Maggie's sudden reaction brought the entire team to an abrupt halt. The old mage Modir had reacted faster than anyone else—before the Dragonborn lady had even finished her last word, he had already layered three shields over himself. In the next few seconds, he cast several more layers of protection over every member of the team, and for quite some time afterward, he never stopped refreshing their shields.
Of course, shielding everyone did not prevent him from observing the surroundings or speaking with Maggie. He first spread out his senses and confirmed that theirs was the only group in the entire forest. Then he sent out two waves of mental pulses before finally turning to the Dragonborn lady beside him with a frown. "There's no one here... What did you see just now?"
"No, there was someone. I'm certain of it." Maggie frowned deeply, still staring fixedly at the shadowy area between the trees—similar shadows could be found all throughout the forest. They were unnaturally dark patches that maintained almost solid outlines even beneath the sunlight, and the expedition had been careful to avoid them all along the way. "Deep in that shadow, I'm sure I saw a... figure."
"A figure?" Modir frowned and glanced in that direction. "The surrounding plants show no sign of having been disturbed, and there are no traces of magic or living creatures... What sort of figure did you see?"
Though he himself had seen nothing, Modir did not dismiss Maggie's words as nonsense. His extensive adventuring experience had taught him that when a companion suddenly insisted they had seen something, it was best to assume it was real first—whether a companion had made a mistake was one matter, but overlooking danger through carelessness was another. Especially when they were walking through the strangest forest