Correna shrugs and glances around to be sure things are still safe.
"He's got nothing special...or valuable on him. But he is well dressed for the woods and what little of his equipment he still has shows wear and tear. My best guess is he's either a local woodsman or a bandit."
With typical straightforward nonchalance, Inari started following the bear tracks. "You coming?" he asked over his shoulder.
Although she doesn't say so, it seems Shalelu is impressed, or at least pleasantly surprised by Correna. After her own quick look around the appraises Correna with an almost-smile and tells her "I see the same as you here."
Shalelu quickly walks the four of you through what unfolded. "There are three sets of tracks. His" she says pointing to the man, "and another on two legs, roughly the same size as the man but lighter in weight. And yes, a bear."
"All of them came from deeper in the forest. The bear caught him first. The other pursuer finished him with a sword. None of them went so far as the road. The pursuers turned back into the forest after killing him."
Talene's examination of the corpse places him as dead for perhaps almost two days. She confirms Shalelu's idea of the bear then the other attacking him, with the sword stroke delivering the killing bow. She also mentions the softness of the man's hands. It seems unlikely to her he was a woodsman, farmer, or in the habit of handling weapons.
After a good look about, Shalelu is satisfied there are no ambushes set by the roadway, though she does consider the lack of sounds from forest creatures to be extremely unusual and disturbing.
"Let's continue as discussed back at the caravan. I'll keep an eye on the road, and join back up with the caravan when it arrives. The rest of you take a look around farther into the forest."
Nodding to the wise elf, Correna quickly follows after Inari with a barely concealed smile and long strides.
"Let's spread out a bit as we travel, but stay within a few strides of each other. That way we have more chance of noticing something separately, but are still close enough together to help each other if needed. I don't like the local animal's silence, but until we encounter the reason why it is, we have to assume something specific is causing it. So stay alert!"
"Sounds good."
Inari was not a particularly good tracker, but he was enthusiastic.
"Hum. So...what if this guy stumbled on some secret cult or something, and got murdered before he could tell others?", Yuki runs scenarios through her mind:"I mean clearly they didn't want him leaving for some reason. We should try and not accidentally stumble on that reason...I'm not sure we'll win against some combat-trained bear."
Lacking Inari's enthusiasm, but still clearly curious about the situation, Yuki does as Correna suggests, but soon starts lagging behind the others ever so slightly. The complete silence irritates her, and she soon begins to scan the treetops and sky for any birds, rather than keep her eyes on the tracks - or the ground, for that matter.
Shrugging at Yuki's comments, Correna replies casually and smiles broadly.
"Pet bear or not...we get to hunt down a cult and kill them. Murder is murder and justice is justice, regardless if it happens in a city or not."
"I like the way you think, Correna," Inari said with an approving grin.
Having spent much of her young live in Magnimar, and not venturing far from Sandpoint after her return, Yuki was not quite convinced:"But wouldn't that be vigilantism? I mean, who is the legal authority for these lands? Wouldn't we meddle with the executive process by taking matters into our own hands?"
On the other side, she wasn't entirely convinced about her own argumentation either...so she followed along, regardless of her uncertainty.
Smiling, Correna tries to help with better information, waving her hand at the surrounding land.
"Most of Varisia is open and unclaimed wild land, except by Cheliax. They think the city-states here all still belong to them. We're just in 'open rebellion' for the last hundred years or so. No, there are no laws here but us and nature. Morality...doesn't enter into it unless we bring it. Call that vigilantism if you want. To me, murder is still murder unless extenuating circumstances are present. So unless there is some sort of town here hidden in the woods...we do what we think is best when we know more. That's really all we can do. Shalelu is technically in charge, so it is her decision in the end. I WON'T hesitate to defend myself or my friends if needs be."
You range farther into the woods, Correna following the trail back from the dead man and the struggle by the road. The rest of the group is spread out on either side of her, a few yards between you to cover more ground, but still within easy sight of one-another.
At maybe around 400 yards in, you all begin to catch a whiff of something foul smelling. It's impossible to miss it, and it grows stronger as you continue forward. It is a rotten smell, like spoiled meat.
Correna scowls.
"Wow what a stench. Keep your eyes open. Keep quiet, but keep your weapons ready. If this is some sort of carcass it could have drawn scavengers."
"Could it be, like, bait for some trap intended to draw scavengers?", Yuki wonders. As Correna explained the nature of the wilderness territory out here, the young woman realized how sheltered her life so far had been between Sandpoint and Magnimar - and at the same time, their current situation was both scary and exciting.
