Dropping the sack of bottles, Tori took off on the trail as fast as she could manage in bare feet. The tracks proved easy to follow; the three-hundred pound hyena-man was doing nothing to conceal his passing. Jumping fallen logs, and ducking low branches, she followed the trail of disturbed greenery only to come skidding to a halt just in time to keep from plowing into a wall of brambles, and thorns.
The briar patch had clearly been entered by something big, and not too concerned by the odd thorn or nettle, a gnoll's thick fur and tough hide would give it plenty of protection from that. Reaching for her sword, Tori was shocked to find that she had forgotten to pick it back up after examining the dead gnolls. Still, unprepared to give up on her missing companion, she grit her teeth before pressing into the patch. At first, it was easy enough to push the branches and vines aside with her bow. But, as she pressed deeper, the brambles only got thicker. Finally, with the thorns pressing in all around her, and innumerable scratches covering her body, Tori was forced to turn back. The snapping of branches, and gasps of pain, preceded her as she emerged from the briar patch. Facing the wall of brambles, Tori let out a forlorn sigh as she prayed that the poor girl would be dead before the gnolls started in on her.
Turning to make her way back to the clearing, a sudden draft caught Tori's attention. Wincing, and hopping that she was wrong, she looked down to find her makeshift skirt missing. Peering back into the briar patch, she could see that it had indeed gotten snagged and torn off of her as she had bade her way through the bush. It now hung in tatters deep within the patch. "Figures," she muttered, as she made her way, once more naked, back to the scene of the battle.