Old Oak

## Arborist

Eris

The **Old Oak** was a colossal oak tree that served as the cultural core of Lakeview Village and the first thing visitors saw upon arrival in Dragonhollow during the First Era. It was one of the Great Trees, sacred spirits infused with protective power through their connection to the Heart of the Hollow.

The tree contained a gateway to and from other worlds. Newcomers always entered Dragonhollow there, as did the dead upon their rebirth.

# History

    The Old Oak was created by Eris and the Pantheon of gods and goddesses untold millenia before the First Era. This divine act was depicted in *Old Gods*.

Though its exact age was unclear, it was the first of the Great Trees and long predated Lakeview Village, leading historians to speculate it may have been the first living thing to grace the surface of Dragonhollow.

Eris made her hidden home within the twisting roots of the Old Oak.

To inaugurate the First Era and the coming age of humanity, she added a series of wooden platforms furnished with useful things like information boards, an enchanting table, and a portal to the Nether. A series of powerful magical seals made all visitors invulnerable to damage from both men and monsters.

After the construction of Lakeview Village the tree became the community center of all activity of in the surrounding Lakelands. When using the magic word "spawn", all residents were quickly transported to safety inside the Old Oak.

Many people took refuge within the tree during Champ's Crusade, protected by the magical seals contained within. Those protections were later rendered useless by the sorcerous Skullcleavers on 1E:27, when the dark mages Warlock and Holland skinchanged into Eris and unleashed their combined power on the citizenry of Dragonhollow. The Old Oak suffered superficial damage during the ensuing War of Wizards but was easily healed when Eris returned to save her subjects and exact vengeance against her enemies.

Acey decorated the Old Oak with jack-o-lanterns, cobwebs, and a Trick-or-Treat minigame in celebration of Holloween. In the coming days, several pages torn from the Bloodmoon Journal were discovered hidden away in various locations. On 1E:59, the tree's lighting went dark and it became a place of quiet forboding, a far cry from the warm and welcoming landmark it once was.

    On 1E:68, the cataclysmic First Bloodmoon rose above Lakeview Village and unleashed an unending horde of dangerous monsters on its populace. As recounted in *Lakeview Lost*, many terrified citizens sought sanctuary in the tree only to find it infested with Rachnis' hatched spiderlings. The Old Oak eventually collapsed under their combined weight, a symbolic harbinger of the apocalypse that soon befell the entire Lakelands.

Eris preserved a single sapling that survived the Old Oak's destruction and later planted it in Summergate during the Fourth Era. This sapling blossomed into the Lignum Vitae.

According to *Lakeview's Trunk*, the base of the Old Oak later appeared inexplicably on the roof of town hall in Redwood Gardens during the Second Era and was later used as a nest by the red dragon Mesonyx.

# Points of Interest

### Main Platform

All newcomers, resurrected residents, and those that spoke the *spawn* magic word arrived at the same point on a centralized platform in the upper branches of the Old Oak. The area explained the rules of Dragonhollow and listed protected zones in the Lakelands where residents were invulnerable to damage.

This platform contained a number of ladders, doors, and stairways to other places in the Old Oak.

### Upper Platforms

Several wooden platforms were accessible by stair and ladder. They contained a portal to the Nether, two enchanting tables providing level 11 and level 18 enchantments, and some leisure decks with great vistas of Lakeview Village.

### Canopy

The leaves of the upper branches could be explored through jumping and climbing vines. Reaching the very top of the tree was rewarded with the best view of Lakeview Village and could be used as a jump point to skip the initial section of the Rachnis parkour. A narrow stairway obscured by hanging vines led to a high platform that held a level 22 enchanting table, the best anywhere in Lakeview. A gateway to the Hedge Maze was hidden in the canopy.

The leaves were embedded with glowstone so that the Old Oak was brightly visible even at night.

### Trunk

The interior of the trunk was hollowed out and housed a large chandelier that overlooked a foyer chamber at the base of the tree with the main exit and useful information for residents. A "Frequently Asked Questions" board informed newcomers about the basics of Dragonhollow when they clicked on individual signs.

The participants in the Lakelands Best Build Contest were listed along one wall.

### Bounty Board

*Main article: Bounty Board*
The Bounty Board, located on the exterior base of the Old Oak|Old Oak's trunk, was an index of
active bounties available for collection in the Lakelands. Bounties were listed by target name, reward, and name of whoeever posted it. Any resident regardless of rank could place or collect a bounty.

### Trick-or-Treat

To celebrate Holloween a Trick-or-Treat dispenser was installed in the Old Oak. When interacted with, residents had a chance to either receive something useful (a treat) or be harmed (a trick). Naturally, the chance of being tricked was much higher than receiving a treat. When emptied, the light would dim, signaling Acey that it needed to be restocked.

Azureila was the first person to be killed while Trick-or-Treating. Many of the treats were separately available as part of the Holloween Surprise Bag.

[Show/Hide Table]

# Gallery

Tycar at the Old OakLooming over Monthessary fireworksAt nightLakeview GuidelinesInside the Old OakVine-covered platformsEastern viewFrequently Asked QuestionsThe central levelsReading nookSouthern viewAn upper balconyNavigation by door, ladder, and vineProtected Zonesinterestin things ;)The canopyLevel 11 enchanting tableA bed for twoWestern viewA lakeview of The LakeExterior platformsSecret staircaseWinding route to groundNorthern viewHidden portal to the Hedge MazeTunnel through the leavesDecorated for Holloween

# Behind the Scenes

*The following is out-of-universe information about the real world Dragonhollow.*

    The Old Oak was the first thing Acey built in Dragonhollow, predating the rest of Lakeview Village by days, and then known as "Acey's House."

To celebrate Halloween, she decorated the tree with jack-o-lanterns and cobwebs and darkened the tree by replacing the torches with redstone torches and switching the glowstone with inactive redstone lamps. Unfortunately, irreversible map chunk corruption forced a map reset before October 31.

The base of the Old Oak's trunk was later re-used as a perch atop Redwood Gardens Town Hall for Matto's dragon Mesonyx.