Freedom Glades (ACRONYM)

[Neon Knight]

Well, they do so.

[Kaelaroth]

And to the front desk they eventually get.
HI THERE - How can I help you, sirs?

[Neon Knight]

"...ook ook?"

They should have kept their typewriters.

One monkey writes a word in the dirt.

Food?

[Kaelaroth]

Yessir, food we serve sir, what food would you like sir? SMILE. And the like.

[Neon Knight]

One of the monkeys points at a burger.

[Kaelaroth]

That'll be two Acronym credits, sir! She says, typing something into a computer - activity can be seen in the kitchen.

[Neon Knight]

.... oh, dear. The monkeys look amongst themselves but find no currency in their possession.

[Kaelaroth]

Sorry sir, get out of the queue! Smiles! SMILES!
And a slight hint of slightly more metallic plastic.

[Neon Knight]

The monkeys scamper away to regroup and plan a new strategy.

[Kaelaroth]

Have fun!
... Hungry fae will eat you while you sleep.

[Neon Knight]

NK isn't sure where this is going, and so his monkeys try to see if they can find some other village, or maybe just a way out of this hell-hole.

[Reinholdt]

The screaming stops, abruptly. There is silence. And the oak (and the clipping) seems to wither slightly, wood twisting and cracking its bark blackening, and leaves turning blood red. But it isn't dead, you see. No, it's still alive. Very, very much alive. And with it it carries a pain, a remnant of what was once there, but now no more. A remnant that will echo on forever.

...

Hestia will be pleased. If there's anything more valuable than Dryad-bound oak, it's this.

Reinholdt and Melody approach Freedom Glades, Reinholdt carrying a small baby oak tree that needs planting. They're working their way to Drys. At least... that's their intention anyways. Who knows what might intercept them?

[Ashen Lilies]

Well, there is a pretty wide babbling brook in the way that they might have to cross. At least four or five feet across.
"A fossil starves? The trusting spectacular finishes in the reassuring corpse."
It babbles inanely.

[Reinholdt]

"I'm on to you and your semi-prophetic if difficult to decipher ways!"
Lousy brook.

Reinholdt just tries to fly over it. Since Melody can fly too, it probably won't be an issue.

[Ashen Lilies]

Pinkholdt flies over it with no issue. And so they make their way to Drys. Or at least, I think it's Drys.
Where once their was a verdant glade, spoiled only by the twisted visage of the bloodied tree, there is now something much worse.
Green grass has been replaced with scorched wasteland, bushes and trees stripped to bare bark, blackened and burned. The remains of animals litter the glade in various stages of decomposition, though there is no smell, no cloud of flies, feeding on festering flesh. Just dust. Dust and bare bleached bones, jutting out of the dust like jagged teeth. The most recent corpse appears to be that of an elven druidess, shrunken and dry, face caught in a mask of fear, and ribs just starting to show through grey flesh, poking holes through her skimpy garb. Near her are the remains of her wolf companion.
And at the center of it all is the tree itself, twisted and gnarled beyond recognition, stooped in an almost human like posture, the only sign of life in the entire glade as it soaks in the last of the twilight rays with fresh green leaves, though even these still seem streaked with red.

[Reinholdt]

Oh.
Oh my.
Reinholdt's speechless.
This particular death always weighed more heavily in his mind than most of the others he's caused. Perhaps because it was the only one that was done in true cold blood without even the slightest hint of misguided good intentions.
But this...
This was worse than he could have imagined.


He stands there, trembling, sproutling in one hand.
This place was obviously dangerous.
"Ma-maybe you should go back Melody..."

[Ashen Lilies]

The tree seems to... turn... untwisting itself to face Reinholdt and Melody. It leans forwards and extends three leafless branches, each tipped with something like a clawed hand, and beckons them closer, twirling hands in enticing patterns.

[Reinholdt]

Reinholdt walks closer, still shaking. He doesn't get right up to it of course. That'd be asking to get clawed in the face or something. And he really should be floating off the ground what with roots extending under it and all. But he's not thinking perfectly straight right now.

"I-I was sent by V-Vera after contacting her in the afterlife."

[Ashen Lilies]

Reinholdt will get a taste of the tree's unending sadness, the pain that echoes through it, on, and on, and on, and on, that echoes until the end of time. The emptiness of it. The hunger of something it could never have, never, ever again. The hunger that drove it to feed.
"You can make me whole again."
Is what the tree doesn't say. Because trees can't talk, of course.

[Reinholdt]

"Perhaps... some company would cheer you up? I've got this sapling and it needs a good home." This is not a good home Reinholdt! This is barren wasteland of timeless sorrow! Any tree planted here is going to need months of therapy with Dr. Beit.

"I can plant it here for you if you wish."

*barely catches the hidden white text before posting*
Too well hidden!
In between paragraphs is the best hidden white text!
"How?" I don't even know how Reinholdt knew.

[Ashen Lilies]

Those that came fell to the hunger. The animals. The people. The druidess, elven and others. They came. They fed the tree's hunger. But they could not sustain it. Could not quench the torment inside of it. And so they died. And the land died. And everything will die, turned to lifeless husks in order to feed the tree's insatiable hunger. Except one.

[Reinholdt]

That doesn't explain how to make it whole again at all!

Betcha the one is the babbling brook.
Or a self-reference.

"... Where's a druid to translate when I need one? So... should I just take it as a yes?" Reinholdt sets the sapling down and wishes he could just drag Tobias with him everywhere or something. Guy would be useful right now.

[Ashen Lilies]

As soon as the sapling goes down... surprise surprise. It dies. The red in the tree's leaves seems to fade a bit, replaced by green, but then it surges back full force. The tree shivers.
"Feeeeeeeed. Meeeeeeee."
It attempts to curl round Reinholdt's foot with a root.

[Reinholdt]

Eep! See Reinholdt? See what I told you about flying around? Now you got a root around your foot and are screwed. SCREWED!

It's time to struggle!
"Let's talk about this in a less nom my essence fashion, please?"

[Ashen Lilies]

More roots grab him, and the tree reaches forwards, trying to grasp him with its arms.

[Reinholdt]

Not quite yet more roots!
For you see... Reinholdt has a secret weapon!
He's wearing shoes!
And at the last second he slips out of the shoe that was grabbed, flinging himself backwards to the ground as he unexpectedly escapes.

Then probably gets grabbed by more roots.
Way to go Reinholdt.
Way to show yourself completely and utterly competent and incompetent at the same time.

But he did give himself some precious feet of distance and prevented himself from being grasped by the tree's arms. Surely the tree can't traverse that distance... right?

[Ashen Lilies]

Nope. So instead the roots are trying to wind tighter around him, creeping up his legs so he can't escape again.

[Reinholdt]

Whew! Saved again!
Kinda... sorta... not.

They get a pretty good grip on Reinholdt Pinkholdt. He's definitely attempting flight. But it's not getting him off the ground very well. And on the ground is where he deadtimes to let Melody get a chance to react to all this.

And for sleep.
Sleep is good.

[Lex-Kat]

Melody, who is completely useless when flying, because she lacks hands during those times, flies to a close by rock or tree and shifts her wings back to arms.

She takes aim at the roots with her 9mm handgun. ~~Momma help!!~~ She sends not only to Happyturtle, but Quinn. ~~Freedom Glades!~~

[Ashen Lilies]

Pting! Ptang!
Roots are shot through! They have holes in them nowz! Some of them break. But not all.