Elder Blood Witcher 538 White Wolf With The White Wolf

Fortunately for the grizzled Witcher he wasn't alone in this task, being accompanied by Ciri, Quelaag, Rhea, Priscilla, Ciaran with Sif, Risryn and even Zoltan who'd decided to come along.

Zoltan struggles to pull himself over a rock to follow the group, having to be pulled up by Quelaag who easily traverses the terrain.

The lands themselves are incredibly hazardous to those who're not careful, making the area p.r.o.ne to certain kinds of monsters who are mobile despite the terrain. Ciaran who's watching Sif scout the area happily speaks up, "Where do you think these monsters might well be Witcher?" she asks, finding it boring and mildly irritating that they hadn't found anything yet.

Geralt "Hm, we're likely to find them higher up... But if we want to be thorough then checking every crack and crevice is essential. The most hazardous monsters to civilisation are not the large, loud ones. But the ones the creep around in the night, stealing men, women and children... These are the kinds of monsters that make their homes in caves and hidden alcoves."

Zoltan nods, "Nary been fond of the night, find my'self wandering 'round in stupor, easy prey... Must've been lucky to live to this age." he mutters, realising just how numerous monsters still are.

Quelaag "Any monster unfortunate enough to traipse into our land won't live long enough to harm anyone." she states.

Zoltan nods, "I can see that, 'specially with that big ole' wolf you got there." he says while watching Sif find an interesting scent and knock over a tree while following it...

Ciaran "He's been incredibly bored for the past few centuries, he's excited to explore these new things around this world." she says with a small smile.

Priscilla "I understand." she says quietly behind everyone, her bow over her shoulder and her Scythe in her hands.

While they walk Sif appears to have smelt something threatening, the wolf giving Ciaran a look that seems to communicate just that. Geralt isn't sure whether the wolf can even rationalise what they're looking for but follows anyway, deciding that if it can then their task will be a lot shorter as a result. The giant wolf eventually leads them to a small crack in a wall. Old dried blood stains the entrance which is probably what Sif had smelt.

Geralt takes a look around and finds quite a few things that could indicate what the creature inhabiting the hole is... It's size already gives him the vague idea of what it might be, but the tracks and claw marks in the nearby tree's confirm it.

Geralt "See the clues? Tell me what you think is here." he asks Ciri who's been observing the surroundings beside him.

Ciri looks around and spots claw marks at the top of a leaf-less tree, remembering Vesemir talking about his experience with Nekkers. He told her a story of a contract he'd accepted, supposedly easy, however, the contractor failed to mention how long the creatures had been roaming the area. Having created a tribe with strong warriors and a chieftain, as displayed by the Red clay they coat their faces in. The Tribe would send out scouts near their lair which would climb to the tops of trees to spot any prey or predators that might be in the area, relaying the information to their leaders.

Obviously the story ended with Vesemir still alive, but his words and story had remained with her, "Groups of the weakest creatures with enough ingenuity could even take down Dragons.", Ciri thought at the time he was just referring to monsters but the saying was true for humans as well.

Ciri "Nekkers isn't it? A tribe it looks like." she says.

Geralt nods, "Good." he says as he tosses a stone into the den, listening for any movement but hearing none. "They've all left in a hunting party, we can track where they went or lay an ambush... Probably best to do the latter as we have limited time.

Ciaran nods and pats Sif on the snout, "Got a scent of the creatures? Sif can follow them."

Geralt nods and grabs a torn rag hanging off of a sharp stone near the entrance, probably a Nekker loincloth or something similar. "Use this." he says as he hands it to her.

Ciaran holds it next to Sif who's nose twitches at it, the wolf sniffs the air and turns his head east.

The group start walking there, but Geralt walks back to the crack with a bomb in hand, lighting it before throwing it in, the explosion making the cave inside collapse.

Ciri "Why destroy the nest if we're hunting them?" she asks.

Geralt "Hm, to stop anything else claiming it as it's own. Without shelter the creatures are likely to be picked off by larger prey, doing our jobs for us." he states, with the others nodding.

Zoltan "Never notice before but ye've probably got more bombs on ye than I actually own Geralt. You'd make a fine Dwarf."

The sides of Geralt's lips upturn, "And you'd make a terrible Witcher."

They laugh and continue following the great wolf, the Nekker Warband not realising how dead they truly were.