"When Al narrowed his eyes and strained his gaze to pierce the gathering gloom, he saw that it was not a tree, but a structure — a tall tower, its weathered stones cloaked in a shroud of moss, much like bark upon a trunk. He marked, too, a hive of small windows set into its walls, each neatly aligned like the hollows of nesting birds. Here and there, branches of birch and ash had crept inward through the openings, twisting into the dark interior. Yet no light glimmered within..."—The grim and dark sylph Habel receives a task from his master, the Sorcerer of Nan Farlas. At that very hour, the bard Al is arriving with a message from the Lord of the Forest Folk at the gates of the gnomish capital, Grod Gérlod.