<span class="fixed-color" style="color:rgb(64, 224, 208)"> 40E0D0 <br/>
<br/>
As Riot put his skills to the test - perhaps in a way never used before - he would notice a few tings.</span><br/><br/><span class="fixed-color" style="color:#40e0d0">There were no footprints in the dirt save the Soldiers - spread apart, like he had been running all night until they suddenly stopped where his body lay. There was no sign of the old woman's foot prints or the scorched earth of her staff. There were no other prints of note either, apart from the windswept imprints of horseshoes from days past, barely discernible now. There was no sign of blood or gore either.<br/>
<br/>
His armor and clothing was very much intact, if not a little worn from the dirt blowing against it in the intervening time - a soft shine on metal parts where it had been scoured by the dust and sand. <br/>
<br/>
The more grisly finds, however, lay in the extremities. The mans feet were still in his boots, a swift examination showing the leg had been cut or severed just above the ankle, in line with the tops of the boots. The gloves the man had been wearing were in much the same condition, cut from the rest of his body where the cuffs ended just beyond the wrist. Worst still was the mans head, still in its helmet and coif, eyes wide and white, face in a grimace. There was blood on his lips, but further investigation would have been necessary to find its source. <br/>
<br/>
How the man had died was still a complete mystery.<br/>
<br/>
<span class="fixed-color" style="color:rgb(241, 241, 212)"> F1F1D4 </span></span><br/><br/><span class="fixed-color" style="color:#40e0d0"><span class="fixed-color" style="color:rgb(241, 241, 212)">Holger watched the scout work and relay his findings, nodding his head. Then he motioned to the soldiers, who used the mans bedroll to gather his clothing and remaining body parts. A grave was dug, the soil loose and easy to dig into. It didn't take very long, brief words by the soldiers to their Gods, before they all mounted and quickly started to move off. </span></span><br/><br/><span class="fixed-color" style="color:#40e0d0"><span class="fixed-color" style="color:rgb(241, 241, 212)">"I want you up front, Riot. Ride out a short ways ahead of the column...fifty yards or so, just don't go out of sight. If you see anything, I want you to raise your hand and I will come up to you. There is clearly...something...that inhabits this Grass. I don't know what it is...or what that apparition was last night. But I get the feeling we may need to be more vigilant than we have been." He paused, looking the man in the eye.  "And don't tell the others what we found - just that his body was recovered. I don't want to cause any more panic. Understood?"</span></span><br/><br/><span class="fixed-color" style="color:#40e0d0"><span class="fixed-color" style="color:rgb(241, 241, 212)">Once Will had agreed, Holger trotted his horse off to the side as the column progressed. He waited for Lia to approach before nudging his horse in beside her. "Before you say anything." He cautions her. "I want you to record this...this location. I also want you to document our journey - you seem to have enough ink and parchment with you and I trust that you know how to write and not just draw. We have to keep moving, but do you best to mark this location in relation to where we camped last night. Find me, tonight, once you've figured out the distance and have it marked. Nyah!" He dug his heels into his horses flanks, letting it stretch its legs as it bolted forward, bringing him back to his position behind the Soldiers. </span></span>