I think it would be an investigation check rather than a perception check (which makes it a non-natural 20 with your roll). You know that undead tend to decay more slowly, so it is difficult to tell exactly, but she looks freshly dead. You would put her at a couple days to 1 week dead, depending on how long post mortem she was raised as a zombie.

The cuts were likely made post mortem, or just before, since there is zero evidence of healing. You do notice that there is very little to no blood on the clothes near the cuts, despite some of hte cuts being found under the sleeves, etc. Your inpspection of the cuts don't reveal any arcane nature, but you are not an expert on necromancy, so you are not 100% sure.

(Note: if you are wearing and attuned to the magical hat, you can add a +1 misc bonus to Arcana and History. Would not have affected this outcome.)

You send Spot up and take a look around. There is nothing apparent in the area.

I do not think you have a map (but could be mistaken), whether you do or not, there is nothing of note in the area. This is about an hour north of where you encountered the last zombie.

Saran notes the locaion of the zombies on the map.  If there are any towns or villages nearby he would be interested in visiting and asking if they have seen an uptick in the zombie population, or if any of their dead have gone missing.

If there is nothing nearby marked on the map (or if he doesn't know if anything nearby) Saran leaves the zombie where she lays and continues back to Neverwinter.

If there is nothing nearby marked on the map (or if he doesn't know if anything nearby) Saran leaves the zombie where she lays and continues back to Neverwinter.

There is nothing on the map, but you did pass a cart path or two that run perpendicular to the road. There is one between you and the last zombie that branches off to the right (west).

Saran goes down the cart path going west with Spot up ahead, alerting to any danger.

Oh, and Saran draws some of the markings from the zombie on one of the sheets of parchment from his scholar's pack.

Saran follows the cart path and about 1/2 mile down the road finds an abandoned looking farmhouse.

Have spot look around, perch on window sill see inside if possible. If nothing troubling approach nad knock front door.

You do not detect the presence of anyone or anything. The house is humble, but in good repair, with the exception of the door being ajar and slightly off kilter.

"Hello! Anybody home?"

There is no response in the house.

Cast detect magic and search (but not ransack) house. Look for any markings matching those on the zombie.

You go in the house and immediately smell blood. The floor is moist with water-thinned-blood. There is a bucket of bloody water on the kitchen table which is also littered with wet and bloody rags, but otherwise cleared.

There is other blood spatter on the cupboards, you also see some torn and bloody women's clothing.

Past the kitchen is a living room with a couple comfortable chairs and a fireplace, it looks mostly undisturbed.

Beyond that is a bedroom. There is blood on the bed, like two people were murdered in bed.

You do not find anything magical.

inspect the clothing and see if it matches the zombie Woman.  If Saran can't tell he takes a bit of the cloth to compare later.

Go into bedroom and search in drawers/bureau for anything to identify the owners.

You intuit that it is the woman's house and could probably guess that the other zombie came from here too.

Note, the clothes that the zombie had on were not bloody. I think I noted too that the cuts were made postmortem.

Roll an arcana check (remember to add +1 if you are wearing the cap of the scholar and are attuned, which I think you were).

OOC: This isn't necessarily meant to go somewhere, in case you are scratching your head. This is where the zombies came from, but the circumstances aren't necessarily clear.

Rolled 8 arcana

You discern nothing more.

Saran goes outside looks for signs of anything strange, how long field or animals have been neglected, tracks, any other buildings that might be searched or offer any clues or point in any direction.

A few days.

Nothing else of interest?

OK, assuming there is nothing else of interest, and no other roads or anything, Saran notes the place on his map. Saran continues back to Neverwinter with Spot acting as scout.

Ok, you head back to town. It is fairly uneventful.

I also want to note that the semi-dead pixie is about a foot tall, in case you were imagining it to be smaller. How do you carry it?

You get back in the evening and it looks like they are about to close the city gates, you are about 100' away. It is dusk.

OOC: Sorry for the lack of posting. I haven't put a lot of mental energy into what's next in this game, and have been distracted by the other game.

Saran tries to make it into the gates before they close, then goes to see if the guy in the Boccob temple is around.

You are not noticed and the gates close before you get there.

After they close, a guard on the wall says, "Hark! Who goes?!"

I forgot about the sprite question.  I guess I thought it was pocket sized.  Saran would just have it's head sticking out of his pack.

in response to guard, "Saran Helder.  I have business at the temple of Boccob."

"Then you will have to wait for morning when the gates open back up. Sorry, city law. There have been zombies spotted around the city at night, so be careful."