A terrified cry pierced through Gwelian's dream, ripping her from the calm wilderness of her subconscious. Orcs. Gwelian instinctively grabbed the thick wooden club from her nightstand and readjusted her leather cuirass, which had twisted in her sleep. She burst through the doorway of her wooden home and emerged into a nightmare. She immediately saw Amthol, curled up and lying in the massive roots of The Great Oak, an ancient tree at the center of camp that her people had nurtured for countless generations. Her little girl's eyes were clenched tight, her tears splashing onto the oak's sturdy roots. The seven orcs nearby ignored the tiny crier, more interested in hacking at The Great Oak's ancient trunk, for now. The night watch was dead. It only took a glance to see the town was lost. She counted twelve dead wood elves already, only half of them of fighting age. Three buildings were already on fire, as packs of orcs tore mercilessly at flesh and wood alike. For a brief moment, Gwelian was terrified. She considered grabbing Amthol and taking her chances in the dark wilderness around them. Kelethin wasn't too far. She looked again at the bodies of her friends and the orcs tearing at the consecrated trunk of The Great Oak. Families murdered. Nature ravaged. Tunare mocked. A soft glimmer of a beautiful woman appeared next to The Great Oak. Even in the chaos, its power could not be mistaken. Gwelian cried out, a desperate plea for aid. The shimmering woman did not move, but a stern voice entered Gwelian's mind. "You, like me, are a mother who will do anything to protect her family. Show them that nature is protected. Show them that nature defends itself." Gwelian's arms twitched with power, her heart hardened with resolve. With the confidence of a goddess, Gwelian strode forward, bashing the nearest orc with her club. She ripped the spiked gauntlet off of its arm and pushed it onto her own. Like a dervish, she tore effortlessly through the first pack of orcs that rushed toward her. The orcs at The Great Oak turned toward the new threat, eager to fight. The shimmering woman reached out and touched its trunk as the orc pack approached Gwelian. Immediately, the ancient tree came to life. Its roots tore themselves from the ground, carefully cradling Amthol on one side and smashing forcefully down on the orc pack with the other. Gwelian looked to the glimmering woman, but she had gone. She turned to The Great Oak, now a mighty treant, and cracked a smile. Without a word, she bolted towards the next orc pack with her gauntlet and mace ready. The treant followed her lead, flanking enemies and complementing her assaults as if it could read her mind. They were ruthless in their culling as Gwelian weaved her nature magic with newfound physical prowess alongside nature itself rising up against its aggressors. The orc tribes near Kelethin still warn each other of that night, when a lone wood elf and her mighty treant defended their peoples—both flora and elf—and repelled an entire orc tribe. Their massacre was so brutal that the tribes did not dare attack an elf settlement for weeks afterwards. But they will not remain timid for long. Gwelian is wisely seeking out wood elves in the Faydark area to share the blessing of Tunare with, who will rise up alongside their own treants to prove to the world that nature is protected. That nature defends itself.
I'm fine with the choice, wasn't what I wanted, but oh well. I only have one thought. Please tell me the pet is not going to be that big. I'm already having horrid flashbacks of the Vah Shir pets taking up half of PoK.
"GGGrrrrrrrrr!!! Me, troll!! Me beastlord! Me don't understand where da hell is the beast fer da wood elfs!!" Ok I'm happy beastlords were selected, but im seriously pissed a tree was selected for a pet.Was Tunare out that day and the fairies were let loose to play?
Good story, nicely written. I might have to try firing up a wood elf beastlord. I agree, though, that it would be nice to have a beast for a pet rather than a giant tree.
As a lifelong Beastlord, I greatly enjoy the well-written story. I, like the others here, am a bit baffled at the choice of a Treant as a beast...I get it, I really do... I just don't... get it. Why not an actual beast? I suppose people can make good use of the pet illusion clickies though...
Whose to say that an animated treant isn't a beast? If I seen one of them coming at me(the giant one) I would be a little freaked. Hypothetically speaking...
I guess I can see the tree, maybe. Thinking of animals in GFay, wolves are already taken for other beastlord races. Coyotes are too close to wolves. Bats, wasps, and spiders don't really seem to fit to the wood elf. Drakelings are already used by wizards. Maybe a fae drake would have a been cool, but what else is there as a pet for a tree hugger, than a tree.
By no stretch of the imagination is a treant a beast. The only thing more rediculous than a Froglok monk is a treant pet for a "beast"lord.
Eeeek, the treant pet. I'm sorry, I know it's hard to come up with a new critter that works with the deciduous type of forest that you picture a wood elf in, but there has to be something else. I could even see a 10 point stag being kind of cool, maybe a new buff model for the pet only. Any other ideas? Something that looks kind of tough at least, those treant models look dorky and worse when they walk.
Beastlords have animal warders, a tree is not an animal! There was plenty of good animals they could have used and the model they used for the tree isn't my prefered one. On test the tree only came up to the beastlords knee, so it was more of a twig. Interesting to see how big it is on the screenshot and makes me wonder what level it is and how much it shrinks down, that thing will be a pain in the butt in tight quarters and raids.
I gotta get a screen shot of the GL. I have this feeling that during the first couple of days of the HC's there is going to be a forest of afk treant warders.
I was in favor of them having 'Honey Badgers' ... even tho I was rooting for a Dwarven Beastlord instead.
I Under stand where your going but for ogre beastlords since when are mini dinosaurs with scales and spikes an animal I think they should of put a unicorn or something I agree on what u saying but its a treant deal with it if we keep making forums about them changing it it for sure will be changed as long as we keep doing it.
I have played a troll-beast main since they came out, and I have always disliked my basilisk. I want my alligator back!! I think a skunk would have been better for the elves. I think the iksar pet is also ridiculous, should be a snake and not the scaled wolf. The main reason I chose troll over barb was for the gator, not the wolf. Please give it back...
Well i do agree with the fact treants aren't beasts... But in a way woody are tre huggers... And well to push the ridiculous at end they should have choose a squirrel warder
What was the official reasoning behind getting rid of Troll beastlord's gator pets? I thought they were pretty cool!
