"Hey Ian, stop the car! I think I see chemoluminescence in that forest."

Ian obligingly finds a safe place to pull over. It's evening, and not tourist season; there are few travellers in the park at this time of night.

"Can't we get to the campsite first? Your chemoluminescence will be here after we finish setting up."

"We can't know that, it's a very rare phenomenon. There are a few peat bogs out here though, so it makes sense. Come on, it's a floating fireball! Don't you want to see it?"

"You had me at 'fireball'. But it is dark. We should make this a quick stop."

The car was parked on the shoulder, and indeed, there was a glow coming from the forest. The four piled out of the car, grabbing a few essential components: a water bottle, a first aid kit... and bear spray, just in case.

"Alright, just this way. Can't be far now."

The glow is always just out of sight, and no peat bog is to be found. They tramp around for a good fifteen minutes before Ronja capitulates.

"Well, we can't find the source in the dark here. I guess we'll go set up camp." She did her best to keep the disappointment out of her voice. "Still, it was a very cool glow!"

Ian freezes, gesturing everyone else to do the same. His finger slowly moved up, pointing at a red fox blithely walking half a dozen metres away. The group stayed quiet until the fox left.

"Well that was quite something. You don't get to see a fox up close every day." Though sincere, Ian's also trying to cheer Ronja up.

"That tree, with the bent branch. We did not see it before. I think we are taking the wrong way back to our car."

"Damn, you're right." Chloe takes a moment to breathe deeply. "Nobody move. Anybody have a compass handy?"

Nobody does.

"Okay, we're going to start marking our trail now." Chloe takes out a pocket knife and strips some bark off a nearby tree. "We can backtrack to find our original path. Keep your ears out for any sounds from the highway."

Moving with confidence to conceal her rising worry, Chloe leads the group back the way they came. The original path is nowhere to be found, and the light is also gone.

"I think I see a clearing that way." Ian points to the left of the path.

"Sure, let's go there. If we can see the stars, we'll know which way is north -- and which way the highway is." Chloe meticulously marks their path as they slowly leave the game-trail.

They emerge in a large clearing. The stars are entirely unfamiliar.

A fox laughs, somewhere just out of sight. A fast yipping sort of sound. It almost sounds mocking. It sounds more human than usual.

The moon is full. It wasn't, before. It seems very bright. Also it looks... Subtly different. The so called 'man in the moon' looks more like a woman.

Here's another fox, jumping up on a rock at the edge of the clearing and tilting its head quizzically at them.

"Those stars, that doesn't... this doesn't make sense." Ian turns to the multitude of foxes. "I feel as though we are not supposed to be here."

Niels inches closer to Ian and grabs his hand while looking around with abject confusion. "Ronja, is it possible that your peat bog was emitting something hallucinogenic?"

"I won't rule it out. If that's the case, we should probably keep moving if we can do so safely, to get away from it." Ronja frowns. "Something about this seems wrong, though. I did a little LSD in university. This isn't like that."

Chloe cautiously approaches the fox. It doesn't seem nearly as skittish as a normal fox would be. "These foxes seem odd too. Very odd." She turns to the fox, and cracks a smile at her own foolishness. "I don't suppose you know where we are? We're quite lost ourselves."

The fox's head tilts the other way and its ears wobble up and down a few times... 

It almost seems to shrug, then claws a drawing? into the moss covering the rock. The lines at least look like a road leading up to some kind of building. Then, it hops off the rock and heads off into the woods at an angle at a walk, poofy white tail scraping against things and leaving tufts of fur on the vegetation as it goes.

Chloe looks at the map and laughs quietly.

"Guys? Come and see this. Decide exactly what it is before I say what I see, that'll tell us whether we're hallucinating or not."

The three come over. They all see the same thing.

"The fox... drew this. I'm just as confused as you, but it at least gives us somewhere to go."

"Curiouser and curiouser." Niels shoots another look at the moon. "Staying put for rescue doesn't seem very likely to work out. Let's follow it, but keep up marking the trail, Chloe. It was a good idea."

They catch sight of a hint of a tail a couple of times, and then stop seeing it- Leaving only the trail of white tufts of fur, low to the ground. Bushes, tree trunks, bark, fallen logs are occasionally marked by the fur, each well within sight of each other.

But the woods do seem to be getting kind of... Spooky? The canopy overhead is thick and black, blotting out the moon and stars. If they deploy flashlights, the shadows they cast are all sharp and menacing. The ground grows alternately rockier and muddier. There's a distant echoey rasping sound, and the hooting of an owl, and a sudden rustle from a nearby treetop- That was not a squirrel, it had six legs-

And the trail grows windier and harder to follow. But still present. There's a flickering light ahead, visible through the trees once in a while as they walk.

Ian's flashlight cuts a slash through the murk, though the shadows do not seem pleasant.

"And we're following a mysterious light. Again. Seems like we should have learned our lesson."

"Well, there's no reason not to turn around. At least to make sure the trail is safe."

"Yeah, let's do that. I don't want to get even more lost."

The four follow Chloe's markings back to the clearing, which is still there. Then they turn around and go down the trail again. The light is waiting for them, somehow seeming amused. They keep walking.