A short time later Gregory returned. "I told the guard captain, but he doesn't believe me. I don't think we should do anything as it might be overstepping our bounds."
"We can still prepare in case something goes wrong. I will visit Toma to purchase a scanner if she has one, is there anything that you two want?" Stated Chronos.
Sariah responded "I want a self-inking quill if she has one and Gregory could use some specialized weapons. A hidden blade vambrace or a returning throwing knife is best. His long range is a bit lacking."
"I'm not that lacking but a returning knife would be nice."
"I'll ask if she has them." He responded as he walked to Toma's carriage. "Hello Toma, I am Chronos, I joined the caravan last night and needed a few extra items, what items do you have for scanning our surroundings? Also, I will need a self-inking quill and a returning knife or hidden blade vambrace."
"Nice to meet a customer. Self-inking quills are right here for 5 gold each and the vambrace is 10 gold, but you'll need to visit a blacksmith or enchanter for the knife. Scanners are quite expensive. I have them for magic, aura, and life, which do you want?"
"The life one would be best, we can already detect magic and aura, how much is your best life scanner? By the way, have your scanners found anything today?"
"There was some activity before dawn but nothing after dawn. I think we entered a strong monster's territory and the guards probably won't listen to me so if you agree to help me when things go south, I'm willing to sell it for a discount at 100 gold. The life scanner crystal was blessed by a high priest of the green dragon head. It likes to trick you from time to time but it is reliable."
Chronos recalled that this type of scanner would normally go for close to 150 gild; a discount of 33% was very nice even if it came with strings attached.
"Deal but only to the extent that my group is not put at risk."
"That's fine." Toma said as she received 115 gold and handed over the items. "You should also ask Boruk if his beasts have found anything later."
"If I can't find anything in my afternoon search I will. Thanks for the gear."
Returning to his carriage he passed the quill and vambrace to his friends.
"I am going out for a far-reaching search till the afternoon meal. Be careful while I'm gone."
"See you then and watch your back."
With this Chronos headed into the forest looking for any large life signs.
As he walked through the forest he took note of territorial signs. Claw marks on trees, the smell of urine marking the edge of another beast's territory, shed antlers and fangs here and there. And each time he found a new territory he would turn on the life scanner but.
"There is no sign of a creature larger than a bug and the scent markings are almost a month old. For some creatures that might work but the more territorial ones should be marking once a week. What is going on here?
Well at least it is easier to find herbs now and with no creatures around they are undamaged too. That teifling sells reagents, I wonder how much he'll pay for these?"
As he continued through the day he continued to find more signs of life, but no large life essence showed up on the scanner until it was almost time to return.
SWOOSH
SCREECH
"Crap" Chronos swore as he rolled out of the way of a wind blade. "An assassin falcon, what luck. Now just stay in my range."
The amulet on his back switched to the aura bow which he promptly took off of his back as he sought cover under a large tree.
The falcon circled high above outside of his range but close enough that it could divebomb him at a moment's notice. With a frustrated look on his face Chronos planned his next move.
"Great, it's playing with me. At least it is the first sign of life, maybe we are past that weird territory already. If I want to kill it, I will have to give it an opportunity to attack and then counter it. Or I could just go back to the caravan. Assassin falcons never attack a group. Hmmm...we need a product to sell, let's give it an opportunity."
Coming to a decision he started to charge his bow with aura making an arrow formed of aura to appear on the bow string. While crouching low to hide the arrow he charged toward another tree in an attempt to bring the falcon lower for an attack.
However, the falcon seemed to sense what he was planning and refused to come closer while it tried to trip Chronos by throwing wind blades at him. The wind blades lacked power and speed at this distance but were certainly annoying to avoid.
This game of cat and mouse continued for nearly an hour before Chronos was frustrated enough to take a bigger risk. He went to an open clearing in the trees and stood there. The falcon sent multiple wind blades at him, but Chronos held the bow and arrow in place with his left hand while his right hand wielded an axe covered in aura edge.
He struck each blade that came in his axes range while sidestepping the ones that would get past his guard.
"Come on, you should know you won't be able to kill me like this. What's your next move?"
A few minutes later the falcon seemed to be just as annoyed as Chronos with this stand-off. It suddenly dropped right into the forest outside of Chronos's sight. But this action just reminded Chronos of a pheasant.