Correna smirks.
"I really don't know. Most of my backwoods-knowledge came out of a book or a teacher's mouth. Practical experience I lack and ...technically what we are doing NOW. Exciting isn't it!"
Correna wiggles her eyebrows at Yuki, smiles, then waves her uniquely angled blade for emphasis to keep moving.
"Nothing like practical knowledge to educate you," Inari agreed. "Not always pleasant, but always eye opening." He continued his march toward the foul scent.
Perception
Survival
At a point not much farther on, Correna loses the trail in a mass of vegetation around a couple of fallen trees. The mass is almost impenetrable, and the groups spreads out to search around, looking to pick up the trail again on the other side. As everyone circles around both sides searching, Talene notices two things. The first is the trail.
She also hears brush rustling, which causes her to look over in ghe direction of the sound. Through the trees, about 40 feet away, she sees a large porcupine, about the size of a small bear. It's walking about in a way that seems rather aimless to Talene. She also notices that it seems to have several grievous wounds on its body, and one on its head so severe that she can see a bit of white jawbone exposed.
"Well, that's not good, look at the size of that porcupine and it's injured! Are any of you good with animals? Perhaps I can aid it if someone can get it to not attack us."
"I could probably cook it or something, but I doubt I can tame it if thats what you meant...", Yuki responds, trying very hard not to seem threatening to the porcupine Talene pointed out.
Correna stagger-steps suddenly as Talene points out the giant animal.
"Whoa! Where did that thing come from? Yeah...my abilities tend toward frying or chopping animals, not talking to them. Maybe Shalelu can get close to it? Look at the size of those quills! We do NOT want to make that thing angry. We could try and heal it..."
Stepping aside to get a clear path to the creature, Correna crooks her hand. Now she was ready to cast a spell if needs be, with her sword hand taking a posture of ready-ness if she has to receive a charge.
"Heal it? OK, I can try that first..."
Talene closes in on it and once within 30', tries to Channel Energy .
As Talene gets close to the porcupine, it grunts and turns in her direction. Now aware of her (it seems to have caught her scent) it begins to shuffle toward her in a slow but determined manner. The smell of decaying flesh is very strong now.
When Talene releases her channeled energy and it touches the porcupine it shrieks. Portions of its body that are quill-free and visible, such as around its face, can be seen to scorch from the energy's touch.
The porcupine continues toward Talene regardless, grunting as it comes.
Seeing the creature's suddenly aggressive nature now, Correna does not hesitate to lash out at the creature from a distance!
Saving Throw Reflex negates Dazzle; Spell Resistance yesA favorite display at halfling midsummer festivals, this spell lets you create fireworks in the shape of tiny dragons. Once per round, as a move action, you may designate a target 5-foot-square within range and launch a pyrotechnic in that direction. The pyrotechnic takes a zigzag path from you to that square, always missing creatures and objects in its path, and detonates in that square with a bang and a colorful burst of fire and light. Creatures in the target square take 1d4 points of fire damage and are dazzled for 1 round (Reflex half, a successful save negates the dazzled condition).
"Stay with ranged attacks if you can...those quills look deadly!
"Wait... that should have healed it! This thing might be dead".
She Channels Energy once more to heal it, if it is injured once again, she will know her assumption is correct!
Channel
Entering her fighting stance, Yuki interposes herself between the Porcupine and the others:"Yeah, no way I am trying to punch that...I'd skewer myself..."
Instead, she aims to keep it's attention to herself and avoid it's attacks with nimbleness.
"Wonderful. More undead," Inari grumbled as he rushed forward to get in front of Talene. The curved blade he'd recovered from the dead warrior in the cave was held out before him, waiting.
The porcupine screeches again as Talene's energy scorches it for a second time. It still lumbers forward though. When Yuki interposes herself between the animal and Talene, it turns its attention to her. Shifting it's direction slightly to take her head on, it bites at Yuki.
Yuki sidesteps the porcupine's snapping teeth without much difficulty. Now that it's very close, it's appearance leaves little doubt the porcupine is dead and is the source of the awful smell.
Between Talene's channels, the bursting fire of Correna's spell, and Inari's sword thrust, the huge porcupine is sent once again into death.
Squatting and poking the remains with her sword, Correna wrinkles her nose.
"Well there's something to journal about later."
"That...thing...Talene, aren't undead creatures usually dumb? What I mean is, if this creature killed the guy, wouldn't it have stuck around there? Unless someone controlled it?"