Note: I was sick last week, so I missed the session. This writeup will include my best understanding of what happened while I was out, as well as adding to our new predicament.
CW: Discussion of hanging.
From the journal of Sadun Dorgona:
It has been a hectic day. And apparently also six months? It certainly feels that way. Since my last entry, we burned the inn I had paid to rent for the night, we found the tunnel to the beholders cave, we got incredibly lost inside that tunnel, which turned out to be a large series of caves, and we have killed a lot of bugbears. And several trolls. We survived a cave in and a chest full of poisonous gas. We met a tiefling who says he has been following us around for awhile. We met one of the last rabbit folk of this world, named Poppy. Sort of a quiet, sarcastic type, although I cannot blame them. It is very hard to see in the dark without Fei's magic. The last thing I remember is a fight with yet another group of bugbears who had followed us back to our resting spot by following a trail of blood. It seems someone, and I will not name names, claimed the arm of one of the bugbears in the previous fight but had done nothing to stop the bloody marks it left on the floor behind us. The bugbears had set a trap with barrels of explosive powder. During the ensuing fight, we somehow managed to set one of those barrels alight, and it exploded directly in Cass's face. The flames scorched his dragon egg, and surprisingly the egg then hatched. The newly born dragon, startled at the fight around it, breathed... something on the floor. Now, I know from breathing stuff, and this is not anything I've seen among my whole family or any of my dragonborn friends. The hatchling created a hole in the floor that Cass promptly fell into, and the rest of us followed without thinking.
We found ourselves suddenly in a forest, in the daylight. Fei has been looking around, and she thinks this is the territory of one of the other druids. I think she's gone to try and contact the druid, Squib? I think was the name, while the rest of us take a bit of a rest.
This forest is eerie. There is a breeze rustling the leaves, but I hear no other sounds. No birdsong. No mammals scrounging in the brush. It is almost deathly silent. Fei is coming back, so I'll end this here so I can find out what she's learned.
----------------------------
Fei was talking to a tiny Whistle and Arnick as Sadun approached. Sy sat with a book in her hands on one side, while Cassian stood nearby, cooing at the baby dragon in his arms.
"I spoke with Squin and Parfa both," Fei was saying. "This is Squin's section of forest, and they warned me that there is something here, something strange and powerful that is leaving a trail of decay in its wake. The forest is dangerous, and Squin suggested we leave as soon as we could." Fei looked at her hands for a moment. "Parfa was worried that we had been gone for so long. Apparently it has been six months since the druid's circle we attended."
"But that was only a week ago!" Sadun said, shocked.
"Yes, it seems that whatever that hole was the dragon created, it took us not only away in distance but in time. It is now six months in the future," Fei said. She sounded calm as usual, but Sadun noticed a slight waver in her voice that read to the dragonborn as apprehension.
"How do we get out?" Whistle squeaked.
"I climbed a tree to look around," Fei said. "I think, from what Parfa told me, that I have seen this forest on a map before. There should be a city to the north of here. It may be best to get you there swiftly. There is also smoke from the north, possibly a campfire."
"These are really tall trees," Arnick pointed out. "I've never seen their like before, and I live in a forest!"
"This is the Redwood Forest," Fei explained. "These are the tallest trees in our world, and they grow only here. I know little else about them though, as I have not been here before myself."
"Well, should we head out then?" Sy asked, standing and walking over to the group. "I don't like waiting around, we're the champions! We should be saving the world!"
"I would like a little more time to rest first," Fei said. "I am not yet recovered from our efforts in the caves."
"And then we can get moving? It just feels wrong standing around," Sy said.
"I agree with Sy," Cassian said. "This forest is strange. We should not spend any more time here than we must."
"I think it may be best to get a full rest now, while we are relatively safe," Fei said.
"Wouldn't that leave us traveling at night?" Whistle piped up. "I can't see in the dark! Neither can Sadun."
"And if we ran into trouble it would be more difficult in the dark," Cassian mused. "Why don't we just rest an hour, and then head towards the fire you saw. That way if the people who made the fire are hostile we will have daylight to face them, and if not we can rest in better safety."
With their course of action decided the group split to rest or maintain their weapons on various sides of the clearing. Sadun sat against a tree and closed her eyes. Nearby she overheard Arnick talking to Poppy the rabbit. The barbarian allowed herself a peek at the conversation under half lidded eyes.
"What do you have there?" Arnick asked.
"A letter," the rabbit folk replied.
"That's a lot of letters," Arnick observed.
