3. The Trade Way

The party leaves Beregost around midday with the full summer sun overhead. They keep to the road on this journey, and follow the Trade Way north toward the Friendly Arm Inn.

A couple of hours later, the road before them splits. According to the stone signposts, the road leading west is the Lion Way, toward the library-fortress of Candlekeep. Their own path continues forward along the Trade Way, toward the Friendly Arm Inn.

But they soon come across a troublesome scene. They can smell the burnt wood and flesh long before they see the wreckage.

The horses, both of them, have crossbow bolts protruding from their mangled corpses. A pair of motionless humanoid legs lie splayed out from behind the charred, overturned carriage.

And on the ground before it all, a familiar walking cane; it’s broken in twain, held together by just a few splinters.

This was Aldous’ carriage.

Dieter finds no wand within the cane.

The humanoid body is... difficult to identify. It would seem these carcasses have been exposed to the elements and wildlife for about a day. Still, Dieter's certain this corpse used to be a dwarf, and he's pretty sure he knows which one: Kagain, Beregost's vendor of guards and mercenaries. He seems to have been killed by a well-placed stab wound on his back.

The crossbow bolts sticking out of the horses are an obvious clue as to how they died, but there are other lacerations as well made by bladed weapons. Dieter is increasingly certain that these poor beasts weren't merely killed, but made to bleed for target practice. For sport. Death was not quick.

While Noctalia surveys from the sky, Stella and Aiwë uncover more details about the scene. And everything seems staged. There was no battle here, no clash of opponents. In fact, it doesn't look as though there were ever more than a handful of people present. The carriage was tipped and set aflame, with some sort of agent (likely alcohol) to ensure the fire spread. The walking cane was snapped directly in half - a highly unlikely occurrence to have happened during a time of stress.

There don't seem to be any tracks leading away from the scene; the people responsible were clever enough to try to hide them. But keen-eyed Noctalia spies where the tracks pick up about a half-mile to the northeast, in the direction of a large forest. The Wood of Sharp Teeth.