The session began with Ragnulf Einson, a man of the trees born in the 1940s with slow aging due to his non-human heritage, awakening from a twenty-year sleep. He had been roused by the corruption of a gateway tree between realms and made his way to Goldcrest University's courtyard after months of slowly waking up. Upon arriving, he discovered the beautiful gateway tree was dying, with green veins pulsating through it, dead branches, and falling leaves.
When Ragnulf grabbed a random passerby to ask what had happened to the tree, the person kicked him in the shin and called him a psycho before running away. Four hooded cultists then approached from behind, offering to explain the tree's condition. They revealed that their master Azazel now inhabited the tree and had been slowly corrupting it from within. The lead cultist sniffed Ragnulf's aura, found it intriguing, and brandished a knife, demanding samples from him.
Ragnulf immediately activated his iron bark protection, forming bark-like armor on his skin, and refused to give samples. The first cultist charged at him, so Ragnulf slammed his runic staff into the ground, using Earthshake magic to send tremors that knocked the attacker off balance. When another cultist moved to strike, Ragnulf created a glamour illusion to confuse him, making it appear he was still in his original position while actually moving away.
The battle intensified as Ragnulf transformed into bear form and attacked back, though he was stabbed with a tainted dagger in the process. He then called forth vines from the ground that successfully trapped three of the four cultists, but one managed to cut himself free and began fleeing. In his bear form, Ragnulf charged through the three trapped cultists with a mighty roar, tearing them apart as the escaped cultist looked back in horror before continuing to run.
Ragnulf shifted back to human form and used his tree step magic to emerge from a tree directly in front of the fleeing cultist. When the cultist dodged to the left, Ragnulf created another glamour that made it appear he was surrounding the cultist from all directions, psychologically trapping him. While maintaining this illusion, Ragnulf pulled the tainted dagger from his own wound and used Lifebloom magic to heal himself, demonstrating how ineffective the attack had been.
The terrified cultist revealed that the dagger was a gift from Azazel, empowered with the demon's blood. Rather than kill the cultist with his own weapon, Ragnulf decided to restore balance by using his Lifebloom magic to transform the cultist into a beautiful tree. The cultist screamed as he grew and transformed, creating a natural counterpoint to the corrupted gateway tree nearby.
After completing this act of balance, Ragnulf heard a crumpling aluminum sound and looked up to see Torin Storm jumping down from a roof. Torin introduced himself as a member of the popular band "Bards of Asgard" and explained he was working on charitable efforts to rebuild Quad City. The two discussed Woodstock, where Ragnulf had been present before his long sleep, and Torin mentioned knowing someone from there as well.
Torin invited Ragnulf to join a super group he was forming to help protect people, mentioning other team members including someone who could walk through trees, another with PTSD, and an owl-like being. Ragnulf agreed to come with him, and when Torin suggested flying, Ragnulf attempted to use tree-step magic to transport them both. However, the magic failed to bring Torin along, leaving him knocking on the tree while Ragnulf disappeared into it. Torin then received a radio call from Director Locke about the next recruit.
