Discussion
Cairn Hilltopple, tall by halfling standards with wild flaxen hair and ruddy cheeks, he carries a slight pooch belly with an air of dignity. He is the keeper of the spirit of the woods. His home, the Svalich woods has been corrupted by a sinister force as if a shadow of the forest has been ripped away and reflects pure unadulterated dread. This terrible visage seeps back into his woods, shading it with darkness and despair. His sleepless nights have been infected by the visions of a horrific monstrous woman who rides in a flying skull. The blighted trees crush the forests denizens, and disrupt its own delicate ecology. Lysinia, the dryad spirit of the wood fought this infestation by closing off the woods, tightening the trees around the blighted clearing like a knot of a tree or a blood blister. Doing so has wounded her gravely as if she has been cut off from her own heart. The entrapped evil is proving to be more powerful than Lysinia can combat. She must be taken to the Hierophant to be healed. And Cairn will take her. But a dryad must remain near her tree, as such she cannot be moved from her woods. Cairn, gifted with a green thumb devised a plan. He would create a forest of potted trees. Lysinia laughed at the idea. How would such a small tree be able to contain her? Uncomfortably, for sure! Lysinia, a lover of the winds, insisted that in order for her to go along with Cairn's plan, he would need to play the songs of the woods. Just as she would ride uncomfortably within restricting confines of the wood of a potted bonsai tree, so Cairn would have to play the comically sized baritone saxophone for her at night to ease her suffering. Everyone knows that the best plants all respond to music! So off they went, Cairn wildshaped into a pony pulls a wagon load full of beautiful bonsai trees. Some of his trees he sells to support their journey. But never his largest, a formal upright Elven Maple with a deadwood tip reaching upwards, the home of the Lysinia. Will the Heirophant be able to help them heal the Spirit of the Woods? Will Cairn and Lysinia be able to root out the evil that is corrupting their home?
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