Inside their rooms, the sect elders sat cross-legged on the floor.
Their breathing slowed as their minds sank into meditation.
Spirit essence gathered slowly in the rooms, pulled in from the surroundings as they practiced their own techniques.
But in two of those rooms, something moved in the shadows.
Through cracks in the windows and from the knots in the wooden walls, two strange figures appeared.
Their forms were twisted, made of layered straw and creeping vines shaped like men, with hollow glowing eyes carved from bark. These were a special batch of Aksai's Sentient Scarecrow Fiends, and they had been watching.
They slipped into the rooms with unnatural grace, their steps soundless.
Elder Hao and Elder Wen sat unmoving, deep in meditation.
The scarecrows didn't waste time.
They each raised one wooden hand and summoned a wood-element spell. Vines burst from the floors and walls, quickly crawling over the doors, windows, and ceiling.
