Grovewarder

Grovewarder belongs to guardian spirit in the Landorya bestiary. Its usual habitat is Grovewarders are rooted to The Glimmering Groves and the outer perimeter of The Twilight Covenant Grove, and are rarely if ever found beyond those bounds.. Grovewarders are the primary physical defenders of the Fey Court of the Eternal Twilight's most sacred natural sites, stationed at the borders of grove sanctuaries and along appro… Key abilities include Root Anchor: drives limbs into the earth to become immovable and draw strength from ley lines, Thorn Barrage: launches volleys of hardened, poison-tipped thorns, and Verdant Regeneration: slowly regrows damaged limbs using ambient nature magic.

The Grovewarder stands twelve feet tall on legs of gnarled, bark-covered wood, its torso a mass of woven living branches and flowering vines that bloom and wither in cycles as it moves. Two enormous arms end in splayed, root-like fingers capable of tearing stone, while its face, if it can be called that, is a smooth ovoid of pale amber resin through which two deep green lights slowly orbit each other.

Grovewarders are patient and utterly purposeful, exhibiting no aggression unless the boundaries of their assigned grove are violated. They do not pursue fleeing intruders beyond their territory's edge but will remember and recognize the scent and aura of a trespasser for centuries.

The oldest Grovewarder known to fey lore, called the Hearthroot by the Court, is said to have stood at the boundary of the Twilight Covenant Grove since before the Covenant was written, a claim that would make it older than the Court itself. Dwarven prospectors who once attempted to mine the crystalline outcroppings at the grove's edge reported their tools rotting to splinters and their maps going blank before the Hearthroot drove them back. Fey scholars believe each Grovewarder carries a fragment of the grove's memory, making them living archives of ecological history. Destroying a Grovewarder is considered an act of war against every Court-Circle simultaneously.

Grovewarders are the primary physical defenders of the Fey Court of the Eternal Twilight's most sacred natural sites, stationed at the borders of grove sanctuaries and along approaches to the Twilight Covenant Grove. They are grown, not born, by senior fey druids who weave a grove's own life-force into a semi-sentient guardian form.