Runes of purple and silver formed a circle before the man, each one appearing in time with the mage's chants as a chill wind kicked up from nowhere, sending his hair flapping like a sheet in a tornado. Traceries of arcane logic were drawn over, around, and among the runes, forming an odd network of angular, harsh patterns as the markings began to radiate, their illumination growing in intensity until the camp was aglow with a metallic purple tint. The ground at the center of the circle of runes rippled as though the soil had suddenly taken on the properties of water before smoke began to creep from the unstable ground, swirling about the little clearing and hugging Raven's ankles in particular.

The portal rippled one last time before falling still, accompanied by the chiming of a clear bell and the sense that the human was no longer alone in the forest. He could feel the pressure of [b]something[/b] there, though he couldn't yet make the other presence out. Part of a scaly, crimson leg drifted in front of him, only visible in the runic circle. Then another. Then part of a whip-like tail topped and tipped with plates and spines. And then, a single eye, about the size of the mage's head, with yellow where his own would be white. Its pupil glanced about lazily before focusing, narrowing its piercing gaze on him.

A host of voices rolled into his consciousness, his senses telling him that he was surrounded by a crowd. Voices of men and women and children and... [b]Other[/b] things all spoke at once, as one, "You... Dare?"