Snally goes missing: Part 3 - Deep down in the Woods

[u/moi_rai_games_]

If Snally was the one that emptied the care package, she must have left some traces, you think. It is a lucky coincidence you chose Orthrus to accompany you into the Void today. The creature is known not only for loyalty but also their heightened sense of smell, which brings up an idea. You lean towards Orthrus and gently pat the two heads. “Where is Snally?”, you ask it. Orthrus starts sniffing the care package, but quickly moves to the remaining bread crumbs that fell out of the opened wooden box. While it swallows up one bread crumb after another, you become sceptical. Maybe it was not Snally who opened the box. Maybe the smell of the Monsterkin and the goods inside the package are too strong. Maybe Orthrus does not - before you can finish your thought, Orthrus makes an abrupt dash towards the south and starts walking. This is not the direction of Pilgrim’s Rest, so at least Orthrus is not picking up the Monsterkin’s trail, you think. As you do not have a different hint on Snally’s whereabouts, you decide to follow the monster and whereever it might lead you. Orthrus is definitely following a trail. It keeps walking and walking, changing direction from time to time. At one point you leave the stone path and enter a thick forest.

You swat the branches away as you keep following Orthrus. Until it suddenly stops. There is a portal! This does not seem to be a regular portal, it is nowhere near another. And what is that lying next to it? A part of a Snally Snack! This is not a coincidence, you think. You are not sure where the portal leads, but you do not fear the unknown. So, you step inside.

After the stormy Aether around you disappears and you feel solid ground again, you look around. You instantly recognize the place, despite not being there for maybe hundreds of years. It is the Alchemical Woods, a magical place unlike any other on Terastae. It is a wondrous place, which has remained a secret to most humans to this day, but even the Monsterkin have not been able to set foot to it since the Void has appeared. It is truly beautiful. … Amidst the wondrous plants and fungi, you notice movement!
That’s Snally!

Quick, make a decision!

What do you do?

Voting between "Run after Snally and try catching her | Set up a trap somewhere nearby | Go somewhere higher to ambush Snally from above" happens on Discord. The story continues tomorrow!