The army had drifted through a savannah landscape that appeared to be slowly transforming into a jungle. They had passed large winding umbrella trees, vast fields of grass and larger than normal rabbits. Slowly the army took notice of how the maze was different from either reports or what they had remembered. They appeared on the outskirt of a jungle. What was once a barren Martian landscape was now bursting with life. The distant towering rock spikes now had vines growing up their sides. Some were long enough to reach the top — a single tree atop a shorter spike in the distance.

Though what was in the jungle was barely visible past the trees and canopy of leaves, the army saw how even butterflies were more abundant and filled with more life than would be natural. To a perceptive person, they would have also noticed how the shining particles within the air created small spurts of growth on whatever they touched. 

"They say a cardinal was killed, is this true?" a soldier asked one of the majors.

"You have heard wrong, and it would do you best to know the clergy would not allow such rumours to spread," replied a stern major with an eye patch.

The battalions of men were gathered in the field. They were shining in bright armour that shone against the sun. A dark-robed figure approached the major. Speaking under their hood, she said:

"The forest is not under anyone's control. This is the result of a large quantity of mana released into the area. At the rate of change and concentration in the air. I would expect this happened within the last few months," a glowing blue eye could be seen in the depths of her hood. 

"Impossible," The weary soldier replied.

"Then why we are here?" 

"We will need to split up the formation to work our way through. Equip the scouts with flares."

"Have it done."

The army began moving through the jungle, hacking away any vines or plant life that got in their way. A moment later, distant trees began to shake, approaching closer as a flare went off. Calls and shouts form the soldiers started to erupt with elements of panic.

"Ambush right. Get in formation. Archers back, draw them out. We need a clear sight!"

A gargled scream came forward and a snake appeared out of the bushes. Its head the size of that of a horse. The snake slithered towards the major a faint mist resonating around its body. One of the soldiers dove on it, driving a sword swiftly into its head, putting the snake down. Then a tree behind the soldier erupted into splinters, the boss snake diving out of cover and charging forward. This snake was coated in the scales of an armadillo lizard. It crushed the soldier and went towards the major, a few arrows bouncing off its scales before it turned to look at the archers and roared to release a thick mist which appeared to dissolve the plant life around it.

 "OUT THE FOREST NOW!" The major shouted.

Cascading mist rushed forward before he started sprinting in the opposite direction — the soldiers around followed suite. The major ran, he saw the snake appear out of the mist and dive towards another unit on his right, shouts of pain blaring from each location. 

"What are you doing?" the dark mage said as the major appeared to be running past her.

"RUN. The snake, It's.." 

The mage lowered her hood and revealed pointing ears and a disapproving expression. The snake appeared then, diving out of the trees on the side, its yellow eyes staring down on them. The dark make had her hands grow blue before she cast balls of blue energy towards the creature. The magic missiles exploded and pushed the beast back without causing much damage. The creature still felt the pain though, and after being slightly knocked back carried on slithering around. Emanating more of the acidic mist.

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the mage grunted disapprovingly, "pure mana is such an inefficient force for damage."

The major was still in shock when the mage pulled out a crystal glowing a faint orange. She channelled her power through the device, and it began to glow. The snake once more dove out of the mist towards the high elf lady with a vengeance. Then a beam of light shot out from the crystal. It shot towards the snake as the snake crashed down on the woman, slit in two. Guts and viscera had coated the woman, and she started taking damage from drifting in mist, but the snake had the front portion of its body separated cleanly into two halves.

The mage dropped the crystal as it overheated in her hands; it hit the floor and crumbled to dust. "Uhhg, disgusting."

The mage began resonating blue energy, spraying it across her clothes as she tried to remove whatever was now coating her. Shaking her robes to finally rid herself of the leftover bits, she moved out. Passing the major who looked awestruck.

"Hey, uh."

The mage stopped to face the man. "What is it?" She questioned.

"You have a bit of." he pointed to a piece of snake flesh stuck to a strand of her hair. She looked towards the strand and furrowed her nose again.

"For the lov-" She removed the piece. 

"This is why no one leaves the citadel."

"Because of giant snakes?"

She turned in a fury but didn't say a word, instead, she proceeded to put up her hood and moved back to the group. As the army progressed further, they allowed the scouts to get further ahead, hoping they will not just be a sacrifice. 

The major met up with another major and a lieutenant local to the area.

"you have lived next to such dangerous creatures."

"This is not a natural occurrence. Whatever mastermind controls the goblins did this."

"The woman must have caused this with her witchcraft and dark goblin lovers. This unnatural jungle was but a barren waste a few weeks ago."

"You can't be serious."

"If you would so kindly Ignore my humble colleague's speculation, what he states is as I can confirm, the truth. If you have spent as much time within the ranks of the high church as I have, you would know to expect not just the unexpected. But the wildly unfathomable."

The war room had a gathering of Seras, Adil, Swift and Horatio staring into the war table's projection. The dryad Morganna hung back on the wall behind the group, the goblin Urakle stood in front of her. They had seen the rough outline of a fight in which an apparent mage had destroyed one of the field bosses. Adil was the first to speak.

"Is there any chance that they will be pushed back by the forest before they can get to us?"

"Did you see that mage? The snake was probably in the top 10 for field bosses, and they may not meet another." Swift replied.

"Then if we are to attack, would it not be better to ambush them in the wilds?"

"Griffon says he wants to set up a sort of ambush out there," Seras added.

"It's hopeless either way." Horatio started getting a discerning look from the others. 

"You know this is your last chance. If we run now-"

Morganna launched a gravitational force at Horatio and collapsed him against the wall; he was held by his neck as rocky vines sprouted from the wall and closed around him,

"Don't think I don't recognise you, boy. You may have grown, but I can still smell the goblin blood on you."

"Morganna!" Adil shouted.

She released the man, and he started choking on the ground. Seras went to his side.

"Ease your bloodthirst, dryad. No one here is your enemy, yet."

"That' is not something I wish to hear from a demon such as yourself." She turned to the man that was previously chocking on the floor but now looked up at her with a weary alarm in his eyes. 

"I am sorry, I acted out of turn."

Adil stepped up

"All things aside, we cannot surrender now. We have discussed this; escape would mean moving through the mostly collapsed catacombs until we eventually escape from under the town and at this point that is a larger risk than falling back to the dark lands."

"I think our best bet is to try and use Griffon and the twenty or so mercs to set up a dialogue. We may be able to convince them we are no threat,"

"What good would that do when they see the goblins," Seras added.

"We might not have to show them the goblins."

The dryad waved her hand dismissively.

"This is pointless; they will attack regardless. Then they will kill you and steal your precious crystal."

"It is worth a try."

"If you attempt any negotiations, we lose an opportunity to strike with advantage. However, with the predictably intolerable nature of the church, we will be attacked and sent to respawn without a word said. If that happens, I do not wish to hear your desire to try again." The dryad added almost biting her tongue at the end.