The Cleansing of Moon Willow Forest

A roleplay transcript by Rhea, Rhodan and Etain

Rhea was a water nymph, not a flower, but the Anthousai never let her leave the Hollow without at least one blossom on her head. "So that we're always with you." They'd said. Her homebound sisters had kissed herself and the Queen good-luck on their mission. It wasn't likely to be a dangerous one, but that didn't mean it would be easy. 

The Naiad didn't say much on their journey. The two Nymphai met the wizard at the dock before Rhea lead the way to the afflicted area. Her lips parted in a gasp of dismay. The fiery rend in the earth was new since the last time she visited. It was so much worse than a few sickly thorns... She didn't even need to touch the fractured stone around the scar to sense the curse. "It's already strengthening."

Rhodan Fishbottoms was silent during most of their journey. His apprentice, Coraline had filled him in on what she knew about the afflicted area, both her nymph intuition and the knowledge he imparted on her giving her valuable insights that he was now mulling over. During their short trek through the forest, he observed the trees, the grass, the birdsong and the way the branches waved in the gentle breeze. Something was indeed affection the forest, subtly spreading its tendrils than the cursed area would probably imply.

When they arrived at the site, it was already far worse than Coraline had described to him. The thorns already burnt away by a gaping fiery wound on the very soil itself. "What the carp happened here?" he muttered, rapidly tapping his crystals, trying to make sense of the things they were trying to tell them. "Queen Moonflower, have you seen anything like this before? This is pretty bad."

Etain Moonflower had looped her arm through Rhea’s as they walked together to the place of affliction. She heard her sister’s gasp, and her lips moved into a fine line. She patted the little nymph’s hand a moment before releasing it. Her gaze moved over the area, her focus mostly concentrating on the disrupted ground at their feet. There was a large gaping wound near the shoreline, and foreign brambles that did not belong in this particular habitat. New growth was seen, some unfamiliar seedlings. She felt a jolt in her very core when her eyes landed on the spindly sprouts. The nymph deeply frowned and answered the High Wizard’s question, “No,” she said with a worrisome sigh. It wasn’t often that a look of displeasure crossed her features, but these circumstances were dire, this scene before them, devastating. She inhaled deeply, rolling her shoulders back as she placed hands on hips and started to cautiously walk the area. The Anthousai knelt down toward the grasses that looked healthy, and gingerly fluttered her fingertips over the sharp, green blades. “Master Rhodan, sister,  before we take any action let us see what words our fellow fae are willing to share. I need a moment to commune with the plant life here.” She rose from where she knelt and looked to them. “I would like to know what they have gleaned from their experience, and that of their neighboring nature spirits, over the past few days. Will this suit you?”

Rhea was a little reluctant to release Etain that she might investigate more closely, but she did so nonetheless. She watched the graceful flower Queen step around the accursed ground with rapt attention. Concerned, yes, but also studious; if there was anything she could learn from the other nymph's actions she meant to do so. "Of course." She said softly as her sister stated her intent. "That sounds wise to me."

"Be my guest," Rhodan Fishbottoms mumbles absentmindedly, having fished a small notebook out of his pocket and scribbling on it furiously, glancing at the crystals and the fiery rift while trying to make sense of the data they give him. "Does this thing have anything to do with the snake mage that has been sighted in the city recently?" he asks nobody in particular while circling one of the results of his calculations.. Perhaps Rhea knew more, as he had been told she and Coraline were alerted to the afflicted site by one Ezran, a local fae.

Etain Moonflower nodded and lowered herself to the ground to sit by the wild grasses. She breathed in deeply, closing her eyes as she released a pheromone into the air. She wanted to reach out to them, to let them know she and her companions meant no harm. That they were there to aid them in this time of need. Periodically, she would nod and run her finger along the ground as she listened to what they had to say. When they had imparted all that they possibly could, she smiled. It was forlorn and distant, but to be able to converse with her fellow plant was an honor. “Thank you,” she offered in brief parting. “I will start collecting now,” she said more to herself than her plant friends. “Rhea, Master Rhodan,” she started as she stood, noticing her petal garment beginning to wilt from the heat of the scar.

“The brambles have begun to manifest into another species. One I am not familiar with.” Etain Moonflower eyed the ghastly sprouts, her gaze narrowing in distaste. “They tell me this began when a snake creature and female mage were here a few days past. The flora agreed they all felt the disturbance as soon as the snake’s staff slammed into the ground, and it was at this point in which the infection of the soil started to spread.

Etain Moonflower cleared her throat and continued, ”And this great crack, this was created by the forest itself in an attempt to cut off the spread of infection, if only temporarily.“ She looked to them both, her gaze intense and searching. “But these brambles, their roots grow deep and reach. They have begun to suffocate other plant life. This new substance in the earth has started to take hold and has been priming to grow as an invasive weed in an attempt to take over the forest.

