5 Guardian Spirits

Hadorix arrived at Junifer rather quickly. When he did, he spoke, "Junifer, can you introduce me to the spirits that are here with you? I have activated the throne and we now have 3 druids aside from myself. We also have 1 soldier."

Junifer responded, "You know me, my soul stone is in the first slot. The black spirit is Onyx, her stone is in the second slot. The red sprit is Inferno, her stone is in the third slot. The blue spirit is Sapphire, her stone is in the fourth slot. We all have access to knockout gas, and we have weapons that can tie up our opponents. However, I specialize in vines and nature magic. Onyx magic specializes in magic pertaining to rocks and stones. Inferno specializes in fire magic. Sapphire specializes in ice magic. We were the guardian spirits of the previous druid master. When he died none of his apprentices rose to take his mantle and the druid order was disbanded. Perhaps some of them still live. He was the only human. The rest came from the various races of the galaxy. Of course, all of them were strong enough to easily kill your entire Druid order by themselves. Then again, you have us spirits to help protect you. You won't die quickly should an attack occur…"

Hadorix replied, "I appreciate you telling me about the other spirits. Do you have any idea where I can find more spirits to join the guard? Or for that matter more people to join the Druid's? Or how to get a beast to generate a soul stone and gift it to me to add to the throne?"

Junifer replied, "Many spirits live at the cities around the planet. They enslave most of the creatures they meet that are not other spirits, as most do not possess soul stones. Those that do possess soul stones are forced to join the armies of the spirits. Either way they become slaves, it's just a question of which kind they become. Your best chance of recruiting spirits and druids would be to go to one of the cities, if you happen to be able to make it to the throne of the city, you could remove all the soul stones, and force a discussion with the owners of said stones. If you possess their soul stone, few will openly fight you. If they do, you can merely crush the soul stone, once it is crushed, they can no longer use the spirit items or regenerate once they have been killed. This is what happened to the last master. He tried to get a beast to generate a soul stone and gift it to him. To do so, the master took his soul stone to show the beast. The beast killed him and destroyed his soul stone. The entire druid order was thrown into chaos and eventually disbanded. He never managed to get a beast to generate a soul stone…. I have no clue how one would do that. If I were you, I would put that to last on my agenda…"

Hadorix considered the information Junifer had given him for a while. He then replied, "Where is the weakest city on the planet? Hopefully with spirits all around the same level I am."

Junifer replied, "Spirits and creatures as weak as you would not own a city. They would be lucky to even be admitted into one. Any spirit worth its salt would have already killed and eaten many beasts to absorb the beast's spirit and the essence of their body to grow stronger. Of course, as a Druid this is a bit harder for you… Your supposed to protect nature after all."

Hadorix replied, "So I have to eat beasts to grow stronger? If they attack me first, then it would be self-defense. As the World Tree does not want me to die, I am sure that loophole will work…."

Hadorix then asked, "Junifer, where could I find beasts at my level?"

Junifer replied, "There is a pack of wolves 3 miles to the south of us. If you go alone you will die, us spirits will not go knowing that you intend to invade the land of the wolves and destroy them. You are completely going against the goals of the druid order. I would suggest you hunt down low level undead. There is a mausoleum that houses plenty of those to the east. It is even near the well of souls. If you were to bring the well here, you could purify the corpses of the undead that you kill, thus releasing them so that you can absorb them. As the Druid Master, doing so would increase your spell power significantly. If you manage to find any undead that are beasts, you could also make a broth out of their bones. This would increase your physical strength as well. If you are lucky, you might even acquire spirits from them. If you kill an undead and purify its soul, any spirits it contained will be released for your use. Furthermore, they possess armor and weapons. Your soldiers do not require leather unless they intend to be scouts, hunters, assassins or cast spells. That is the armor of Druids. The undead have plate and chain mail typically. You will need it for your army. Also remember, there are many ways to grow stronger in this world. Consuming the flesh of beasts is merely one option."

Hadorix digested this information for a bit. He then replied, "Tell me about the well of souls? Where is it? Is it guarded?"

Junifer replied, "The well of souls is in the Grove of Sorrow. An orc shaman used to live there. Orcs are green beasts slightly bigger than a human with tusks like a boar. Even a small one would be bigger than you. He claimed that there were a great many spirits in the grove. The grove lies on the way to the undead to the east. Only a druid master can access its true potential. The master never wanted to challenge the orc shaman to claim ownership. I do not know why."

Hadorix considered this for a bit and decided he should go see the orc shaman. Hadorix had no desire to walk, so he sat on the throne and began to drive towards The Grove of Sorrow. The Mystic Orchard moved rather slowly. Hadorix could have walked faster than he could travel in it. It took almost a full day to traverse the 10 miles to The Grove of Sorrow.

