Having kept the AAR shot and sweet (for once), I lay down the club next to the goblin that was just dispatched. While it was a fine weapon that certainly did the job well, I am currently placing more importance in mobility, meaning that it would be just a bit too cumbersome for my current objective. If there was a water source within observable distance I may have reconsidered, however that does not seem to be the case. I walk over to the spot where I dropped my knife and pick it up, noting that there is a small amount of pale blue blood clinging to it. I wipe the blade on some nearby moss before folding it again and clipping it to my right pocket. I then move to pick up the short sword that the first goblin possessed, lightly prying it from the fingers of his entirely motionless but still warm right hand. While this wouldn't be an optimal weapon, it would still be a heck of a lot better than nothing, and would certainly give me a bit more range than my current folding knife. I move to the corpse of the spear wielding goblin to inspect the spear that he(?) held. The large tree thorn was held onto the shaft of the spear by lashings of twine and what appeared to be some form of resin or pitch. While this may appear to be incredibly rudimentary, it at least hints at a higher level of intellect than I may have previously assumed. The shaft is roughly 5 feet long and appears to be made out of a hardwood with decent strength, maybe a something similar to oak or hickory in feel. The tree thorn that is being used as the spearhead is almost 2 feet long, lending a decent amount of reach to the weapon. While this may be purely a thrusting and striking weapon, I feel that this will still be a good tool to acquire at the current time, so I relieve the corpse of the spear.
While I may be opposed to strip searching the goblins due to the blood and filth that they currently have on them, I believe it is more than worth it to acquire any useful items they may hold. I search the short sword goblin and the spear goblin, but they don't have anything of value aside from their loincloths, which I am reluctant to deprive them of for sanitary reasons. The club goblin has a small pouch on his waist attached via a section of cordage wrapped around his torso like a belt, in addition to the cloth that is covering his chest. Opening the pouch I find some small, shiny stones, about the size of a pea. They are mainly purple-blue in color and have an appealing iridescent sheen to them akin to that of an oil slick. A subtle, pulsating feeling arises while looking at them. While I am somewhat foggy as to what they are, they appear that they may hold at least some value, so I will hold onto them. In addition to the stones there is also a small bundle of cordage. I take out the cordage and tie the pouch securely to my belt on my left flank in the rear. I then take the cloth from the goblin and wrap it around the blade of the short sword before lashing around the bundle with the cordage to make an impromptu sheath. While this may be hard to re-sheath into, it should at least be easy to draw from. I tie off the cordage before cutting off the excess with my knife, then utilizing the excess cordage to attach to short sword to my left hip on my belt. Picking up the spear, I begin to retrace my steps back to the animal trail that I came from.
Leaving behind the mess in the clearing, I continue to quietly walk between the ferns on the spongy moss as I return to the trail. Even though I have successfully shown that at least a small sample of the local fauna is either peaceful of somewhat easy to dispatch, I can't afford to lower my guard here. I continue to walk heel toe and soon arrive back at the animal trail. Looking to the right I can see the arrow that I had dug with my foot pointing down the trail. I had done this to ensure that I wouldn't backtrack to where I had come from and, while it wasn't necessary in this instance, it is always good to leave subtle trail markers when you are able to do so. That is, unless you are being tracked, but avoiding detection isn't the highest item on my list at the moment, so I'll let it slide for now. I continue down the trail while using the spear as a walking stick of sorts. I seem to be followed by some of the flying squirrel creatures, gliding from tree to tree. The individuals seem to stop after a certain point before returning back from the way that they came, their role being taken up by another 6 legged glider. This leads me to believe that while the squirrel creatures may be following me, they at least don't appear to have any sort of prey drive and are likely just following me out of curiosity. The reason that they retreat is that they are likely either somewhat territorial to other gliders or they may not want to stray too far from their own nests, though I am unsure as to what the official reason may be.
After close to another hour of walking down the trail at a reserved pace I am finally met with the sounds that I am looking for. The low, constant sound of lazily flowing water greets my ears along with a change in the smell of the air. I can see a break in the trees about 50 meters ahead. I move slightly off the trail to the right and lower my profile, slowing my advance toward the suspected river by roughly half. As I cross the final ten meters toward the break in the treeline I begin to see what appears to be the opposing bank of the river. A wall of dirt and rock makes up the incline on the opposing side, appearing to be at least 7 feet in height, though this varies throughout its length down to about two feet in some places. The opposite shore is currently unoccupied as far as I can tell at a glance, but that may not hold true for this side as well. I can't post up on a tree due to the thorns so I'll have to carefully crest over the bank on this side without being too noticeable. At 5 meters out I drop down into a high crawl and continue my advance toward what will presumable be a drop off as it is on the other side. I reach the edge and look down in a slow but deliberate manner. This shore is currently occupied by a small handful of gliders that have yet to notice my presence. There are 9 of them in total, with 5 of them currently drinking from the river while the other 4 keep watch of the surroundings. The river itself is largely clear aside from some muddy sections near the shore that appear to have resulted from recent river crossings of a larger creature, though the creature responsible for the disturbance is not currently present. As there is no current danger, aside from my impending dehydration, I rise to a crouch and begin my short descent to the shore.
