More than you thought.

For about an hour you travel into the forest. Most of it you follow game trails with Copper in tow. Lysandra has no problem pushing her way through the brush, however it makes traveling silently pretty much impossible. She refuses to look at you whenever she knocks over a tree as if you're about to yell at her. You aren't there for stealth today so it doesn't bother you, and having her there in case something big comes along is worth the lack of stealth.

Judging by the amount of trails you saw all over it was pretty clear the forest had a healthy population of animals in it. Not to mention all the other signs of them being active. Fur tufts, tracks, poop. If your little town could get a few capable hunters you'd bet meat wouldn't be an issue. That did raise a problem though. Predators. There was plenty of signs they were around as well. Including a claw mark on a large tree where the width of each scratch was bigger than your hand. You weren't sure what made that marking, but you hoped you weren't going to find out any time soon. Even Copper and Lysandra seemed nervous around it.

There was one more troubling thing you started to see as you got deeper into the forest. You started noticing things you would have done to mark your trail. Saplings bent over in the middle, lines cut on trees from something sharp like a knife, and finally the biggest proof of something smart living or traveling in the forest. A piece of cloth tied on a branch. You weren't the only one who had gone this way it seemed. You continued on for a ways paying closer attention to the ground and you found several booted footprints. None of them were the same size. Not only were you not alone in the forest, but there were several of them. Who ever they were.

"John" Dawn said through your comm system startling you. You took a deep breath to settle yourself.

"Yes Dawn" you whispered.

"I have been monitoring your progress. Is it safe to assume you are attempting to track the humanoid signs you have been seeing" she asks in a fairly deadpan tone.

"I'm just trying to figure out what direction they are coming from. At the very least it can help me avoid them, or best case we can find them and determine if they are friendly. How did you know I was tracking humanoids" you ask still whispering.

"I can see what you see through the visor" she states "they may not be friendly" she adds.

"I know, but it is worth seeing if it's a possibility that they are" you reply

"I am not seeing any record of any village or people living in the forest near your location. That said, looking from above I am seeing signs of what might be a very well hidden site about one thousand meters north of you" she tells you. You realize the risk isn't worth the reward yet, and you don't need to be needlessly worrying any of them by being reckless.

"Closer than I thought. Alright, I'm not going to get any closer I guess. I don't think you all would appreciate me taking another risk like that. I'm going to give it a wide berth and explore a bit more. Mark that site, and tonight we can discuss how we'd like to proceed. Sound like a plan" you ask.

"The other's seem to be enthusiastic about this approach, and I know I would prefer an actual plan for contact with whoever these people are" she responds. In your mind you thank Dawn for the abridged version of what the other's are saying, although you realize you're probably going to get a talking too when you get back.

"I'll see you all in a few hours" you respond.

Turning back you travel for about half an hour and head north. The signs of the humanoids had disappeared, so you figure it is safe to go north again. As you are continuing on you hear what sounds like a elk from back home call out ahead of you. Turning around you motion for Copper and Lysandra to stay put. They seem reluctant, but stay put. Moving ahead slowly and quietly you find yourself at the edge of a crevice. The gap is about forty feet across and below you is a drop of about fifty feet. Looking along the length of either side you don't see any way to cross it. You could head along the edge towards the Sanctuary as this crevice didn't seem to make it all the way out of the forest, but before you could really decide anything you saw a creature watching you.

Standing on the other side was a huge elk. You know you'd seen it in books before. Some kind of ice age animal. The rack on its head was intimidating even from across the crevice, and was certainly what you'd consider majestic. You immediately shouldered your rifle thinking it'd make for a good meal. Looking down your sights you placed your finger on the trigger. You took a deep breath and slowly squeezed the trigger as you exhaled. However, before you fully pressed the trigger you stopped. You weren't really sure why you stopped. Sure it would suck to have to walk around the crevice and then track it, but you just didn't really want to kill it. You relaxed your finger and removed it from the trigger, and finally placed the rifle on your back. The animal then turned its head towards the forest and walked off into the brush. Oh well, maybe next time you figured.

Turning around you are startled to see a tall human figure standing behind you. Your hand immediately goes to the hilt of your sword as you examine the figure. They are tall, maybe two feet taller than you are, well muscled, and obviously female. On their face is a mask that reminds you of African tribal masks you saw in museums, which was odd considering how pale her skin was. The mask covers most of her face, but you can see her mouth still. Light brown fabric is wrapped around her breast, and the same fabric hangs from her waist like a loincloth. She stood leaning on a spear that had a long straight blade on top. Feeling a little flat footed you adjusted your stance to properly defend yourself if needed.

Her head tilted to the side as your stance adjusted. Immediately following that her own stance changed as she twirled the spear around ending the display with the sharp end pointed directly at you. Judging from her new stance and display with her spear she likely knows how to use it.