Scar couldn't sleep. Doc's words had calmed his feelings when it came to the guilt of hurting his friends, but it didn't do anything about the fear that had set into him. Every noise in the Jungle made Scar tense up a little, because what if it was Fluffy, back for revenge? Even on the odd occasion that he managed to drift off, he'd just suffer through a confused nightmare and then wake up less than ten minutes later.

He went through a couple hours like this, before deciding that his efforts were futile and that he at least ought to do something productive. He got up, and started clearing things up. He packed his own things so they'd be ready to go in the morning, then began to clean up the camp. It was as he was putting the first aid kit back together (Cub, Ren and Iskall had left it in bits) that Julia made an ahem noise.

Not bothering to wonder how a tree made a throat-clearing noise when trees don't have throats, and just attributing it to whatever magic fuelled all the other illogical bits in the jungle, Scar sighed and looked up.

"What?" He asked.

"You really should sleep. I think that's a thing that humans need, right?" Julia pointed out.

"I can't." Scar admitted. "I'm too... too scared." A leaf drifted down and landed comfortingly on his shoulder.

"You don't have to be scared of anything. I'll protect you." Julia assured him. Scar just shook his head, and kept working, muttering something about nightmares.

Still, as the night wore on, Scar grew more and more tired, his movements more and more sluggish, until eventually he passed out on the forest floor. Julia carefully dropped a blanket of leaves on him, and let him sleep, occasionally making calming noises whenever he seemed distressed by a nightmare.

At about 3am, a violent wind blew through the trees, and the ground shook. The noise woke Cub, Doc, Ren and Iskall up, and disturbed Scar's already-fitful sleep. The four looked around in alarm, trying to pinpoint the source of the disturbance. Everything in the Jungle seemed more animated, more sentient. Julia muttered something which was probably a swearword in treeish, if treeish had swearwords.

"You need to get to safety, now." She urged them. The four needed no more prompting than this. Packing was easy, thanks to Scar's clearing earlier in the night. Noticing how fitfully Scar was sleeping, they decided to not wake him, instead getting Doc to carry him again. The four fled in what they guessed was probably the direction of the Jungle's border, although by this point they really didn't have much of an idea, even Doc and Iskall.

What Iskall did notice, however, was the fact the direction the group was travelling in was slowly drifting, slowly turning, as the group manoeuvred around trees. When they voiced this concern, Ren let out a gasp as he recognised what was going on.

"We're being herded." He explained. And what were they being herded to? Eventually, they came to a clearing with a tree in the middle, a tree much larger than any other tree in the Jungle. They paused, confused. Surely they'd've reached the edge of the Jungle by now, herding or no.

 Before they could worry much about that, something came out from behind the tree. It was like a mummy, but made of vines. And a vine was sticking out of its hand, wrapped around an unconscious humanoid form, which was being dragged across the forest floor. Just in case, Cub brandished a spell, Ren and Iskall got out their swords, and Doc, after laying Scar against a nearby tree, got out his trident.

This attracted the vine-mummy's attention. It made a horrific screeching noise, let whoever its prisoner was go, and charged. 

Well. This wasn't how they planned the night to go.

Bubbles?? Hello?? Anyone home???

Nope.

I've been Entropy, peace out from the present!