is flanked by several other orcs.

As you approach, more orcs emerge from a cavern entrance in the hillside behind her. At her feet lies the body of a large, freshly killed wolf.

She squares her shoulders your way, and as the orcs behind her raise their spears menacingly she holds her fist up, a silent order for them to hold.
She speaks with surprising clarity.

“Who are you? What are you doing on Hunting Claw grounds? And, have you seen more wolves? They don’t typically hunt alone.”

Merric carefully slides behind one of his closet companions (most likely Sen or Hari) and tries to subtlety disappear from sight...

Stealth: 25

Stealth (Lucky Reroll): 17

He whispers to the group "I don't be thinkin' they's too guilty lookin'.  Maybe we should see's what they be knowin!  I don't thinks they be doin' the killins." 

Tramping through the Northwood was not any difficult task for Harivaldr, but he certainly found it tedious. It wasn't long before his mind began to wander away from the snowy forest and chilly air, and back to other lands, and other times. He hadn't stepped so much as a toe into a dwarven mountain hall since he'd left his home behind, but he'd seen his fair share of human and halfling cities and settlements. A few gnomish towns, one or two elven villages, any number of blended settlements, the list went on. In many of the smaller ones, he'd earned his keep plying his usual trade as a storyteller and singer... and in more than a few, he'd taken on jobs of the more martial sort.

Defending farmers from bandits, hunting down dangerous animals or monsters, and, once or twice, rescuing kidnapped people from raiders. Orcs were large and powerful, and when they turned to violence, especially in numbers, the results were often devastating. He had seen the aftermath of orcish raiding parties, not often, thankfully, but he had seen it. The people of Northwood's Rest, for all their faults, weren't without reason in fearing an orcish attack, but that also didn't mean they were right. Whatever that thing in the barn had been, he reminded himself, it certainly wasn't an orc. And so long as their little band didn't make some colossal error, Northwood's Rest would have nothing to fear from the orcs they searched for.

Then, quite suddenly, they found who they were looking for. Harivaldr, having heard Merric (and noticing his hidden position out of the corner of his eye), stepped forward a short distance, and hailed the orc woman, keeping his hands away from the hilt of his longsword as he does so.

"Ho there! We were sent by the nearby settlement of Northwood's Rest to look for whatever's been raiding their cattle. I apologize if we've trespassed, but we found a trail near the town, and following it has led us here. We've seen no wolves, nor heard any. Have you seen..." he falters for a moment, grasping for the correct words, "...any sort of murderous plant? One with multiple tendrils? Smells like rot? Is able to move and attack people who approach it?"

Sen will step up with Harivaldr. "I think what my friend here meant is -" Sen pauses for a moment, also at a bit of a loss. "a black ichor. Able to move freely by itself. I am Sen Nurkov. No doubt you have heard of me, famed treasure seeker and adventurer."

Dathyra was never good at masking her feelings. Her body language usually gave her away, and right now, she was feeling a bit intimidated by the orc. Holg had only been a half-orc, and she never realized just how big a full-orc could get. Nor did she like the stern look from the orc woman, or the fact that they were slowly becoming outnumbered should things turn sour. She decided to keep quiet and let Harivaldr and Sen do the talking. They seemed more confident, or were at least able to fake confidence better than her.

The stout Orc female steps in front of the massive wolverine. She is calm. Her fist is still up, holding her warriors from taking any actions. "Sen Nukov, treasure seeker." She nods to Sen in acknowledgement. "There is not treasure here. Hunting Claw lands is its own treasure. I am Nozamara. I am War Chief of Hunting Claw Clan. This is Niznoc,"  she pats the head of the dire wolverine behind her. It nuzzles and thumps its rear leg. "We do not go into the Northwoods Rest. Nothing good comes from provoking humans." The warriors behind her bristle but she ignores their injured pride. "We live and struggle off the bounty of nature. I've never seen the thing you described, I can't believe anything would be so brazen, until now." She gestures at the Dire Wolf dead at her feet. "This wolf was brazen to attack an armed group of the Hunting Claw," her eyes scan the woods and she cocks her hear to listen. "This is bad that this happened to them and to us. These wolves do not normally hunt alone. It would be best to be guarded. What more can you tell me of this plant creature?" 

"Show im' the thorn!" Merric pipes in, passing up the huge thorn.

Sen will take the thorn from Merric and old it out in front of him and approach the orc woman. Sen does not feel they are a threat and our side clearly has not attempted anything stupid to provoke them. "It's a thorn. It was embedded in the head of some livestock back in town. None of us ever seen anything like it before."

