Kinfallen Forest - Sub Areas

## **Yami Ritual Site:**

An area of intense Yami energy, this site has been used for generations within the Final City as a place to bestow the Yami magic upon new users and disciples. It is a simple thing, in stark contrast to the ornate decorations of old within the Empire. Upon the ground is a purple triangle, upon each point a black square. Pure Yami users stand within each square, the soon-to-be new user within the center to complete the ritual. Within the center of each Master Yami user is a metallic silver staff, its point ending with a glowing purple orb. These orbs pulsate and grow in light when the new user is initiated, the energy encircling all present and surging into the new user.

## **Tree of the Fallen:**

This colossal tree, second only to the Apex Tree, is entirely blackened and charred, its leaves gone and bark dark as soot. It was so named by the few who have seen it as a memorial for those lost within Kinfallen Forest. In truth, its life force has been sapped by Malflessia, whose roots have ensnared it below the earth.

## **The Unmarked Barrows:**

Here were built the hastily-made burial mounds of those lost from the flight from the Empire. Countless, nameless graves litter the ground, full of tree stumps. No trees can grow in this field of death, and it stands as a stark reminder of life’s frailty. Scavengers abound here, but a memory fragment can be found amongst the mounds. \*The music of the forest here is silent?

Unlike other areas of Kinfallen, there are no trees growing here, and a much darker mist swirls around the ground. The earth is darkened purple and blackened with char and soot, and jagged, twisted plants shoot from the ground, with sickly vines encircling the remains of broken weapons and spears. What little vegetation there is has little color, and is mainly brown and dark green, with broken, petrified tree stumps along the path. There are tombstones and graves scattered throughout, some of which are broken or crumbling to dust, and their grey and silver rock litter parts of the ground.

## **Apex Tree:**

Rumored to be the original tree from which all trees within Kinfallen Forest originate, the Apex Tree is staggering in size, hundreds of times larger than the other plantlife of the forest. This tree stands within the center of Kinfallen, towering over its lesser brethren. Many parts of the inner trunk have been hollowed out by ancient inhabitants of the forest and the creatures within, allowing for exploration inside. Even its branches are sizeable in their own right, with tresswing and any wanderer easily able to walk along them.

Ancient legends of the Yamites claims that the Apex Tree was once a powerful user of the Yami magic, who gave his life to become a tree and birth a forest in the desolate waste beyond the Empire’s borders. Before the reign of Malflessia and the growing corruption of Kinfallen Forest, it was a ceremonial ritual for any Yamites coming of age to gather before the Apex Tree and ask for blessings and good fortune in life. By the time of Yuyo and Yuki’s lifetime, this ritual had long since fallen out of practice due to the growing dangers of traveling within the forest, but the Apex Tree is still an item of worship amongst Yami users.

## **The Uncovered Caverns:**

A subterranean root system of caves and tunnel created by the uprooters of the forest. The uprooters attack any who venture into their burrows, but there are many pathways and holes on the forest floor leading into these caverns where the unsuspecting traveling may fall into. Glowing stones light the way within, but can be hit to glow brighter. Within its center dwells the largest uprooter, the Upender, who must be defeated to progress through the forest.