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Deep in the Ardeep Forest is a ring of ancient trees intertwined with dense, thorny thickets and poisonous plants. Dryads and Treants guard this place, but they are wary of any who approach, even allies, and caution must always be taken to appease their fickle nature.
Inside the grove, itself is a place of eternal summer, warm and comfortable, with a slight cooling breeze. Dominating the grove is not an altar but a standing circle of stones - one of the many Places of Power that druids recognize and use to keep the earth healthy and renewed. In the center of these stones you see a giant statue of an of an archdruid Vassorum, who is now known to the party as the Giant Elk spirit, a chosen of the goddes Ehlonna.
Corruption
When the party initially encountered the Circle of Dryads the place was overrun with corruption. Many plants and trees in the area had died and the remaining dryads and treants were driven mad. The Headhunters cleansed this place when they Visited the Shrine of Vassorum.
Vassorum is now still guarding the Hanbalani Altas which he surmised to be able to keep up for at maximum 2-3 months.
- My sacred spring is a gift unto you, my faithful. Should evil ever profane it, I gift unto you the method to restore it.
- Recall the fable of the eight archdruids. Once upon a time, eight mighty druids resided within this forest within three houses. Five were woman, three were men, and together they made eight. In the end, all eight found love in pairs. Four of the druids settled within one house, four settled within another, and the third house was left empty and was reclaimed by the forest.
- At my feet rest three blessed vessels. Fill them with the profaned water in the manner of the eight druids, and speak my name with hope in your heart.
- Ages ago when this forest was threatened by magic of the Shadowfell, one archdruid named Vashorra was tasked with restoring balance.
- Yet, the damage done to the forest was nigh impossible to repair by just himself, and he saw no way of undoing the Shadowfell's influence. So he prayed to me. "Please help me purge this forest of all Evil. Please allow all that is Good to live and grow." I asked "What is Good and Evil, before the balance of nature? We do not differentiate. It does not exist in nature"
- Vashorra answered "The greatest good is shown, by giving of your own. Monstrous evil then, to take from other men. The first a thing of beauty, the second something sour. The first made in Honor, Love and Duty. The other made in thirst for Power."
- "Then show me your will to do good, and I shall answer in kind." I answered, as Vashorra contemplated, taking in his surroundings before he crafted a spear from a sharp root from a nearby tree. "Then I present my flesh, my bones and my life to you. For I love this place with all I have."
- And so he took his life at center of the forest, and I witnessed the essence of Good. And as such I accepted his lesson, I banished that which wished to only take for its own, and drafted Vashorra by my side as my noble Giant Elk to continue to protect the place he loved so much.