Coldeven 5: Straight to Hell (Day 3)
I've become convinced that the architects of this place were crazy. To be honest, I'm not sure how a place like this could come to exist. In order for it to exist, it seems like it would need to have someone insane to design it, a huge number of insane people to build it, and someone insane to pay for it. This is because anyone, from the architect to the builders, ought to have been able to see that several aspects of its construction make no sense.
The corridors twist and turn without apparent rationale except to wind around rooms. The rooms themselves are gigantic, typically 30 feet square or more, but most of them have no apparent purpose. A room with no purpose has no reason to exist, especially if it requires the excavation of thousands of pounds of earth and stone to create. There are corridors that are exactly parallel to other corridors, separated by only a wall, with a door between them. There are many concealed doors, but they don't (so far) seem to lead to secret areas, rather they seem to be secret access routes from one public area to another. Interestingly, we found a secret door at the end of 200' corridor. This seems stupid, because even if we hadn't found the door, I'd have been tempted to smash through the wall, for who (other than possibly the creators of this place) builds a 200' hall that goes nowhere?
Throughout, there are few furnishings that don't seem to have been added by later explorers like ourselves. When we find the few exceptions, they seem pregnant with significance, but so far, devoid of meaning.
Today, for instance, we found a censer half-buried in a room. The thing was made entirely of wrought cast iron, and weighed around 200 lbs. No explorer carried it there, it almost has to be part of the original function of this place. But it was in an entirely empty room. We found a room with a 10' round column in it. It didn't seem like it was necessary for support, since several other rooms of equal size have no such support. It had some writing on it once, but it had been thouroughly defaced and rendered illegible. No clues there.
The traps are also bothersome, because they seem permanent and well designed, but protect nothing. I've begun working more closely with B.B. in an attempt to spot them earlier, but she still clearly has the better eye. Didn't stop her from stepping on one today, though. A 100' long section of corridor floor that fell suddenly away above a 40' drop. She managed to throw herself back just in time, catching Asilky's foot as he teetered on the edge.
In short, this is the sort of place that could easily drive a person crazy, and I'd say from something we saw today, that it has happened to some. We found a room where someone had painted pictures (poorly) on the wall in blood, and sealed a secret door by driving 24 spikes into the seams around it. Asilky said he could sense hundreds of tiny creatures on the other side of the door, so we decided not to unseal it, but we did reclaim some of the spikes for future use.
We've spent a lot of time sharing theories, of course. Most of them seem silly when I think of writing them down, but Eaora's bears thinking on. You see, we've killed a lot of creatures during our travels today, among them 2 dark mantles, and 8 giant rats. All of them, according to Eaora, bear the hallmarks of demonic taint. Her theory is that we've found a portal into the hells, and that with every step we progress, we are drawing closer to entering those dark realms.
I have to go help with food and setting up camp while thinking upon this charming prospect. I'll write more about today's experiences after we've eaten.
The corridors twist and turn without apparent rationale except to wind around rooms. The rooms themselves are gigantic, typically 30 feet square or more, but most of them have no apparent purpose. A room with no purpose has no reason to exist, especially if it requires the excavation of thousands of pounds of earth and stone to create. There are corridors that are exactly parallel to other corridors, separated by only a wall, with a door between them. There are many concealed doors, but they don't (so far) seem to lead to secret areas, rather they seem to be secret access routes from one public area to another. Interestingly, we found a secret door at the end of 200' corridor. This seems stupid, because even if we hadn't found the door, I'd have been tempted to smash through the wall, for who (other than possibly the creators of this place) builds a 200' hall that goes nowhere?
Throughout, there are few furnishings that don't seem to have been added by later explorers like ourselves. When we find the few exceptions, they seem pregnant with significance, but so far, devoid of meaning.
Today, for instance, we found a censer half-buried in a room. The thing was made entirely of wrought cast iron, and weighed around 200 lbs. No explorer carried it there, it almost has to be part of the original function of this place. But it was in an entirely empty room. We found a room with a 10' round column in it. It didn't seem like it was necessary for support, since several other rooms of equal size have no such support. It had some writing on it once, but it had been thouroughly defaced and rendered illegible. No clues there.
The traps are also bothersome, because they seem permanent and well designed, but protect nothing. I've begun working more closely with B.B. in an attempt to spot them earlier, but she still clearly has the better eye. Didn't stop her from stepping on one today, though. A 100' long section of corridor floor that fell suddenly away above a 40' drop. She managed to throw herself back just in time, catching Asilky's foot as he teetered on the edge.
In short, this is the sort of place that could easily drive a person crazy, and I'd say from something we saw today, that it has happened to some. We found a room where someone had painted pictures (poorly) on the wall in blood, and sealed a secret door by driving 24 spikes into the seams around it. Asilky said he could sense hundreds of tiny creatures on the other side of the door, so we decided not to unseal it, but we did reclaim some of the spikes for future use.
We've spent a lot of time sharing theories, of course. Most of them seem silly when I think of writing them down, but Eaora's bears thinking on. You see, we've killed a lot of creatures during our travels today, among them 2 dark mantles, and 8 giant rats. All of them, according to Eaora, bear the hallmarks of demonic taint. Her theory is that we've found a portal into the hells, and that with every step we progress, we are drawing closer to entering those dark realms.
I have to go help with food and setting up camp while thinking upon this charming prospect. I'll write more about today's experiences after we've eaten.
written by Spike
My accounting:
Enemies Defeated: 10 (23 total)
Traps Encountered: 2 (5 total)
Wealth Acquired: 0 gp (22,300gp total)
Food Remaining: 10 days.
Interesting Acquisitions:
8 spikes
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