Chapter 4b - North by Northwest

The path ahead is empty of life, and the duo quickly make it to the bend in the road. Slowly peeking out from the cliff-face, you see the crossing is clear, and slowly step out from the rocks.

To your left, a huge boulder separates one end of your path from the other. Massive, white, and round, it seems to have slowly melded with the cliff over the years, and now is just another piece of the dreary scenery.
Directly in front of you, a small cave has been cut into the rock. Extending several feet in and to all sides, the round enclosure is more or less drenched in blood. At the floor of the cave, what look to be the remains of four...or perhaps three...goblins, each in its own individual state of disfigurement. Around the bodies, several spears and small swords lie splayed in the blood, and a couple of small shields stand untouched against the wall.
To your right, the trail of smoke is noticeably thicker, though due to the poor visibility and the cliff's odd juts and rocks, you cannot see its end.

"... Blood." Lorem observed the corpses of the goblins, and then the blood around the entrance of the cavern, the trail of smoke becoming thicker and thicker, even if they still couldn't see its source. "... Whatever killed these goblins, it wasn't a human, in my opinion. The spears are too unusual of a weapon for human bandits, and the shields are too small. And there's the matter of the blood..." He observed how the blood had been smeared almost like a ritual or a warning. "... Maybe... The cavern leads to the camp from which the smoke comes from. Should we try to get a better visuale of it?"

Actions: Move Silently Check, Hide Check

Lorem carefully moves towards the blood-soaked cave, and sees that it is just a small nook cut into the rock, not a large complex as he had thought. Looking about the cave, you see it contains several small tables, crudely constructed out of thick pieces of wood. Small bits of questionable-looking food occupy the center of the table, and a couple dirty waterskins sit on either side.

Glancing down at the corpses, you do your best to count the individual bodies, and eventually decide that there were 3 goblins here at some point. From the bits of leather and iron scattered with the bodies, you gather that they were each wearing some sort of thin armor, though it obviously did them no good.
All of the weapons and shields in this cave seem sized for a goblin, or perhaps a slightly larger humanoid, and all are smeared in blood.

Garak is happy to let the archer move forward to inspect the bodies. The assassin could tell from far away that whatever attacked here was very thorough. He watched as Lorem inspected the bodies, however quickly lost interest as he found himself seeking out shadows. During the recent days, there had been a growing comfort that the darkness offered Garak. Even now, they called to him...drawing him near.

A moment later, Garak was alert again. He made a click sound a few times to hopefully alert Lorem. If successful, Garak motioned for him to join him in scouting on further down the path towards the smoke.

As Garak waited, he studied the area around them, looking for areas of darkness in which he could hide...

Tamrik waited patiently as the two scouts moved forward. He wanted to run and join them, but knew that it was not likely to help anybody, and could get him injured by the two men not expecting him to be so close. Let's start forward, I would say they are far enough ahead by now. Let's try and keep them in sight, I don't want to lose them in the sands and rocks. Tamrik urged his mount forward at a slow pace. He tried to get in front of the procession. Trying to be their eyes and ears ahead of the wagons.

Finishing with the cave, Lorem and Garak creep farther along the path, coming ever closer to the source of the smoke. In a couple minutes, you finally get within sight of the wispy grey plumes, which seem to be coming from a campfire.
You can barely make out the shape of a humanoid on either side of the campfire, though at this distance...