Rhea had not expected fire to be the form the spread took. It wasn't something she had sensed within the curse, and she wondered if perhaps she had been mistaken somehow, had overestimated her abilities. Etain's explanation made sense. Of course the forest would have methods of protecting itself. Such a powerful foe could not have been predicted, but she felt a kind of admiration for the magical place's quick thinking. Her fingertips brushed the tops of the taller grasses as if telling Moon Willow itself 'good job'. She didn't have Etain's ability to communicate with flora, though.

"That fits the description of the confrontation that the Lady Silmariel gave to Lyrena. Um, the Dame Commander. She expressed her suspicion that the staff was what laid the curse upon the ground, but she seemed to think it could not be very dangerous and would be a simple matter to remove." She paused. "Perhaps when you have so great a power, something like this seems petty. But in time the whole of this place would be lost. I felt it. It's made to grow." Her liquid eyes looked between her betters. "What should we do?"

Rhodan Fishbottoms snorts derisively at the mention of Silmariel. "Of course she would think that. Removing the magic here is right up her alley. And then she would completely forget to take care of the invasive species the curse invited along with it and before you know it the entire forest would be erupting in foreign weeds and more foul magic." He shakes his head and tears a page from his notebook, pressing it against one of it crystals where it promptly incinerated in a little blue flash, its contents now contained in the gemstone. "No, this needs a joint effort. We need to purge both the magic and the weeds at the same time, over a longer period." He looks over to both nymphs, assessing their strength and abilities. "And we must do it now."

Etain Moonflower nodded to the quick-witted nymph, her eyes softening as she listened to her sister’s accounts. Rhea was certainly intune with nature, and this pleased her so. She turned to regard the High Wizard, her gaze sparkling by the flames licking out of the crevice before them. “Precisely, Master Rhodan.” She reached in the pouch at her hip for some tools, and was careful to keep her tone mild, “Yes, Moon Willow would be no more given time.” She was unable to hide the venom in her eyes at that point when she slid her glance in their direction before returning them to the work at hand. She collected a bit of the tainted soil. “Absolute destruction of the forest and, undoubtedly, the beings dwelling within. Without Moon Willow’s natural habitat of healthy plants,” she blinked, lashes fluttering as she went on to explain, “the very plants that provide oxygen to the beings within so they may breathe and exist in this forest, life as we know it here and now would cease. The plants provide food for them to consume, they regulate water by pulling it from the soil and through the roots of plants and out through the atmosphere. Medicine for ailments, and they help protect the climate by storing excess carbon from the air.” She took a pause to let these things sink in and put the soil in her pouch for safe keeping.

She then stood and cut away a sampling of the bramble, and of the sprout with its spindly roots. “This new species has been stifling the natural plants of the area and spreading, so that Moon Willow will soon have none of these things.” She stood, pocketing those items too. “I hope you can analyze and determine what needs to be done about this dark magic, High Wizard,” her tone detached but not unfriendly. “My sister Rhea can further bless the soil once the poison has been stopped, and we can begin healing.”

Rhea listened. While she did not have the intimate and extensive knowledge her sister did of the exact role of flora in the delicate balance of life, the description confirmed what she had initially sensed. A curse that would spread to every creature of the forest, beginning with the plants.

"Yes." She agreed in regards to the blessing. "I've brought water from the Hollow to use as a focus to cleanse the soil, and a few other things that Coraline sent along." She looked to Rhodan. "If there's any other way I can be of help, you've only to say so." A surface look at the Naiad found nothing special... Well, no more special than expected for one of the Nymphai. A pretty creature, unarmed and unarmored and carrying no more than a few components for a purification rite. An actual mystical effort to read her strength, however, found a shockingly deep well of potent magical energy... More in line with something ancient, the kind of creature that could be sitting on a throne in the Feywild rather than peering worriedly back at the wizard.

Rhodan Fishbottoms gave the worried Rhea a knowing wink, grinning. "Between the three of us, we probably have enough power to recreate this entire forest from scratch," he joked, though he is probably well aware just how close his silly statements are to the truth. "Well then, let's get started, shall we?" He looked around and picked up a sturdy looking branch, shoving it  into the soil next to one of the larger crystals that dots the forest and began to push, uprooting the large gem until it tumbled onto the infected soil. He swam closer to it, making sure to hover far enough above the ground so his fin would not touch the thorns and pulled the oblong crystal upright, keeping it balanced.

