Quote Originally Posted by skim172 View Post
I'm prepared to accept this under suspension of disbelief - but just pointing out, I'm not sure there is any way to hide your scent tracks after the fact. As I understand it, once the scent trail is laid, there isn't much you can do about it.
The 3.5 Scent rules as written have a lot of rough edges. Enough so that I would not expect a DM to adhere to strict RAW.

In terms of this story, Belkar has established that he is both a ranger and a skilled cook with an acute sense of smell/taste who spends personal time worrying over spices. We see him spreading herbs. That he could mask a scent makes a lot more sense than you average ranger, and as a DM or reader I would find this idea attractive enough to agree to.