We traveled slowly. Our group was over twenty men strong, five wagons each with one or two drovers, nine soldiers including us, a priest, and a blackcloak. She seemed to view our scouts as prey, but she was young and more used to having a group of templars to back her up.
The morning calm of the fourth day was shattered by the caravan master Argasto. He was shouting about a thief and interrogating the guards on duty the night before.
One of the muleskinners, an aging and grizzled veteran named Keller, had vanished in the night. Taking his loyal mastiff with him and padding out of the camp.
My skill as a tracker was not challenged by finding his trail. He probably had a six hour lead, but our investigation turned up that he was an ex-bandit, he'd ran with a pretty rough crowd after the war.
More importantly, he'd only taken a single item, an iron ring. The elves and the humans have a long standing pact about the darker parts of the Drachenfell. Six thousand iron rings were forged, each known to the elves. These rings allow passage and should prevent the caravan from trouble should we encounter any of the forest guardians.
Argasto had won the ring in a card game, after losing quite a bit of coin. For someone in his position, it's a valuable tool. He definitely wanted it back, so we agreed that we would purse Keller.
There's a coaching inn two days ahead. So we agreed to meet there if we were successful - and we'd be given a substantial bonus on our arrival.
Before we left, our generous benefactor provided us each a healing potion. We piled our gear on our backs and set off into the wood.
While following me through the forest, Otto and Dox were able to travel considerably faster than normal. They both were carrying a lot of weight.
Otto was encumbered because of his chainmail armor, crossbow, shield, and considerable amount of supplies.
Dox, the tiefling, was not carrying nearly as much, but he was still encumbered simply because he isn't strong enough to shoulder his load.
But it didn't really slow us down. These woods are very familiar to me. I was able to lead them quickly and carefully through the trails. I was able to follow the trail without losing it. Keller had made some effort to conceal his tracks, but he was not particularly skilled in this regard.
One of his friends, Telk, had mentioned he was talking about the Tower Run. These old structures were spaced every 18 miles between Brandon's Ferry and the Empire.
Before the civil war, these were stationed by soldiers who could light pyres to warn the civilized lands of some threat coming from the Drachenfell. They have been abandoned for years, and while the are south of the trade route here, it's exactly the direction Keller seems to be heading.
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