Burnsy

The Under-Realm River of Kismet

Location: The Under-Realm River of Kismet is a peculiar underground river deep within the mines of Kal’Varoth, the capital city of the Under-Realm of Urguan. It lies at the end of a long series of cave systems. One could reach the river without much trouble if equipped with proper cave traversal equipment and a proper amount of provisions.

Geography: The trek to the river begins at the entrance to the mines in Kal’Varoth. At first, the mines are heavily worked, with various mining tools being scattered about the cave. Deeper in the cave, dwarven work become scarcer and scarcer until reaching the breach leading towards the Under-Realm River of Kismet. Once on the path to the river, untouched cave passageways and chambers bring whoever wanders them deeper and deeper underground. Gemstones and ores are abundant, and shine brilliant colors off the light of an explorer’s torch. Further down, a silvery moss begins covering a single long passageway. The moss holds no special properties in and of itself, but nutrients within the moss give hallucinogenic effects to whoever touches the flowers blooming from the moss, pszichedelikus virag.

The jade colored flowers, pszichedelikus virag, give off a slight glow and induce intense hallucinogenic effects onto anyone who makes direct skin contact anywhere on the flower. All five senses are dramatically altered for a time dependent on how long one makes direct skin contact with the flowers.

Effects on Afflicted Dependent on Time

1-4 seconds: Intense hallucinogenic effects, the afflicted’s senses are all dramatically altered. Paranoia, feeling of invulnerability, and deep retrospection are typical during the experience. The experience is manageable by oneself, albeit very hard. Being assisted by someone else will likely aid the health of the afflicted. Effects will last around twelve hours, and the afflicted will feel normal after about sixteen hours.

5-10 seconds: Heightened hallucinogenic effects, the afflicted’s senses are severely impaired. They will likely be unable to function on their own for at least a day. If not monitored, it is likely the afflicted will accidentally harm and/or kill themselves. The effects will dissipate after a day, but it will take three days for the afflicted to feel normal once again. “Afterglow” effects occur after the initial days time is up, affecting one sense at a time. An afterglow could be as harmless as smelling food that is not there to feeling like you are burning alive despite being physically normal.

10+ seconds: The afflicted will experience severe hallucinogenic effects that almost entirely alter their sense of reality. Manic behavior is certain as the afflicted will be completely out of touch with what is and isn’t reality. After about three hours, the afflicted will suffer a brain aneurysm and die.

Geography cont.: Picking the flowers from the moss will kill the flower immediately, as they cannot be separated from the moss; however, they can be transported assuming the moss it is growing off of is still alive. If the flower is dead, only minor hallucinogenic effects, similar to making contact with the flower for one to four seconds, will occur regardless of how long contact is made. The buds that have yet to bloom are entirely harmless to touch.

The river itself is at the apparent end to the passageway, and it flows from the right wall downwards to the left. Darkness covers both the right and left as well as across. Any attempts to traverse the river will be met with an increase in the current speed to the point where one cannot possibly swim in it. The water is around twenty feet deep. If contact is made with the water, no matter what or where, the one who made contact will be unable to break free, and they will be swept down the river by a sudden burst in the current’s speed.

Civilization: There are no civilizations evident at all in this area.

History: Not much is currently understood of the cave system leading up to the river. The companion post in the spoiler sheds some light on its discovery and the initial expedition, but nothing is evident from its exploration thus far. *wink*

Purpose: The purpose of this world lore is to introduce the beginning of a (hopefully) long series of areas I hope to create for the dwarves of Arcas. This area is not purposed to be a one-off event area, but an interesting place to explore and build in. Creating a common story around this area and future areas will provide a meaningful, entertaining story for players, even non-dwarves if they want to show up. The area is meant to have a consistent purpose, rather than a mob pool and RP item hand out. Players will able to interact in this area by building in the larger chambers, and exploring the passageway down to the river. Interaction with the flowers has the potential for an enjoyable RP experience, and further interaction with the cave itself. This does and will not interfere with any canon present on LotC as this is a completely original idea to the best of my knowledge, and does not involve other pieces aside from the standard dwarven lore.

by Burnsy

In a small, musty storage room at the entrance to the mines within the halls of Kal’Varoth, a group of eight dwarves stand around a table in the center of the room in total silence. Various pieces of well-kept mining equipment are organized by shelf, but the dwarves are already outfitted in their own personal equipment. The echoes of hammers clanging on black iron, and the crackling of the fires in the forges can be heard; however, the typical hustle and energy of life in the Under-Realm of Urguan is absent in this compact storage room. The dwarves standing around the table study a map of the known tunnels in the Under-Realm, but they plan to venture deeper than any map could take them.

The previous day, whilst working deep in the mines, a clan elder and his beardling happened to break into an uncharted section of the cave. The Grand Prospector, Dwarger Silvervein, was informed by the elder, and so he dispatched a crew of highly experienced miners to chart the new system. Any changes in the known cave system could pose a threat to the safety of the Under-Realm, as nobody knows what could be lurking deep within Arcas. Because of this potential danger, only the best would dare take up the challenge of exploring the vast subterranean maze. All the dwed standing in the storage room understood that even the slightest mistake could mean the cave becoming a crypt for them all.

