TLDR; Meeting Pollen and finding the bifurcated tree and fairy ring

​Several days at sea, my stomach has been empty for days but still I retch. Last thing I can remember was telling tales from the great sage of Moosic mountain. I continue to search for that despicable brother in law of mine the so called “Great fighter Cesare Borgia”, that worthless son of a pope! When I find him I'll drag him back to the highlands. That SOB, walked out on my poor,sister leaving her with 3 little ones to take care of and his little bastard ripe in her belly. I have no idea what my sister sees in that devil.  
 
Anyway what were we talking about? Oh yes that tavern in Scantus and the rumors that a Tiefling fighter passed through on his way to black river island. Here I am rocking in the dank festering hulk of a ship. The only comfort on this trip is a large orange tiger stripe cat. I've named her Musettte. My misfortune, being unable to eat the grewl served on this tub, has turned into Musette’s bounty.
 
At last we make “landfall” on black river island, “muckfall" would be a more appropriate description for this strange place. At least I can stand without falling or vomiting. As I plant my feet I instantly feel much better. The fresh sea air and a firm footing relegate the last few days to be nothing more than a soon to be forgotten bad memory. I need a pint “come on Musette” we might as see what the tavern holds.
 
I enter the tavern and knock back a few crowd gathers as I tell of an epic sea journey laced with just enough local details to make it sound plausible. Cheers go up as I strum my lute telling a tale of monsters, banshees and mountainous waves. In the corner a little gnome picks up a flute and adds a shrill pitch making the story all the more death defying. I nod approval at this little one, secretly impressed at his improvised playing. After the telling and a few free pints from the patrons I wander over to the corner to meet the gnome.
 
I ask him his name and what brings him to this place. He replies Damp Noodle or was it Lamb doodles? Hell for all I care it could be Bamboozled. It is good to be in the company of a fellow Bard and Gnomes are such fine creatures. I never met a bad gnome and doubt they even exist. Just a look a the big smile on this little guy it will brighten your day.

I have spent several weeks here on Black Marsh Island meditating, and trying to recover my memories before I felt ready to reenter those black marshes. After waiting for the right opportunity, I joined a pair of adventurers looking to explore the western swamps. My memory is hazy and full of fevered visions, but my aim was to rediscover that magnificant sylvan tower where I had recoverd after the fall of Ft. Providence.

Namfoodle the brash and Heykitd the ever-talking had their own motivations for adventuring, but they seemed to be apt fighters and proved themselves traversing the swamplands, though their very personalities were a great test of my patience. I think I need to recenter my mind and body before travelling with two bards again.

We traveled up the river and to the west, passing several landmarks we had heard about in the tavern. A dwarven trail blaze leading to drinking water and a stone trail marker carved in some unknown language. As the river turned south we spotted our trailhead, a magnificant pale oak with perfectly symmetrical bifurcating branches centered in a calm pool.

We pulled our canoes out of the river and set up camp for the night. During my watch in the night, a silver haired woman appeared to commune with the tree and approached me. I learned her name was Pollen and that she was a protector spirit of the region. She made an offer that if I was able to cleanse the blight from the midden heap far to the east, I would be rewarded with the knowledge I sought. I thanked her for the opportunity to bring balance to the marshland and promised to prevent my fellow adventurers from felling her unique oak tree.

We followed a western oriented game trail for miles before coming to a large, almost perfectly circular clearing in a region of high ground with many trees. A ring of large mushrooms was centered in the clearing and Namfoodle detected a strong presence of conjuration magic. Meditating within the ring brought nightmarish flashbacks from my earlier ordeal and the lingering image of a fey face within the fairy ring. Heykitd's dwarven intuition proved that the foundation of a great tower once stood in this location and we began experimenting to summon the structure from its hiding place.