Blackfeather Woods Searchers after horror haunt strange, far places

Shoves timeline in a blender...

The scent of the stunted man was everywhere, and it was fresh. There would be no mistaking that the woods were inhabited if anyone came looking, which made all of Titmouse's wandering all the more dangerous, and he deeply regretted it. But he was home now - having retreated across the valley until the forest came in to view again, and sank in to the comforting shadows as if they would hide him from scrutiny. It was bad enough he had thought to visit his old birth-home; worse still that he encountered multiple enemies, only to potentially lead them back to the dark wood. It was the last thing he wanted.

But he put that out of his mind as much as he could, and got down to business. As he roamed the border he came upon Ramsey with a leg cocked and ready; he averted his eye after a moment, and got to work in the opposite direction. He made scrapes in the dirt or across the lower sections of exposed tree trunks, although afterwards he realized how difficult they were to see. Useless. He needed to find something more obvious — and began to scour the dirt for an animal trail; anything small could be made to bleed, and that would be sign enough to warn others away.