Deep within a darkened grove of the Black Forest, a dryad watched
silently as the Viridian Blujixapug Lucoster effortlessly flayed the
flesh of a wood viper with thorny vines.

"Find a secluded grove kept safe by a tender who knows Nature's gifts
well," she whispered to herself, repeating the queen's instructions.
"There your sisters shall gather and make known the will of the trees."

Slipping through the trees, the dusky sprite quickly passed word to her
sister dryads that she had found the perfect location, then returned to
the snarl of branches and approached the centre of the grove.

"Others will be coming to this place," she told the viridian softly,
explaining the wishes of Titania, the dryad queen. One by one, sylvans
and druids alike stepped into the grove, and the number grew as more
dryads appeared from the trees.

"We can no longer allow our trees to compete for the healing magic of
the deep earth," she began, addressing the small crowd, as murmurs of
confusion spread.

A second dryad reached out a hand to touch a runic totem that stood
within the grove. "Many totems such as this have been bound to the
forest, reaching as deeply as the roots of our trees, fused to the earth
with the magic of runelore."

A third smiled at the troubled faces that surrounded her. "We are the
trees, and the trees long to stretch their roots unhindered."

As the dryads spoke, Blujixapug knelt upon the forest floor, his palms
pressed to the earth, summoning warm droplets of sparkling rain to
patter down upon his grove.

"Observe the power of Nature's magic," said an Ithmian dryad with
finality, pressing a slender hand to the totem. A soft green pulse
accompanied the motion, and a tendril of pale green sprouted from the
earth, growing quickly to embrace the wooden pillar in a tangle of
vines. Upon a winding tendril a single bud appeared and slowly opened to
reveal an ivory blossom. Finally, as the soothing rain washed over the
surface of the totem, the runes inked upon it slowly disappeared, until
all that remained was a tall wooden stump entangled in vines.

"As we speak, our sisters are performing the same task throughout the
lands," explained the dryad of the Black Forest. "No longer will the
forest earth support the magic of totems."

Dismay clouded the faces of the observers as they realised the powerful
loss their groves had suffered. But the dryads cautioned them not to
worry, offering a gift in return: knowledge of an elemental spell to
harness the light from the heavens, and the powerful secret of the
Viridian heartseed.

Penned by My hand on the 4th of Chronos, in the year 489 AF.