Dryads are a reclusive species that defy easy categorization. Distantly reted to other sylvan species, they appear to be incredibly long-lived hybrids between the Fae and specific species of trees, exhibiting attributes of both. This leads to such variations as oak-, maple- or pine-dryads. A typical Dryad has a green or brown plexion and gain energy directly from light or mana. Many will have bark, flowers, or leaves for hair or as part of their skin.

  All Dryads establish a magical domain ranging from a siree to aire forest, strongly preferring matg species, and seldom leave their homes. Wherees are cut or destroyed, they quickly lose strength and die.

  Their reputation as monsters es from their sometimes-feral nature and their tendency to aggressively defend their home. Their magic is always non-bat nature affinity – nurturing rather than violent, but do not mistake them for pacifists. Once a powerful Dryad establishes a home in a forest, most merts and travelers will choose to bypass it and avoid the risk of being lured in to spend the rest of their short days lost in the dense forests, crushed by roots, or mauled by beasts.

  However, many Dryads are highly intelligent and curious when not threatened and behave much like any other sapient race, often iing with travelers, most only speaking the Elvish or Sylvan tongues. Dryads all share the ability te with their trees, have powerful pnt magid charm beasts that eheir domains. When iing peacefully with a Dryad, it is helpful t a druid, as they tend to be curious and fasated with all nature magic.

  - Excerpt from The Monster pendium, Ziba Malek, Elorthian Empire Royal Schor, Transted.

  sprang lightly from rock to rock as he followed the narrow mountain trail, careful not to disturb the tracks with his steps. Something had e this way, and it was not a Kobold. What the heck is that? He stooped down to study the fusing signs once again.

  Is it also hunting Ali? Malika had been right, they were unwele in town, which had made resupplying far more challenging. They were running low on food now after several days of searg, but he had made no more progress unraveling the puzzle of how the Kobolds – and other creatures – had beeing in and out of the ruins. This was the first time he had seen tracks of something bigger than a muddled fusion of Kobolds, or the occasional wolf tracks.

  He pulled out a gold , flipping it into the air, and grimaced as it vanished.

  You have gaihe Blessing of the Wanderer+1 to Perception and Trag skills.Blessing – Duration: 1 day.

  It was an expensive way to boost his skills, but he needed all the help he could get. His testing so far had shown him his patron buff would probably only work with something that he felt was valuable – copper s had not worked, but surprisingly he had been able to gain a buff from a mana potion. He had only tried that once.

  ’s Sense Prey trag skill had given out a couple of days ago, but it had verified Ali was still alive – at least back then. She had remained unmoving on the first floor of the library for a long time, at least judging by the dire sense provided by his trag skill and his memory of the spatial yout of the ruins. However, just before his skill had expired, she had moved lower, and he had lost track of her somewhere in the jungle.

  Why are you in the jungle, Ali? It made no sense and only served to intensify his worries. At least you’re still alive.

  He reached dolucked a small leaf from the strange humanoid footprint. By size a, he judged it to be a small human or an elf woman, but there were marks around the print that made it look like it had been uprooted whenever she walked. He would have dismissed it as an insequential ce, except every print had simir signs, f him to clude that it was an integral part of the print. Some strange kind of footerhaps?

  Not even Mato’s nose had been able to shed light oracks. Following on behind the humanoid tracks were the tracks of two huge wolves, their prints lighter than he would have expected for their size. But he couldn’t make out if they were apanying the humanoid tracks or hunting them.

  He examihe wilted leaf, his brow furrowing at the sight of the strange bing around the edges.

  “Mato, what do you make of this?” he asked, calling his rger, muscur friend over, and handing the leaf to him.

  He s it and then wrinkled his nose in disgust. “I smell uh.”

  “An oak leaf is undead?”

  “It is blighted,” Mato expined, and was immediately reminded of the briefing Vivian Ross had given at the guild earlier in the week – the blight pgue and the undead creeping up from the southern regions. “Don’t touch it too much.”

