"I'd say you've bitten off more than you can chew." Zed's response is automatic, and his own marker lights up. He tries to jump out of the way, and there's a pulse of darkness around him, swallowing him up. When it clears, two things happen. The first is that Zed's form has changed. He's humanoid, but not human, and he is now holding a sword.

The second, more pressing one, is that the punishments for using powers are still in effect, and that there's now suddenly fire raining down on him from above. It's meant for him, and it slams into him as he tries to parry those branches with his sword, for there's no way he could have managed to dodge both.

Maybe he got lucky and some of it hit those vines, but maybe he didn't. He's just going to try to ignore that pain and try to keep hacking at those vines. He has also failed to realize that the tail of the long coat that comes with this monster form is still on fire.