<div align="center"><strong>Strange Tunes</strong></div><br/>As expected, the clearing remained blissfully calm. The flawed crystal stayed flawed, no matter how many faces Callie pulled in it, though, if one did happen to tap it, one might hear a low, melodic ring. The shriveled mushrooms remained disorganized, and the overgrown grass rustled gently in some mysterious breeze. It was a nice place to stay and rest, but already, the forest was beginning to notice their presence. And while the forest itself was not malevolent, the nature of their quest was to take from it, and the trees could sense that. They defended their own.<br/><br/>Their small meddling in the clearing, though not significant, carried a message deeper into the forest. Their goal was not more than a few hundred feet away, and yet now, it became a little more difficult, as tendrils slid towards the tree they were meant to take from. Their quest had changed, now, no more simple retrieval, but with a fight thrown in as well.