Ethan moves forward cautiously, going to examine the destroyed ornate wagons, trying to get an idea of how they where torn apart.

"What killed them?" Elra asks to herself, looking for any wounds or reasons why their bodies look the way they do.

(Gonna do Medicine and Investigation cause im not sure. Medicine: 17 Investigation: 6

Despite being satisfied that there's no threats nearby, Tarja stays in wolf form, but relaxes a bit. She'd shift back if she founds something the party needs to know about, but until then, better safe than sorry around this kind of evil.

She gives a low growl at one of the mangled corpses as she comes closer to examine it, still avoiding touching it. What could have done this? Not spiders for sure, and the deaths weren't the result of a fight with goblins either, it looks like. At least not the kind of fight with arrows and swords.

Tarja thinks back - has she ever encountered similar symptoms (foaming at the mouth, swollen veins) from any poison or illness she's seen? (I guess that's... Medicine check? 23)

The arms folded across the chest, arranged bodies... could it be part of some ritual, or a sacrifice for a cult? Are there any local ones that are relevant? (Religion? 3)

Still, whatever killed them, did it come down the road, from the sky, or from the wilderness? Tarja doesn't have any way of checking the first two, but she takes a wide loop (~30-ft radius) around the scene to look for tracks or other signs of the killers. (Perception? 15)

(ooc: Not sure if any of those rolls are even relevant, but just in case there's something to find I'm putting up relevant rolls as I think of things Tarja would check or do...)

As the party passes by the bodies and approaches the wagons, they see quite a great deal.  The wagons appear to be some sort of delegation of a noble lord or something of the sort, with fine carvings and golden-yellow banners with black eagles on them mounted to both sides of each, most of which are now strewn about the ground instead.  Large areas of long grass are matted down around all of the wagons.

The first wagon is not as fancy as the second, but is well made and appears to have carried supplies.  A few crates remain, mostly containing dried meats and flasks of oil, several smashed.  The cart is still upright but is off the road in the grass by about twenty feet and all four deceased horses are still attached to some degree.  The most notable feature of this wagon now is that the roof has been completely torn off and sits in pieces nearby, and large claw marks mar the wood where it was ripped apart.

The second cart is the fanciest, with fine wood trim painted gold, colorful curtains, doors on the side and comfortable leather seating.  It lays on its side in the grass not far behind the other, roof and claw marks in much the same condition, as are the horses.  Careful inspection amidst the long grass around the cart reveals a leather boot protruding from underneath the wagon.

The third cart seems to be the sturdiest, heavily fortified with extra wood paneling and several arrow slits on the sides and back.  It is off the other side of the road and upright, but a wheel is badly damaged where it hit a ditch and the wagon teeters a little there.  The roof is much the same but two horses are missing.  The group notices that they may have simply escaped, but that does not fully account for the tearing of the reigns and the shattered wood where they should have been attached to the rest of the rigging.  The particularly attentive Ethan finds three gold coins next to the wagon, buried deep amidst the grass.

Another three dead horses with saddles are nearby, and a total of ten armored and armed soldiers have been neatly placed in a few different areas much like the first bodies, with their arms folded and, in this case, their spears at their sides and their shields over their chests.  Their daggers and swords appear to be missing from their sheaths.  There is no sign of a noble lord or any other passengers beyond the two bodies with mundane dress that were originally found, and the boot.

A few moments later the party finds what is presumably one of the missing horses, some of the rigging for the wagon still attached, about 100 or so feet away in a very bloody area of matted grass.  It appears that something has eaten a good portion of the horses torso, leaving quite the sight to be seen.  By the party's estimation, this leaves one horse unaccounted for, the last that would have been attached to the third wagon.

Ethan, Tarja and perhaps others are able to quickly rule out several of the rumors the group has heard lately, including mere goblins, bugbears or even werewolves or owlbears.  The claw marks are very large and the sheer power it would take to rip large chunks of roof off of all of the wagons would be immense.

After careful inspection of the bodies Elra concludes that all but two appear to have been poisoned, but not likely by spiders on account of the lack of wounds.  One of the armored men appears to have had his chest completely caved in by blunt trauma, and the last appears to have been stabbed, or bitten, a number of times across his torso.

"Well then..." Elra looks to the rest of the party. "We're ruled out just about every rumor we've heard of. What else could be left?"

Presuming the coast is clear, Arvel scans the scene and notices all the claw and bite marks.

 (OOC: No help, but no headache either!)

Elra decides to try a different approach, and moves back to the cart. Mentally, she orders Vincet to go out and see if he can find anything in the woods nearby before closing her eyes and allowing her sight and sound be overtaken by Vincent's as he takes to the skys.

((Gonna go ahead and roll for Vincent's Perception: 34 Owls have advantage on perception))

((alright i did that wrong cause I'm stupid let's try again sigh farewell to that nat20 ill never see you again Perception: 22 Owls have advantage on perception checks relying on sight and hearing so that's why I rolled with advantage))

A few hundred yards west of the road Vincent finds a narrow game trail, just a thin patch of worn ground amidst the grass.  Worst case it might be used by goblins or worgs, but not what did this to the caravan.  Perhaps the most distinct finding is actually the lack of any trail at all for what the group figures would have to be a large, powerful creature or pack of creatures.  The killer must either use the road, or no trail at all.

