Bloodmoon:The Ritual of Trees

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Retrieve and plant the seeds to the First Tree. Quest Giver: Tharsten Heart-Fang in the Skaal Village Location(s): Brodir Grove Prerequisite Quest: The Disappearance of Captain Carius Next Quest: The Skaal Test of Wisdom Concurrent Quest: The Ritual of Water, The Ritual of Earth, The Ritual of Beasts, The Ritual of the Sun, The Ritual of the Winds Reward: None ID: BM_Trees Suggested Items: Sneak, Chameleon, or Fire Damage spells Suggested Level: 30 Difficulty: Hard

The Tree Stone

The Story of Aevar Stone-Singer

Aevar's strength had returned, so he traveled on to the Tree Stone, though the Good Beast did not follow him. When he arrived, the All-Father spoke to him.

"The First Trees are gone, and must be replanted. Find the seed and plant the First Tree."

Aevar traveled again through the Hirstaang Forest, searching for the seeds of the First Tree, but he could find none. Then he spoke to the Tree Spirits, the living trees. They told him that the seeds had been stolen by one of the Falmer (for they are the servants of the Adversary), and this Falmer was hiding them deep in the forest, so that none would ever find them.

Aevar traveled to the deepest part of the forest, and there he found the evil Falmer, surrounded by the Lesser Tree Spirits. Aevar could see that the Spirits were in his thrall, that he had used the magic of the Seeds and spoken their secret name. Aevar knew he could not stand against such a force, and that he must retrieve the seeds in secret.

Aevar reached into his pouch and drew out his flint. Gathering leaves, he started a small fire outside the clearing where the Falmer and the ensorcelled Spirits milled. All the Skaal know the Spirits' hatred of fires, for the fires ravage the trees they serve. At once, the Nature of the Spirits took hold, and they rushed to quell the flames. During the commotion, Aevar snuck behind the Falmer and snatched the pouch of Seeds, stealing away before the evil being knew they were gone.

When Aevar returned to the Tree Stone, he planted the tree in the ground, and the All-Maker spoke to him.

"The Gift of Trees is restored. Once again, the Trees and Plants will bloom and grow, and provide nourishment and shade."

Quick Walkthrough

1. Find and activate the Tree Stone in Brodir Grove.
2. Kill the Riekling and retrieve the seeds.
3. Return to the Tree Stone, plant the seeds, then activate the Tree Stone.

Detailed Walkthrough

The seed thief and his trees

Locate the Stone

The Tree Stone is roughly in the center of Solstheim in Brodir Grove, south or southeast from the spring of the Harstrad River. Indeed, if you head southeast from the very start of the river, you should soon see the stone pillar. Activate the stone to learn that you must next travel east and find the one who has stolen the seeds.

Find the Grove

Just east and a bit north from the stone you should spot five Spriggans surrounding a single Riekling (and get a journal entry to that effect if you are close enough). They will all attack you at once if you get close enough or if you attack one of them so be prepared. If you haven't fought a Spriggan before, you'll have to kill each of them three times before they stay dead. Try and use ranged attacks and area effect spells as much as possible before getting into melee. Fire Damage is particularly effective. This can be a tough fight for even high levels on a 100 difficulty.

Get the Seeds

Once you kill the Riekling (only killing the Riekling is actually needed to complete the quest), you'll find some Strange Seeds on the Riekling and receive a journal entry once you pick them up. One interesting thing to note is that the Spriggans will not attack anyone if they are carrying the seeds. So if you make a point to quickly kill the Riekling first, and loot the seeds off his corpse, the Spriggans will then leave you alone (this only applies to these particular quest Spriggans - normal wandering Spriggans will still attack you, even if you have the seeds in your inventory). Using chameleon to Sneak closer, before stabbing the Riekling in the back, is an effective method of completing the quest without having to fight the Spriggans. The Riekling also has a much longer line of sight than the Spriggans, so if you can draw the Riekling's attention from a distance and run away further from the circle of Spriggans without drawing them in as well, you can fight and kill the Riekling alone - a much simpler task.

The First Tree, fully-grown

Plant the Tree

It seems that you must plant the seeds almost next to the stone. Move to the circle of stones a bit northwest from the stone and directly behind it and you will automatically receive a message box to plant the seed saying:

"Would you like to plant the Strange Seeds in the fertile soil?"

You will have two options to choose from — Yes or No. Return to the Tree Stone after selecting Yes and activate it to complete this portion of the ritual. The tree will grow as time passes in the game.

Quest Stages

The following Journal ID and Index codes can be used with the Journal console command to manually update the quest to a certain point.

The Ritual of Trees (BM_Trees)
Index	Finishes Quest	Journal Entry
10		As I approached the Tree Stone, I saw magical writing appear on its surface. They read: "The First Trees are gone. Travel east and find the one who has stolen the Seeds. Beware--he who has the seeds, controls the trees. Plant the First anew." Then, the writing disappeared.
20		I've entered a clearing where there are a group of Spriggans surrounding a Riekling minion. The Spriggans seem to be in the Riekling's thrall, and look agressive [sic].
30		I have recovered the Seeds from the Riekling. There was a clearing northwest of the Tree Stone where they might be planted.
40		I have planted the Seeds. I should return to the Tree Stone.
100	Finishes quest	After planting the Seeds, I approached the Tree Stone. It began to glow with a magical light.

Prev: The Ritual of Beasts

Up: The Skaal Test of Loyalty

Next: The Ritual of the Sun