An Audience with Melandru

At the heart of Melandru's Grove, there is a statue of Melandru that is rarely visited. One night, as the party is in the guildhall, a wicked flare is seen above the lake. The next morning, they see that the stream from the lake has turned from its normal crystal clear water to dark green. Upon reaching the lake, they see the statue has been corrupted by some force, as the trees nearest the lake have turned from their regular verdant green to a pale gray... with the wood turned... white?

A nature check reveals where they've seen these kinds of trees before... The Grove of Bones.

"Sad isn't it..." a humanoid figure steps out from the trees. A sorrowful being stands before them, with pale blue skin and features almost elven. An elf, ranger, or druid recognize, or at least rationalize that before them stands a Druid.

"Melandru.... the mother weeps. Brave adventurers, I beseech thee, wouldst thou help free this place from the wicked grasp that drags it to ruin?"

"Then come now, adventurers, I shall open a portal to the Feywild, that we may cleanse the evil there."

She prays to the statue, beseeching the goddess to open the way for them. As she does so, a green light begins to swirl around the party, after a few seconds, they find themselves standing in another forest, this one much more corrupted than the grove. As they come to, undead creatures rush them. Once the dust has settled from the fight, Autumn calls out "Mother, where art thou. What being has caused this?" The wind rushes past, a whisper "above." As they see a pale dragon-like figure, its wings without web, its bones without flesh. In its mouth is a large humanoid, Brown skin, with leaf-like hair and tattered branches for wings.

If any of them know anything of Tyria, they know this to be Rotscale, Khilbron's Dragon. And in his mouth, is the goddess, Melandru.

NOTE: BE VERY CAREFUL TO NOT NUKE THE PARTY WITH THE DRACOLICH!!! (unless they ask for it)

"oh no.... no no no no no..."

The dragon passes by, seemingly without noticing you.

Autumn tells the party that they cannot hope to fight him, but they need to cast him out.

Autumn calls out to Melandru for aid once more. "I can cast out the beast, child, but I am yet weak. I ask thee, wilt thou lend thy aid? Then seek the Dream Flowers. By nourishing them, my strength I will receive."

The Dream Flowers

At 4 corners of the woods lie great flower buds. Spring to the west, Summer to the north, Autumn to the east, and Winter to the south. As they open each of the flowers, a druid emerges, save the Autumn one, for obvious reasons.

Fall

The party begins in the autumn woods. Autumn leads them deeper a short way, finding a large flower, riddled with holes and beginning to wilt. Autumn jumps into the middle of the flower and begins an aria. The party watches as the flower mends and heals, and Autumn's pale skin begins to turn pink, her hair and clothes orange.

Spring

The trees to the west appear budding anew, though some appear singed, as though a small fire had caught hold, but extinguished before too much damage was done. The Spring Flower is yet a pale bud, still growing to bloom. Autumn begins to sing to the bud, as its growth accelerates. But as she begins singing, the dracolich swoops overhead, and from his claws drops a small army of undead. The party must defend her, lest the ritual be interrupted and the flower lost. After 2 rounds, the ritual completes, and the flower begins to bloom. Autumn then joins the fight against the undead. Once the fight is over, Autumn turns back to the flower, as the petals part, to Autumn's confusion, nothing emerges. From one of the nearby trees, a Familiar Face calls out "Looking for someone?" Though it is clearly the druid from your base, he appears different, green instead of his normal elven appearance. This is the verdant druid, Viren.

Summer

The trees in the north are sparse and frail, the soil under them a marsh. As the party trudges through the swamp, they find another bud, appearing to be beginning to wither. Autumn and Viren begin their chorus, as demons (see:Random Events, Abaddon's forces) rise from the swamp to fight them. After 4 rounds, the flower grows whole once more. Once the remaining demons are dealt with, a pale figure steps out of the flower. As his gaze levels at the sorry trees around him, a light bursts forth from him, as his pale is replaced with vibrant yellow, and the trees spring up with strength anew. This is Aidan, druid of Godslost Swamp.

