13. April 24, 2010
Shelby begins talking to the tree to find out how it's doing and if it knows why it was taken. The tree indicates that "they" want him "out of the picture" to spread their influence. It turns out that "they" is the blackroots and they are aligned with the Yaunti. There is a blackroot by the name of "Shaking-Leaves-Grinding-Branch-Two-Stomp" who is a threat to all. The Party accompanies the tree back to his grove (they hitch a ride in his branches), and converses with him along the way:
Once the land belonged to plants. This was the way for a long time, and there was a rift amongst the plants with some following the ways of decay (the blackroots) and the two factions were at odds. Other living things appeared on the island over time and some were benevolent and he interacted with them, and some were malign and the blackroots interacted with those but in general they coexisted. At some point, the blackroots started working through the malign on the island to act against him and his kind. There are more of his kind on the island than he can count, and some are his children. This tree is a tender, and there are six of these on the island. The blackroot counterparts are defilers, and he's unsure of how many of these there are. The rest of the tenders travel and are not stationary.
There is a debate about how the blackroots formed, but the tenders guess that as these trees moved away from the vines that produce the flowers, they became tainted and the last bit of the vine grows only in the grove cared for by the stationary tender. There is also a question about whether humanoids contributed to the decay of the vine, or if the degradation of the vine brought the humanoids. There are two sentient beings that are as long lived as the trees - a primordial fire spirit that is the heart of the volcano, and the stone which is also believed to be sentient. Gunter has been taught that the island is divine and they worship the bedrock of the island as the body of a divine being. The Michonians have attempted to assist with care of the vine. Their home used to be dark and lush, but the lushness faded as the vine declined. At that time, they were unable to assist. Before the existence of this tree, there was communication between tenders and the stone.
It turns out that the Yaunti are attempting to call forth the primordial storm. This storm destroys everything that came before and brings forth what exists now. The blackroots are also aligned with the Nezahualpili and the fish folk. The tenders are aligned with the Michonoids and they have an understanding with the Outcasts. The Gruum are unaligned. The tenders can make other trees move like the blackroots can. He tells the Party his name is "Flex-Trunk-Afro-Limbs-Shake-Leaves". The fish people are concentrated to the North-West where there is a volcano and in the East. "Flex-Trunk-Afro-Limbs-Shake-Leaves" indicates that he wonders why our kind has been entrusted with the chaos stone. When the last storm came through, it petered out and solidified into a stone. This stone was entrusted to the tiny folk by a supernatural being. Gunter recalls that the stone giants have folklore that there were tiny people that used to inhabit the world (which may explain their interest in halflings) and after a great cataclysm, a mystical stone was given to the tiny people by Avandra on this very island. Shortly after this, the halflings left to hide the stone away far from the island until Avandra had need of it again. The Gruum say that the stone can be used to forge a magic weapon to rule the world. This may explain why the giants gave the Party a carved stone, since halflings are seen as guardians of stones. As it turns out, Nemians like stones so there may be some relationship.
"Flex-Trunk-Afro-Limbs-Shake-Leaves" agrees to help open the third tomb. Glowen retrieves a third stone from the tomb:
Items Acquired:
1 Additional Stone (part of a set of 7 stones called the Fortune Stones) - grant re-rolls with a bonus up to the number of stones possessed (minimum of two), and if there are 5 or more then those who hold them get a +2 initiative bonus and a +1 bonus to all saving throws
Kayla looks at the designs on the tombs, and sees similar markings on all of them. She draws pictures of them for future reference.
"Flex-Trunk-Afro-Limbs-Shake-Leaves" and the Party arrive in the grove and greet the Outcasts that remain. The tree settles back into the grove and greets all of the vines by name, and they respond by trying to open the few flowers that remain. "Flex-Trunk-Afro-Limbs-Shake-Leaves" has agreed to provide flowers to the party once the vines are healthy again. It will be several weeks before flowers can be harvested.
The Party attempts to enter the dream state. Kayla falls into the state, and sucks the rest of the group in with her. Kayla cannot see the vines, but she sees a white light where she thinks the vines should be. She talks to them, and the light responds and becomes a sparkly rendition of Kayla's face - but the rest of the group cannot see any of this. She points out what she sees to Shelby who can then see it. She reaches out to touch it and her mind is flooded with millions of images, very few of which make sense. This completely overwhelms Shelby's mind and she changes form from a halfling into a deva. Kayla tries touching it and remains herself but is able to morph into a dog, and then a pack of dogs. Darwynn touches it and becomes a dwarven warden.
The Party awakens and returns to their previous state before touching the dream-vine. They tell "Flex-Trunk-Afro-Limbs-Shake-Leaves" what they've learned and ask for input. "Flex-Trunk-Afro-Limbs-Shake-Leaves" will ponder what they've learned and consult with the tenders
While the Party is waiting for the flowers to bloom, they decide to return the alchemical components and note to Cannin. Darwynn remembers where he lives, so the group skirts through Gruum territory to reach his location. Kayla walked into the cave and announced their presence, and the rest of the party joins her after they get clearance from Cannin's guards. They return the box, explaining how they acquired it. Cannin invites them to share a meal. It turns out that his group had been sent to a hermit who sometimes exchanges information for alchemical components. This hermit used to be Eladrin, and then he changed into a spiderish creature with a bloated abdomen, a spider-like half-head, was ensconced in a web, and had spiderish minions serving him.
Cannin offers to support the Party and provide them with 20,000 gold pieces of residium if they agree to take out his sole remaining competition in the business of supplying alchemical and magical goods to the island's population. The Party agrees. They then visit the Myconians, bringing them some decomposing bodies stored in the bag of holding as gifts. Muulut indicates that they would prefer the rival arms dealer, if forced to pick one, because he shoves lots of dead bodies down into the caverns. The Party plans to go into the dream state in the Myconians cave and perform their recon.