Titans' Folly #4: Symbiosis Terminatus

General Summary

The group mop up the remaining Emissaries while Tima heads towards the Grove, and once all the enemies are dead, the party makes a break for the tree as they hear rumblings beneath their feet. As they run, they see as worm-like beings, crawling on their piercing claws, rushed after them.
When they arrived at the edge of the tree, they saw a half-orc woman with a strange orange and black corruption, the same kind Kiwi had, step from behind a giant root and summon spores from the ground to kill the things chasing the adventurers.
With them free, she reveals herself to be Hildegard, a traveler her to see the corruption of the tree. Looking around, the adventurers see abundant plant life and the giant parts of this massive tree sprawling out as well as crystals growing from every which place. However, they also see multiple mushy black growths coming from the tree and spreading.
Eventually, the inhabitants of the grove, many female faeries, reveal themselves to the party and speak to them. A member of the entourage, a woman Luthrin met before in Aldreivetur speaks of the issues of the tree.
She says that it has been corrupted for too long, and it is necessary that it is fixed. Asking about everything, she explains how a hole opened up under the tree and the darkness has been spreading since.
The party all traverse to the central portion of the tree. There they see the tree's base hanging low into a hole, held suspended by its roots grounded to its sides. The darkness has taken a hold of much or the base, rising up towards the bottom of the tree and spreading outwards.
When asked, a mix of Hildegard and the Dryad's responses reveal that there are numerous tunnels in the hole that all lead every which way, making it almost impossible to explore every path.
The adventurers decide this is the way to go as Ramori recalls the tale of the Titan's Tree of Life suffering a familiar fate. They traverse down, and with Kurt's senses, they start heading down a path they believe to be right.
As they explore the path, Kurt feels something touch the back of his neck. He reaches and grabs something, a leg it feels like. As such, this being reveals itself.
He is a sprite named Nikwik the Swordheart, and he claims that it is his goal to fix things, but he had to regroup to take on the foe he would face. He explains that the roots have been corrupted with sickly crystals and a ritual needed to take place to fix it or all the crystals had to be destroyed.
He asks Tima for her help, and in doing so, Hope and Ramori notices him blushing from speaking to her, but they decide to work together on this ritual while the party fights the enemies guarding the roots.
The group comes upon the site of the corruption, and Kurt tries to take a peak. With their tremorsense. the crawlers notice Kurt, and the battle commences.
The party is mostly bottlenecked as crawlers rush at them and Hope rushes into the middle of the fray. The fight with the crawlers is relatively simple. Although they moved with such alacritous lethality, they were not that durable themselves and many were taken out by sickening radiances and other large spells.
However, the seer at the back is a difficult enemy, casting lobs of light that mess with the minds of all it attacks, completely stunning Hope for twelve seconds whilst others became frightened or even blind. It does eventually have to resort to hitting opponents with its staff, managing to slay Skellybob after his skeletal companions met their fate to some friendly fire.
Eventually, the group does fell the Seer and completes the ritual while fending off more crawlers, and they watch as all the corrupt green crystals pop off the roots of the Grove's tree.

Missions/Quests Completed

Destroyed the Corruption of the roots.

Character(s) interacted with

Hildegard, Follower of the Symbiote
The Nymphs of the Grove
Loralei Tima, the Pixie
Nikwik the Swordheart

Report Date

23 Jul 2021