After the last of the crew had arrived in the storage room, a final check was conducted to ensure all present were ready for the expedition. With the preparations complete, the crew began their journey deep into the mines of the Under-Realm. The trip took the dwed through massive caverns filled with a multitude of scaffolding and machines used by the general mine workers; however, the presence of other dwarves became less and less apparent as the crew went deeper. Finally, the dwed reached the breach discovered by the elder and beardling, and so they entered. The sounds of the city of Kal’Varoth had long since faded away, and now the only noise present was the gentle dripping of water from overhead stalagmites. Torches carried by the crew of dwed reflected off the untouched walls of the cavern; gemstones and ores projected beautiful red, blues, and greens off the cavern walls. The dwed marched on in silence, knowing they were venturing into darkness that rivaled even the deepest caves the city of Kal’Azgaryum had to offer.

The subterrestrial voyagers continued down through the winding passageways and enormous chambers, keeping their eyes sharp for any sign of danger, and marking their personal maps to compare at the end of the voyage. At the far end of a particularly large chamber, the dwarves were stunned by the presence of a thick, silvery moss that seemed to sprout out of the wall. It coated a majority of the back wall, and there was neither an apparent source of water, nor a way around. The leader of the expedition ordered two of the dwarves to draw their axes and inspect the moss as the rest of the group provided adequate light. The two axe-wielding dwed prodded cautiously at the moss with their axes before taking a hefty swing each into the silvery barrier of moss. The axes dug into the moss, and together the two dwed were able to remove a sizeable patch from the wall.

Before the dwed now stood another passageway even deeper into the mine. The entrance was blacker than the smoke of the coal fires that raged within the forges of Kal’Varoth. The crew of dwed stood frozen in front of the entrance as a gentle breeze caressed their beards. As the breeze faded, the deafening silence of the chamber became apparent, as not even the sound of dropping water could be heard. The crew then carried on through the breach, torches and axes drawn. Not a single dwed would dare admit to his fear of what could be in the tunnels, but the strained breathing of everyone present spoke the words the dwed could not. Many times in the past had dwedmar run into horrible beings residing deep underground, and many times before had there been great loss of life due to the beasts that resided in the shadows of the caverns the dwedmar called home.

The crew found themselves in a narrow passageway, covered top to bottom in the same moss they had broken through a moment ago, but there was yet to be an indication of any waterways this deep. As the dwarves progressed further down the passageway, small buds began appearing on the moss, dotting the walls and ceiling of the passage. One of the dwarves tapped a bud with his axe and picked it off the wall. Upon inspection, the bud showed nothing of interest, almost as if it could belong to a regular flower on the surface. After what seemed like an eon of walking down the long passageway, the company of dwarves stopped for a small rest. The dwarves sat eating small provisions they had packed for the journey, making sure to keep torches around the passage to ensure they would not be interrupted in the middle of their meal. After finishing up their allotted provisions, the crew began assembling their gear to continue forward. The gentle rustling of rucksacks being packed and closed was interrupted by the clatter of a small rock knocked down the passageway by one of the crew. The rock tumbled down into the endless darkness, the sounds echoing back until a small splash cut off the echoes entirely.

The company headed further to inspect the source of the splash. The buds that had been dotting the passageway now gave way to dazzling jade colored flowers, a very faint glow surrounded each of the flowers, but before any of the dwed could further inspect the strange below ground blossoms the sound of rushing water filled everyone’s ears. What waited for the dwarves at the end of the seemingly endless passageway was an underground river. It intersected the narrow passageway, and ran down into an even deeper section of the cave out of the sight of the dwarves. The water came from under a wall to the right of the passageway, but the water was clearly too deep for the crew to safely traverse. Despite numerous attempts at lighting the way, the dwarves failed to see past the edge of the water; darkness swallowed any light past the river. The dwarves had struck a dead end.

The company stood befuddled at the presence of a waterway so deep. One dwarf knelt down and ran their hand through the water. It glistened in the light of the torches, and was so pure and calm that the dwarf kneeling down could see his own reflection. It was cool and smooth to the touch, and a sense of calm enveloped the dwarf with his hand in the water. When the dwarf attempted to stand back up, his hand got caught in the water at the wrist as if he got it stuck in a long tube. He pulled harder, but to no avail, his hand remained firmly under the water. Confusion turned to panic as the continued efforts of escape only began dragging the dwarf along with the current. Other members of the company attempted to pull their companion back to safety, but the current only began picking up, roaring louder and louder until getting to such a point that the dwarf whose hand was stuck in the water was ripped down the waterway into a blanket of blackness. Not even a scream could be heard from down the waterway as the dwarves stood in awe at what they had witnessed. The current calmed down once again, and the company was left one member short, and devoid of a rational explanation for what they had just experienced.