The dragon stared at the tree, before nodding very slowly. "Please correct me if I am wrong, but are there not trees that have spirits? Could one of those sensed the change in the forest, and come to look around?"<br/><br/>Now that he knew of the likely culprit, the dragon lordling was calming quickly.<em>It wasn't theft, it was an unfortunate accident. It wasn't theft, you hadn't grabbed the loot yet so therefore it wasn't yours. It wasn't theft, now stop making the hoard, er, I mean companions nervous.</em><br/><br/>He really needed to sit down and have a long think, and figure out why he kept thinking of his female companions as part of his hoard. Probably tied with how they were acting around him lately, somewhat more showy and flirty than they had before the castle had been built.<br/><br/>But first, he needed to finish this long patrol and get back to the lair. So now that they had dealt with the monster, they could finish sweeping the area to ensure it was the only problem, before heading northwest to the next search area.