A small wash of relief went through me when the bird-man agreed to help. If he hadn't - well, I would have still gone to hunt this thing down, but alone it would have been a far more painful process than it was now going to be. While his combat style was about as self-destructive as my own - we both tended to ignore minor wounds and just kept rolling despite them - he was quite skilled at melee combat. Pairing him with my predilection for ranged combat meant things would go far smoother.

"From what the girl said, it is a tree creature of some kind. As for where - well, we can follow the trail of blood to find out where she was injured." I rested one hand on the girl's head and said a small benediction for her - I knew the gods of my world were not listening, but maybe this world had an active pantheon. A slight tug and I fought down a smile - it did indeed. Hopefully these ones were not like those I was familiar with.

Blessing made, I tucked my chime into my bag and went to retrieve my gear. The shield was strapped to my arm, the sheathed sword slung to my hip, and the quiver was attached to the hooks at the small of my back. I picked up my bow - which, unstrung, was nearly nine feet tall. I had to carry the thing at a steep angle to keep I from hitting everything on the ceiling as I gestured for Avon to follow me. Now the real reason for where I had sat down was revealed - it was a straight shot to the door, and I didn't have to maneuver my bow around any table or chairs as I headed outside.

The crisp night air stung my cheeks as I took in a breath. The wintry wind even smelled cold - cold and a bit damp. I frowned and looked to the clouds that were gathering overhead. It was a bit difficult to tell due to the low light that broke through - but those looked like snow clouds.

"By the Flame. Goodman Avin, we need to hurry in our tracking - it looks like it will be snowing soon and we cannot afford to lose the trail." My eyes swiftly scanned the ground - lighting upon a small patch of blood to my right. That poor child - she would definitely need tender care after this. My hand tightened on my bowstaff as I started moving, following the blood trail back in the direction of n it came from. I just hoped the snow held off long enough for us to find the beast.