As told by Amdír, the blighted treant. I arrived in this forest when the trees were no taller than you. We creatures of the forest lived in harmony with the elves of the tree. Generations of elves lived and died with no conflict. One day the tree began to weep. A thick, cold fog, cut with an acrid blackness seeped from the bark. Our lands began to freeze. But something darker lay on the horizon.

We pleaded with the elves at first and they rejected us, blinded by their new power. Us denizens of these woods launched an offense on the tree, but found it impenetrable. A foul metal meant to bite at us. Out of options, we resigned to our impending frozen demise.

 But something changed. The acrid smoke hidden in the fog changed us. Blighted our very being. We began to thrive in the cold and dark. But with it came a dark hatred. We launched another assault on the elves, smashing through the tree itself to reach this foul contraption. But we could not touch it, It's cold shell burned. The elves rallied and forced us out once again. Mending our wounds, I was approached by a youthful creature red as fire and filled with ambition to match. He had met with a godling who offered a solution for a meager price. She would remove the elves... for the lives of a few of our young.

I agreed, and Lilli, Ziku and Demedore were chosen. He returned a week later with a rat. Leading the rat to the tree, it began to work. Spewing forth an endless stream of black electricity that crackled up and throughout the tree. Screams of anguish could be heard, music to my ears. Eventually, she stopped, but in the place of the rat was a young rat-woman. She said nothing, but turned and left. Out of the tree poured thousands of foul rat-men. They clamored after her leaving us as quickly as she arrived.

 I moved to stop the source of this corruption, but found I could not. I no longer wished to.