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[quote=Thomas]Turning back towards the vial and reaching for it, he began to question whether drinking a strange liquid was a good idea or not. Whatever, he'd get it unstuck, inspect it closer, and decide then. After wrapping his fingers around it, he pulled.[/quote]

It took a bit of wriggling and twisting, but eventually the little glass bottle popped out from between the roots and was secured in Thomas' hand.

The bottle itself was slightly conical in shape, and it was stoppered with a wide cork that would come out with a bit of twisting and elbow grease. The bottle was small enough that Thomas' fingers could only just wrap around it.

The liquid had the consistency of honey, the color of grape juice, and it smelled like sugar and tarnished silver.

Should he choose to taste or drink it, he would find that it tasted like pickled peaches. Nothing immediate would come of the experience.

[quote=Kituo] Unfortunately, right when he got close enough to properly investigate the tree, his lightness of the head fully returned and he was overcome with weakness. Trying to support his own weight, Kituo’s shaking hand reached for the tree and latched onto its bark.

“I…I don’t think I’m…going to make it,” he gasped.[/quote]

The tree under Kituo's hand hummed and ticked and whirred. Near his stomach, there was a hollow in the bark through which he might perceive a meticulous collection of brassy gears and springs all working together for some common, imperceptible goal. The entire interior of the tree was filled with gears. But that wasn't what was alarming.

The runes that had appeared in the twisting wood had begun to glow the moment Kituo touched them with a blood-streaked hand. They shimmered from deep within, and they pulsed together while the ticking inside turned to a constant whirring noise, as if a metal string were being wound up.

The lantern over his head began to rise into the treetop.

At the same time, a wolf in the forest howled long and low, as if it were in pain. The sound was close by -- and by the depth of that animal's voice, it was a huge beast.

A minute later, the lantern reached the end of its journey, and it stopped with a woody [i]tap[/i] against the bough of the tree. It swung there for a few moments while the whirring in the tree began to strain, pulling on the line that was stuck.

[i]RRRRRR-CLACK! WHIRRRRR-CLACK![/i]

The line snapped. The lantern crashed to the metal platform below, barely missing Kituo's head, and the green light that had illuminated the clearing now only shone in a very small, limited space. Thomas' symptoms flared.

The metal platform was still vibrating and shifting only slightly. There was a tremendous crash and clamor inside the tree as all the gears and wires tumbled into one another, useless now without the lantern.

Something in the darkness was panting, like a dog. The distinct smell of rotting flesh, though, was probably the remains of the minstrel still being digested in the root coffin -- but the big yellow eyes that stared down at Kituo from a height of ten feet were not easily explained away.

The great, beastly black wolf stood just at the edge of the lantern's diminished light. It stared down at Kituo, and whined.