The Druid's Tale

My children, when I first met you, you brought me Nell, and came seeking a cure for Dala’gse’s addiction to the hisperin root. We shared a Midwinter feast and I told you of my diminished power as my Gate to Silvanus was sick. The whole forest was troubled, and the lands surrounding it as well. At first, I supposed the miners from Innesbyr had dug too deep and disturbed the heart of the land. But when Tallin arrived and told me what emerged from the Underdark, and it all made sense. Tunneling so close to the surface over many moons had upset nature’s balance and displaced many creatures. Carrion crawlers, bulettes, we some of the more ferocious to emerge. But any den-dwelling creature felt it. The Gate took ill and there was nothing I could do. By the time Tallin arrived, it was beyond saving. 

Tallin’s arrival coincided with a presence I felt and heard of at the forest’s edge. Birds on the wind whispered of a whole town of adventurers camped in the woods, closest to Old Weir. I was investigating what they were up to when that very night, they departed. I returned to my grove and soon thereafter Tallin arrived. They must have been the Lakevillians. 

So we fled. Nary a few weeks had passed when I felt the sharp pang. I was traveling as a bobcat, scouting a path for Tallin and Nell when I crumpled to the ground. They had burned down the Gate, I knew it. I only truly fathomed the permanency of everything in that moment. 

But as we say in my Circle: “Barn’s burnt down, now I can see the moon.” 

So we sought a new home and a cougar I befriended allowed us to share her den. I planted new Gambel Oaks – the variety that can survive at higher elevations, and what you see outside, concealing the entrance to our cave. The grew over time, and with them, my power and connection to Silvanus was renewed. 

Most of my time was spent caring for Nell, healing her wounds, and teaching her. But also soothing Tallin’s pain. I got to know my new surroundings. I had spent many years in my forest grove and needed to learn the ways of the mountain. Silvanus guided me and while I missed the filtered light through the canopy, the swaying trees, the mossy smells, and the animals I had come to know, I learned to love the mountain air. The clear views. The solid ground. The hidden streams. It is a harsher clime up here, life may be sparser, but it can be fierce in its vibrancy. The three of us formed part of that new world and I pray thanks to Silvanus every day for our strange, wonderful family. 

When Tallin turned from crotchety old man full of regret to hopeful grandfather, I liked him better. We now have a romance. When he learned more about the importance of this group I told him, only two people in all the Hibernal history had ever come to me seeking a cure to hisperin addiction. The first was Sha’hale Rezna, and the second was Dala’gse of M’balu. He smiled and told me those were the only two who ever willingly addicted themselves to the stuff to save their companions in the trial of the Cavern. 

I then prayed to Silvanus for knowledge and wisdom of how to use my skills in healing for a therapy to remove thralldom. We thought we had the pieces together, but knew where the mind is concerned one must be very careful. I am ashamed to say, our knowledge was incomplete, and we lost some of the early attempts. In the end we needed to send Nell to far reaches to procure expensive scrolls to help in the process. 

I will let her tell her story.