  He dropped the dangerous leaf promptly. “What about these?” asked, pointing to the wolf tracks. “I ’t tell if they’re all together, trag Ali, or if they’re hunting each other. There’s no good reason for them to be up here in the mountains like us uhey’re searg for a way in, too.” Searg for Ali.

  Mato put his o the ground and she tracks of the humanoid and the wolves for a while before he rose again and grimaced. “More death. I o ask some people,” he said cryptically, shapeshifting into the form of a rge wolf before he disappeared among the rocks, leaving to deduce he was going to find some animals who might have seen something.

  “e, let’s tinue,” said.

  “Ok,” Malika replied. “If whatever you’re trag is hunting Ali, we should find her before they do.”

  “Agreed,” said. He and Malika tinued following the trail for about half an hour, and he was examining another blighted oak leaf when Mato finally loped back to the trail.

  “I don’t know what to make of it,” he said, shaking his head. “Whatever that creature is, it seems to be some kind of Sylvan.”

  “A Sylvan? Out here?” ’s gaze swept the rocky mountain pass in surprise. Other than small scrub bushes and hardy wildflowers, there was little in the way of natural vegetatioainly, there were no trees or forests that a sylvan pnt creature might prefer – but it would expirange footprints.

  “I couldn’t get a good image – all the animals I fouo be in awe of whatever it is. The wolves are undead, and they are not with the Sylvan. There are two of them and they look partially incorporeal.” Mato wrinkled his fa disgust, dispying his obvious distaste for the undead.

  “Specters? Ghosts?” was hardly an expert on the undead, but not many were partially incorporeal. It ruled out zombies and other simir monsters, but spirits hosts were normally entirely incorporeal. The problem was that any clusion he came to did not bode well – all the mohat fit the description were greater undead, possessing skills and intelligeo rival the most powerful monsters.

  But if it’s a Sylvan… he gazed at the small handful of oak leaves he had collected, then these must have been part of its body. The instant he used Explorer’s Sense Prey skill on the leaves, he knew where the sylvaure was. His powerful trag magic provided him with a clear pull diagonally downward into the mountain – but, as with Ali, he still had no clue how it got in there.

  “We’re going to have to do this the hard way,” he muttered, studying the dire of the tracks following the rocky trail. At least his Blessing of the Wanderer was helping him track faster and more precisely. “At least, if I track this monster, it should lead us to the way in.”

  He followed the tracks across the rocky mountaiil finally he found himself entering a small box yon with rugged rocky walls, ahe trail seemed to end, erased by what seemed to be dozens of Kobold tracks and the difficulty of seeing anything on the sharp, rocky scree beh his feet. “Lots of Kobold tracks,” he said, warning his panions, but there was no sign of them anywhere in sight. He sed the dead-end yon for any clues, but there seemed to be no obvious way out. His trag skill kept telling him that their prey was in some pce below his feet.

  “I still smell the undead,” Mato said, firming that they were in the right pce.

  “It looks weird when you sniff the ground like that, Mato,” Malika said. “At least do it in wolf or bear form.”

  “Pfft,” he snorted, but the usual banter fizzled, none of them in much of a mood for it.

  surveyed the yon, using his Eyes of the Ar skill to enhance whatever he saw. Over at the far end of the yon, on a rocky outcrop, he spied an oak leaf, stuck to the rock with what looked like a few drops of clear sap. The sap had dripped down the rod pooled on the ground below. Is that… sylvan blood?

  “Over here,” he said, sprinting through the short yon to the rocky cliff wall at the far side. He reached for the sticky oak leaf, but to his surprise, the rock it had been stuck to was cealing a cra the cliff face – a passage into the mountain, from which wafted a musty cold breeze. “Hey, there’s a cave here.” Carefully, he squeezed his nky body through the gap, activating his stealth as a precaution, and found himself in a narrow rocky passage – a natural cave formation. There were no obvious tracks on the rough, rocky ground, but every couple of yards he could see drops of sap leading deeper into the caves.

