Gregor scratches his head while running his hand through his shaggy hair, "Doctor, you are right. Wait, where is that crazy talking bird? They have good eyes, perhaps he can figure it out. Either that, or I go back to the Inn and grab that shady guy sitting in the corner, with a hood over his head and a pipe in his mouth. They say his name in... Strider... I dunno, maybe he can help..."
Wil hears a small ding as he all of a sudden feels more skillful. With new eyes, he searches the ground with renewed vigor.
Xavante's words help you think about the issue differently. Instead of looking for more drag marks you realize that the bag was likely hoisted over a shoulder! With that you can pick out tracks that are a little more weighty in the ground. It also really surprises you that you didn't pick up on this before, but these tracks are also claw shaped. You see that the tracks head straight down towards the south side of the town, it won't be hard for you to follow them now that you know what you're looking for.
Wil lets out a whoop and motions for the others to follow. He heads south atop Daniel following the weird claw marks while keeping an eye out for anything else unusual.
"Can anyone take a guess what creature could have made these prints?"
"Uhhh... A large halfling?" Fisty asks, following.
-Posted with Wayfinder
Based on Xavante's earlier description, it wouldn't a be a stretch for Wil to conclude that the tracks might be from the Flue Hag. You have no issue picking out and following the tracks leading to about 50 yards south of town. Here, you find a hole in the ground that is about 4 feet in diameter.
Wil leans down to inspect the hole and is hit by the faint smell of something rancid.
He sticks his head in to inspect, and with the dim light coming from the sun overhead he can't see the ground or the sides of the walls. However, the structure of what he can see gives him more than enough information to determine that this is likely a sinkhole, and a big one at that. As he's inspecting the group hears a man call out to them.
"Hey neighbors, taking out the garbage?" a man says coming out of the last house of town. He clearly doesn't recognize that you are not his neighbors let alone members of the town, until he sees Xavante. "Oh, yer that group of strangers that's been helpin' us out! Sorry, this whole thing of not knowin' who anybody is is kinda tough to deal with. What are ya doin' at the garbage hole?"
Wil smiles at the man and says, "Ho kind sir! I've followed some weird tracks to this hole. So I take it this is your garbage dump. Seen anything out of the ordinary around here lately?"
"Uh, no? I don't play 'round in garbage, though" he says with a look of confusion. "Why would I be carin' about garbage? And what kinda weird tracks? There's animal all over out here."
With a sigh, Wil pulls out his Wand of Mage Armor, taps himself.
Dr. McKnuckles, with his unusual sense of smells (As in the smells don't really disgust him. Have you smelled an ogre fart? Kills grass) is willing to go down first and help others if they need a hand.
"I'll hop down first, then anyone else." he says, edging up to the hole.
Wil follows Fisty down the hole.
Fisty can see that the hole is about 40 feet deep with his darkvision, there aren't any walls in the immediate vicinity to climb down, unless you want to try to ceiling climb to a wall. From what he can see, the caven is quite expansive, and there is a giant pile of garbage beneath the hole.
Fisty begins trying to underclimb the ceiling and makes a few handholds down until his immense weight gets fully added and he looses his footing and hand holds plummeting to the garbage below.
"Ugh. It smells down there."
Wil casts guidance on himself and jumps down as well.
With a half smile, Wil says to Fisty, "I guess you'll just have to adjust to the smell. Eh?"
Climbing out of the garbage pile, Wil picks up a rock and casts light on it before tossing the rock about 30' into the tunnel.
With the light source you see that the cavern wall to the south is only about 10 feet away from the garbage pile, but the north side of the cavern heading back towards the town is quite expansive. About 60 feet in front of you the cavern veers off to the left a bit. The biggest thing that strikes you is that this is a very large sinkhole, and it appears to be more or less right under the town.
Wil casts guidance on himself as he explores the cave.
Wil has no problem picking out tracks that match the ones above ground now that the only other ones in the area are some vermin that have made the garbage pile home. The head off in the direction of the bend in the sinkhole.
Wil goes back to help Fisty up out of the garbage as he looks up through the hole.
"Xav, Gregor," he calls in a whisper. "Y'all coming down? I found some tracks."