When hunting them they would sometimes fly up only to drop down when you released an arrow to make it look like they were hit. Unfortunately, if you believed that then the pheasant would be gone before you ever reached them. When they were only a meter from the ground, and conveniently hidden by shrubs, they would snap open their wings. The sudden drop would add to their speed as they flew making it look like they had vanished within seconds.
Knowing what might be coming Chronos raised his bow and aimed the sights in the most likely spot the falcon would appear. 5 seconds later it appeared as nothing more than a blur even to his well-trained eyes. He dove to the side as he released the arrow but was struck on his thigh by a wind blade, right before something barreled into his chest throwing him to the ground 2 meters away.
As he stood up and looked around, he examined the damage from the wind blade that had struck his leg. He was bleeding heavily but it could be bandaged and would heal in a day or two thanks to his werewolf regeneration. Unfortunately for the falcon when it had dodged his arrow it had gone the same direction as Chronos and collided with his chest. This had crushed its head into Chronos's chest but only caused minimal damage to Chronos.
After binding his leg, he picked up his game and thought to himself "Not my best kill but still valid. I should get back now Gregory will be worrying about my tardiness."
Once he was in sight of camp he could see Gregory talking to Boruk.
"Hey Greg, I could use some help here." He called out as he approached them.
Seeing the blood on his leg Gregory ran up to him. "What happened?"
"Met an assassin falcon, a clever one. It used the same trick as a pheasant to increase its speed to a ridiculous level. Even a knight would have trouble with this one."
When he held up the falcon for Gregory to see, Boruk approached them with an impressed smile "That is a named one, Korukt. It has been actively hunted for nearly a year but always escapes into the depths of the Averest forest when it senses danger. It probably only attacked you because it thought you were weak."
"That makes sense. Its wind blade was stronger than other falcons and it knew how to herd me towards a location though I avoided that spot. You said that Saela the wood elf worshiped a nature god, right? Let's ask him if he can treat me, even with a werewolf's natural regeneration it will take at least a day for this to heal."
"I'll say, it looks like Korukt nearly took your leg off."
"Almost, it cut half-way through my thigh but that was a lot better than the alternative. It was aiming for my head and would have split me from top to bottom."
They found Saela next to his carriage knitting silk with the thinnest needles they had ever seen.
Chronos called out to him "Hello Saela I am Chronos and I hope you have some method to treat my thigh."
"Hello, I do have some healing silk wraps, but will you be able to heal from that much damage?"
"Yes, I will, how much do you want for the silk wraps?"
"I would like to trade them for the talons of that falcon you're carrying. They are magnificently thin and will do wonders for some of the threads I work with."
"Alright." With the deal finished Chronos cut off the talons to hand them over. After receiving the silk Chronos and Gregory went back to their carriage.
Sariah was cooking a meal when they reached her. She saw Chronos's injury but didn't say anything, instead she plated the meal while Chronos switched his bandages.
"I take it you found what you were looking for?" She asked as she ate.
"No, if anything this only made my suspicions worse. The assassin falcon was from the depths of the Averest forest according to Boruk and I couldn't find anything more than bugs in the immediate area. Where are we camping for the night?"
Gregory responded "In a flower field a couple of hours from here. The next village uses them for beekeeping, and they are quite beautiful at night."
"Good, if we are lucky we might meet a villager there to question."
After their meal Chronos noticed that some of the other merchants were on edge.
"Looks like the others are starting to notice how strange this area is. Did Boruk say anything about it when you were talking to him, Gregory?"
"He did but his beasts weren't on edge, so he is ignoring it. Since they aren't reacting, I think we will be fine."
While the carriage was moving Chronos started to dissect the falcon. He removed the feathers and put them into a bag for later. Then he removed and separated the organs into two piles, one for alchemy purposes and one for food, before he butchered its meat and put the breasts aside for dinner.
"Hmm what's this? I didn't notice it when I was butchering earlier." When he was sorting the feathers into usable and not usable parts, he found a cocoon mixed in with them. It was the size of a finger and twirled around looking like a spinning top in mid spin. "Hmm guess I will keep it on me for now."
He finished just as the sun went down however the road ahead was lit by an unseen source. As they came around the bend, they saw a field of flowers that were glowing in the dark and had spots of light above them that looked like fireflies.
"Oh, that is beautiful." Sariah sighed under her breath. "They are drawing magic from their surroundings to glow but I can't tell what attribute they have."
"It really is." Gregory commented as he relaxed. "Do you think we can grow them?"
"Probably not, they are only glowing because of this environment. If we removed them they would be normal flowers." Sariah answered his question