"Just one letter," Poppy said, collecting the paper and hiding their content from the gnome.
"So where are you from?"
"Well I'm from this world, for starters," Poppy said.
"Why were you in the cave?"
"I was looking for a portal to get to the beholder safely. Obviously I was on the wrong track."
"And you were by yourself?"
"Did you see anyone else?"
"Aren't there more of your kind?"
"There are two, but they are... around," Poppy said guardedly.
"Two? Just two?" Arnick asked.
"Yes. Thanks for rubbing it in."
"I'm sorry, I don't mean to be offensive or anything, but there are only three of you? Three rabbits? I'm sorry but aren't rabbits supposed to... you know, as a forest dweller I've seen rabbits and they sort of..." Arnick realized he was talking to Poppy's retreating back as the rabbit folk walked away to sit elsewhere. "Well, that went poorly," the gnome muttered, turning to work on carving himself a new quarterstaff, and Sadun shut her eyes.
-----------------------
An hour later the Champions walked through the forest, heading north. Fei and Sadun walked in front, with the others following behind.
"I think there may be something dangerous ahead," Fei remarked. "The trees have all be scratched or pierced by something."
"Odd," Cassian said, examining one of the trees. "These marks are healing themselves rather swiftly, don't you think?"
"Let me try," Arnick said, stabbing his knife into another tree. "It's stuck, no wait, I got it," he said, pulling his knife out with a grunt of effort.
"The healing is just something these trees do," Fei explained. "It has been known for a long time, though no-one knows how or why they have this property."
"I think whatever made the marks must be nearby," Sy said, examining several trees in turn. "The wounds are healing swiftly, and the marks are smaller the way we came from. We may be getting close."
"I don't see any tracks," Fei said.
"I think these trees are alive!" Arnick exclaimed, wrenching his knife from a second tree. "This one caught sooner than the other one and I think something is watching me now."
"Lets move on then," Sadun said. "It may be safer near the fire."
"Or we could run into whatever is making these marks," Sy remarked.
The group moved on. As they neared the fire, Sy summoned his cat familiar, Mischief. "Mischief will scout ahead," Sy said to the group as he stroked the cats shabby fur.
"Why does he look so scruffy?" Sadun asked.
Sy shrugged. "He's been out here by himself for six months while we traveled through time? Even familiars can get lost until I call him."
"Let me disguise him," Whistle said. "I can make him blend in better with the underbrush so that he doesn't attract any unwanted attention.
"Very well, but I can always summon him back if he gets hurt," Sy said. "He just goes to another plane of existence if things get to be too much for him."
Whistle set to work with her disguise kit, and soon Mischief was away.
"Ok, he's walking toward the fire," Sy said, narrating what he saw through the cat's eyes. "Oh, that's disturbing."
"What is it?" Fei asked.
"After a short while the trees just started looking dead and decayed. The leaves are all brown and crinkled, and many of the branches are bare. And the undergrowth is largely gone. Wait, Mischief is looking back at us, and it looks decayed as well! Though, I don't see us, that is strange," Sy elaborated. "Mischief is heading closer to the fire now. The ground is getting warped, it's like a series of small hills, but it feels as though the cat is descending. The fire is at the base of all this, and it is surrounded by ooze! The oozes are in different colors, mostly green and grey and yellow, but there is one red one I can see. These things just eat and corrode anything they come in contact with, no wonder it is so decayed here. Oh!" The abyssal elf started. "Mischief almost ran into a gelatinous cube. How did that get behind him? Come back Mischief, before they reach you."
The rest of the group had stood entranced by this narration as it happened, but now shook themselves as the green eyed cat appeared in their midst once more. Sy turned to Fei. "Shouldn't you be more concerned about this whole decayed forest with a magical barrier that keeps us from seeing it?"
"I'm thinking! Give me a moment," Fei said. "Twilight is almost upon us, maybe I can scout the area from the air as an owl."
"Take me too!" Arnick volunteered. "I've never seen an ooze!"
"I too would like to see this from a safe distance," Whistle said. "It could work well in the songs I will write about this if I have a good sense of what these things look like."
"Very well," Fei said, shifting her form into that of a giant owl. Whistle climbed onto her back while Arnick ran to Sadun.
"Sadun! I'm working on a quarter staff, could you take my tools and this stick and keep going while I'm away?"
"Very well," Sadun said, accepting the preferred tools.
