By the time the group had finished discussing their useful attributes, they had managed to come by a border in which the grass began to thin out. Although the odd color stayed the same, it was a relief to have a little more vision around them. The place, Rae-Ah realized, was oddly beautiful in the most extraterrestrial sense. The trees and vegetation glistened under the afternoon sun, while distant, foreign sounds rushed to fill Rae-Ah's ears. The louder it got, the more uncomfortable she became. They were definitely not alone.

[i][color=f7941d]“Try to stay aware of any scents in the air. It shouldn’t be too hard to smell fire even from a few miles off.”[/color][/i] she nodded at Adam's comment, as Marcus asked next,


[i]"Hey, Rae, there any bodies of water nearby? Rivers, lakes, streams... Anything in this general area?" [/i]

The priestess stood in place, in an effort to inhale all of what the environment had to offer her. The musky smell of dirt, dried leaves, grass, smoke and rot invaded her senses. Her acute sense of smell only brought her pointless information, nothing she couldn't have already seen with her own eyes. Then again, she did catch a hint of charcoal burning off in the distance. It came from within the collection of trees, but that didn't seem like a good idea to her. Were they- whoever 'they' were, trying to start a wildfire? And what on [i]earth[/i] was that putrid stench?

[i][color=teal]"I have caught a hint of smoke, coming from deep within the forest, but there is also a stench... worse than the rotting deer we encountered earlier."[/color][/i]

 Rae-Ah strained her ears this time, blocking out any unnecessary boot-stomping and leaf-crunching noises, until finally she heard it: the slight splash and trickle of flowing liquid, along with scuttling of tiny feet int he distance. [i][color=teal]"Yes! Just beyond the trees, if we go deeper we're bound to find water..."[/color][/i] she trailed off. She was sure there was water, but what else? They had no idea what kind of creatures they were bound to run into in this place, much less how they would handle them. Although the water source did seem far enough to get lost within the abundance of trees, she had no idea of what they would run into if they tried to search for it. It wasn't a guaranteed chance they'd find a clean source, but Marcus and Rika would most likely know how to deal with that. Night was coming soon, and as the group inched closer to the forest, the stench began to grow unbearable for Rae-Ah.

Marcus had suggested for the group to rest at that point, but Rae knew she had to feed on something before her markings started to act up again. [i][color=teal]"I'd be willing to venture in deeper to find food... if you don't mind."[/color][/i] the foxgirl gently rubbed her stomach. Of course, she was scared. Hell, even terrified. There was no doubt about that. Even at this point, there were plenty of red flags for them to turn back- from the foul stench to the footsteps coming from the trees. That didn't spell safe, but if they were going to make any progress they could only move forward.


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