A shaken refugee stumbled into Celidon a few months ago, unable to speak coherently. His inability to interact normally was noted by Kalon and Merack at the Threshold, and it was quickly discerned that he was in great need of care, both mental and physical.
As care was being offered, his bizarre mumblings provoked great interest, for they mentioned being trapped somewhere, deep beneath the earth. As his coherence degenerated even further, Caelas took pity on him and provided for the traveler a cup of elder wine, laced with a few drops of opium. Upon the traveler's first finally blissful moments of sleep, Caelas relayed that he had heard similar things spoken of in relation to a vision seen by one lost and presumed dead: the Arboreal guild's very own Dahlia, slain at the hand of the Prophet of the Deadwoods upon its turning.
Kalon and Naidia searched without fail for this one, but were unable to find her. A haunting phrase lingered in all of the words of those Kalon and Naidia found... "If she wishes to be found... she will be found." The alternative seemed to be only to keep watch and question the traveler upon his awakening.
The famed Dahlia appeared in the Celidon Council, however, in a vortex of wind that also did the unfortunate job of waking the traveler prematurely. Dahlia wanted to take Falzo away, to keep him safe because of what he had said in his incoherence. It was no longer safe for him in Celidon, Dahlia said, for once Khandava knew what he had found, there would be a hunt for his head, and the mysteries he had found beneath Khandava.
What had been found was this: remnants of the roots of the Resplendent Tree. In Falzo's escape from the Council, he had dug, his illogical strength allowing him to tunnel beneath the surface of Khandava and out from beneath the Deadwood. However, along his way he had run into animated, furious roots of the Deadwood, which attempted to stop him but also were wrapped tightly about glowing silver roots.
Magickers banded together to find the remnant of Falzo's escape tunnel, and it was found, a tunnel filled with great amounts of rubble and a variety of wildly writhing roots to which many fell. Among these roots, however, were found great silver ones, ones that glowed brightly and shown with some magickal light. As Khandava became slowly aware that beneath their feet was being waged an epic onslaught, many grouped up, trying to fight back the magickers and reclaim the area for themselves.
When the smoke of battle cleared, the magickers retrieved as many silver roots as possible, divvying them up between themselves as seemed proper. Dahlia took one for her own studies, promising to return with information.
While Khandava itched with fury to rid the recesses of any lingering magickers, Dahlia's return came with some promising news. She shared to Sumie and Ferriter her research and Ferriter quickly outpaced her with explanations of what they should do. Learning that the roots could fuse together to form saplings, they set about trying to find the place the roots responded too.
Unable to find the right forest, Dahlia's news was was forgotten about for some time before Kalon caught wind and in a mad rush set off to find the proper forest in which to try this process. It was not until he stumbled upon the Lost Forest that the process was brought to fruition. Alvetta, Caelya, Ferriter, Justus, Kalon, Macie, Melina, Mercer, Ohm, Sumie, Suruken, and Ysaviel focusing magick on the roots to merge and magickally create saplings of the resplendent tree that immediately took root in the forest's soil.
Khandava defended the boundaries with zeal, defeating any who dared attack at the roots of the Leechwood. Under orders from the Prophet of Khandava, Roudimus, a flame-scarred treant was able to concoct a ritual to seal off the Khandavan Recesses from the outside world. Aleutia, Ahkan, Cordilia, Eckho, Kanthari, Lionas, Orotu, and Mena ventured into the world beneath the Khandavan Council and begun a ritual, enlarging the writhing black roots to gargantuan sizes.
Aleutia and Kanthari begun the first ritual, and while the ritual seemed straight forward at first, it was Eckho Vaz'rias who took the most dangerous task of swallowing the essence of the Leechwood for the effect on her body was unknown. As the black liquid flowed down her throat, a connection between her and the Leechwood was formed and she caused the Leechwood root to multiply in size. Once the recesses were full of the ginormous roots, Prophet Lionas Sol'Anlumaire stood at the Areish Mountains and begun concentrating on the roots that filled the tunnel. As his sight darkened, Lionas was filled with visions that were from twisted sentience of the Leech Tree itself. A choice was given to him and he chose to accept, giving himself over, completely and thoroughly, to the further desecration of any living forest. Lionas was petrified on that spot, sealing the tunnel beneath him.
Penned by My hand on the 25th of Bellum, in the year 672 AD.