Nozamara takes the thorn and examines it by turning it over and testing its strength and sharpness. She sniffs it and recoils a bit because of her keen senses. She lets Niznoc take its scent as well. "This is something foul. I've not seen the like in these woods before." She hands it back to Sen. Merric comes out from behind Hari a little bit when he sees the rational exchange between Sen and Nozamara. Dathyra seems to breath an audible sigh of relief that Sen's exchange didn't end in bloodshed. She is encouraged by Nozamara's civilized tone.

"An attack on the humans is troublesome for all of us. I was earlier inclined to believe the dire wolf attacks were a result of human expansion, as they (the wolves) never come this far south... but seeing as how Northwoods Rest has been targeted as well by this foul creature, it seems there must be another explanation. I would suggest--" 

"Oiy, what's going on here?" a belligerent voice calls from the woods. 

Niznoc suddenly tenses and the surrounding Orcs bring their spears up into defensive positions.

Stepping into the clearing are about six townsfolk from Northwoods Rest. They followed you through the woods. The speaker is Patrick Treyburn. He is accompanied by Will MacGregor, Stella Archer, old Man Waterman and the Verner twins. They have an assortment of cross bows and long bows. Everyone also seems to carry a hand axe or knife.

"We came up here in case you needed help with these.. orcs. I don't understand what you're doing. This is not what we were paying you for."

Your party is standing between a sizable group of armed orcs and angry townsfolk. (Townsfolk that seem well armed and managed to track you through the woods)

Nozamara looks from the newest intruders to you with a question on her face. Patrick gives your group an urging nod in the direction of the Orcs.

Dathyra was startled when she heard Patrick call out. Her face fell a little as she realized how fast this could escalate if not handled properly. Indeed, their suspicions had been proven that this was something different from orcs, and the Northwoods' citizens were about to ruin it all if they provoked the orcs with their accusations. Dathyra worried that they would easily be caught in the crossfire.

"Please, this is a horrible misunderstanding," she begged, turning around to face the Northwoods' mob. "Something...something's gone very wrong. It's not raiders at all. Some creature it seems is what's on the loose. It isn't the orcs at all. Please, we can't afford to do anything rash right now, not if we intend to stop...whatever this thing is."

Harivaldr wanted to kick himself when he heard the townsfolk approaching from behind. Of course, he thought, with how belligerent they've been, of course they'd send someone to help 'deal' with the orcs.

He took a deep breath, knowing that if he and his compatriots made even the slightest step out of line, things would get worse. Much worse. All of their evidence pointed towards the Hunting Claw tribe being innocent as a whole, but with their disposition, he doubted the townsfolk would listen to such a claim, even if they had irrefutable evidence to support it (which, he reminded himself, they didn't). And that was without the Hunting Claw having reason to suspect them of trickery, which, now that their first peaceful interaction had been interrupted by an armed mob, was going to be a further hurdle to clear moving forward. If it came to blows, the orcs would defend themselves, and whether or not their little hired band would get caught in the crossfire, he didn't want to test their willingness to take prisoners when openly attacked.

He turned to the incoming mob, hoping that his first impression of Nozamara as a reasonable sort not given to stabbing potentially untrustworthy dwarves in the back was correct. He raised his voice only enough to let it carry clearly, and did his best to keep his tone diplomatic, but firm. "We were hired to put a stop to the raids on your lives, lands, and property, regardless of what was causing them. You suspected orcs, we looked for ourselves, and our investigation has led us to believe otherwise." He raises both of his open hands in a placating gesture. "There is more than meets the eye to the raids that plague your people, please, we've been here little more than a day, allow us time to get to the root of this problem."

Merric moves 25' ' towards the approaching band of Patrick and the townfolk to try intercede should any move forward.

"Patrick...you's got to listen to em'....we've been talking to the orcs and is truely we believe they's got nothing to do's with what's happenin' around these parts.   The orcs been havin' their own problem' with some strange happenin's too.  They knows not be going near the humans as it brings nuttin' but bad back on em'.   If anyone not be trustin' the orcs it be our own gruff and grouchy dwarf Hari...you's got to sees that, yes?  Everyone knows no one be gettin' along worsen than orcs and dwarfs, and even Hari be believen' them!!   Please....be thinkin' about this a time...."

Perhaps a persuasion check:  17

Merric prepares himself to try intercept any from the human band that may be thinking of charging forward...perhaps trying to trip them if running bye or just delay them etc.

Sen will put a hand on his crossbow facing toward Patrick. He does not learn. Sen will back up closer to Nozamara at this point. "I dealt with this guy once in town already. He's a fool that likes to run his mouth. Can you all lower your weapons for the moment? My halfling friend there is quite the fast talker."