Escape the dungeon.

Back at the entrance, it's as Fava described. Vines wrap around the segments of stone, and they've been parted to clear a snug tunnel up the ladder towards the light of the surface. Straight away, you grab the rungs and begin to climb, but you don't yet see a face. Your party follows close behind. Someone is waiting for you at the top, however, and as you feel the warmth of the sun one more, you turn to see a warm, kind smile greeting you back.

The smile is troubled as well however. It's Peony, and she looks nervous. "M'lord!" Quickly, she wraps her arms around you and hugs you tight. "I was so worried."

"Peony? What is it that happened?" Amara asks.

"It took so long, but I finally dug you out after that mean druid trapped you."

"Grenmila?"

She nods. "Not long after you left, I noticed something strange. It looked like a normal wolf to everybody else, but I knew better. That wolf was a druid in their Beast Form, so I followed from a distance. I was almost caught when she transformed back and I saw her face. It was too late though. She had collapsed the entrance to the hatch! After she left, I worked hard to dig a way for you to get back out... I knew in my heart that it's where you all went. I don't know why she tried to kill you, but I'm so angry!"

"An evil druid, huh?" the pixie speaks up. "That explains the Elder Tree thing."

"There's an Elder Tree here?" asks Peony.

You point at Eva's chest. "Oh yeah. That's Fava, the pixie responsible for everything we suffered down there, I mean after the collapse. She said there's an Elder Tree around these woods that apparently keeps them safe, so I suppose that yeah, a druid being the one that could slip past it makes sense."

Peony's mind seems to wander. She steps away, and she places her gently hand against the trunk of a tree. There she stares calmly, as if she's listening to the sounds of the woods, and feeling the breeze wafting between the branches of trees. She squints, and then her eyes turn back to the party. "Yes... I think I might sense something, but it doesn't feel properly like an Elder Tree at all. I just feel an emptiness."

"That doesn't sound good," you say.

"We should investigate. Maybe it's where Grenmila went, unless she's back in town."

"I agree."

"Same here," Fava calls out. "She attacked my lair after all. I'd like to see who this is."

Niki bangs her mace against her shield with a smile across her face. "Then what are we waiting for? Let's go beat up an old woman already."

The party departs deeper into the woods with Peony as a guide. It's a bit of a trip, but the dryad seems incredibly determined, and she moves with such ease between the trees that it puts to shame horses on an open road. The farther you go, the more disturbed she seems, though she isn't speaking much. If Grenmila truly is up ahead, there will likely be a fight, so you keep your hand below the hilt of your trusty magic blade and prepare for the worst.