Deep within the Oldwood is a druid grove ringed by monolithic stones. The druids of Oldwood are whiteclad men and women who wear laurels and wield oaken staves. They worship the mother goddess Thylea, and believe that the people of Mytros should never have settled in her Heartlands. They perform a daily ritual sacrifice to Thylea, hoping to atone the sins of the mortal races.

The main road for trade between The City of Mytros, The City of Estoria and The City of Aresia passes closely by The Oldwood.

Seventy years ago a deal was made between The Druids of Oldwood sand The Mortal Kingdoms was made - For the druid's side they guard every single caravan group of people, that pass by the forest, and for a section, they walk them in and then safely walk them to the other side.

Druids are smart - if groups of different interests or even hostile are near each other, they simply pass by each other with no harm because of the druid magic, hiding the fact of the existence of each group by warping the forest and canopy around them. This plan meant that the druids are busy - there are three Clans of druids who do these tasks, but not for free. In exchange, druids put an enormous amount of small and big shrines of Thylea along the road, and a big one near the edge of the Oldwood, near location:931421]. And the most important part of the deal - the Oldwood can grow however it pleases. A long time ago settlers used the wood from the forest, wounding it with each year, but now the times have changed - enhanced by magic, Oldwood started growing quite fast.

There's no mistaking the short, winged, birdlike figure of an Aarokocra; ruffled dark grey feathers mottled with patches and smears of copper adorn the wings, head, chest, and bare arms of what seems to be a bright eyed, adolescent birdfolk.

Clothed lightly with only leather and cloth straps on the chest and cloth trousers, the only possessions that are carried seem to be at the figure's sides - a thick book and a small satchel. Standing at just under 5 feet, his head darts as he nervously scans the environment, clearly out of place in this new land.

The Marvelous Worm was a rather good quality tavern just inside of the town of Meos.

In the lane that led to the tavern, there was a wooden statue of a dancing worm that starts dancing when someone approaches, due to a permanent magic spell. There is a stream on a nearby field that offered water. Merchant and adventurers' caravans occasionally camped on the surrounding fields, two of which were also owned by the tavern's proprietor.

The floor was made of flagstone. There were two hearths, one at each side of the taproom. The walls were decorated with weapons, animal skulls and other hunting trophies.

A nondescript brick building with carved white stone accents, the popular public house distinguishes itself by the sheer amount of activity in and around it. Patrons regularly drift in and out in varying states of sobriety. The scent of food and sounds of raucous conversation emanate from the open door and windows.

Stepping through the door, you see that the busy street outside the tavern barely hinted at the sheer number of patrons crammed inside. Locals and travellers from across Thylea crowd around the bar and an assortment of wooden tables, sharing the latest gossip.

The owner is Delphion, a wiry older man.

A few years after Volkan appeared on Thylea, he was approached by a detachment of smiths who wished to become to serve him and learn from him. 

Unusually for Volkan he agreed and within a few short years he taught the master-smiths advanced metalworking techniques. They forged weapons for The Five Gods until the Unknown were overrun and the forge fires were extinguished.

The ground suddenly begins to shake at regular intervals, accompanied by the sound of massive footfalls. Flocks of birds flee in panic from the nearby forest as a gargantuan bronze warrior emerges from the canopy, looming over the war camp. “Ho there! Come to hassle my little city, have you? Not on my watch! I am called Talos, and I am the guardian of this place. What is your business here?”

- Talos

Talos is a sentient bronze colossus who has long protected Aresia. His origins are unknown, but he has patrolled the forests of the Aresian peninsula for thousands of years. He protects the city because it pleases him to do so—he is a gentle giant if overly prone to talking too much.

Arystonar was a Brass Dragon, Oathsword of Jasena Ventrak.

The Sour Vintage is a traditional country inn located at a crossroads, about twenty miles east of The City of Estoria. The exterior is rustic wood painted black, and the sign hanging from the door depicts a woman carrying a basket full of grapes. Inside the tavern, a haze of pleasant tobacco smoke lingers in the air. You hear the clinking of mugs and the muttering of patrons, most of whom are farmers. It's run by Aetala, a retired hunter.

It was centuries ago when the Xiphos of Slaughter came into being. The dreaded Dragonlord, Estor Arkelander had just destroyed the Gygan capital Fortress on theThe Island of Yonder when he heard tales of a blacksmith from prisoners, a blacksmith that was said to be able to forge weapons that could even pierce the skin of even the thickest beast.

It took months, months of rooting out the Gygan survivors but eventually the smith and his family was found.

"Heed me Gygan scum, your family will be killed... slowly. There is but one way to alter their faith and that is to forge me something. I wish for a weapon that can drench all the shores of Thylea in blood. I wish for a weapon that could slay anything, even a Dragon."

The smith having no choise and not wanting to witness his family be tortured obeyed. Long days of toil followed with the end result being produced, the Xiphos of Slaughter, a bronze sword that while at first glance seems unremarkable but a more trained eye would find that it has not a single imperfection upon it's sharp blade.

"It is perfect...well almost perfect." Estor then completed the creation of the weapon by anointing it with the smith's and his family's blood. After this event the sword was permanently stained deep red.

