Session 51

Heroes: Ayrin, Azrael, Haurchefant, Kunik

 

Upon their arrival in Garden's orbit, the Conundrum is hailed by a small fleet of pirate ships. The pirates are led by Clive the Fearsome, but they have no aggressive intentions. In fact, they try to recruit the Heroes and their crew to join their fleet. They've suffered greatly at the hands of the Celestian Trading Guild, who seems to want to evict them from Garden.

 

The Heroes decline the offer, but reassure the pirates that they'll do what they can to oppose the Guild. The pirates guide them to the core of Garden, where the Celestians have been sighted most recently. The Conundrum flies through the plants and trunks making up the core, and eventually the Heroes are forced to leave their ship behind when the vegetable tunnels become too narrow.

 

They make their way to a mile-wide cavern made of vegetable matter. The cave is dominated by a column of leaves, vines, and bark, 500 feet wide at the base, raising from the cave's floor and disappearing in its ceiling. Radiant power flows from cracks in the bark, and spreads a powerful light in all the cave. Living at the base of this Tree of Light is a tribe of orcs subservient to Gadreel, guarding the entrance to the tree itself.

 

The Heroes fool the orcs into believing they are sent by Gadreel, and gain access to the tree. Inside the sentient plant, the Heroes must face the creatures living among its roots, and the malign presence of the tree itself, who has recognized them as intruders.