The other reported location of prey does not have a circle of rocks. What's left of a deer—this one not in one piece—is its skeleton stripped clean of flesh.

But some of the bones have been merely stripped clean, and others look more like they're stone. As if half the skeleton fossilized while somehow leaving the other half there.

What, really? He pokes it a bit with a stick.

It seems some of it's dolostone, some of it's bone. And then some of it's both in one piece. At one end a fossil, the other just dead. And no, this makes no sense at all.

No. No, it really, uh, doesn't.

Anything else weird around?

There's nothing at all. Just the fossils and rocks. But while Sadde examines the site, there's a dull sounding "pop" and more fossils appear, out of nowhere, completing the set.

What. Where. Are they replacing bones that were already there or just, like, appearing?

They're extruding on top of the ends of the others, adjacent to all the right joints. And some of the new ones are even attached, like a broken bone grew a stone half.

Does anything happen if he pokes the bones that are growing new fossils?

No, they just remain there, don't try to react. They're normal inanimate junk. (Except they're composed of both marrow and dolostone; that part's not really the norm.)

...alright. This. Is definitely very bizarre. Is there any pattern to where the fossils are growing?

They only appeared at a point that's connected—or next to, depending on size—to some piece that's younger: some rock next to stone, or bone next to some bone in lesser decay. Or fossils attached to a bone, as before, but never that one in reverse.

Hmm. And they only appear in places where bones are missing, right? Sadde will try to touch a part of a bone where a fossil's liable to appear with his stick and keep it there, and wait to see whether anything happens.

The deer's left hind leg's growing longer, he's right, and it pushes the stick til it slips.

And that was the last of the incomplete bones. It might still be missing some whole.

...okay.

Next place?

It also might not be. No more bits appear, at least while he's watching it close.

Hm.

Alright, were there any other carcasses found?

No, only the two. There's no more that got found. It's possible others just weren't. It's clear that the first had more stuff going on, with the circle as well as the prey.

And were there any patterns in them that might help him find a third?

It is hard to extrapolate. Sample of two. The deer one is far from the bird?

Yeah. Ugh. Okay back to the bird he guesses.

It's roughly the same as when last it was seen, though the circle is bigger around. The bird's undisturbed. Or at least not more dead than it was when he saw it before.

And still inside the circle, presumably.

It's right where he left it, just barely inside.

While Sadde was gone, some of the larger stones moved, to the edge of the growing expanse. They're at the same radius now as the others, the smaller ones he himself placed. Their former locations do show an indent from the weight that was recently there.

So someone probably moved them. And he has the Sight so maybe he can find a connection between them and someone/somewhere...?

If anyone did, they weren't here enough to create a connection with rocks. (Which isn't surprising; connections to things are much rarer than people or homes.)