Estor Arkelander wielded this dread weapon for many years but after he vanished it has reapeared in different hands, usulaly resulting in a bloody conquest as there are always men willing to follow  a terror if only to make it less likely to be struck down by it. The destruction is only stopped when the wielder is finally cut down but quickly resumes when another gains possesion of it.

The Xiphos is incredibly sharp and leaves grievous wounds. It feeds off the blood of any creature it strikes, strengthening the wielder while weakening the victim. The wielder of the blade also eminates an aura of fear and dread making all but the most stalwart of character keen to obey their demands. 

The wielder is said to never want to be apart of the weapon, keeping it within reach at all times, turning intensely violent against any who would try and separate it from them. While the power the weapon gives is immense it is said that a wielder can lose themselves during bloodshed and strike at friend and foe alike. As the Xiphos grows in power so does it's influence.

Chased by reinforcements coming from the main base on The Island of Yonder, including a quite angry looking Dragon that presumably had Gaius upon it, the party went deeper into the forest that surounded the inside of the caldera. Between Rekken's speed and Praxos's terrifying aim they were able to keep ahead of the patrols without being seen. Eventually however The Heroes of Thylea noticed that theyd been surrounded. Fortunately Tryntia was able to find a partially submerged cave that led to the old underground network that the Gygans of Yonder used as storeroooms. Only stopping to disguise the entrance, the party quickly made their way into the cave system. They found themselves in an odd place, a mishmash of collapsed worked tunnels and natural caves, everything covered in a thick mold, the air dusty with particulates. Eurytus was able to commune with the fungal growth and discovered that it was more inteligent than most and proffessed that it wanted to help. Some of the fungus shifted and made a silvery arrow, guiding the heroes through the caves. The fungus mentioned that they should speak to their friend/mother/creator. Heading deeper into the caves the party found several tomes lying around that were completely undamaged even though they were certainly centuries old. Of most interest was a tome that Tryntia found that posited that the dissapearance of the Dragons was both more sudden and more mysterious than previously thought. While there were some theories in the book there were no firm conclusions. Deeper still the party found themselves in what appeared to have been a research facility years ago but was now a partially submerged swamp. As they attempted to make their way through it the ground turned slick and a horrifying creature attacked them.

The creature was hard to make out as it had various corpses stuck upon spikes covering it's body but as the fight went on and it's armour fell off the heroes were able to make out that it's body was covered in blue scales. It possessed a striking double lower jaw, each with a row of extremely long, sharp fangs similar to those of a deep sea fish. It had two bright yellow spots at the sides of its head and two small red eyes.
The fight was furious, with the creature using spores to control slain humans and Gygans and turning the chambers walls into a slippery mess but the heroes were able to give back as much ast hey took. Eventually, the creature found an opening and knocking out Rekken out cold it was able to grab Praxos and fly up. Instead of biting him in half it spoke to him asking him why it heard a voice in its head commanding it to kill him. It did not seem to trust the voice and revealed that in the past such a voice was used to control it. Seizing that moment of hesitation Eurytus struck with his most powerful weapon, calm earnest dialogue. He was able to convince the creature to stand down as it pointed out that the voice was both of their enemies and that made them if not friends, at least temporary allies. The creature agreed and the two sides made a pact. The creature would assist them to sneak into the Ancient Library that was used as the headquarters of Gaius's forces and in return they would help it escape this island. It's biggest wish was to go deeper into the darkness, the depths of the world. It infected a semi disgusted Eurytus with it's spores and asked him to spread them in a suitable location in the Underworld. If this was done it indicated it would fight against the voice, most likely it being Lutheria. Now the middle of the night, the party was able to use the tunnels and access the library. An invisible Yelena was sent to scout, her nimble form able to squeeze through the narrow windows that the buildings here had. 

Finally, drawn to the room where the hear lay, Yelena saw Chondrus speaking into a bowl. Before she left he froze and spoke to her directly. It seems the priest of Lutheria despised the The Order of Sydon and wished to achieve peace between his mistress and the The Heroes of Thylea. He invited the party into the library sending the guards away with a sharp command. His deal was simple, he would surrender the gear and assist them navigating the Underworld if they found themselves there. In return the heroes were to give peace a chance and speak to Lutheria. After all, they had been mostly fighting against the forces of Sydon and Chondrus insisted his mistress only fought against them to assist her twin brother. As an additional show of faith he informed them that it was he who divined Eurytus location but lied to Gaius that they had left the island. Rekkens keen draconic eyes spotted an invisible movement and threw a warning feather dart. That's when the party met KLZT, an odd creature from Outside of Thylea that had been captured by Chondrus and made to assist him. It spoke with a weird manner. And that's where we left our heroes, in the Ancient Library in the midst of an enemy camp, their ship leagues away. Would they seek out its safety? Or would they venture out deeper into the Fort? 

The Underworldis a name for the sunless land of tunnels and caverns that exists between the verdant land of Thylea. More commonly referred to as “The Bowels of Thylea”, it is said to have formed from the twisting and turning guts of the mother titan when she formed the lands. It is said that the tunnels of the Bowels link all the lands of Thylea, including the islands - but they have never been mapped out, even by the Titans. They are a dangerous place, with rumours of mushroom men and blind monsters. The Dragonlord Dourin Kobalos, after the death of his dragon in the War, ventured deep into the Mithral Mines in an attempt to find a way of traversing the land without being seen by Sydon, Lord of the Sea. However, he never returned.