Elder Tharah takes you deep underground, so far beneath the temple that the tremors sound even louder down there.

"When you told me you'd grown an etheria tree at Stonehaven Shrine," Tharah says, "I knew I had to show you this."

You step into a large room and stare around you in wonder. Massive tree roots cover the walls and earth, dipping into a small lake. This must be …

"We're far below Stonehaven Shrine," Alster says, his mouth open in awe, "and these roots are from the tree we saw grow just a short while ago?"

Tharah nods. "Etheria tree roots can span for miles. They reach deep pockets of water underground, like this lake, which if filled with crystal energy accelerates their growth but it usually takes years. These trees receive their light from crystals and can survive underground without ever seeing the sun. The take water from deep pools, under lakes or from aquafers and the earths abundant minerals in the deep caverns provide transmutable sustenance. You know, all things on Elda Island are connected. The crystals are overreacting to something in the system and it is accelerating the etheria tree and all plant life with it. That's why the crystals are glowing and pulsing. Normally the trees can even feel the energy from other Etheria trees and plant life and can absorb and regulate it as they send it on to each other. But as the system is in overflow the plants are unable to regulate the flow of energy from crystal to water to plant and they have no where to send the extra ethereal energy but into their own trunks, leaves, stems and branches.

She places her hand on a mass of tangled roots and she closes her eyes, falling silent for a moment. Then Tharah lets out a disturbed cry "I can see it now! She's trying to heal her older sister. We have to help her!"

Tharah darts out of the room. You all run after her, trying your best to keep up. Whoever the sister is or whatever is going on, it must be important!

What are the 3 conditions that allow the tree roots to reach so far underground? Write this as a paragraph in Thy Quests.

Next: E2Q1 Invasive Species