Trees Gone Wild!

While sparkling lights illuminated the streets of Vana'diel and brightened the spirits of city-dwellers, a group of once-radiant Twinkling Treants was wreaking havoc all across the land.

The nearly forgotten treants were returned to the Rhinostery in Windurst and were scheduled for incineration. The mysterious trees had other plans.

"Getting rid of those trees should have been mere routine, but they woke from their stasis, and boy, were they mean!" explained a representative of the Rhinostery, which sought help from adventurers in controlling the well-rooted menace. This unusual situation was taking place right outside the city. A giant treant, beautifully decorated with multicolored lights, was thrashing about at the many adventurers that surrounded it.

The treant's delicate ornamentation belied it's incredible strength. The adventurers that surrounded the creature were dropping like flies beneath the treant's withering assault.

"Can we really beat this thing?" inquired one anonymous voice from the increasingly dispirited crowd. Their exhaustion was beginning to show.

Suddenly, a shout rose up from the throng.

It was Taxman, who had opened a linkshell called "TreeSweepers" specifically for this event. He was one of the first to answer the call to arms, gathering adventurers to fight against the Twinkling Treants.

He quickly assembled a strong group of adventurers. Both useful information and wild theories began to fly.

"We should just hammer it with skillchains."

"We've got way too many people to coordinate something like that. We're better off with everybody just hitting the thing as hard as they can."

"How about a tidal wave of black magic?"

Mixing these ideas with a healthy dose of trial and error, the adventurers threw everything they had at the tree. Its strength slowly began to ebb.

Even off of the front lines, there were plenty of roles to be played.

Taxman flew to Jeuno to gather more adventurers. Pascal, a white mage traveling with Taxman, teleported the new recruits to the battle.

"Being a white mage isn't just curing and healing. I'm doing whatever I can," said Pascal.

Their actions seemed to be helping. Soon the treant was completely swarmed by adventurers.

Nearby was Kirinji, selling grilled hare for only one gil per slice.

"I made this food because it was all I could do to aid the fight," he stated.

Even as Kirinji spoke, adventurers were wolfing down the meat before heading to the front lines.

Despite the heavy beating the tree was taking from the surrounding adventurers, the furious flora continued to retaliate. Eventually, the last of its seemingly limitless strength faded.

The lifeless hulk crashed to the ground amid cheers and shouts.

Fireworks were lit. Dances were danced. Hats were tossed high in the air. Everyone shared in the joy of the victory and praised each other's bravery and fighting prowess.

"At first, I didn't even think it was possible. But we just kept plugging away at the thing and, working together, we brought it down. What a feeling!" enthused an adventurer named Mine.

This group was not alone in this treant-toppling task. Adventurers throughout the world gathered together to slay all of the wayward treants.

"Assassin" fought hard to the last. "I couldn't rest until the last of the trees had been vanquished. I went all over the world," he said with a sigh of relief.

Hearing the news that the treants had fallen, the three nations opened a teleport service to show their gratitude to the adventurers. This new service is being operated by the Specialty Goods Trade Union.

Rottan is just one of many who are thrilled with this news. He couldn't wait to try out the service by teleporting to a far-flung region, no doubt to savor the collective victory.

Finally, Taxman, who opened the linkshell, looked back on the experience and said:

"All I did was get the ball rolling. This is everyone's victory."

As Taxman says, there were no standouts in the battle; such a victory could only occur by steadfast teamwork and cooperation.