Arnick joined Whistle on Fei's feathery back and the owl launched itself into the air, climbing to the tree level and moving in the direction Mischief had gone. Passing the tree Sy had indicated as the beginning of the barrier, the trio saw the same sight of devastation and decay, and smoke billowing from the fire in the near distance. As the owl zigzagged around the area, the spotted the oozes around the fire pit, moving sluggishly.
"Are those heading towards Sadun and the others?" Whistle asked, concerned.
"I think so," Arnick said. "That's strange."
"At a guess, I think they'll reach the others in about three hours, we should get back soon," Whistle said.
"Let me try something first," Arnick said, drawing his bow and firing an arrow at the rearmost ooze. As the arrow loosed, Fei's wing came up and the arrow buried itself in the owl's wingtip.
"Arnick, what are you doing?!" Whistle cried.
"She moved her wing!" Arnick wailed. "I didn't mean it! I'm sorry!"
"Why are you shooting?!"
"I want to see if the oozes react to noise!" the gnome explained, grabbing and pulling the arrow from the owl. "I'm so sorry Fei!" The owl's head turned the full 270° and glared at the gnome before turning back to her flight path.
Fei banked suddenly, and Arnick saw she was avoiding a suddenly flying piece of red slime. The owl shuddered as several bolts of force slammed into her as the slime dropped back to the ground.
"Did that thing just shoot us?" Arnick exclaimed.
"That was a magic missile!" Whistle shouted. "How does a slime cast magic?"
On the ground, the slime splatted as it hit, then quickly reformed and launched back into the air, while another ooze attempted to jump as well, though it achieved less height than the red one. Fei turned swiftly, flying evasively around and avoiding the airborne ooze, then quickly heading back to the rest of the party.
"Whew, that was close," Arnick muttered.
----------------------
All was quiet in the trees. Cassian had settled down and was polishing his shield using one of the potions he had found in Sorzen's tower. Sy sat nearby, reading a journal Arnick had given her. "Did you know Sorzen didn't refer to himself as a kobold?" Sy asked.
"How would I know that?" Cassian asked, not looking up from his work.
"Oh right. I'm just reading this first journal of his," Sy said. "He refers to himself as a dragonling when he sets out on his first quest, and he hopes to be granted wings if Tiamat wills it." The horned elf paused. "Odd, Tiamat is not usually known for being generous. But maybe this world's Tiamat is different." She continued reading. "Oh wait, a few entries later, Sorzen says 'maybe Tiamat is not the best option.' So he must have found something out."
"That's great," Cassian said, admiring the mirror finish on his shield. Touching the surface, tiny ripples echo away from his finger in the shield's face, despite the whole thing remaining absolutely solid.
Nearby, Sadun sat with Arnick's staff, working on whittling it away into a good shape for combat. As she worked, she began to feel as though someone were watching her. She glanced up at Sy and Cassian, still lost in their own conversation, then looked around carefully. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a rope tied into a noose, dangling from a tree. When she looked closer, it was gone. But another tree seemed to sprout one nearby. Unnerved, Sadun stopped carving the staff and slowly stood up. Continuing to look around, she could never catch one of the nooses in the center of her vision.
"Is anyone else seeing this?" the dragonborn began to say, when the scouting party returned. Whistle jumped off of Fei immediately upon landing and began looking around.
Arnick jumped off a moment later. "We need to get out of here!" the gnome said urgently. "We should run, probably back where we came from, look for an exit elsewhere."
"Why are we running away?" Cassian asked, standing as well.
"The slimes! They're coming toward us and they can jump!" Arnick said, clearly upset. "And one of them cast magic at Fei!"
"Oozes can't do that," Sy said. "Unless they're lead by a special ooze. That one ooze can lend special intelligence to the oozes around it."
"There is the one red ooze," Whistle said. "What if I cast the tiny hut right here?"
"The red one was the one that jumped!" Arnick said. "I bet that's the special one!"
"But these special ones are very rare, what is it doing here?" Sy wondered.
"Should we move on then?" Cassian asked.
"Or we could rest in the safe hut," Whistle pointed out.
"I appreciate we will need a full rest before we get into another fight," Cassian said, "but I do not want to wake up covered in ooze."
With her owl head cocked to one side, Fei strutted back towards the barrier line and took flight again, ignoring the party's argument.
"I think Fei has an idea," Arnick said, noticing the owl. "I'm going to go check on her."
--------------------
Arnick followed Fei back to the line between the decay and the non-decay. As Fei's owl form crossed the barrier, she vanished from Arnick's sight. Arnick followed through the barrier, and watched as Fei launched herself into the air. As she passed the topmost branch of the decaying trees, she again vanished from Arnick's sight.
