That's So Raven

Type: Feywild-bleed-through grove embedded in the Kryptgarden Forest Region: Heart of the Kryptgarden Forest — entered via a Mossdog-escorted path from the forest's southern edge Guardian: Old Gnaw-Bone (Claugiyliamatar) — bound under cold-iron shackles of Lathander Wardings: Anti–Shadar-Kai exclusion ward (raised by the Harpers post–Bahamut) First Visited: Session 018 Last Visited: Session 019 (party departs in the morning)

Description

A clearing inside the Kryptgarden Forest that is not entirely of the Material Plane. Those with Feywild origin (Lessie, Dhuxtyn — and AC, notably) recognize on arrival that the grove's air, light, and flora are Feywild. The forest crowds it like a wound; the grove holds.

The grove proper is a wide meadow surrounding a lake with a small island at its center. On the island stands a single huge tree hung with purplish flowers. Embedded in the trunk of the heart-tree is Tahkisis' Kiss — the God-Killer.

At the entrance stands a statue of Lynx the Gnome Druid — intricate, no tool-marks, no carving signs. The statue is grown, not made.

A pack of Mossdogs patrols the path leading into the grove; one of them is Rufflerinsky.

Wardings

• Anti–Shadar-Kai exclusion — about 100' from the heart-tree. Raised, per Ubys's recall, by The Harpers in response to the Shadar-Kai's role in the slaying of Bahamut. Confirmed by Ubys's experience: he hit the wall as if it were brick.
• Resistant to some — but not all — non-Shadar-Kai approach. AC felt actively repelled but was not stopped — he masked the pain and pushed through. Whether this is contract-related or heritage-related is open.
• Implication: the grove can be approached by most travelers, interrogated by a few, entered by fewer — and the exclusion ward and the Greatwyrm guardian together are what keep Tahkisis' Kiss in the tree.

What the Party Knows (Session 018)

• The Sons and Daughters of Vlokgar try to take the tree; Old Gnaw-Bone eats them.
• Old Gnaw-Bone's cold-iron necklace is the same kind of thing as AC's Bone Contract — a mental binding. Her sentence is near its end. In session 019 the necklace is identified as a fragment of godspark — that of Lathander.
• Tahkisis' Kiss is reachable from the island, but warded.

What Happened Here (Session 019)

• AC and Old Gnaw-Bone exchange information about the bindings; the godspark theory is made explicit.
• Bree's arc closes inside the grove — she found Teppo, she found hope — and she leaves the party, joining a herd of deer over a nearby hill, another joining the herd in her place (Bree becomes a druid).
• Lessie says goodbye to Lynx (her presence still felt in the grove; a Mockingbird's thanks).
• Party departs by morning.