"Right, I will progr- instruct this crystal to begin siphoning all the vile magic from this place. It should draw everything in from the edges inwards and contain it within itself. Etain, I need you to find a solution to the invasive species. Rhea, you cleanse the soil and waters at the wound as much as you can." He gestured to his floating crystals, some of them following his hand and beginning to orbit the larger crystal, small beams of light etching into its surface. "This might take a while, and we need to find a way to get rid of the actual magic as well, this crystal can probably hold it all, but not contain it. We need a vessel... Something living."

Etain Moonflower nodded as she listened to the wizard’s explanation, watching the crystal display curiously. “If it can syphon dark magic,” she stated, playing in her mind a few ideas, “Rhea and I can grow a host that envelops the crystals holding the trapped magic within. We can then transplant it safely away from the forest when it is ready.” She looked to her sister then and nodded as she withdrew her sharp blade, handing it to her. “Would you cut off the strongest looking branch you can find in a nearby unaffected tree? The branch itself does not need to be thick, but it does need to be at least six inches in length.” She smiled at the red-maned nymph and knelt down, settling into a curled position with her knees bent over her ankles as she balanced herself on the balls of her feet. She released more pheromones into the air, this time to repel the targeted offending species, causing them alarm and driving them back. They started turning light in color, their texture brittle and then broke off to lay discarded on the ground. It would take days before the roots would be impacted, but they would respond and die out. “The ground is ready for you to sink in your crystal if you planned for it,” Etain said as she withdrew a container of willow tea with a bit of honey and placed it on the ground, waiting for Rhea to return with the tree cutting.

Rhea laughed. She didn't disagree, but she assumed it would be Rhodan and Etain doing all the work if it came to a revivification of the entire wood. She also really didn't want that to be necessary. Time to get to work! The Naiad hesitated slightly when Rhodan mentioned the more permanent containment vessel needed to be alive. Her vivid eyes met his. "Is that not cruel, to place a curse inside a living creature?" Her brow furrowed in preemptive empathy. She looked to her Queen as she spoke of growing something explicitly for that purpose. "And it won't... Suffer? Because it will be made for this task?" Her tone was hopeful. 

Whatever the answer she was already following instructions. The blade slid through an appropriate branch with finely-honed ease. She handed off the cutting and returned the tool to Etain before bending over and fiddling with the strings of the pouch at her ankle. 

A tiny bottle not terribly unlike the one already tied to her jewelry was held betwixt her fingers when she stood upright again, as well as a few other items held in the palm of her opposite hand. Grains of salt, a few quartz fragments, a bit of reflective glass left under the light of the moon. Objects that represented purification.

Rhodan Fishbottoms pressed down on the crystal with both hands, trying to push into the dried, cursed soil. He eventually resorts to twisting it side to side and even jumping on it with his tail before the large gemstone finally sits deep enough to stay upright on its own. "I doubt it would suffer, or even be aware of what suffering is," he replied to Rhea, already assuming that the branch would be the vessel." He checked the crystal for stability, then ran his fingers along its edges to check the invisible inscriptions that would make it attract the invasive magic into itself. With a small tap on the very tip of the gem, a deep purple hue began to swirl within, beating gentle as if growing. "I once had a golem confide to me that there was something infinitely peaceful about knowing one's exact purpose in life," he adds casually, "Though having golems start confiding things to you sadly means they have been around for a bit too long. Can't have them become too aware and lose their peace."  He sounded a bit sad with that last statement, straightening up from the now active crystal and slowly floating back to rejoin the nymphs, keeping his eyes fixed on the gem.

“Exactly that, my sweet sister,” was Etain's response. “it is for the greater good, but we will make sure it grows healthy and as happy as it can be in a safe part of the Hollow.” Etain Moonflower took the cutting and blade with a “thank you”, working to strip the leaves, and rough up the branch. “A private facet, sister,” she amended. “One that is not frequented by others; only a select few.” She dipped the end of the branch into the herbed tea made of willow and honey collected from Moonflower Hollow, and then reached behind her back to retrieve the small trowel from one of the pouches at her hip. She dug a small hole and planted the cutting into the ground. “What Master Rhodan says is true about knowing its purpose,” she said, smiling softly to Rhea. “This tree will have peace in knowing she has been instrumental in saving the forest and thus will stand strong.” She then moved away, making her way back to the dead flowers that once bloomed so lovely in the forest’s floor. With a heavy heart, she cradled them in her hands and extracted their seeds.

Etain Moonflower turned her gaze over the plants that were still healthy and who had shared with her their knowledge of the most recent, devastating events. The nymph queen then did beckon to the plants of the wild, calling upon them for their aid. Their plant essences materialized into physical forms, standing before the group as humanoids with plant-like skin. Some builds were slight, some lanky, some henched, and some willowy. Petals or vines or leaves for hair, some with glowing orbs for eyes, and some with tails tipped in their associated plant spirit.

