Blooming Grove

The Blooming Grove, also known as the Bone Orchard to the residents of Shadycreek Run, is a graveyard and temple to the Wildmother and the Archeart in the Savalirwood six miles northwest of Shadycreek Run.

Description
The Blooming Grove is a magically warded garden and graveyard that has been "touched by the Wildmother". It was designed to be "extremely wild in nature" and has been watched over for generations by Caduceus Clay's family as a burial place for "very specific people".

The grove is cloaked by the cursed blighted woods of the Savalirwood, and is surrounded by three concentric rusted iron fences built to hold back the continually encroaching razor-sharp grayish purple thorny vines. The fences were placed up over time to block out the corruption, but as they failed, more interior fences were raised up.

Beau, Caleb, and Nott first came to the grove in the winter, and noticed that the temperature within it was much warmer than that of the the surrounding woods, and the plant life was greener and more suited to swamps than the Savalirwood's cooler-climate vegetation. Within the boundary fences, it is even warmer, comparable to the southern or coastal regions of Wildemount, and there are small pools of water covered in algae.

Magical flowers grow in the grove, each is unique to a family bloodline buried there. Most of them do not have distinguished properties beyond the properties of an ordinary flower, when some possess small medicinal value and can be brewed into a tea.

After the Clay family had returned to the Blooming Grove, the Mighty Nein noticed that the corruption had begun to recede. The boundary was now marked by pink and purple translucent crystal trees.

Points of interest
On the far northern end of the grove, about a hundred feet from the outermost fence, is a 20 by 30 feet stone steeple. The windows have no glass, and are instead overgrown with vines. The building's door is wide and wooden. The front of the building faces southeast and features a "once-filled" arched window. The inside of the temple is well-kept and smells earthy and herbal, and is hung with dried herbs and flowers. It is lit by lanterns, and the furniture is simple and wooden.

Surrounding the building are old gravestones, many of which are falling over.

The gravestones include:
 * 100, 200, 400 and 500 year old elven graves.
 * A ten year old grave containing the elvish name of Tyriel Casala.
 * Generations of members from a textile family known as Casala. Their graves grow red-purple flowers for tea.
 * A follower of Ioun named Ulysses.

There are multiple springs at the Grove of both hot and cold water One of the springs is the Sacred Spring of the Unknown Champion, the resting place of the head of the champion whose interment was the reason for the Grove's creation.

Origins
The legend, as told by Caduceus, is that the day after the Raven Queen's ascension (during the Age of Arcanum, around a thousand years before 836 PD), three of the Raven Queen's heroes, named Clay, Stone, and Dust, were tasked by her with removing the body of one of the heroes of "the war" from a city. The Raven Queen directed them to the Wildmother, and under her guidance, they split the body into parts and took the parts to various locations. They then built temples that their families have since protected; the Clay family's temple being the Blooming Grove. The Cobalt Soul believes the Blooming Grove was built just post-Calamity.

Pre-Campaign 2
Caduceus lived with his family at the sanctuary-like graveyard of the Blooming Grove. His family all left in small groups beginning around 825 or 826 PD in order to try to stop or push back the corruption, which had recently breached the third fence.

Before 835 PD, four Expositors of the Cobalt Soul have filed a report from the grove.

Campaign 2: The Mighty Nein
Beau, Caleb, Nott, Nila, and Keg, while in Shadycreek Run, learned that the Blooming Grove was home to a group of strange hermits. They decided that they would go to the Blooming Grove, as perhaps the healers there could revive Molly, and if they could not, they were more likely to be of assistance in rescuing the others from the Iron Shepherds than anyone else in Shadycreek. There, they met Caduceus, who left with them. After her mate and her son were rescued from the Sour Nest, Nila offered to look after the Blooming Grove, in exchange for Caduceus agreeing to continue helping and traveling with the Mighty Nein.

The Clay family returned to the Grove, escorted by Reani, after their petrification was cured by the Mighty Nein.

The Mighty Nein stopped by the Blooming Grove before their final return to Eiselcross. They saw that the purple crystals Caduceus and Calliope had created in their visits to the other temples of the Wildmother had begun to push back the corruption. Caduceus spoke with his family, particularly with Calliope, about the visions they had been having and about the Mighty Nein's mission. He then Communed with the Wildmother. The rest of the party all made various preparations for their return as well, and Yasha was able to attune to her Holy Avenger with the help of the Stormlord.

The party, including Essek and Kingsley, returned to the Blooming Grove following their defeat of the Neosomnovem. Caleb brought Luc and Yeza Brenatto from where they had been hiding in Zadash back to the Blooming Grove the next morning. Immediately after, Trent Ikithon appeared in the Grove and asked to speak with Caleb, before setting the temple on fire. While Trent had brought Astrid and Eadwulf, the Mighty Nein were able to defeat and restrain him. They, along with the Clay family, also put out the fire. For the next few days, the Mighty Nein and their allies at the Blooming Grove helped restore the garden and rebuild the temple. Then leaving for Nicodranas, although Caduceus chose to stay at the Grove. The rebuilding prcess also required a casting of a permanent Temple of the Gods. He was busy doing this while the rest of the Mighty Nein fought and re-sealed Uk'otoa after being released by his minions in Misuthar 837 PD, and would've been unable to help them even if he was contacted. Caduceus spent the rest of his life in the Blooming Grove, occasionally walking somewhere new and different for a few weeks, months, or years, and sometimes taking Calliope along.