[Possible Spoilers] Strange blood trail in Crookback Bog. Possibly a secret.

[Bones96]

[Possible Spoilers] Strange blood trail in Crookback Bog. Possibly a secret.

I had a strange run-in that I was unable to recreate by loading an earlier save and I was wondering if anyone encountered the same. I've looked it up and haven't seen any mention of this.
I was in Crookback Bog doing the Ladies of the Wood quest walking west when I saw a either a griffin, basilisk, or maybe a cockatrice sitting on the ground. I thought it was a griffin at first but now I'm not sure. It started moving and I was expecting it to attack me but instead it flew off in the opposite direction. I thought it strange but didn't think much of it. Figured it was a just a minor scripted event no more important than the crows that fly away when you come near.
A couple of game hours later, after I completed the Ladies of the Wood quest, I traveled back to Crookback Bog from Crow's Perch to start the Return to Crookback Bog quest. I came into the area by boat and headed towards Downwarren. I fought some drowners and moving away from the water, Geralt says something like, "Hmmm, I should take a look." I used my Witcher sense and saw a blood trail. I thought it was strange that no quest updated when I found it because as far as I know, when you find a trail, a quest (usually a contract) will update or you will receive a quest.
I followed it up the mountain that has a place of power at the top. There was a blood spot directly on the side of the cave entrance that can be uncovered by Nehalemi's Eye and I knew that was not there before because I would have noticed it when I dispelled the illusion at the cave entrance earlier. I continued over the cave entrance and as I started to reach the top, the same griffin/basilisk (I think) flew straight up from behind the ridge of the mountain. I watched the creature fly away and it stopped and continuously circled in the air over the forest west of the mountain. I looked back towards the ground and there's a dead cow laying at the spot where the creature came from. I went directly to the spot that the creature was circling over. There was some nekkers and wolves around in that area that I had to kill. The creature was circling much higher than I've seen any other flying monster fly and it wouldn't attack me. I also didn't notice anything special in that area. When I saved and loaded, the creature, blood trail, and dead cow were all gone.
I'm not sure if this event was scripted to happen when certain conditions are met or if it's random but it seems random or the conditions are just really specific because I unfortunately deleted the save after it happened for some reason and after many tries I couldn't reproduce this event. When I was attempting to do so, a basilisk attacked me. I don't think it was related however, but I'm not sure. I have the random encounter mod so I think that was why the basilisk appeared.
So like I mentioned before, my question is if anyone encountered the same and if so, does it lead to anything?

 

[Rawls]

@Bones96 moved to the spoilers sub-forum.

 

[Seraphi-01]

Isn't there a hidden treasure somewhere around there? It reminded me a bit of a hobbit thing. A small hill with a large wooden door/gate thing in it's side... There is shallow water around and I think 2 bodies but they are a bit hard to see?
At some point you find a note somewhere that gives a bit information about the bodies & the loot but I accidentally found the loot way before the note... Not sure if the bodies where lying there the first time...

 

[Bones96]

It was the random encounter mod. It turns out that it does create these kinds of blood trails to find monsters. I made the same post on Reddit and someone pointed that out. I verified it by watching the video related to the mod.

 

[OrangeApple]

It's not a blood trail, it's tracks hidden by an "illusion" it's linked to a quest in the bog.

Spoiler

its the guy standing alone in the bog, he is a peat digger, and explains to Gerald a strange creature is hampering his work or something. If you inciate the quest you follow the hidden tracks to a cave, where you dispel an illusion at the entrance and kill a creature similar to a foglet. If you kill the creature prior to accepting the quest, the hidden tracks are still there and Gerald will say "something is here" but obviously the creature is dead, you approach the guy and tell him the beast is dead, you can return in 7 days and collect you reward or something.......can't remember the exact mechanics

 

[Nonebutdevils]

Ive always wondered if that altar in the bog was of any significance. It's the same one they show during the loading screen at times.

 

[DinkzOfRivia]

It's not a blood trail, it's tracks hidden by an "illusion" it's linked to a quest in the bog.

Spoiler

its the guy standing alone in the bog, he is a peat digger, and explains to Gerald a strange creature is hampering his work or something. If you inciate the quest you follow the hidden tracks to a cave, where you dispel an illusion at the entrance and kill a creature similar to a foglet. If you kill the creature prior to accepting the quest, the hidden tracks are still there and Gerald will say "something is here" but obviously the creature is dead, you approach the guy and tell him the beast is dead, you can return in 7 days and collect you reward or something.......can't remember the exact mechanics

Either that, or this is near the Dragonslayer's Grotto. There is a small opening there that is covered by an illusion. Once dispelled from the inside, you'll be on the other side of the hill with a dead cow by the entrance. Although this has no relevance to the blood trail.

Similarly, when I reached the place of power mentioned (near Downwarren), I fought a Leshen, not a flying creature. So, maybe just a random encounter?

 

[Lytha]

There is a Leshen in the woods north of that place of power. He has a wide area where he can be encountered; in fact, he can also somehow sometimes appear in the Dragonslayer's Grotto. I have encountered him very close to the Redoran Estate at times, or just deep in the woods. Him being close to the place of power wouldn't surprise me at all.


The flying creature would be the wyvern who lives just south of the place of power. He also can leave his normal home spot a little bit; last time, I met him near the harpy nest with Johnny's voice and the raven feathers.


Both are natural vanilla creatures, don't come from a mod or a random encounter.