Canonfire! - New Dangers in the Flanaess

Celene. Greatest of the olven lands in the Flanaess. For years Yolande has closed her borders, leaving only the Knights of Luna to patrol outside her borders. Now, a dark power begins to rise - at the heart of the capital in the guise of Tiollar Taneska: The Tomorrow Tree.

New Dangers in the Flanaess
By: MichaelSandar

Celene. Greatest of the olven lands in the Flanaess. For years Yolande has closed her borders, leaving only the Knights of Luna to patrol outside her borders. Now, a dark power begins to rise at the heart of the capital in the guise of Tiollar Taneska: The Tomorrow Tree.

Some fifteen years ago, a sapling appeared in the courtyard of the Palace of the Fairie Queen. Its tiny branches thrust up through the cobbles toward the sun, and every day it grew taller - the cobbles around its base were removed to allow it to thrive. The tree was discovered to be an unknown species, and the elves took to calling it the Tomorrow Tree for how fast it grew. It grew so fast that at times it could be heard groaning, a deep dark sound that conjured images of roots sunk deep into cold ground.

Over the course of the next fifteen years, the tree was taller and thicker than the most ancient trees in the elven forest. It was hailed as a sign of the rightness of Yolande's isolationist tactics. Only a few seemed disturbed by the unusual tree. Druids of the highest order came from across Celene to view and study the tree, but none sensed the violation of nature below the earth.

The truth of the Tomorrow Tree is much more than the olvenfolk have seen. The seeds for the tree were garnered from a layer of the Abyss by a wily and wicked imp, Tchkerra. The tree thrives not on sunlight, but on darkness. Its blood red flowers bloom only at night, and its presence is dampened during the day. While it is an Abyssal plant, it is largely nuetral, and only barely sentient.

At the base of the tree, now some thirty feet across is a large knotted bole. Tchkerra uses this bole at night, as the Tomorrow Tree is nearly hollow inside. This is the lair of Tchkerra and his master Xycth, an Illithid of wicked cunning. For the past fifteen years, Tchkerra and Xycth have used this Abyssal tree as their fortress, spreading a thin acid from its roots. All other fauna in the area has begun to fail, with the exception of the Tomorrow Tree.

While the olvenfolk scramble to find the source of the withering fauna, only the Tree in the courtyard stands unaffected. Elven druids and priests look to the Tree for a cure, never knowing that the cause is literally right under their noses.

Reluctantly, a call for heroes goes out to the surrounding countryside...