Found in Moonrise. The note reads,

Quote
Dictated to Scribe Yanthus by General Ketheric


Druids, meddling and mettlesome - I have a history with them that makes me wary of underestimating them. They will certainly not welcome the rise of the Absolute in their vicinity and could become significant obstacles if we don't find a way to take them out of play.


I speak here, for starters, of the Emerald Grove and of the Cloakwood Circle. They cannot easily be defeated without a signficant diversion of resources, but they can, perhaps, be neutralised from within.


Druids, by their very nature - do not smile, Yanthus - value the balance of natural forces over the welfare of humanity in general, and in the extreme this is expressed by the faction historically knowns as the Shadow Druids, who favour complete separation of the circles from what they regard as the ills of civilisation.


We shall identify the current leaders of the Shadow Druids, cultivate them with gifts while intimidating them with threats, and encourage them to see that the wisest and most prudent course is for the druid circles to stand neutral as the army of the Absolute marches on the blighted cities of the civilised.


Disciple Z'rell shall select an appropriate agent to parley with the Shadow Druid leaders. Eventually, all shall be infected with tadpoles.

Which obviously changes the context for quite a lot of the game once you discover it- the Grove wasn't just exploited by the Shadow Druids, it was a deliberate effort to divide the Druids there and make them useless as fighters against the Absolute. (Which again, is part of why I also think Origin Halsin would be such a good/fitting idea for the definitive edition- if Thorm viewed neutralizing the Druids as so important as to send the Shadow Druids in, why not go all the way to tapdoling their leader to draw them in under his influence directly?)

Last edited by autistichalsin; 19/01/24 06:15 PM.