Wow, Melly thought slack jawed. The wonderful sight before her looked as if it came from the pages of a storybook.

Sweet scents of fresh grass and blooming flowers drifted on the warm, welcoming wind. The path they travelled meandered into a gap in a forest of towering, enchanted trees. Each branch was long and thin, drifting as if they were sensing strangers on the wind.

While the wagon rolled closer, Melly noticed their leaves were dark green, and each tree was topped with hundreds of tiny lilac flowers. The grass either side of the path was long and bright, looking almost as if each stem were painted. Large Blooms of flowers dotted the forest floor in various colours, casting the area in a kaleidoscopic effect. The scene was extremely beautiful yet held a hidden sense of danger she couldn’t quite pinpoint.

Melly looked over at Clemiticus. He was still scanning the sky, looking for his stupid bird. The darn nuisance had gone missing a few days ago yet again. Melly enjoyed his absence more and more.

“Alright,” said Nuecus. “Nearly bloody there.”

She nodded at the thaumaturge as he steered the horses down the road and under the eaves of the enchanted branches.

Clemiticus let out a low whistle as he finally caught sight of the forest. “Scary looking trees...”

Derrick elbowed to silence him.

“Shush,” he whispered. “Don’t offend them.”

The enchanted branches above moved closer to the wagon tentatively. Each leaf looked as if it gave them a quick look over as they passed. Melly didn’t particularly know why but she was sure they were being tested.

“Do nothing stupid!” Thea whisper in a strained voice to Clemiticus.

The bard instantly halted his attempt to touch the leaves and gave her a sheepish grin. Melly gave the fool a stern look of disapproval.

“Yes, mam.” Clemiticus replied.

Thea and Melly both sighed together as they continued down the path of sentient trees.

After a time, they noticed they had passed through what looked to be an ancient stone wall. Tarnished by centuries of growth and erosion, each stone pillar looked well worn and barely stood up. Melly could just make out large, runic symbols that had been painted on several of their surfaces.

A blue light flashed above as their cheerfully coloured companion materialised.

“The Party has entered the Enraptured woods: Heart’s Hearth!”

“Oh nice,” Clemiticus whispered.

Ahead lay a wide circular field of grass and in its centre an immense tree. Melly held her breath as they moved into the clearing and she gazed up at the arching branches. The trunk was as thick as a house and as old as the forest itself.

Through her Childhood Melly had heard the term heart of the forest in bedtime stories. Only now she believed them. Her mind rifled through the tales, trying to grasp any knowledge that would aid her in this moment but with little luck. The stories were far too outlandish.

When the wagon rolled halfway to the base of the tree, Melly noticed that there were hundreds of mushrooms littering the ground. Each was small enough to miss between the blades of grass, coloured pale orange, topped with alabaster dots.

Nuecus scanned the field before them. “Alright, idiots.” He pulled on the reins and halted the wagon. “I think it best If we walk from here.”

Derrick gave a humourless laugh, then said, “Good idea. We don’t want to offend the trees with a wagon potentially made from the forest's dead family members.”

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“Yikes,” Clemiticus replied.

They all nodded.

One by one they jumped off the magical vessel and made their way down the path. The azure fairy flew before them excitedly waving at the mushrooms for some unknown reason.

When they made it to the base of the tree, they stood together, waiting for the unexpected.

Fairy frowned as it gazed at the giant tree before them. It then crossed its arms impatiently, looking rather annoyed.

“Hey, Listen!” Fairy shouted.

The party stood a step back as the enormous tree shivered. Two giant eyes opened and a wide mouth parted in a broad smile.

“Little one!” the tree spoke.

“Seriously?” Melly muttered.

“Shush!” Derrick said, prodding his daughter’s knee.

“I have returned, and I have brought players!” Fairy said cheerfully.

The giant tree turned his gaze towards the party, then laughed. “Ha! You brought them here? That was kind of dumb!”

“What?” Melly was incredulous.

Fairy looked taken aback. “But we require your aid Great Tree!”

“Aid? You want Aid?” the tree laughed dangerously. “What could a tree do but grow tall and bask in the sun?”

