((Pre-Pack thread for the Pack of Misfits, tags to
@Scythe-Nova ))
Was she still on the right track? Of course she knew that there would be much more wild and less towns and taverns when traveling east through the Draconi Forest. But she still was on the trade route she had chosen, and it had to lead to some town or another. Didn't it?
At least, she still could see the tracks of the carts on the dirt road she followed. Although it was not really a road any more but a mere trail. And even though she traveled in her humanoid form, like she did most of the time, when she tried she still could smell the travelers that had used the road before her. So... "Onward it goes!"
Wennah began humming a cheerful hiking tune to play down the loneliness that began settling onto her. And she still hoped to find a tavern or at least some secluded farm before nightfall. She really did not look forward to another lonely night in the woods.
Not that she was afraid. Her abilities... did not only help with finding shelter and food. In her wolf form, she also could defend herself against most the things the woods could send against her. But she really missed all the entertainment and amenities that a lively tavern could offer.
She was so lost in her thoughts that she nearly missed the tracks that crossed her path. At the last moment, she stopped and turned around to find herself facing the biggest wolf tracks she had ever seen. They were bigger than she ever had thought possible and Wennah did not know if she should be scared or intrigued. So she settled for both of them.
This obviously was something bigger than her abilities, even when resorting to her wolf form. All her intellect told her to get as much way between it and herself as possible. Irrespective of what 'It' really was.
But her curiosity got the best of her. She just had to know what kind of creature could leave such a track. She already knew that she would not be able to go on without looking for it.
And... there was something else. Wennah could not put her finger on it, but there was some nagging feeling.. some strange power that lured her to follow the tracks.
After only a little more struggling, she abandoned her previous path and began tracing the wolf tracks. They led her deeper into the woods and did not follow a straight path, so soon she was not sure any more, where she was originally headed. But she still could just follow the traces back to the road again, so she continued. She still had to find the creature.
The forest became higher and darker, and the underbrush would have been a real problem for her humanoid form, if the creature she was following had not paved the way through the thick bushes and sharp thorns.
A little farther the tracks began following a little river that finally led into a canyon. Wennah stopped to think. If she just strolled down there, and encountered the creature down there, she would have hardly a chance to get away again. So she left the tracks and instead continued at the top of the canyon, peering down from time to time to not miss the creature she was looking for.
And then she saw it. A wolf, bigger than her imagination, frightening and fascinating at the same time, its fur a dark silvery color. Wennah leaned forward a bit more, to see even better.
That was, when the ground on which she stood began to slide down the precipice.
