>>6079461Precautions could wait. A child was in danger, and you might've been on the cusp of finding her.
You followed Mary into the forest... with naught but her, a couple of nutberries in your pocket, and that shoe to guide you through.
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Your sheepy friend was rather adamant about following the scent. She barely ever stopped to look where she was going. It took until she nearly bumped into a fallen log for her to glance up. And when she did, you followed suite.
The suspicions you'd had upon entering were confirmed pretty quickly. This forest was a lot deeper than you'd first anticipated it to be.
There seemed to be some kind of permanent dark shroud hanging over it, the trees extending so far into the heavens that they blocked out almost all light, with every other surface being occupied by some moss or rock or plant of some other type.
Every step Mary took crushed a multitude of plantlife underneath her sturdy hooves. Twigs and leaves, both fresh and aged, gave way to even the slightest movement. The constant stream of noise was rather unsettling, as well.
A chirp here, a squawk there... some kind of screech rung out about the place. You refocused on Mary to try and distract from the ambience, only to find her now sniffing a noticeably verdant bulb of sorts.
You became fixated on it, as she had, almost immediately upon noticing it. The thing was barely-grown and nearly the size of Mary's entire head. Its shade of green was so much paler than the rest of the plantlife that you couldn't help but wonder if it'd actually originated in this forest. You snuck closer and closer...
...until the bulb <span class="mu-i">crawled out of the ground</span>, revealing some kind of reptilian attached to it.
Mary stumbled back with a loud bleat, alerting the strange new creature to the two of you. It gave a nervous <span class="mu-i">croak</span> of some kind, gazing up at you with a mixture of curiosity and terror. It tilted its head--
A loud howl rang out through the forest.
You were getting distracted.
It was hard to take your eyes off the strange creature, but you really <span class="mu-i">really</span> had to. If that howl meant what you thought it did, Rosetta would be lucky to make it out of here unharmed.
Not one glance was given to the bulbous stranger as you headed deeper into the woods.
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