The Mother Tree falls ill

General Summary

You tried to contact Isolde by scrying with Rose's ring as a focus. You bought a scroll of message to try to speak to her through the sensor, but Vanya juuuuuuuust barely failed the percentile roll, so Isolde knew you were trying to get hold of her but not why. A Carnival flier immediately flew into your room.
Rose wanted to check out The Mother Tree more closely. She chatted with a walrus and I cannot for the life of me remember what the walrus told her, I'm sorry. (That the currents around the tree were weird, I think?) The roots felt like they were actively sucking seawater in, and actually pulled on Rose's hand when she touched them. When she cast cure wounds on the tree, the roots withdrew.
Vanya got a 14 on Knowledge Religion, which wasn't enough to tell him anything about druid solstice rituals specifically, but was enough for him to know that the winter solstice was Darkest Night, the most solemn day of the year on the Darkonian calendar. Darkest Night was always a new moon, and no stars were ever visible in the sky. Religious services ran from dusk until dawn, and no one was permitted to have light, as it would anger the undead and draw their ire upon you. It wasn't unheard of for people to be lynched by a frightened crowd for lighting a candle on Darkest Night, or to be locked outside for the undead to find them.
The next morning, one of the druids woke Rose in a panic, saying the Mother Tree was sick and Ardmore, the human druid who had befriended Rose, was dead. You went to investigate:

• Ardmore's eyes had been burned away in their sockets. When you examined his body, it seemed like all his organs were gone, and the fire looked like it had originated from inside him.
• The vegetation around the Mother Tree was withered in a huge circle that centered on her.
• Strange, diseased growths had erupted from the Mother Tree's trunk; when Rose examined them, they looked like tumors
• The ground on the north and south sides of the Mother Tree, above the river, was usually dry. It was wet and muddy now.

Grovesong was praying in the forest, so Rose tracked her down and found her kneeling in a circle of trees and crying. She said that it was horrifying to see the Mother Tree like that, and to see Ardmore dead. Rose asked if Grovesong would consider talking to the dryad (she knew that the druids revered her too much to bother her with petty concerns, but this didn't seem petty). Grovesong tried to deflect by saying that the dryad would be in pain from whatever had happened to the Mother Tree and they should let her rest. When Rose pushed back, saying that they should check on her, Grovesong became angry and started playing the "you're an outsider, what do you know" and "there are elven nurslings older than you" cards. Rose got the feeling that Grovesong was genuinely angry and afraid at the thought of speaking to the dryad, but it was because she was worried that she would be in trouble if you did. Rose said she was going to speak to the dryad with or without Grovesong's blessing, and Grovesong looked like she was actually going to strike Rose before backing down.

Related Reports

Previous session: The Attack of Evil Sexy Rose
Next session: Speaking to the Dryad

Report Date

21 Aug 2023

Secondary Location

Darkon

Related Characters

• Grovesong
• The Mother Tree