"Well, that's uncomfortable," the gnome remarked. He turned to return to the party and stopped short with a yelp. A giant cube of gelatinous material blocked his path. "That was close," Arnick breathed, slowly moving around the cube before darting back through the barrier. Once he had passed back into the sight of living trees, Arnick dashed back to the party as swiftly as his legs would carry him.
"Cubes!" he shouted, breaking up the group's discussion. "Huge, gelatinous cubes!"
"You encountered a monster," Whistle noted.
"Yeah, yeah, just hadn't seen one up close before. I almost walked into it," Arnick said, calming down. "Also, I think the barrier between us and the decay is getting closer, I think Fei and I passed through sooner than I'd expected from before."
"How much closer?" Whistle asked.
"Not too much, I'll show you." The group followed Arnick to the barrier. "See? It used to be one the north side of this tree, but now it's about a quarter of the way across," the gnome said, poking his hand through the barrier and quickly pulling it back.
"Well, the oozes were coming this way," Whistle said. "Maybe they're pushing the barrier as they go. Good thing they aren't moving very fast."
"Let's go back to where we were chatting before," Sadun suggested. "Just to be safe."
"And I think the barrier is a giant cube itself! Not to be confused with a gelatinous cube," Arnick said, as they walked back to the clearing they had been in. "I saw Fei fly up and she disappeared again as she left the trees."
The sound of wings heralded Fei's return. The owl landed and began shifting back into her human form. "I flew a fair way over the treelike," she said as soon as she could speak again. "I heard Arnick's supposition, and can confirm that the barrier is a large cube, seemingly surrounding the decay and the ooze. Almost hiding it from view. Once I got high enough, I also saw the city to the north of us, still a fair distance away. I also noticed the forest's hydra over to the east. It is sort of a resident guardian, similar to the leviathan in the lake we saw before. And to the southwest, I saw a large treant moving this way. We may be able to ally with it against this obvious threat to the forest."
"What is a treant?" Cassian asked.
Fei gave the half-orc a blank look. "It's a tree," she said slowly. "That's alive? That's not the right way to say it. It is a sentient tree. We can talk to it, and it can move. They protect the forest!" She cleared her throat. "I also saw nooses in the trees when I looked back this way."
"Should we skirt around the decayed section?" Cassian asked.
"We could," Fei said, hesitating. "But it would be difficult. Besides, I would prefer to deal with this now, before we leave. This is the only forest of Redwoods in the world, I would not leave it to the oozes destroying it."
"Didn't you say the treant thing protects the forest?" Cassian asked. "Why don't we ask it for help?"
"We could do that," Fei said. "They are reluctant to help our kind, and do not show it anything made of wood when we meet it, but that is a good idea."
"Did you say a noose?" Sadun interrupted. "I've been seeing them out of the corner of my eye, but when I try to focus on them, they disappear."
"Oh, you know what I see them too," Cassian said. "They seem to appear near Sadun and Arnick, and they look to be part of the tree."
"Oh, no, the trees don't like me," Arnick said.
"You did stab them," Sy pointed out. "But what did Sadun do?"
"Where did you get the wood for this quarterstaff Arnick?" Sadun asked.
"Oh, in this forest," Arnick replied.
"And I've been carving it," Sadun said in conclusion.
"Would it be alright if I took this quarterstaff and used it to defend the forest?" Arnick asked the trees in general. "That didn't help, I still feel like I'm being watched." He thought a moment. "Well, I suppose it is only right to give the staff back to the wood." The gnome walked up to one of the trees, and lay the staff down by the roots. "I am sorry, please accept my apology." Arnick returned to the party, and looked back. The staff was gone.
"The nooses near Arnick are higher," Cassian mentioned, "but there's still one close to Sadun. You may want to apologize too."
Sadun thought a moment, then walked to a tree. She pulled a javelin from her back and laid it by the roots the way Arnick had done. "I am sorry, I was carving a staff for my friend, and did not realize it was so important to you. Please accept my apology." The javelin disappeared into the earth. A moment later, the metal tip popped out. Cassian quickly retrieved the tip.
"I think that worked," the half-orc remarked, looking up at Sadun. "The noose is further away from you now, though the trees might still be wary of both of you."
"Why is this forest like that?" Sy asked, turning to Fei. "This hasn't been an issue before, has it?"
