The Shining Shrine

Each of you has seen the poster and has sought out Threeflower. You are directed to a small garden behind the inn, in an otherwise busy town.
Threeflower is a timid gnome dressed in roughspun clothing with elements of moulted feathers and fur harvested from creatures that died
of natural causes.

Oh, h-h-hello there Threeflower begins, his voice a bit timid Am I in your way? No? Sorry. Moo He gestures to his squirrel companion. Moo would like to know if you have any candy
He clears his throat, a bit flustered, and continues.
Well, the thing is, Springarden…it’s usually a very peaceful place, a sacred garden you know… in the heart of the Springwood. That is where Pyrax, my sibling, lives. It's where the Blossom Union, that's my family, and I, we take care of the plants and the people who visit. But, recently, it’s become a bit… chaotic. There’s been a… well, a creature has made its lair in front of the main shrine. It’s usually a destination for pilgrims seeking sanctuary, or just a hot spring, but not anymore.

The squirrel jank the gnome druid's ear. Yes yes yes. When the shrine is safe again, I have plenty of gold coins and magical artifacts for each of you.

You can find the garden by following the road north and then a left where the road splits around a huge bolder. And, well, try not to get into too much trouble out there. Threeflower adds with a nervous smile. He might also mention that there's an annual festival called Feyfest where the boundary between the material and fey planes is weaker. A constellation of five stars overhead is a signal of this event.

You properly have questions?

Thank you my good dwarf.

Treeflower nods at Flash
We get them through offerings, trade and gifts. Springgarden is close to the fey world you know. Sometimes things just appear.

It's about the Feyfest, you say? Well, it's usually a very joyous time in Springarden, you see. It's when the barrier between our world, the Material Plane, and the Plane of Fey gets a bit thin, like, uh, a well-worn veil. That's because of the stars, they all line up just so, forming a special constellation.

There's the big, yellow one in the middle, Yorith, and it moves from west to east across the sky. Then there's Nagar, the black star, just above it to the north. Below Yorith, to the south, is Sagin, a fierce red one. To the west is Wiyfa, a shimmering white star, and to the east, there's Bolubos, the pulsing blue one.

I even have them tattooed on my neck. He proudly shows off his tattoo.

The whole garden, Springarden, bursts into a perpetual springtime bloom during this time. It's beautiful, with soft breezes and the scent of new blossoms. Usually, it’s a time for celebration and mischief, you know, with the little fey folk coming over. They're usually very playful, though Moo can be a bit much.

We usually get lots of pilgrims visiting, those that follow nature deities, or those looking for a bit of peace, or even just a soak in the hot springs.

But, um, this year, things are, well, a bit different because of that beast. This a big slow feathered bear creatures came through with all that radiant energy and it's corrupted the festival. It's made everyone aggressive and even burned my sibling, Pyrax, pretty badly.

He hands you a feather. Pyrax was clutching this when he came to us

Quercus doesn't know anything about Springwood that Treeflower hasn't already told them.He holds the feather by its stem and looks at it in the radiant sunlight. The end of the feather becomes a little warmer

There is allways little people around the shrine. But only the one bear-sized creature. Things got strange after it arrived. People got angrier, and fights between men and beasts started to happen.

The root of the problem, my dear is the creature. Everything was fine before it came, and now we cant access to the shrine.
And it seriously wounded Pyrax

Treeflower guides you to the the shrine. You turn by the bolder and travel into the heart of Springwood. He relaxes a bit more now when there are trees by his side and leaves overhead.

The further you travel into the woods, the less heed the plants seem to pay to the season in the rest of the world. The leaves shift from a dry autumn gold, to a deep, rich, summer green, before receding into buds and giving way to thick, pink blossoms.
Tiny, winged creatures leave trails of sparkling dust as they flit from toadstool to dewdrop, disappearing into tree trunks in a shower of sparkles.
A scurry of squirrels plays in the low-hanging bough of a tree. They have more eyes than one might expect and teleport from branch to branch as they chase one another. These are blink squirrels.
As you venture even deeper into the forest you feel calmer, more serine and appreciate how much more brilliant the sunset becomes.



Right, well. My sibling Pyrax, a fire druid, sent one of their flaming balls towards the beast as it snoozed, so they told me. And, well, they say they hit it right on—it wasn’t very agile, see— but it barely scorched it. Just a few blackened feathers. Anyway, once it stepped into the light, the feathers fell out and new ones sprouted to take their place. Pyrax is still in a bad shape after the beast blasted them with that sun ray…
Threeflower sighs, and takes out the feather he showed you.
They had this feather clutched in their hand when they brought them to the infirmary
His voice breaks. His eyes... his eyes... He gathers himself.
I'm sorry... He walks a bit in silence and lead you to the beginning of a stone path.

The sun is setting and you stand at the foot of a stone path leading deeper into the fay touched forest.
That path will lead you to the shrine and the beast
He points to a pavilion in the other direction. I will go see Pyrax. He is in there with the healers. As Treeflower lumbers on, he picks up a box of flyers and have fallen down and puts it back on flat stone where other nicknacks for the festival is placed