In the hills at the center of Lethos stands a tree stump the size of a castle.
The tree that once grew here must have been ancient beyond reckoning: the stump is a quarter-mile across, and the wood, though dead, refuses to rot. Paths wind through the exposed root system, creating a natural maze that leads to the hollow center. At the heart of the maze lives a druid named Veleth.
Veleth is old. How old, no one knows, certainly older than the Binding, possibly older than Gorath itself. They tend the maze, grow things in the hollow center, and react with violent fury to anyone who attempts to harm the sacred wood. The stump is resistant to most forms of magic, as if the tree's death somehow concentrated its essence into impenetrability.
The Vigil meets here because Xyrionn is the heart of the Binding. The roots that spread from this stump connect to every part of Lethos, and the souls of the Gorathi dead are woven through them. Veleth doesn't control the Binding; no one does, not anymore. But they understand it better than anyone. When the villages have questions about the dead, about the jungle's behavior, about signs and portents, they come to Veleth.
The maze is more than difficult to navigate. The root-paths shift, especially at night, especially during Hollownight. Those who enter without permission find themselves walking the same paths forever, or emerging days later with no memory of the intervening time, or not emerging at all. The dead do not like visitors.