Johann once again finds the young man that saw Jehanne set into the woods and reaffirms that she indeed went into the wild woodland area east by southeast of town. He makes his way to the edge of the forest and don't have to wait long until Quintillan emerges with Ernst the Huntsman and two other of the ladys houndsmen in tow. The two wiry men clad in sturdy leathers look too much alike not to be brothers. They are preceeded by a large hound each, straining against the leash.

Quin indicates his intent and tosses a boar spear across to Johann, his grin saying it's just a precaution (or perhaps a fond hope). He's also back in mail, though typically bareheaded - not expecting boars or brigands, but just in case. "There you go. Do you have the start of a trail, or shall I have them cast about with the hounds awhile? By the way, any chance you could describe our felon? The workers weren't terrbly forthcoming."

"A boy told me she ran 'to de forest, I tink,' and gestured vaguely east. The girl, Jehanne, is 'young,' 'small,' and rather 'sweet' ...vhen not murdering. That is all I vas told."

The edge of the forest is a jagged line of stumps and rotting wood, remnants of the trees cut down to be offered at the altar of the castle build. Every tree within 100 meters or so from the castle is felled and what lumber haven't yet been used are formning a few large piles of freshly cut logs.

Ernst motions for the houndsmen to do their work as the knights discuss the girl. They move towards the dense treeline mostly consisting of well grown pine and spruce and the hounds seem particularly interested in a small opening in the dense thickets between the trees. The huntsman grunts and turns to the knights. "We sometimes train the hounds close to here," he gestures to a field further north. "The terrain is pretty hilly here and difficult to travel. I suggest we start here, know a few paths a girl might take in there." He points to where the hounds are entering the forest. He eyes the knight's horses and clears his throat. "The Signeurs might be better off without the steeds in the forest. There aren't any roads in there and the terrain will be difficult for them."

"Hmm...do you think you could persuade a supervisor to lend us this boy, or someone who knows Jehanne of the Laundry? A familiar voice at least might draw her out." The fair-headed knight turns his attention to the huntsman, shifting in the saddle to look over the forbidding tangle of pines and occasional straggling oaks.
[Private to GM: Ah, a great variety of pines but no wild spruces south of central France...if you see them in a reference picture, they're escaped timber plantation specimens, or in a park (or you're seeing sneaky spruce-lookin' cypresses). Inconvenient juniper shrubbery and its thorny friend sloe, though, they're probably nearby.
]
He holds up a hand to ask for a moment to judge his own horse's capacity in underbrush a little denser than might be found where the deer were plentiful, mindful of where they might be when they lost daylight.

[[Ride roll?]]