Lyre's Rest is the Jewel of the East of the Confederacy and it came from nothing. Sandwiched between a forest and a river, the small town kept itself well fed until they befell a double tragedy. The river waters become stagnant and soaked with poisons and decay and powerless to do anything about it the villagers were driven deeper and deeper into the woods to find food. Their intrusions were not welcomed and they were soon beset by shambling moss giants and the thin spindly arms of the trees around them that would pluck them apart piece by piece. Such tragedies were just part of being part of the Raktine Confederacy, where those who lived there were forever at the mercy of monsters.<br/><br/>That's where it would have ended, if not for the wandering demigod Nadiya Sirvard who washed herself in the poisoned waters of the river and proved too powerful for the sickness that clung there, cleansing it. The forest still sends it's monsters and the rivers poisoner was never found, but Lyre's Rest is well prepared for those threats now thanks to their new Goddess. It's ivy covered walls can be seen from miles away and are manned by devotees and mercenary companies while waiting to hire themselves to the traders who come by Lyre's Rest grand river port. The streets are immaculately paved and artists have flocked to the city to style it, with a little influence from the Goddess if they're making a mess of course.<br/><br/>In a nation wracked by monsters, Lyre's Rest is a respite where you can find anything for sale and get quite a bit for free. Its residents are heart breaking beautiful and quite fond of outsiders, for that alone many travel here. Many even stay.<br/><br/>Today though the Goddess cannot indulge quite so freely because she is having to play host to a four visitors, all sharing a similar interests and concerns.<br/><br/>For Faustina and Imre, their travels have led them to many strange places and Imre has gathered scraps of knowledge along the way. One particular bit of knowledge is the rumour of a Night Road that leads to a Forest Paradise, a place of massive waterfalls, deep cool pools and secluded palaces spanning the tree tops where people could live as one with nature and no longer stain the world with smoke and steel. The monsters that occasionally assail Lyre's Rest match a small drawing of one from an ancient treatise on how Humanity has let their eyes wander and turned away from nature's grace. It's a perfect place to hide shards of heaven or other lost artifacts and Imre would quite like to explore it.<br/><br/>Faustina is there of course, because there's probably going to be something pretty horrible to kill in there.<br/><br/>Hafkar Arak-Mul has the largest reason to be concerned. His grand caravan was on the way to Lyre's Rest to see which Mercenaries could be convinced to join his armies and restock when the caravan had been beset by flocks of gigantic crows from the forests. His spells kept many of them from passing the barriers protecting his caravan but not all and while they had foolishly attacked in the day and felt the wrath of sunfire from his fingertips, he could not be everywhere at once. They'd flown away with his people, alive and screaming in their claws and he'd pressed on to the safety of the city walls before seeking out those who might know how to get his people back. Or at least let him unleash ruin upon those who'd taken lives from him.<br/><br/>Tomas Illisante is attendance too of course. Lyre's Rest has spies for the Shadow, word of the pairs discovery of a Forest Paradise traveled through whispered words to his ears and he's not about to be left out of a potential treasure trove. Especially if it means he get into the good graces of the Goddess of a rather important trading port. More importantly though this Forest Paradise was, as the thieves tales went, the final resting place of a figure of great renown, the old and withered mother of the forest who knew the secrets in the hearts of every man and would come for those who'd let their heart get too black. She'd long faded into legend, but there's evidence she was real and if so whatever gave her such powerful sight might well be in what you can only assume is her forest, ripe for the taking.