Unfortunate Luck
Ashleigh spent the rest of the night thinking about what to do. As the sun rose the following day, she was already walking through the trees.
She had already been searching for more than a month. How could she give up now?
From what the journal had said, the scout believed that the lake monsters were preparing to attack the mound. That meant that the stream he found must have been near it as well, and that is why they were gathering there.
She knew from the first time she had come to Moonguard that the mound was still at least two miles north of her current position. If the cave was near the stream, the scout must have left the journal on his way back down the mountain.
On her way up, she had not encountered him or found any sign of him, which meant he had not returned the way he had come up after the treant attacked him. From up in the tree, Ashleigh had surveyed the area to try and figure out in which direction he might have gone.