  “I smell Kobolds, and the undead in here,” Mato said, after struggling to squash his rger frame through the caverrance.

  Malika limbered up her shoulders quietly squinting at the darkness but did not say anything.

  “I’m not going to use light,” whispered, “Will you be able to keep up?”

  “Yup,” Malika murmured, “I hear Mato.”

  The three of them quickly made their way through the twisting caverns, following the rocky passages as they led deeper and deeper into the mountain. had taken a ce trag the strange sylvan monster, he had no clue how to track Ali directly anymore, but this was the breakthrough he had been searg for. The passage was finally taking them in precisely the right dire acc to his skill, but rather than feel excited, his apprehension and urgency rose instead.

  As he approached the bend iuhe chirping sounds of angered Kobolds reached his ears. From the twitg of Mato’s wolf ears, he had heard it too. Signing for them to wait, refreshed his Eclipse skill to blend himself with the shadows and stepped around the er to scout. The tunnel emerged into an enormous underground cavern, easily as rge as Ali’s forest cavern, but lit instead by the occasional small messy campfires of the Kobolds. A horde of the scaled reptiliaures swarmed the rocks, slinging stones and arrows down at the figures struggling below, their raucous chirps and yips eg strangely in the underground cavern.

  Sprawled on the rocky ground, drenched in her o, he found his prey, struggling weakly t herself away from the two enormous spectral wolves maulihe wolves were clearly undead, both emitting a cold harsh blue glow in the darkness, and he could evehe vague outline of the rocks through their partially transparent bodies. But their teeth were sharp as they savaged the downed sylvaure, sending sap spraying into the air with every vicious bite.

  Dryad [Great Mother of the Deep Woods] – Sylvan, Tree Spirit – level ???

  [Explorer]An oak dryad.Category: SylvanAge: Ahreat Level: UnknownDamage: NatureSpectral Gray Wolf – Wolf, Specter – level 45-47 x2[Explorer]A partially incorporeal undead wolf.Category: Monster, Minio Level: NormalMoype: Greater Undead, SpecterDamage: Physical, DeathKnown Abilities: Partially incorporeal (physical damage redu)

  A dryad! And a three-mark? He could not even imagine what extreme event had drawn such a notoriously reclusive being so far from her forest and the source of her power. She might have passed the first tier and reached ptinum rank, but without any way of fighting back, she was as helpless as a level-one wisp. She struggled weakly in the spectral jaws of the wolves, likely only barely hanging onto life due to her css level and what must be araordinarily high vitality or enduraribute.

  “Mato, wolves! Malika, heal the dryad. I’ll cover,” he barked orders rapidly but he didn’t wait for firmation. They o aow, or the dryad would die, and take any answers with her to the grave. Ali’s survival may very well depend on it.

  Mato roared and charged, his body twisting and ing from Wolf to Bear as he transformed directly. Malika shot off, hot on his heels, matg his barreling rush.

  drew his new bow and fired a rapid volley ht, glowing arrows into the horde of Kobolds. His shots struck true and two of the lowest level ones colpsed with loud screeches, causing the eroop to scatter, diving for cover.

  He shifted his aim to the ter, finding Mato had drawwo enormous spectral wolves off the dryad who was now lying on her side, pressed up against a rock. The two wolves fnked Mato, taking turns trying to dart in for a hamstring, leveraging their coordination to gain an advantage over the rger and slower bear. But Malika was there to foil their agile attacks. As Mato faced down o, Malika leapt off his back to nd a ki the sed wolf, just as it darted in to strike. Her kick sank into the wolf’s shoulder, passing through the glowiransparent flesh like sticky treacle, pulsing brilliant blue-white with her soul magic to light its body from within. Mato wheeled about, but it was a feint to lure in the first wolf, and when he rounded on it with a Swipe, it tried to disengage, drawing the wrath of the Bear’s powerful retaliation strike.

