Boko points to the smoke and says, "Perhaps that is the elves, but likely not. Even if not, we could go by on the way, check it out. Up to you. If so, I can creep close in direwolf or elk form."

She offers to lead and track, accepting any help offered.

Survival: 25

Qivys falls in line and follows the party.

Gerrard:

Though he is not particularly skilled in tracking, Gerrard will point out the tracks he noticed and help Boko that way if possible.  He also keeps a lookout for any approaching foes as they draw closer to the dark woods.

Boko leads the way upriver, deeper into the forest, following the eroding bootprints.

Upon a bend in the shallow, broad, ice stream you spot an encampment - a ramshackle cluster of fences and houses built partially over the stream, on stilts, and sprawling over the hillside adjacent. You see a pigpen, and an old woman feeding thin slop to three scrawny swine. She is human. A thin stream of smoke comes from a squat timber main hut. A human boy runs to greet her, then runs inside.

The tracks seem to lead toward the encampment. 

Kei 

"This is the worst elven city I've ever seen" he says dryly. "We don't have time to save these people from whatever catastrophe awaits them. We should leave them alone and continue on". He waits for Gerrard to contradict his statement. Surely our noble leader will want to talk to the woman and then get involved in some mundane mission to feed the pigs or some such. After the physical beating he received at the halflings hands he can't help but throw a punch in his direction while he waits for the groups decision, albeit a verbal one. "Ah Peri, seems they like three foot high animals here. You should introduce yourself, might make a new friend".

Neither the old woman nor the boy seems to have seen the party yet, but although the boy has gone inside, it is only a matter of moments before the woman is likely to spot you. You may retreat unseen, roll stealth checks to maintain your position and continue to observe, or approach openly. This does not appear to be an elven encampment, but rather a human one, and an impoverished one at that.

Peri:

"The mistress of the house is more your age, you goat. I'll let you do the charmin' just this once. Maybe you can bond over your favorite liniment recipes?" He gives the venerable bard a cheeky smirk and disappears into the undergrowth to watch the settlement.

((Stealth: 21; Perception 8. If Boko offers to scout he'll give a thumbs-up.))

Gerrard:

Preferring the direct approach, Gerrard realizes there may be more here than meets the eye, so he defers to the others and moves to hide.  He whispers, “This scene looks unremarkable enough, but it would also be an effective illusory ruse to cause passersby to underestimate such an encampment so close to the dreaded woods.”

Stealth:  18

Qivys watches the old woman and the encampment. He looks the property over trying to discern any thing that might lead him to believe that this old woman and her kin might be a threat.

(Perception, Investigation or Insight?)

The party pulls the horses into the thorny underbrush and out of immediate sight. (Lankus: Stealth check: 22 )

Peri's Eldritch sight finds nothing arcane, but the encampment – still 100-150 feet away – is outside of his normal range of detecting such things.

The morning is cold, the weather grey, the surroundings bleak. 

The old woman finishes feeding the sickly pigs and goes inside the communal hut.

Qivys may make an Investigation check to see if there appears to be anything immediately threatening about these people.

Qivys' Investigation check: 1

Boko offers to shift into a white tundra fox and investigate, listen for anything noteworthy, ensure it’s not an illusion, and meet the group on the  northern side of the settlement.

Qivys sees nothing dangerous. The old woman carried no obvious weapons, and while there is some defensive fencing surrounding the encampment, it looks much more like an impoverished and squalid hamlet than any sort of military camp.

Meanwhile, Boko transforms into a stealthy white fox and vanishes into the snowy gloom, beginning to circumnavigate the perimeter.

Peri:

Peri fidgets in the soggy undergrowth as he waits for Boko's scouting report. "Who would choose to live way out here, right up against the forest?" he muses. "As often as scary things come all the way down to Saltmarsh, they must have to fight off monsters every other Tuesday."

Kei 

Before he can react to Peri's quip the halfling is gone. He directs his attention to Gerrard. "I say we leave this lot alone. I really think we need to find the Elves. Granted these folk may know where to find them but there's an equal chance that this is some old hag who will try to deceive us. We should go around them". He only hopes that Gerrard has learnt to sometimes leave things well enough alone. "They're in no threat, well none that they haven't put themselves in, and we have bigger plans."

Boko slowly examines the perimeter of the encampment. At its center, at the edge of the stream, there is a small wooden platform in a tree that probably functions as a watchtower, although it is currently unoccupied. The fencing around the perimeter is low but solid, with a few sharp spears ready to impale anything large trying to smash them down. It'd be an easy enough perimeter for humanoids (or a tundra fox) to hop over, should they choose to. There are but a handful of huts – it's doubtful more than a dozen people live here. She gets a peek into one and sees a man with a very long beard combing his thinning hair. A conversation can be heard in another hut, but it's too quiet to make out any words.

Qivys nods, agreeing with Kei. 
"No reason ta bother these folks." he whispers. 

Gerrard:

Shrugging, Gerrard says, "When the two of you agree about something, I start to get a little worried.  Still, good enough for me.  Let's go around them and continue upriver."

Kei 

He chokes on his own saliva. The dwarf agreed with me! Once the shock subsides he sends a mental note to the halfling since no-one is sure where he actually ran off to.

@Peri

Waiting for the others to return, the party turns away from the river and carefully circumvents the encampment. The forest becomes denser, taller, darker, and takes on an increasingly sinister character. The thick canopy of dead leaves above threatens to devour the sunlight. (The decaying canopy above casts everything in dim light, and in some areas the growth overhead is so thick that the area below is dark.)

Returning westward toward the river again, the forest again thins. The thin crust of snow crunches under your horses' hooves as you make visual contact with the river again, now a frozen stream covered by a canopy of tangled snow-covered branches. How elves might make a home here is hard to conceive. 

You find tracks in the snow. And fresh blood. Two or three pairs of footsteps – one small, the others normal-sized, lead away from the river, eastward into the depths. At least one of them must have been bleeding as they crossed here, recently.