“Go, please,” she commanded softly once she handed each a pinch of seeds when they came to her with outstretched hands. “Return to me when you have spread them about the bare, forest floor.”

Rhea seemed mollified by the assurances of the other two that the future tree wasn't going to experience any kind of pain for containing the curse. Branches breaking, cold and heat - nature had those things, it wasn't anything new. A curse was something else. Something magic. Her tender heart had worried. "There can be power in the bark and leaves of a curse-carrier plant too, I would guess. Venom for anti-venom. It may be she can help us at some future time as well..." She trailed off, watching the displays of power before her in respectful silence until she recalled that she yet had her own part to play. The sooner it was done, the better.

The Naiad knelt in the exposed earth near the wound. Oddly her dress seemed unspoiled by the dirt, though her feet and knees were not. She emptied the bottle of Hollow water into the soil. She envisioned the little trickle of water as a cleansing flood washing over the infected area, reached out for the natural moisture the soil already held to bolster her magic. The fingers of her free hand dug in. She couldn't taste the poison as her part-elven sister had, but with the help of the water she could *feel* it the way she had the curse. Her eyes closed. She focused as hard as she could on it, on washing it away. She ground the other components together, felt them imprint themselves into her palm. Felt the glass nick her flesh, and let her shimmering blood mix with it all. She felt a welling in her heart similar to that she felt when she used her healing tears. The pressure built in her heart until she felt it would burst, and then it did.

It started to rain; but in an extremely localized way. The glittering droplets pattered onto the infected earth and wherever it met poison it was cleansed. The longer the water fell, the stronger the purification effect became. It wouldn't be long before all was as before.

Rhodan Fishbottoms watched in silence as the Naiad made it rain, the pure droplets hitting the crystal he just planted, sizzling as they touched its surface and briefly caused the purple cloud within to shy away from where they had struck. The combined magics of the three of them were definitely potent enough for the task, especially if they kept a close eye on their progress and adjusted where needed. He was rather interested in the mysterious plant-people that appeared at Etain's summoning, similar but the opposite of golems. Life brought form rather than form brought life. He watched the willowy cutting planted next to the crystal, barely standing upright but the very fact it was standing at all clear evidence of its strength.  He felt they did good work today, but he worried that whatever caused this in the first place could mean more trouble later on.

Etain Moonflower turned her face up to welcome the rain. “Beautiful,” she quietly said and then nodded, stepping closer to her sister as she spoke, “Yes, Rhea,” she said as she turned to watch for any of the returning plant creatures. “We have taken infected soil, sapling, and bramble cuttings to study these things over time. We will watch their progress.” She looked to her then, “You are welcome to accompany me when I visit if you wish.” When the plant forms returned, she thanked them and bade them farewell with a sadness in her eyes. “We have done well here today,” she said to those gathered around. “Thank you, my friends,” she offered as her gaze flitted over the beguiled blooms who stood ready for her next instruction. “Please return to your earth and rest. Your home will be your own soon.” All but one returned and took a knee in front of Etain. The summoned forms of the others flickered gently before they completely disappeared. “Might I stay with you and pledge to you my aid? Where there is one such devastation, there could be more if this snake menace, or similar magicks to it, still exists," the plant creature said.

Etain Moonflower inclined her head, considering the words of the wild rose before her. “Yes,” she said with reverence, and placed her hand on the shoulder of the plant. “Join us, Wild Rose.”

Rhea did not need to focus so much anymore. The rain would fall until its duty was done. For a moment she simply was, thoughts quiet and body speaking. Her hand hurt. She almost never tired or hungered but she did then after such unpracticed arcane exertion. Her hair floated about her shoulders, temporarily obscured her face, unweighted by the cleansing downpour. Etain's words made her look up and smile. "I'd like that. To check on her. I'm no Anthousai, but we are linked, aren't we? Water nourishes soil and roots, and plants help to cleanse fresh water. Thank you." 

The offer of fealty from the one called Wild Rose made her heart skip a beat. Ah, another new friend in the Hollow! Another ally in the defense of the realm! The Naiad returned the empty bottle to her pouch and then rose to her feet, holding her palm outstretched to let the rain wash the spent components away. "It was an honor to join you both in this." She said softly. "Don't hesitate to call upon me if I can be of further help. In this, or anything."

Rhodan Fishbottoms strokes his chin thoughtfully as he studies Wild Rose. "One would wonder why a plant would take the form of humanoid beauty. And if this beauty is universal, why are sows and hens not beautiful to us?" With that, he offers Rhea a hand to help her stand up and prepares to leave the forest and let it recover.