The party looked at each other, confused. To be fair, even Melly wasn’t sure why they had come or how the tree could help them.

“Wisdom, great tree. They require wisdom.”

Clemiticus definitely does, Melly thought, stifling a grin.

“Oh,” the tree said slowly.

Clemiticus coughed. “Excuse me, Mr Tree.”

Melly clenched her Jaw. The bard was about to say something kind of smart or completely stupid and Melly was hesitant to flip the coin.

“Yes, Mr Player?”

“We are here on a pivotal mission to rid the land of a most dangerous threat.”

The tree burst out laughing. “Threat? You wish to rid the world of a threat? Boy, if you wish that then just sail a ship to the edge of the world and cast yourself into the void.”

“Not a bad plan...” Melly commented.

“Wait what?” Clemiticus replied.

The tree looked closely at him and then at Thea. A long branch that looked eerily like an arm with branches for fingers fell towards the party and pointed towards the players.

“The most dangerous entity in this world is you.”

“Players?” Thea asked.

“Precisely. The fairies were created as a failsafe to guide the players on a righteous path. Judging by your sudden appearance and mission I guess this one,” the Great Tree pointed towards Fairy, “has done the best it can.”

Fairy nodded excitedly. “My Player is the best!”

“No, you’re the best!” Clemiticus replied with a grin.

“Wait!” the tree commanded. “I can sense another.”

“Another?” Melly asked.

The tree closed his eyes in concentration.

“The green one is far from my sight, but the other.”

The Great Tree held its branches out as if commanding the sky to obey.

“I have only one power and that is lordship over the guardians. You shall come to me now little one!”

Melly could feel an odd pressure shift in the air as the great tree cast some sort of nature magic. Wind buffeted leaves and the field of mushrooms seemed to glow as the spell took effect. Far above them, a tiny scarlet bird flapped its wings against the torrent of wind. Clemiticus looked up and grinned as he spotted his struggling feathered companion.

The Great Tree however, frowned at the bird. “This one, has not done a good job!”

“This one?” Melly asked.

The Great Tree snatched the bird mid-flight and held it tight. As Skittles neared the rest of the party, its feathers fell away, revealing the third and final fairy. It glowed as red as a ruby and glowered at the party. It then contorted desperate to free itself.

“Hey! Stop that!” Skittles shouted, struggling against the tree.

“Skittles was a fairy?” Melly said, confused.

Clemiticus gasped and looked wounded while Fairy looked at its red counterpart just as confused as the rest of them.

“This red one was supposed to guide the other player.” The tree informed them.

“Supposed to?” Melly asked.

“Yes, but this one has failed, haven’t you?”

Skittles struggled under the grasp of the tree. “She won’t listen. She’s crazy!”

“Oh! I see now!” Thea squealed with delight. “That makes total sense now.”

“It does?” Clemiticus asked confused.

“Ok get this,” Thea explained, “I always thought it was weird when you said you got a free pet when you became a pirate.”

“Yeah, and?”

“Didn’t you also get a quest to confront the queen at the same time?”

Melly nursed her forehead and muttered, “These damn adventures are going to kill me.”

“And last time I checked, If you want to tame an animal companion you need to go through the process.”

Melly sighed. She knew that process all too well.

“And who’s ever heard of a bird that could magically change species.”

“It’s a pet though.” Clemiticus said defensively.

“Pets don’t do that either.”

Clemiticus gave her a defeated nod. “We have been tricked.”

Thea’s expression brightened. “So, our grand quest might just turn out to be a little PVP?”

Clemiticus also brightened. “Ooh, that sound fun.”

“PVP?” asked Derrick.

“Player versus player!” Thea answered excitedly.

The Great Tree laughed once more. “Bloody players!”

“So, what do we do now, then?” asked Melly.

Clemiticus looked excited, “We got her fairy. So, let’s pay her a visit. Hey Nuecus, you got any cage that will keep the little guy locked up.”

The old thaumaturge grinned and nodded.

“Don’t trust him!” Skittles shouted. “The old guys crazy!”