“She’s been through here,” the level 71 tracker muttered to herself.
She was an opossum-woman, with a fairly developed natural sense of smell, to which had to be added several skills related to her job as a tracker. She was alone, as she relied on the difference in level and her abilities to hide and attack by surprise. They could be used to avoid or ambush her competitors too.
“This is a good place,” muttered a beaver-man.
At level 70, his strength was related to traps and patience, as well as strategic ability. He had studied the maps of the forest, and had concluded that this was the most likely area through which his prey would pass.
There were several slopes and areas that were too dense in the others, so he was 75% certain that she would pass through there. Therefore, after setting some traps, he hid over a tree from which there was a good view of the surroundings.
He only had to wait and rely on his luck.
“The plants had pointed me in this direction,” said to herself a woman whose grandmother was a dryad, so she had a quarter of her blood.
She was level 68, but felt especially strong in the forest, from which the woman could borrow its strength. For this reason, her services were highly appreciated in this type of terrain, although this time she was working alone.
She focused once more on the forest to feel the natural life, to communicate with it, to confirm the presence of her prey. However, this time, the answer wasn’t what she had expected.
A chill ran through her entire body. For the first time in a long time, she felt fear of the very forces that used to be her allies.
“Who is she?” she wondered in shock.
Trembling, she turned and walked away. There was too much to lose if she enraged the presence that had disturbed her connection. The half-half-dryad knew it had only been a warning, and she didn’t hesitate to follow it. There was no desire to hunt down the mysterious elf anymore.
“From their movements, that should be the best direction,” deduced the level 73 arachne.
She had come from another kingdom, from which she had had to flee to avoid certain legal problems, and some misunderstandings. The arachne used to hide her spider body part, so taking on a humanoid form, as she didn’t want to attract attention.
Not that her species had a problem in the kingdom of Goltrenak, but, it was better to go unnoticed for her business. Especially, if she wanted to avoid being tracked down.
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The arachne wasn’t an expert tracker nor did she know the forest. However, she had managed to get other bounty hunters to carry a gift, in the form of little spiders with which she could communicate. Thus, she could know their locations and movements, and anticipate them.
There were some more who, little by little, were narrowing the circle around the elf and her sister. They had the option to escape towards the higher level zone, but it would practically be a suicide. If they went to the lowest level zone, that would mean to fall directly into the hands of their pursuers.
The best they could do was to move forward as quickly as possible, and hope to outrun them, for they knew they were being pursued. Her winged sister had been detecting presences that were heading towards them, although it wasn’t easy to keep track of their positions. She could only occasionally see them between the clearings.
What they did know was that their pursuers were getting closer, and that their level was far higher than theirs. When an Alarm went off, They were aware of how close they were.
She had been setting up some as they ran through the forest. The one that had activated was about three hundred meters away.
“There is something to the southeast. At about a four hundred meters,” reported the goshawk.
That was another presence. Their enemies were too close, and they didn’t see how they could escape. They only came up with one solution.
When the tracker reached the creek, she frowned. The stream was barely a meter wide and a few centimeters deep, but the trail ended there, and there was nothing on the other side.
She cursed her prey, who had surely followed the stream’s course up or down. Thus, she needed to go along the creek to find the trail again. If she chose the wrong direction, she would lose a lot of time.
“Damn it, I was so close…”
She didn’t have much time to examine the trail. If not, she might have realized that there was something odd about it. However, the arrival of a half orc forced her to move.
He was a bounty hunter known for his ruthlessness and unscrupulousness, though not the only one. She was no exception, but he was stronger. She knew that he wouldn’t hesitate to attack her if he believed that he could eliminate her with ease. So, she decided to follow the stream upward, away from him.
He discovered the trail and the footsteps of the opossum-woman. He doubted whether to follow her or to go down, but he supposed she had detected his presence, so she would be prepared. It was even possible that she had set some traps. Besides, it was better to go downstream. If the elf was caught upstream, they would have to go down anyway, and there, perhaps, he could intercept them.
Meanwhile, Goldmi and the lynx were Camouflaged and hidden in dense thickets, not far from there. They had gone backwards from the stream, followed their own trail in the opposite direction, and used Hover to reach the bushes. Thus, they had left no trace of that short journey.
The bushes had opened for them, so allowing them to hide inside, but they knew they couldn’t remain there forever. Therefore, they went out again when the albino goshawk informed them that their pursuers had moved away. They crossed the stream in a straight line, after Hovering a little to avoid leaving any footprints right on the other side.
So, as one searched upstream and another downstream, they crossed it, and hoped to get away from their closest pursuers.
However, they knew that they were by no means the only ones, and some might even have set traps for them. Despite that, they could only move on. The longer they stayed there, the more hunters would arrive, and the more likely they were to be discovered.
Their greatest advantage was the information they received from her winged sister, but her sight couldn’t penetrate the thicket. Its biggest disadvantage, the difference in level and number. To make it worse, they didn’t know if, even escaping from the forest, they would be safe.