So, turns out that the problem of cleaning ourselves up was self-resolving.

By that I mean: over time the 'goo' collected back into larger chunks, which when they reached a certain minimum size would turn into a little critter and run away. The exact animal wasn't the same each time; there were things István called 'geckos' and others that looked nothing like that. The only thing we knew for certain sure was that everything fell under the category of 'lizard'.

"Is there an actual way to kill this thing?" I asked, looking at Celistar, specifically. She seemed to have a better idea of what was going on than the rest of us. By 'better', I mean 'even the vaguest idea'. Since I definitely didn't have one.

"I don't think so," she said, "not short of vaporizing every last piece, anyway. Or perhaps something your lovely fox could do."

Steeve had been sleeping like a rock since her little stunt; only her ear twitched at the mention of her name, as if to drive the point home that she could not be bothered to do any more Steeve-ing for a while.

A stance that would have been much more convincing if she hadn't turned herself into a vaguely fox-shaped ruddy-colored stone with a set of obviously fake ears and a pair of googly-eyes on it. One was even offset oddly.

The whole thing looked like Liam had made a crude facsimile of Steeve as an art project. The mouth was even drawn on with some sort of thick marker in a slightly unsteady hand, so it would definitely match.

"Now what?" I asked.

"Now we go around to the other side of the city." István said, pointing towards the direction the original lizard-like substance had descended from. There was a magnificent pile of rocks it had left, but I think his interest was rather to circumnavigate around by the rim, to see if there were any more surprises awaiting us.

Something - a very large thing that had suspiciously lizard-shaped footprints - had conveniently flattened the foliage between us and the rockslide, making it easy to see that far, but after that, it became more difficult to discern the terrain through a forest that was nearly as dense as the ones around the Stormwind Circle.

So walk we did.

"I've got it!" Celistar spoke up suddenly, as we approached the line where the destruction ended.

"Got what?" I enquired.

"I figured out what that thing was."

István hurried his steps to close up the distance. He had been behind us, chatting with Viktor about something I was intentionally not eavesdropping on.

"I am all ears," he said, and the Steeve-rock I was carrying sprouted a dozen more ears with little plip sounds, something that made me almost drop it… her… whatever it was. I snorted a little when I saw one was peeling off, so I pulled it free and stuck it back on right between the below the googly-eyes.

Duck fox!

Celistar just stared at the Steeve-ear-rock conglomeration, and I could see the gears in her head seizing in real time.

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"Hmmm… Anyway," she said, forcing herself to look away so that her brain could start working again. "My working theory is that what we were seeing was the concept of 'Lizard' made real. A 'Lizard' Alignment embodied, if you will."

"Ah," said István, both ready and willing to expand on the subject. "That is why it was hunting the other lizards out in the savannah. It was less about sustenance, and more about encompassing more of the lizard paradigm, as it were.

"That explains why the smaller ones we killed had more normal interiors, whereas the large one was just one uniform lizard matrix."

I will admit that I had to suppress a bit of a giggle when he called it a 'uniform lizard matrix'. He had an adorable way of getting really into whatever subject it was he was expounding on, and when he did his language grew more complex.

Beyond that, I'd also noticed that his speech had become more uniform since we came to this new environment. He seemed to be searching for words less.

I wasn't sure if that was because he was interacting with others more versus being holed up in his lab, or some sort of side effect from the Steeveslation that was constantly going on. If it still was. The effect was subtle enough in the first place, and over time it seemed to have merged with reality.

It could be that we'd transparently picked up the local language somehow or that Steeve had somehow bolted it into our brains sideways.

The latter would definitely fit her modus foxerandii.

I looked down at the fox-on-the-rocks in my arms, and then back to Celistar.

They'd gone quiet while I'd been exploring the interior of my own head, and I saw why.

The jungle here was thick. Absolutely wall-to-wall vegetation. There didn't seem to be any room for even a sliver more.

Did I mention it was moving? Probably should have mentioned that first.

All the plants seemed to be wiggling, as if they wanted to uproot themselves and chase after us.

"I don't think they are supposed to do that," I blurted out.

"Thanks for joining the conversation," Celistar said, a hint of amusement in her voice.

"You're welcome," I said. Shamelessly.

"Do you think it is the Spirit of the Alignment of 'Forest'?" Viktor asked, something that I could see as logical.

István ruined our speculation with a single word, "Doubtful."

I looked again, this time cranking up the peepers to maximum output. Or was that input. Either way…

I could see a plethora of Alignments kicking around in there, as if to mock our previous speculations. Mostly plant, rock, and earth, but there were a few more exotic things I could not identify. Likely the explanation for the whole 'moving plant' thing.

Viktor made a second pass at playing scientist. "Maybe that is what happens when the plants eat the lizard poop."

István seemed to be considering this, before Celistar cut in. "Would the very concept of something even need to have biological functions? It's not like it had any internal organs."

Both of the men seemed disappointed somehow.

"So do we get through somehow?" I asked, "Or go around?" I tried crossing my arms, something that didn't work particularly well with my fancy - and now vaguely red-tinted - outfit. There were too many layers and they bunched up weird when I did that.

I covered up my failure by gesturing to the jungle ahead.

István looked back at the city, now much farther away. He looked back at the forest and carefully suppressed the hint of revulsion that crossed his face. He steeled his resolve. "I vote to forge a path ahead."

He looked to be torn between fear and curiosity towards the plants. I wasn't sure what kind of phobia he had, but I'm sure that adding the whole moving bit probably didn't help.

Celistar also seemed a tad put off, but much less viscerally than István. "That works for me."

Viktor seemed not to care one whit. He was flexing his hands, probably wondering if punching plants was as fun as punching reptiles, or more.

"Well, that decides things," I said, walking forward.

The tall tops of the trees seemed to loom towards us as we approached, the tops moving as though a breeze was blowing, even though I couldn't feel one.

It occurred to me that they probably were actually looming over us, since as we grew closer, the tendrils of green began reaching out like tentacles in our direction.

This is going to be fun… I thought.

"This is going to be fun!" Viktor said at almost the same time.

Great minds think alike?

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