[quote]"Great job guys, synergy for the win!"

"Yo! We never really had the chance to introduce ourselves. I'm Sera, just Sera, hi!"

"Hi just Sera. I'm Blin. That thing could have killed us all, no-way I'm doing that again."

"Heya, Sera, I’m Nikki~ Oh hey, what’s that? Hey Blank, come look at this! That bony bird had a sword in it!  I wonder if that’s normal for them.”  Curiosity sent her over to the second pile of debris, and moments later she triumphantly held up a key.  “Ooh, I wonder what it goes to?  It looks like some stuff I’ve seen in the ruins....”

Blank walked from his pile of bone dust to join the others around Blin's, plucking the key from Nikki's distracted fingers as he went. "A free prize with every kill, huh? I suppose these Chimes are like any other bird, gathering anything that catches their eye. Do they have nests then I wonder? If so, they must be filled with valuable metals and gemstones. I wonder what this goes to?"

Eli's gaze moved towards Sir Shroom. "Death to the Chimes! Death to the Chimes!" Eli started chanting, Terror soon following with tiny squeaks of its own. "Although... would you mind explaining to us...The hell are those Chimes?"

Gaius looked over the scene, noticing the mushroom people scurrying about and speaking nonsense that he didn't bother to acknowledge. "Aye..." He mumbled, "Must've hit my head harder than I thought.."[/quote]

A colorful quiet drifted peacefully throughout the oversized forest; in the absence of the Chimes, birds began once again to warble and argue in the boughs overhead. Bushes shifted and rustled as woodland creatures scurried by; a trio of deer emerged from under the draping leaves to chew at the sprightly grasses on a hill a short distance away.

The key in Blank's palm was very old, and appeared to have been molded by hand and crafted out of crude brass. Instead of teeth, there was a single metal panel that was punched through with tiny symbols: stars and squares and triangles. The bow of the key was an ornately carved knot of three winding lines. It was, altogether, as big as Blank's hand and unusually heavy for its size.

The little mushroom-man hopped to the ground and grinned toothlessly up at Eli. [b]"I dunno! They just showed up last night!"[/b] He waved his little arms in confusion. [b]"There was a flash and a boom and everything shivered and then a whole [i]flock[/i] of them bony-birds swooped in and started grabbing people and flinging rocks around like they owned the place! I call them Chimes, but I dunno what they are really. There's more than those, I know that, but at least two down, right?"[/b]

He'd barely finished speaking when he scrambled and waddled straight at Sera, excited to get in on all this introduction business that was going on without him. [b]"Hi Sera, I'm Kipkik, just Kip! I like your dreamwisp! Very fwooshy!"[/b]

He rushed over to Blin and hopped for attention. [b]"Hi Blin, I'm Kip! You're very sleepy aren't you? Ask your dreamwisp not to eat me okay?"[/b]

With a waddle and a toddle of his big capped head, he tugged on Nikki's pantleg. [b]"Hi Nikki, I'm Kip! I like your dreamwisp too! Very fluttery! Do you like shiny things?"[/b]

He didn't wait for an answer before he waddled off toward Blank -- but he got one good look at that wolf and hesitated fearfully. [b]"Nice puppy!"[/b] He didn't move too close, and finally decided to skip over to Gaius, where he knocked on the knight's boot.

[b]"Hi! I'm Kip! What's your name, mister tin man? Your dreamwisp is very pretty!"[/b] Kip was so enamored and excited by the prospect of making all these new friends that he didn't consider actually stopping for conversation.

He hopped and waved his little arms. [b]"Hey! Hey Eli! Hey Sera! Hey Blin! Hey Nikki! Hey wolf-guy! Hey tin man! Are you from the island? Are you islanders? From the sky! From the village in the clouds! Huh? Yeah! You're sky-people!"[/b] He laughed joyously and ran in circles. [b]"Sky people! Sky people! I have sky-people friends!"[/b] He stopped after a moment and sat down, huffing. [b]"But what are sky people doing here? Did you fall?"[/b]

[quote]Rahna went after the mushroom, her curiosity flooding over. She soon reached the log that it hid in and took a peek inside. "Hello? Mister Mushroom?"[/quote]

The mushroom stared at her from within the dark log -- and after a few moments, slowly crawled closer. [b]"Hello."[/b] It was a small, almost childish voice. He slowly reached out and gripped the edge of the hole in the log, and poked his lopsided capped head out, peering up at Rahna with beetle-black eyes. [b]"You're weird. Are you going to eat me?"[/b] His eyes lifted to the strange fox at Rahna's shoulder. [b]"Is your dreamwisp going to eat me? I'm not very good."[/b]

He crawled out entirely, slow and miserable as if accepting his fate, certain he was about to be eaten.

The forest around them was deep and enormous; pools of light shone down between the magnificent leaves and powerful branches of the trees that towered overhead. Everything was bright green, pocked occasionally by violet blooms and red petals; and blue, white-flowered vines that wrapped trunks and upturned boulders like neat packages. The birds and wildlife had begun to sing and skitter again, now that the chaos of the crashing rocks had been silenced.

The fox at Rahna's shoulder had noticed -- but had not understood -- an aura of energy that surrounded a distant statue, half hidden behind flowered foliage. The energy didn't change, and there was nothing suspicious or dangerous about it, so the fox was inclined to relax.

The little mushroom squeezed his eyes shut, awaiting the inevitable.