A voice shouted dimly over the cacophony of slamming and banging and whirring and smashing, and Sunny opened her eyes wide and leaned over the banister to see the forest-guardian standing, one-legged, waving her arms in the face of destruction. [color=yellow]"We're holding on!"[/color] she called -- there wasn't much else she [i]could[/i] do but hold on -- but she yelped and shouted concern when she saw the forest-guardian run straight under the house, into the chaos of deadly spidery legs.

Sunny stared at the last place she'd seen the forest-guardian, her eyes wide in horror, certain that any moment she would hear the telltale [i]crunch[/i] of armor being compacted by the house's merciless legs. The forest-guardian hadn't even been able to move earlier without the assistance of a sword -- how was she going to stop a runaway house?!

And then, the creak and whirr of the house began to slow. Gradually, the tilting stopped, the floor steadied itself, and -- while Sunny breathed raggedly and watched in awe -- the house came to a complete stop.

For a moment there was beautiful silence. A breeze hushed through the trees; a bird warbled. Sunny could hear herself think again, and she loosened her grip on Laphi to check if he was all right -- then yelped when the house suddenly dropped a few inches. She tightened her grip to the sound of creaks, snaps and metallic groans lowered the house in a series of dips and drops -- until a sudden, ferocious thunder of twisted broken metal left the house to the mercy of gravity.

[color=yellow]"aaaaaAAAAAAAAHHHH!!"[/color]

Sunny was sure she was dead -- but she carefully opened one eye to check. She was curled tightly against the railing, still holding Laphi in a vice-grip, but she was definitely alive and the house was mostly on the ground.

Dumbstruck in awe, Sunny carefully draped Laphi over her back and took a jump down to the grass below, hopping the twisted stump of a spider-leg on her way down. She stared up at the forest-guardian's thumbs-up with a slackened jaw.

[color=yellow]"That ... was ..."[/color] she hadn't quite gathered her wits after that ordeal. [color=yellow]"AMAZING!"[/color] A wide grin broke on her face. [color=yellow]"How did you do that? You just ran under there and I thought you were a goner but you just [i]destroyed[/i] that thing [i]and[/i] got us down safe and I couldn't see what you did but it was [i]brilliant[/i] and -- you're missing a leg."[/color] She blinked uncertainly down at the empty space where the guardian's leg had been.

"H-hello?" A feeble voice called from above; a rickety old man had shuffled to the edge of the porch of the house and stood woozily with a bony hand gripping the banister.