"This forest is special," Fei explained. "Most forests are protected only by their region's druid. This forest is also protected by the treats, and the Redwoods themselves have their own form of sentience that most trees do not. And while druids value nature and the land, we still tend to have the attitude that in order to do our work we need tools. So we might take a fallen tree and turn it into a boat, or carve a spear from a dead branch. But the trees and treants here, they see those as their fallen siblings, and lost limbs. It would be like grave robbing in their eyes. So be careful when we meet this treant, please."
-------------------
The party followed Fei in the direction of the treant. The evening twilight filtered down in a red haze from the treetops far above. The forest remained unnervingly quiet, save for the adventurer's footfalls.
"Are the nooses still there?" Sadun whispered to Sy as they walked.
"Yes," Sy whispered back. "Still only over you and Arnick. But they are higher up than before, and I think they're going higher as we walk."
"I hope that is a good sign," Sadun said.
There was not a lot of talk as they proceeded. It was hard to chatter in the silent forest, almost as though making a sound would disturb a sleeping presence.
Soon, Fei motioned for a halt. "I believe the treant is just ahead," she said.
"Why don't you leave all your wooden stuff here with me," Sadun suggested. "I'll keep it out of sight while you talk to the tree."
"I'll stay behind as well," Whistle said. "I'll make the tiny hut here, and when you're done talking there we can have a good proper rest. And the wooden stuff will all be in the hut, so there's no worry about anything seeing it."
Fei nodded her approval of the plan, and Whistle conjured her hut around the group.
"I'm going to start my rest now," Sadun said, laying her bedroll on the floor and sitting on it. "But I can hold the weapons on top of me."
"Let's lay stuff on top of any spare cloaks or robes we have," Sy suggested, piling all the books from her pack onto a spare cloak from her bag.
"The last thing I want to say before we go," Fei said, "is that I am not sure if those nooses are the treant's doing or something else in the forest. Possibly it is the trees themselves."
"I think that's true, I have heard stories of people who went into the woods and set camp, and were later found hanged from the trees nearby," Whistle said.
"Oh, if you lose this or break it, I will kill you myself," Fei said. "It is very valuable." She removed her mask and handed it to Whistle. Long black hair flowed around her shoulders.
"I've never seen you without your mask on," Whistle said, laying the mask and attached wolf pelt on Sadun. "We'll keep it safe."
As the rest of the party left, Whistle began singing a primordial lullaby to Sadun's closing eyes.
---------------------
Leaving the hut behind, Fei lead the remaining adventurers a short distance away. The redwoods stretched seemingly endlessly towards the sky around them as the light began to fade. Fei stopped, and pointed at one of the trees. "This is it," she said to the others.
"Are you sure it's not this other one?" Sy asked.
Fei ignored the elf. "May I ask your name?" the druid asked in the sylvan tongue of the trees.
A deep rumble sounded from the tree. Sy and Fei heard the word "No" in that rumble.
"I apologize," Fei said. "I should introduce myself first. I am called Fei. I am a druid of the moon. I take it you know Squib?"
The rumbling returned. "Yes," the treant replied. "We have spoken on many occasions."
"It seems like Squib is away right now," Fei said. "And there is a problem afflicting the forest. I would like to attempt to help take care of the problem."
"Finally, someone to help with this blight," the treant said. "You know of this problem, but do you know how to solve it?"
"I know where it is," Fei allowed, "but we could use more information if you have any."
"From what the druid Squib tells me, nobody knows what it is exactly," the treant said. "You may have the most information if you have seen it."
"Have you been able to communicate with the other trees in the area?" Fei asked.
"No, no-one has seen anything. We will just occasionally see an area of forest disappear into decay."
"Ah, we have just come from one such area a little way north of here. Do you know what oozes are?" Fei asked.
"Oozes," the tree growled. With a cracking noise huge arms emerged from the sides of the tree, and crashed together. "They haven't existed in ages, and even then mostly they stayed underground."
"Well," Fei said, "if they had been underground they are now above it."
"What are they doing in the forest?" The treant pondered. "Well, oozes should not be much trouble, so long as there is no red ooze."
"I am no expert in oozes," Fei said. "I've never run into them before in fact. What is special about the red ooze?"
"The red one gives other oozes near it its own protective magic. They seem to learn from each other when a red ooze is around, even jumping around. They almost organize into something like an army."
"I am working with these people," Fei said, indicating the others. "I am hoping that with their help we can drive the oozes back." Fei turned and began speaking in common so the others could understand. "This is Sy, this is Cass, and this is Arnick."
"It is nice to meet you!" Arnick said.
"Ah yes," the treant rumbled. "The one who stole the branch."
