The fellowship emerged from their rest to find that the darkness and green northern lights still remained but the large black shimmering void in the sky was no longer there. The fellowship didn’t know what this meant but it gave them an additional urgency to continue on towards Gerlkuneshe.

The path north east was uneventful. They soon crossed a river and found that on the other side of the river the trail continued through a large chasm. Although the path was some thirty feet wide, the fellowship was uneasy about travelling in the valley. Hallamir had Tallulahbell carry each member up on top of the chasm some 200 feet up. All of the fellowship followed the chasm on the top of the cliff until it opened up into a peaceful field a mile or two ahead.

Tallulahbell ferried all the members down into the peaceful fields and they carried on. The fellowship soon came upon a forest and heard a voice utter:

“Only those who honor the forest may walk its heart.”

The fellowship cautiously entered and walked forward.

They soon came upon a arc of trees that were blocking the path and the party moved forward to investigate. They inspected the trees and could see that there seemed to be a symbol on each tree trunk. The fellowship moved forward to examine the symbols and before they knew it, trees had moved in behind them and enclosed them in a circle of trees.

Arbun then heard in his mind a disembodied voice say:

“From sky to sea and sky again, The circle turns, as it has been”

The fellowship could see the following symbols on the trees:

• Cloud
• Fallen Log
• Mist
• Rain
• River
• Sea
• Seed
• Soil
• Sprout
• Tree

The fellowship guessed that they probably need to press the symbols in some order after Arbun pressed one with no effect. Jesoc stepped forward and pressed the symbols in an incorrect order and was struck with a lightning bolt. Jesoc finally guessed the proper sequence that represented the life of a tree:

Seed → Sprout → Tree → Fallen Log → Soil

The trees moved aside and the fellowship continued forward.

The fellowship continued for another hour until they reached a river that crossed their path. They found four items on this side of the river:

• A boulder etched with faint runes
• A scorched stump still warm to the touch
• A small pond near the shore
• A wind-chime of bones and feathers

Arbun once again heard in his mind:

“From stillness to spark, From spark into flow, From flow into breath, And onward you go.”

Jesoc stepped forward and touched the items in the following order:

Boulder → Stump → Pond → Wind-chime

Jesoc flinched a bit waiting for the lightning to strike, but to his surprise a bridge rose out of the water and the fellowship crossed the river. Before Jesoc moved on he reached down and snatched the Wind-chime and took it with him.

If the fellowship had been paying attention they would have heard the forest gasp.

The fellowship continued on and after another hour came upon a clearing with a single granite obelisk in the centre of a sundial. Around the sundial were the following symbols:

• A crooked pine
• A moss‑covered boulder
• A fallen log
• A ring of mushrooms

Carved into the bottom of the sundial was the inscription:

“Mark the day as the forest remembers it.”

Jesoc once again rushed forward and found that the obelisk was movable and could be pointed toward the symbols. Jesoc quickly pointed the obelisk to the crooked pine, boulder, mushrooms, and fallen log.

When he pointed the obelisk towards the mushroom symbol, he was struck with another bolt of lightning. Jesoc realized that he then merely needed to switch the last two and repointed the obelisk towards crooked pine, boulder, fallen log, and mushrooms.

The obelisk sliently sank and showed that behind it the path continued forward.

The fellowship continued on and soon came upon a clearing with a statue of a hooded figure in the centre surrounded by a circle of rocks.

As the fellowship moved forward to inspect the statue, it shimmered and was replaced by the Forest Queen. The Forest Queen screamed out:

“You have defiled my forest. Now you will pay!”

Suddenly, four of the boulders transformed into Stone Giant Dreamwalkers. The Forest Queen ordered them to attack and a vicious battle was engaged. The Stone Giant Dreamwalkers tried to petrify the fellowship but were unsuccessful. They next struck with their great clubs but the fellowship easily shook off their attacks. During the battle the fellowship saw that the Forest Queen had a madness that seemed to have overtaken her.

The Forest Queen again screamed out:

“I am Yavanna and you have defiled my forest. You will pay with your lives”

The fellowship recognized that Yavanna was the goddess of all living things but some madness seemed to be upon her.

The fellowship continued to battle Yavanna and eventually overwhelmed her. Yavanna disintegrated into vines and she was again consumed by the earth. From the centre of the vines a cackling black shadow emerged and flew towards a black citadel in the distance.

The back citadel shone black with green aurora shimmering on its surface.

The fellowship defeated the rest of the Stone Giant Dreamwalkers and looked towards their doom.