Glade of the Sister Tree

Geography

Located deep within a strange cave in the region known as The Mournlands is a vast glade said to have once rested on the surface of the world until some unknown event, whether magical or natural, cast the glade under the earth. The cave is not dark, however. A large amount of light is let in through the top to light up the beautiful and otherworldly garden that grows within. Strange creatures and flora not of the material plane grows within the cave and ruins of once stunning arches and other buildings dot the area, reclaimed by the natural world.
Burbling brooks and small streams flow within and around the floor of the cave, winding in a labyrinthine pattern through the garden. The water at night has an eerie blue glow, possibly picked up from the strange magic that affects the Mournlands outside. It is refreshing, however, to those who drink it. Perhaps the poisons that once flowed through it have been purified by the garden the water flows through and the magic is changed to something more positive.
At the centre of the glade is a great and beautiful tree, bathed in the sunlight that filters down from the hole at the top of the cave. It appears to be as if two trees have twisted into one, with swirls and spirals of warm bark and white bark. This is The Sister Tree. It has foliage of silver and gold that glitter in the light of the sun and the moon. Twice a year, on both the summer and winter solstices, the tree produces a single beautiful and strange fruit from its branches. At the summer solstice, the fruit is flawless gold and shaped like an apple. In winter the fruit is stunning silver and shaped like a pear.

Ecosystem

Within the cave, the Glade produces its own weather systems (or it is perhaps produced by any remaining druids that dwell there). The land is fertile and all manner of plants and fungi grow within the garden, given to their own devices rather than being maintained in a planned fashion. Animals are also free to roam where they please.

Localized Phenomena

The climate within the cave is always temperate, though shifts slightly through the seasons to reflect the outside world. While lit up beautifully during the day, it's at night where the true magic shines through, with the glowing water and flower petals that look like they've drunk moonlight and are shining it back into the cave.
Those that enter the cave will feel their exhaustion dwindle away the longer they remain, as if they are allowed to rest even when wide awake.
At the winter solstice, shining illusions dance through the garden, depicting those that once tended to it in the past. Though some might mistake them for ghosts, they are not malicious and will not do harm to anyone visiting. They only turn on the visitors if one tries to do harm to the glade.
During the summer solstice, butterfly-like apparitions spawn through the cave, dancing around the flowers and in the light streaming into the cave. These too will turn to protect the garden if provoked to do so.
Both these illusions change at the respective solstice and change to the other once the solstice comes to pass.

Natural Resources

Many of the plants within the cave have some kind of medicinal property and can be used to restore magic or health when used in the correct ways. The water of the cave has the same effects once distilled into the correct potions.
These are not what the Glade is known for, however. Stories centre around the Sister Tree in particular, and the fruit that it produces. The golden Summer Apple is said to have the ability to cure all diseases and negative magical effects, as well as restoring their health and healing the deepest of wounds, for a month after consumption, the eater will be filled with extra vitality, able to withstand some of the worst battles have to offer.
The silver Winter Pear has a similar effect on magical effects and diseases and will also heal the worst the world has to offer, and for a month after consumption, whoever ate it has a good chance each night of having a prophetic dream that will help them the next day.
Planting the seeds of these fruits will not grow another Sister Tree, but instead will produce either a sentient plant loyal to the one that planted it or one of the flowers found growing around the glade, able to be used to create strange and wonderful magical brews.

History

The story of how the Sister Tree came to be where it is has fallen into myth. Some say it was the place where the sister queens Titania and Mab embraced and wept over the loss of a loved one. Others say it was a gift given to a chosen druid to plant on the material plane so that others would be able to know the gifts of the fae queens.
However the tree came into existence, a druid circle and settlement soon grew up around it during the end of the Mythic Era and throughout the First Era. This land was prosperous and rarely saw true conflict. When conflict arose between those with and without magic during the Second Era, something mysterious happened to the area surrounding the Sister Tree. Whether natural or caused by the druids that lived in the area to preserve the tree, it was swallowed up by the earth in a massive earthquake, hiding it from the world.
Only recently was it rediscovered by those who had forgotten its location.

Tourism

Due to its proximity to the Mournlands, the Glade of the Sister Tree does not see the pilgrimages it once did. Long ago, people came from far and wide to witness the majesty of the tree and the garden that grew around it. Now, in its cave, only the bravest or most desperate of people will come to see it, hoping to take one of the fruits that grow from the Sister Tree's branches or drink from the waters there.
Even this practice has dried up over time, scared away by the rumours of evil druids protecting the tree from outsiders and the monsters that are said to dwell within the cave.

Type

Cave

Location under

The Mournlands