Winter

The south woods lie in a sorry state, dried pines, their trunks blanched white, dot the landscape. "Oh... Bitra..." cries Autumn, as Viren tries to comfort her. Aidan draws his sword with fury "This will not stand! We are Melandru's Chosen! Foul Wyrm, Khilbron, ye devil, I will grow a tree from your rotten heart!" Undead lumber throughout the woods, as Aidan cuts them down with a vengeance. The party can join in the fighting if they wish. Do not make it real combat, but they do so.

As they reach the heart of the woods, they find a patch of soil, a dried, dead flower atop it. Autumn again goes to tears, as Viren says to her, "New life always blooms from the winter's cold. She will recover, Autumn, though this may take more effort than myself or Aidan. The undead continues to shamble from the woods, as the Druids begin to sing. Once the skeletons are cut down, the party watches as they sing for what feels like hours, as a small sprout breaks soil, growing quickly into a bud, and it blooms, as a frail, pale figure steps out. This is Bitra, Druid of the Grove of Bones.

Hearing the Eladrins' song, the party finds their wounds mended, their strength returned. They gain the benefits of a long rest.

Slaying the Dragon

A loud sound erupts from the middle of the woods. Viren calls the party over to him, as he casts Transport via Plants pulling them back to the center of the woods, where a new tree has grown. The tree bursts forth into the upper torso of a woman. Rotscale flies towards this new tree, sending the withered corpse of Melandru to the ground. Melandru begins casting Sunbeam. The dragon dives for her, as the Druids begin casting another spell, as mighty branches erupt from the earth, pinning the beast to the ground. The beam of light from Melandru's hand slams the dragon, weakening it.

At this point, the dracolich is pinned to the ground with his legendary resistances burned. He still has use of his actions, but his speed is limited to 10. The Druids keep him pinned with a mass Entangle, while the sunbeam continues its work. The party is free to attack the dragon as well.

Injured Rotscale

Stat	Score	Abilities	To Hit/DC	Notes
HP	200	Dracolich Resistence		Rotscale is immune to poison damage and resistant to Necrotic. He is weak to Radiant, however.
AC	19			Due to Rotscale being restrained, all attacks have advantage on him, and all attacks by him have disadvantage.
STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA	7 0 6 3 2 4	Multi-attack		He can make 3 attacks, 1 bite and 2 claw attacks.
		Bite	+13	2d10 + 7 piercing
		Claw	+13	2d6 + 7
		Tail	+13	2d8+7
		Legendary Actions	3/r	Tail attack (1 action) Wing Attack (2 actions)
		Wing Attack	16 Dex	2d6 + 7and knocked prone on a failed save.
		The Breath Weapon (r6)	16 Con	10d6 poison, or half on successful save.

"Well done, brave heroes. Through your actions this day, you have saved us, neigh, the multiverse, from the dragon's threat, and have weakened the lich as well. I grant thee this blessing."

Aftermath

Alongside the blessing of free fast travel, the party increases in level by 1.

As the dragon's bones crumble to ash, a black sapphire gemstone falls from within it. Melandru eyes the gem, and gestures to Bitra. Bitra carefully lifts the gem, and casts dispel magic on it. Bitra tells the party that that was Rotscale's Phylactery. If it hadn't been dispelled, Rotscale may have reformed. Now it is an inert gem worth 5000gp to the right buyer.

Note on the Grove of Bones

Aidan, in his fury, has taken stewardship of the Grove from Bitra. New life has begun to spring on the edges of the forest, as some of the trees have returned to wood from bone. With the loss of Rotscale, Khilbron is weakened, and Aidan begins undoing what the lich has wrought.

Note on Godslost Swamp

The swamp is still covered in blighted trees, cursed by Abaddon. Melandru and her druids do not have the strength to lift the curse yet, but Melandru has seen fit to begin a new forest, on the northern edge of Tyria.

The New Forest

Trees have begun to spring up in the north of Tyria, in the foothills south of Fort Kabraham.