October 4th, 1433 A.E., In the southernmost tip of Forest Heart

Myrdred's plan was an improbable one: finding the most powerful Archmage to ever live and coerce him to join their forces. Improbable if not desperate.

After a week of researching dozens of musty tomes, all claiming to be records of Mazzarin's life, Myrdred narrowed his search to one fascinating book. Myrdred was assured that it was genuine. On the last page in its leather bound volume was a short scribbled passage:

"I shall go to a place where life is old and the world is as it was in the beginning."

Only one place in all of the known world fit that description: The Forest Heart. The trees of Forest Heart have stood as they have since the world was created, or so the legends claim. The Forest Giants have made their home there for many millennia. Many civilizations, both human and other, have been born, aged, and ruined upon its tree covered lands.

The four heroes left Llancarfan, traveling across the autumn colored groves of the Downs, and into the desolate passes of the south-country. Within a few weeks, they came to the towering edges of the Forest Heart.

A damp shadow-embraced land grew beneath the colossal arbors. Many weeks passed, as the champions searched the dense forest for any signs of Mazzarin's whereabouts.

In the nights, Myrdred studied the tomes he carried with him, searching for any possible clue to aid them. Damas and Ravanna's constant quarreling became more playful, and Connacht spent most of his time hunting game and scouting the dense wilderness before them.

As despair of ever finding the Archmage began to settle in their minds, they entered a dark and ominous copse of trees. Crumbling ruins, all but completely enveloped in grass and foliage, jutted from the shadows beneath the arbors. They approached cautiously.