A brief report: Father Grant took us from the councillors hall to Fynn's tower by Britain Bridge, to meet Radrik the Ranger. This is a character we've met before in passing EM events, who has helped the realm and Skaros in the past.
We then walked towards a spot in the woods to clear it of trees;
But we found a complication; the trees were almost instantly removed, bar for a strange blue Gnarled one. And the site was already the home of some exceedingly rare Long Eared Hares, and Radrik said we couldn't build over the spot until they'd been found a new home for the inhabitants within the grey funnel shaped Hare Burrows;
After much debate, Father Grant suggested taming and then placing the hares in the gardens of Castle Blackthorn to frolic under royal protection. And they're going to need it; as mentioned there was increased griefing again, and when Father Grant asked us to bounce up and down on the ground to lure them out (by emoting *thump thump thump*) every time one spawned, someone would cast a spell and kill them. Stratics has a no-naming policy, but I've heard from multiple people it was an alt of someone becoming quite infamous now for how much they debase themselves at events. In the end, I swapped to Event chat and asked if the EMs if they'd like me to go and tame some and pass them over, so they couldn't be killed at any point; they said yes, so I quickly recalled to Jhelom Pens and picked up the ones I knew spawned there. This triggered said griefer screaming over and over about my bringing them in, but the event then seemed to at least progress a little as they abandoned killing the remainder that were created.
But you lose, so good day sir.
We took them over to the orchards behind Castle Blackthorn, although a few were further left wandering the woods; people would later pick them up thinking they were rares, but EMs aren't allowed to create tamed pets as such, they are just normal rabbits renamed. You can give them the same name using the Enhanced Client and Pincos' UI. By all means keep them for mementos (I believe a few Hooby Jooby birds survive too) but they aren't unique in any way.
Then we returned to deal with the remaining Gnarled Tree. We attempted to chop it, but blows to the trunk suddenly summoned waves of guardian Treefellows (the same blue colour as the Gnarled), bright red Bog Things (named as "Tangles" I think?) and incredibly hard Tangled Roots. It took about 30 minutes to finally clear these, at which point the tree exploded on the next contact from an axe:
I tried to show my own Love by resurrecting people where my dragon can be seen, but there fortunately didn't seem to be many deaths. I myself would briefly visit the spirit world later when I found some of the spawn had been lured, or had accidentally wandered into Sosarian Steeds to the north, but myself and a Gargoyle thrower whose name I forget then proceeded to clear it out.
Once the final tree was removed, Father Grant said he would work on the foundations over the coming days... look for a housing plot there soon methinks; but we would be needed to help support it's final building. Perhaps even a competition to design a new cathedral? Exciting times!