  But even before he unleashed his arrows, could tell that the normally potent physical damage from Mato’s strike was having much less effe the undead mohan normal. Even Malika’s hits were not doing nearly as much damage as he expected.

  unleashed his arrows. Like Malika’s foot, his arrows seemed to pass through the spectral wolves’ bodies unless he made a strike as if they were not quite here. Only his light magic seemed to have its normal effect.

  “Load up on magic,” he shouted. “They’re incorporeal.”

  I just o increase the power of my magic then. Taking his own advice, he lit up his Righteous Fury skill. Mana burned him from within, brightening everything he could see. The cavern grew dramatically brighter as his perception skills surged with power: even the smallest detail became crystal clear to his eyes. He fired a rapid stream of fully ented arrows, fog on the wolf Mato had pinned down with his roots. An immobile target versus his ignited mana. Although even now, it was shaking off the bindings by drawing its legs through the gnarled roots.

  Even with its powerful resistao physical damage, his enhanced magic made short work of the undead monster, burning it down as he flew through his rapidly dwindling supply of arrows.

  Yroup has defeated Spectral Gray Wolf – Wolf, Specter – level 45.

  He ighe notification, downing a preana potion and redireg the remainder of his short-duration skill to the sed wolf, trying to do as much damage as he could while he had the advantage. His skill expired, but with Malika and Mato focused on the remaining wolf, and it no longer having any fnking advahey made quick work of it.

  Yroup has defeated Spectral Gray Wolf – Wolf, Specter – level 47.

  sprinted over to the dryad lying in a pool of her o and leaves, keeping a wary eye out for Kobolds. She was in far worse shape than he had expected. While the wolves had badly mauled her, she showed rge bck patches of necrosis that stank of rotting wood. Her leaves were almost all wilted and brown, and her cheeks were sunken and hollow. But it was the deep anguish in her eyes, far beyond even what matched her dire physical dition, that gripped his attention.

  “I don’t know what’s wrong with her, I keep healing but she’s not getting aer,” Malika excimed with frantic worry. It was not strictly true, the rents and tears in her flesh closed up and she stopped leaking sap onto the ground, but the blight and affli remained.

  “Let it go, child…” The dryad spoke with a shaky voice that rasped and crackled like dry leaves in a soft breeze but still carried the faint hints of the beautiful reso must have had in full health. “What I have ot be healed.” She sighed, clearly in a great deal of pain, and Malika seemed beside herself that she was uo heal her.

  “What do you have? And why is a dryad out here in the mountains?” asked. She was clearly far from home, and dryads supposedly did not do very well separated from their trees.

  “Alexander Gray,” she answered, her eyes snapping open, fshing with fierger before she sagged back down, exhausted from the effort.

  A person? did not uand her ued response.

  “Who?” Mato asked.

  “He is a neancer most foul. He deceived me with pretty words, gifts, and promises of love. While I was vulnerable, he poisoned me aroyed my precious forest,” she sobbed, before catg herself. “I am cursed. I have the undead blight, the same he inflicted on my forest, and I am dying from domain withdrawal.”

  “A neancer?” Mato spat, his face wrinkled with disgust.

  “You are talking about the Lirasian Forest to the south?” asked. Shit, if this is true… Vivian had mentioned a blight from the south, but if this dryad was to be believed, the problems were far more urgent than the Guildmaster knew. A neancer!

  “Yes, young half-elf, you are quite perceptive. You honor your patron. I am Lirasia, and my forest is no more.”

  She see my Wanderer patronage? As he registered his surprise, his notification chime sounded.

  Your as have increased the reputation of your patron.

  You have gaihe Blessing of the Wanderer+12 to Perception.+2 to Perception skills.Blessing – Duration: 1 day.

  “The forest is gone?” Mato asked aghast.

  “Yes, my home is no more,” she said. She paused; her body wracked with feeble coughing. “In its pce is only uh now.” She reached out her hand and touched Mato on the chest. “You have a beautiful aura, young druid,” she murmured, “but you are not the source I seek.”

  “Why did you e all the way here then? What is it that you are seeking?” demanded, his breath catg in his throat. Is she hunting Ali?