Upon arrival, Hadorix gathered the other druids as well as Lamar and went into the grove. He did not bring the spirts as he did not know any but Junifer, and he knew if he attacked any creatures, she would scold him and tell The World Tree. Hadorix wanted to get stronger, while he was technically a Druid, he did not believe in the whole protecting nature thing. After all he was a lumberjack… The World Tree should have known better than to put him in charge of the Druid Order. Hadorix would never be a tree hugger.

Hadorix had each of them summon their familiars. They may need their fighting abilities after all. Hadorix even summoned Monk. He was at least an extra set of eyes… Hadorix wished he had managed to study the spell books. After that thought he realized he really needed to setup a library. He did not even think to check to see if the other Druids had rings like his. If they did, who knew what kind of books they might have. Hopefully, they had spell books, everyone learning the basic spells with just one copy would suck.

It was at this point that Hadorix realized his thoughts were drifting. He was about to enter The Grove of Sorrow. It sounded creepy, and he was going to meet an orc shaman the even the old master druid did not want to challenge. This could prove to be rather dangerous. He really needed to pay attention. He then asked Alex to scout ahead, out of the group, she was the only one with the skills to be stealthy. With her black armor, she would be less likely to be seen than Brina or Jess. He then sent Monk up into the trees, and he moved in with the rest of the group. Brina and Lamar in front of him, Jess behind. Of all of them Jess would stand out the most, Bubblegum pink would not blend in with any environment.

Entering the grove proved to be rather disappointing. Once they got past the wall of trees, there was only a hut and a well in the center. They did not see a single creature. When they arrived at the hut, Hadorix figured they looked silly enough travelling through the woods so cautiously. He went to the hut and knocked on the door. An ancient orc shaman answered the door. Her tall figure hunched over with the passing of time. Her staff was more a support for walking than an instrument to use for combat. She spoke in a crackling raspy voice; it was as if she rarely used it and had almost forgotten how. She said, "Why do you disturb me humans? Ah, I see your familiars and sense the aura of your power more strongly now. You are druids. I suppose you came for the well of souls. I did not think your master had the ambition to do so. Even with the near immortality of druids, he never desired to attempt it. Of course, it seems he still does not desire to. He sent his minions. And from the looks of you, newly turned minions, not extraordinarily strong at all. If I were to break wind, I would kill the lot of you."

Hadorix was unsure what to make of the old woman. She could barely walk, and yet she was claiming the power to kill them all merely by-passing gas. Should he respond with a challenge? Hadorix replied, "I am the new Archdruid. I never got to meet the old master. You have made a very astute observation. We are all extremely new, in fact this is our first week on the job as druids. You say you could fart and kill us, as an ancient shaman that might be true. We know little of magic. In fact, none of us have even opened the cover of our basic spellcasting books. That is why we are here. One of the guardian spirits of The Mystical Orchard told me that the well of souls will allow me to purify the undead. In purifying the undead we will be able to gain strength. If we gain enough strength, then we can banish all of the undead from this world and perhaps I can be free of the orders of The World Tree."

The shaman laughed hysterically. Never in all her hundreds of years of life had she heard such honesty. Had the orcs in her village have spoken with such honesty, then perhaps she would not be out here living with only the spirits of the dead to keep him company. She spoke, "Son you can call me Obcha. You say you want to purify the undead? I have half a mind to join ya. If I do not change something, I only have another half century or so to live. If I were to become say, a druid, the powers of The Mystical Grove could restore my youth. Heck, Id even give you the Grove of Sorrows to add to The Mystical Orchard. They are both magical in nature. I can teach you how to combine them. The spirts here are furious about the undead. They have raged for the last 100 years. If you aim to bring them peace, you may even convince some of them to lend you their power. To spirits, actions speak louder than words. These are the spirits of beasts. They are not to be confused with the spirit guardians. Tell ya what, I'll call em souls so ya do not get confused. I know those human brains of yours can get mighty confused mighty easy. What do ya say? Will ya let an old orc join the Druids? I'll even teach yall magic."

Hadorix was dumbfounded. If he agreed he would receive not only the well of souls but the entire grove it resided in. He would also get another druid. He replied, "It would be an honor to have you join us Obcha."

Obcha handed Hadorix her soul stone. She then whispered in his ear and explained how to merge the Grove of Sorrows with the Mystical Orchard. Hadorix followed her instructions.

· Gained Grove of Sorrows

· Grove of Sorrows merged with Mystical Orchard. Effect unknown

Once the two magical lands had merged, Hadorix began to see the souls moving around in the grove. They were previously invisible to him. There were thousands. They ranged in shape from chipmunks to dragons. He could not even begin to count or even see them all.