[center][img=http://i.imgur.com/QQbEM8x.gif][/center]

[quote=Arin]Arin slammed his fist into the trunk.

"SHUT UP! PLEASE! BE QUIET!"[/quote]

[i]cccrrrrrreeeeeeaaaaaaakkkkk.....[/i]

The tree shuddered, and the ticking sputtered.

[i]whirrwhirrwhirr TOCK CLACK whirrrrrr CLACK CLINK whirrrrrrr whirrwhirrwhirr[/i]

The leaves above shuddered, branches snapped. The lantern swayed. The owl hooted pompously, spread its great downy wings and soared away over their heads; it stopped to perch on a stone at the edge of the light, and turned to watch with a bored expression.

[quote=Hania]A faint screaming was heard, seemingly from a young girl. It grew steadily louder as it's source picked up speed before the air above Anise gave way and the third arrival made herself known.[/quote]

Hania -- who had until now been unconscious and balanced precariously in the branches of the tree -- fell from her perch when the tree shuddered. She crashed into the lantern first: the thread snapped, and the lantern tumbled down with her and clattered and crashed into the metal platform below, barely missing Randold's head. The glass was cracked, and the green weathered copper was slightly bent -- but it was still glowing a strong blue.

In fact, it wasn't fire at all that gave off the light: lodged tightly inside the glass was something smooth and oblong that glowed brightly from inside -- it looked almost as if it could be an egg, almost the size of a dinner plate, protected by the metal and glass of the lantern as if the lantern had been built around it. A rune was carved delicately into the side of the glowing egg, which was still stuck tightly inside the glass and metal of the lantern. There were no hinges, no doors, and no possible way at all to touch the egg -- let alone take it out of its enclosure -- without destroying the lantern entirely.

Hania, meanwhile, would find that most of her clothing was covered in a sticky, messy, slightly yellowish goo that smelled like rotted flesh. Her robe, as well, was punctured a bit with fang-sized holes -- but she was not injured save by the fall and the points of the warm lantern poking her in the back.

[i]WHIRRRRRRIRRRRRRRIRRRRIRRRRRRRIRRRRR
CLATTERCLACKCLICKHISSSSSSSSSSS[/i]

There was a tremendous commotion inside the tree as metal tumbled and clattered inside -- and then everything was quiet.

For a moment there was an eerie stillness. The ticking had stopped. The reach of the lantern's light had been severely diminished as it lay cracked underneath Hania. Something was moving in the forest all around them. A shadow hissed.

The metal platform groaned and shuddered beneath them.