Grove Sprites

When a tree falls in the forest, does it make a sound? We'll never know, since trees don't fall in this game. But there are some creatures who know the answer to this question. They are the Grove Sprites - the tiny little tree people who like to plant saplings. They are one with the trees, and dedicate their lives towards protecting the forest. ...Or at least, a small part of it.

Grove Sprites are peaceful little creatures who like to plant saplings. They spawn on grass close to trees in small groups, and they come with two or three saplings in their inventory. They'll walk around looking for a grassy, sunny, and non-crowded spot to plant their saplings. They will plant one every 30 seconds or so in a random location until they run out, and then they will roam around looking for more. They can carry up to 100 at a time. Grove Sprites aren't the best at locating saplings though, so they usually need some help. And the perfect one to help them is, of course, the player. With the adorable little sounds they make as they do their work, it's hard to resist helping them out anyway.

When a Grove Sprite sees a sapling, they will become very excited and run towards it. And if the sapling happens to be in your hand, they will reach their little arms up and beg you incessantly for it. Should you drop the sapling, they'll run to pick it up, and then continue their regular planting routine. A Grove Sprite will follow a player forever if the player holds a sapling in their hand, and once that distraction is gone, they'll stay within their immediate area until it's time to plant a new sapling. They also like grass seeds. When a grove sprite eats a grass seed, it regains all of its health and won't despawn anymore, so you can easily keep them as pets! You can tell if a Grove Sprite won't despawn by the sound of its voice. It will hum happily if it has been given grass seeds at least once.

Grove Sprites come in three varieties, which are normal, birch, and spruce. Grove sprites spawned in normal areas are usually plain, but have a 25% chance to be birch. Any grove sprite spawned in a snowy area will be spruce. They all behave exactly the same way, but they are loyal to their own variety of tree. This means that regular Grove Sprites aren't interested in birch saplings, and so on. Despite their differences, grove sprites know a log block when they see it, and they will be greatly offended if they see you with any kind of log in your hand or an axe. To them, it's basically proof you either cut down a tree or slayed a member of their kind. They will run over to you and smack all of your logs right out of your inventory just to show they mean business! They won't cause you any damage though, because they are thoroughly peaceful.

The Grove sprites may be dedicated, but they don't live forever. Even if they don't despawn, Grove Sprites have a specific life cycle that they need to follow. Once a grove sprite plants a total of 25 saplings, something activates inside their brain. The next sapling they plant won't be a sapling at all - they will plant their inner core. This causes the grove sprite to die, but the plant that gets created is actually their method of reproduction. It is a giant spinning orb that steadily grows larger and larger, until it finally bursts, revealing two new grove sprites! These sprites will pick up where their mother/father left off, and start with a minimum of four saplings instead of one. And such is the life cycle of a Grove Sprite.

To make things even better, an Orb Plant (as it is called) can be easily replanted wherever you want if you just click it. This will make it drop. You'll see that the damage meter is equal to its size. Once the damage meter is full, the orb will hatch. If you run while holding a Sprite Orb (as it is called while you hold it), your legs will be filled with energy and you will be able to sprint at very fast speeds. But be careful, because this drains the damage meter and will eventually break the orb, making it lost forever.

But not everything is as peaceful as it seems, unfortunately. There is one other kind of forest spirit. A much meaner one. And that creature is called a Cinder Sprite.

While Grove Sprites represent the peace and prosperity of a growing forest, Cinder Sprites are just the opposite. They arise during forest fires and actively seek revenge against the ones who started them. They're completely hostile, and will attack the player on sight, causing medium damage and setting the player on fire. Oh yeah, and a Grove Sprite will transform into a Cinder Sprite if lit on fire. But with care and effort, these monsters can be avoided completely. Step one - never start forest fires. It will make Cinder Sprites spawn, and they'll actively spread it even further with their flames. Step two - if you kill three Grove sprites within a single minute, lightning will strike all remaining grove sprites in the world, turning them into cinder sprites. But luckily, the last sprite you kill will actually drop its inner core - a last ditch effort to let their species continue.

Summary of Abilities:


 * Small tree-like dudes who plant saplings
 * Starts with 2-3 saplings, plants until gone
 * Now make cute noises!
 * Can plant on snow, grass, or dirt
 * 3 varieties - normal, birch and spruce.
 * Holds up to 100 additional saplings
 * Chases after sapling items or players holding saplings
 * Spawns as either regular or birch
 * Will punch player (damageless) if attacked or if sees log in hand
 * Gains health if it eats grass seeds
 * dies and plants an Orb Plant after planting 25 saplings
 * Orb plants grow and hatch into two more grove sprites
 * Orb plants can be held in the hand to run faster, but this damages them
 * Grove sprites don't despawn after recieving grass seeds
 * Grove sprites don't drop anything interesting upon death
 * Grove sprites turn into Cinder Sprite if set on fire
 * Cinder Sprites:
 * Slowly spread fire along the ground as they walk
 * Are hostile towards player
 * Attack for 1.5 hearts and light target on fire
 * Don't do anything bad on Peaceful
 * Obviously are not in the mood to be planting trees
 * Drops coal on death
 * Takes damage in water
 * - If the player kills three Grove Sprites manually within a single minute, a disastrous event occurs.

Issues:


 * Spawns are a little bit rare, but through testing I've always managed to find them by looking for saplings on the ground in the distance.


 * It's not proven, but Cinder Sprites may rarely spawn outside of forest fires.


 * Post anything else you find!