  “Without my domain, I will wither and die,” she answered. “I require an oak tree in an area ri nature mana to recover. Some time ago I sted a beautiful new mana aura ing from this area. In pain and agony, and driven from my home, I had only thoughts of finding the mana aura and saving myself. But it seems in this too, I yed by the neancer’s puppet strings.” She pointed meaningfully to the two spectral wolf corpses. “He probably sought the mana for his own foul purposes.”

  gnced meaningfully at Malika and Mato, catg their eyes.

  “But it matters not,” the dryad tinued. “The preana dried up about four days ago, gone like a fleeting mirage in a desert. I will perish a few hours hence, and if you do not burn my corpse, the blight will raise me as a zombie. I fear for what damage I will cause with my death. Promise me you will not allow this to e to pass.” She sounded mortified by the idea, so much so that she leading with strao burn her body.

  “It fits. Ali’s forest was burnt by the Town Watch four days ago,” Malika said quietly.

  Mato coughed, drawing up straighter. “If only we could find her,” he said.

  “We’re right here,” answered, getting up and looking around. They’d been trag out in the mountains fes, but his sense of dire and spatial awareness pced him directly over the library. It must be… It took but a few moments for him to find the low squat stone building that, by his reing, capped the gigantic, ruined library and the city below. “There,” he poio it. “That’s the library.”

  “ we trust her?” Malika asked, gng at Lirasia.

  “She’s going to die if we don’t help her,” Mato said.

  “She is too weak. If she had the means to hurt Ali, she would have used it against those wolves,” answered.

  As if they’d been waiting for a reason, Malika leapt to her feet and Mato leaned over to help the Dryad.

  “You mustn’t touch me, young Druid,” Lirasia said. “You may catch the blight.”

  “You ’t walk,” Mato growled, gruffly. “I’m not going to leave you here to die. The Kobolds will kill you.” He scooped the Dryad up into his arms and they followed to the building.

  While kept a sharp eye out for the Kobolds that still lurked among the dark boulders, he checked the notifications that had chimed at the end of the fight.

  Archer of Light has reached level 35.+10 attribute points.

  Motes of Light has reached level 13.Explorer has reached level 23 (+2).Blessing of the Dawn has reached level 19.Eclipse has reached level 18.Eyes of the Ar has reached level 21.

  Cartography has reached level 9.

  Without missing a step, he dumped three points eato dexterity, intelligence, and perception, and spent the final point on raising his strength, hoping against hope that he wouldn’t for whatever they found below.

  Alexander Gray

  Alexander smiled as he wove his dark magic, stitg and melding the dead flesh together. It had been a productive day.

  He had surprisingly run into a small logging vilge this afternoon, simir in size to Lyton, but he hadn’t cared to find out the name of this o had, however, provided him with an abundance of new skeletons, and a few more volunteers for his sacrifice gang.

  With his surplus, he had left a sizeable ti of his undead in the vilge to harvest some of the enormous mana-rich trees before pressing onward.

  “You guys are the privileged few,” he tinued, expining their good fortuo his sacrifice gang. “Your life energy will be sacrificed at the right time to empower my skills. Isn’t trading a meaningless life for that something to be proud of?”

  The recruits just stood there, prohibited from moving or speaking by the pulsion colrs he had forced on them. In his experience, worthless farmers and borers like them seldom saw value in the greater purpose. At least on this point he and Roderik saw eye to eye.

  Speaking of Roderik, that odious brute is te. They had beeo meet a day ago, and the ill hadn’t shown up.

  Suddenly, he felt the sensation of his mana e releasing and he snapped his perception into his remaining spectral wolf. He was fag a bear and a monk, while an archer shone like the sun in a deep cavern, firing a furious stream of glowing arrows at him. With the few moments he had left with this specter, he gnced around quickly, spying the dryad dying in a pool of her o.

  Excellent, he thought as the e severed. His pything had led him right to the doorstep of Myrin’s Keep.

  “e, everyone,” he announced. “It’s time to move out.”

  timewalk