Take it to home

It would be dangerous, if the best option would be to wait close by wherever this beast called home. It would have its guard down and not expecting an intruder in a foreign area that would want to combat it. The tactic left a bad taste in Marius’s mouth, but he had a duty to protect the people and to find that murderer as well.

Normally griffins prefer more mountainous terrain, as really only hard rock could support the weight of their den-nests. The nests they need to hold up their eggs were a tad bit too heavy and big for most trees to handle, even in Everlight Forest, where the trees were pretty huge as is.

Though, this particular section of forest had trees with thicker branches and denser canopies. This was due to the wildlife here relying more on using the trees for sustenance, so the trees needed thicker bark and more leaves to keep their energy supply.

Following the likely avenue of flight that the Rune Blade deduced from the pattern of kills, he trekked quite a bit more distance. It would take an hour of hiking before he started to see evidence of the griffin...or to be more accurate, smell.

Grimacing, Marius put his hand to his nostrils, “That stench...it is definitely griffin musk. First you smell that, then you find the markings.”

Finding no pleasure in doing this. Marius sniffed around. Eventually, he found the source of the griffin’s musk and proceeded to cover his face with a rag to help combat against it. Groaning, he traced his fingers through the fluids there and began smearing it on his person.

“This stuff is impossible to wash out...thank the gods for their blessed magic. But it should be impossible for the griffin to smell me coming now.”

Beasts never expect themselves to come and hunt them.

Following a direction due East, as griffins prefer to hunt during the day and like to build their nests closer to the sunrise, Marius hiked once again. But it didn’t take long at all for him to find the next few signs of activity. That being the large claw marks scrapping the tree barks, nearly goring the things.

Typically griffins would sharpen their talons and claws on rocks, which doubled as territory markers. This one had to make due with trees.

“Will probably be duller than usual...good. Makes my job easier. I should be getting close now.”