Elra calls Vincent back and returns to the group. "Well, whatever did this either used the main road or has the ability to mask it's trail wherever it goes. The only thing Vincent found was a small side trail that looks big enough for maybe goblins or worgs. Nothing that could do anything like this." Elra opens to a fresh page in her book and begins to write down what the party knows. "I'm slightly concerned about the fact that it doesn't even look like Sildar or Gundren have come this way, unless they went past here before this party was attack. Which seems unlikely."

After finishing documenting what they know, Elra approaches the remains of the first wagon's roof, to see if she recognizes the claw marks.

((Nature: 8))

"Gundren and Sildar could have been the ones who moved the bodies into repose."

Arvel looks up at the skies.

"We also have to allow for the third dimension...and magic...to account for the lack of a trail."

Tarja returns from her search, shakes off the brambles, and returns back to dwarf form to present her conclusions to the group.

Whatever happened here, the thing that did it didn't come here from the scrublands. There's no tracks around for something of this sort. And a beast this big, claws like that, eating horses by the mouthful... well, in all my time out there, never seen things that big politely follow roads. I say we gotta watch the skies, for something big and nasty, but hopefully not very hungry now. If the horse is missing because the thing carried it off to its lair, it'll hopefully be full for at least the next day. If it's missing because someone got away on it... who knows.

Looks like whatever it is hunts by day, since these folks looks like they were nabbed on the road and not in camp. Won't help us today, but tomorrow I can try to prepare some fog cloud cover.

Hmm, anything else...

Tarja thinks for a moment more.

Never seen a beast arrange bodies before either.. wonder if it has worshippers, or hangers-on, or somethin'. Dunno what to make of that.

Oh, and anyone know anything about the poor folks who got caught up here?

Tarja turns to the others, hoping they have more to say about the people.

"Ya but most of these people were poisioned, and there's no indication of injury of the people who were poisoned."

"Large beast...flying...poison..."

 (OOC: waiting on DM to confirm my fear.)

"Hmm, so we have a, well a very large creature, with claws, that can easily rip roofs off of wagons, but no trails leading to or from."

Ethan indicates the wagons and nods to Elra and Tarja about the lack of trails.

"We have people who must have been poisoned, but have no wounds to have delivered the poison."

"The bodies of these here and here, have been put into a restful position, but not buried."

Ethan indicates the various bodies.

"My first thought, is that we have a summoned demon, reeking havoc on the caravan, destroying the wagons."

"Some kind of magically delivered poison was used to kill many of the people here, but not all die, and the survivors positioned the dead, out of respect for their friends."

"Then the survivors fled, for a reason urgent enough, that they couldn't afford to bury the dead."

"Also it would appear that whoever was of import here, wasn't killed or left behind. Maybe they escaped, or more likely, maybe they have been captured."

"Yes, if the intent was capture, that may explain why there aren't more dead from physical trauma. Whoever attacked, got what they were after and left, leaving some alive."

Ethan looks up at the other,

"Well that's my first idea, given the evidence. Oh there may be another body over here under this wagon."

Ethan indicates the boot sticking out from under the wagon.

 "On no..." Elra doesn't like where this is going. She looks around the camp one last time for anything that goes against Avrel is implying.

((Nature check: 17))

"Oh a Dragon? Yeah that would make way more sense!"

Ethan looks around,

"Yeah, no tracks, large and strong..."

Ethan looks up into the air, looking a little worried.

Fae would just be following behind in her party members shadows as they inspect the scene. She too has her journal out, jotting some notes down. She trusts Elra is gathering the detailed writings, ones that may even be more thorough than hers. So Fae’s approach is more of a cataloging one, where she’s actually sketching and labeling images in her journal so that they could have a visual reminder of the finer details. As the others talk through their speculations, she’s doing her inspections and checks.

((I know we’ve pretty much rolled everything possible under the sun. A dragons a good guess lol in case it’s not, can Fae take particular interest in inspecting the poisoning further. I’d like to try a Medicine check to see if she can tell if it is dragon poison or a man made poison? 8 

lol womp. Fae will just poke about and catalogue.))

Zeke has been holding true to form - completely ignoring the chaos around them in favor of searching for the next threat.  Eyes up, blade out, he stands out in the open where he has the best view and would make the best and most obvious first target. 

All the while, he listens in to the deliberations of his colleagues as best he can, at the mention of the various denizens, he snuffs, 'Dragons and demons, lovely.  So much for a simple supply run.  Unless you all have anything else you'd like to do here, I say we pick up the pace and get somewhere relatively safe as soon as we can.'

The group does an excellent job of assessing the situation, leading to some very solid theories about what may have happened here, such as to the repositioned bodies.  Notions of large, summoned demons are logical, but when taking the apparently ingested poison into account, one theory stands out above all others; green dragon.

Finnan and Farnin bring the wagons up close to the party after only a minute or two once the immediate concern of ambush subsides a little, preferring not to be left on their own back on the road a ways.  "Yeesh, never seen such a sight out here" remarks Farnin.  "Ugh, they look worse off than you do even, I'll admit" remarks Finnan to his brother.  Farnin inquires with the others "do you know what it was?"  "Anyone alive?  Is there anything more that can be done?  Should we bury em?"  Finnan immediately exclaims "are you kidding me?"  "YOU can stay and bury em, I'm getting as far away from here as possible.  This wagon's leaving in about one minute, folks!"