OK.
The problem-some player deftly dropped out in a well worded e-mail.
The party gated away to the Canyonside ruins where they had fought the goblin strong-hold to start the next set of adventures. With a lead that Bane K, had been the person to ship the spell components, including those from the body parts possibly enslaved sentient creatures known as changelings, the party monetarily aided the fight against the goblins, and headed to the next country to the west. The gate to the next town in our path had glitches, so we opted for an unknown destination to the southeast. The gate led us to a lone hill standing over a desert. Ruins of an ancient settlement circled the hill and a great, sentient tree stood over the gate.
The gate revealed one party member, a servant of the problem player, who wished to continued the quest, and claimed to have permission to be with us, to be a changeling. The changeling had taken multiple roles over several encounters to help the party.
When my character, Badger, went to investigate the tree, the tree spoke to the group, revealing the goliath barbarian to be a Fastrider (think Buffy the Vampire Slayer, once in a generation, legendary fighter). The tree wanted to walk north, but the guardian of the place held it in place. Badger went to investigate and discovered a guardian in the form of giant scorpion holding the tap root of the Great Tree (think Ent). The angry guardian tried to fight the party, but freeing the Ent, the party fled through the gate to the east. Landing in a pine wood, Badger tried to learn who the changeling actual was.......