"He was unaware it would offend you," Fei said swiftly, switching back to Sylvan. "He is apologetic."
"Well, it is a gnome," the treant said. "They can be annoying."
"I have seen many things," Cassian said in awe. "But this is one of the most amazing."
"I cannot say the same," the treant remarked.
"They cannot understand you," Fei said.
"Probably for the best," the treant sighed. "It sounds from your questions like the red ooze has returned. If there is, there is little I can do to help. They simply eat through any wood that goes through them."
"Is there any magical things you can do to help us?" Fei asked.
"No. The best you can do is attempt to separate the red one from the rest. Make it fall under the earth, that is how we trapped it last time. Underneath this forest there is a system of caves. Use that to your advantage."
"Are those caves natural?" Fei asked.
"They were once made by the rat people, but ever since the beholders, the rats have disappeared."
"Do you know of anything we should be aware of if we can get the ooze into those caves?" Fei asked.
The treant paused a long moment, thinking. "The ooze must have eaten its way up now that the rats are no longer around to keep it in check."
"Do you know if there is a means to kill the red ooze?"
"The ratfolk used the oozes to mine faster down there, and apparently they thought the slime tasted delicious. I do not understand the likes of such beings. Because of that, nobody has attempted to kill the red ooze before. But I do know that the ratfolk trapped it before by tunneling up under where they thought it was."
"Are there effective ways to fight them directly?" Fei said, furiously thinking of any possible information she could gleam to give the group an advantage.
"Hit them with hard things. We saw the rats cut them in half, but then you just have two slimes. Of course they may be more manageable when they are smaller. And magical attacks are useful. I also know the red one cannot stop eating, so if you could isolate it, it might eat itself back underground. That one took me a thousand years to work out." The treant sounded proud at that revelation.
"What if we lifted it in the air? Would it starve?" Fei asked.
"I've never thought about it, but it may be worth a try."
"Have you asked about the hydra?" Cassian mentioned behind Fei.
"Oh yes," Fei said, translating the question into Sylvan. "Have you heard about the hydra?"
"Oh yes, the hydra is being terrible as usual. It thinks it can just crash around, hurting MY trees, just because it's lost! The nerve," the treant said, clearly upset.
"But why is the hydra here?" Fei asked. "I thought Squib said it was supposed to be elsewhere."
"The beholder chased it here. Oh sure, the hydra said the beholder was kind, but the people up there are cutting down more trees than ever before so I don't believe that."
"Well, perhaps we could have Squib talk to the hydra. Once we take care of the oozes, we could help it get its territory back."
"Just be careful with your words. That hydra only gives you one chance to convince it of anything. If you say the wrong thing, it will eat you straight away."
"Well, I thank you for your help," Fei said. She turned back to the others. "I think we have enough to form a plan to fight the slimes," she explained in common. "And the treant does know about the hydra at least. Is there anything else?"
"Ask if they know anything about dragons!" Cassian called.
"Oh, yes," Fei faced the treant again, switching once more to Sylvan speak. "Do you know anything about dragons?"
"Dragons?" the treant repeated. "Why should you ask about them? There have not been any dragons for decades. They stopped populating when the beholders came. I do miss them. Well, the ones that didn't like fire, I miss them."
"I can understand that," Fei said, reassuringly.
"But I do miss them. They were much better conversationalists than anyone recently. Certainly better than that hydra."
"Was there a dragon civilization once?" Cassian asked, once Fei had related the gist of the treants words.
"Oh, once long ago," the treant said as Fei translated the question. "There were dragons of different colors, and they split the world into regions and had a vast civilization. But that is long gone now."
"Is there anything else we could help you with after the oozes?" Fei asked.
"Well, if you could fell the beholder, that would be appreciated. As long as we're wishing for unlikely things," it added that last in what could almost be a sarcastic tone.
"I thought the beholder lived by the human city," Fei said.
"It does, but it commands the humans, and since it came they have been cutting down so much of the forest," the treant explained again.
"Ah, yes. Well, I believe we shall leave you be. We have preparation to do before we attempt to remove the threat of the ooze," Fei concluded. "One last thing, could you grant us protection while we rest?"
"Very well," the treant said, waving its hand over the group. "You have the forest's blessing to rest this night. You will come to no harm from the trees. For now."
"My thanks," Fei said, bowing her head. "Come," she said to the rest of the group. "We have the forest's blessing to stay this night. Let's repair to our shelter. In the morning we shall face the ooze."
TO BE CONTINUED
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