The next day, as we traveled down the Long Path of the Dark Forest, we happened upon a grisly scene. The bodies of several Singing Boys had been dismembered and flung about, and several crushed suits of armor with limbs and torsos still inside could be found strewn about. This could only be the work of the Junglist – no other being could perform such gruesome acts for no reason. The Junglist didn’t even eat its victims afterwards – it simply killed them and fled into the depths of the Forest. We made sure to make camp far from this brutal aftermath. Sammy was notably on edge after this encounter.

On the fourth day, Sergeant Penderton caught sight of a glint of blue light through the trees. He and Greeno rushed to find it, and I caught up cautiously. They found a short lamppost, about three feet tall and glowing brightly blue. Around the lamppost was freshly fallen snow. I scooped up some of the snow in one of my specimen vials, and ushered the party to leave posthaste. It’s bad luck to be around a lamppost at night.