Difference between revisions of "Ascarlin mountains"

Revision as of 03:05, 7 September 2010

Danger: Normal
Sub zones: great ascarlin mines, great diamond mines, Madeggna throne room
Inhabitants: rock harpies, humans, earth mouths Subeta
Characters : Erica, Violet, Aurora

Standing as one the highest points on the map, these majestic mountains are a great place to get a view of the surrounding lands. The Ascarlin mountains are famous for their wide variety of rocks and minerals, especially the large deposits of ascarlin. Also called dreamstone, Ascarlin is an extremely rare gem, greatly sought after. A single ascarlin is easily worth a dozen times that a diamond of the same size, and empires have waged wars for just a handful of them. It's a semi-translucent teal-blue stone with red veins running through it. It's incredibly beautiful and, when socketed in magical artifacts, it can increase their power tenfold. The Ascarlin mountains are legendary on some worlds, and their name is often more famous than Felarya's. They attract many people from foreign worlds and their resources are the basis of power for the great city of Negav that lies at their feet. The mountains are riddled with mines, tunnels and small underground cities.

Despite the intense human activity inside, the exterior of the mountains is surprisingly devoid of any trace of human civilization, aside from a few outside passageways. Few predators live there but those that do are dangerous. Rock harpies in particular pose a big threat to reckless miners, with their huge appetite and fearsome wind-based magic.

Great diamond mines

Danger: Low
Inhabitants: shadow fishes, humans

An expansive network of winding tunnels, dug by humans in the upper to mid parts of the Ascarlin mountains, and riddled with veins of diamonds. Over the course of many long years, activity here has decreased in favor of the more profitable ascarlin mines, but because of a recent surge in predator activity there, many miners have come back to the much safer diamond ones. Indeed, aside from some shadow fish dwelling in the deepest parts, the tunnels are mostly empty of any dangerous creatures. The main danger comes from the Rock harpies that fly over the mountains and will sometimes vacuum whatever is inside tunnels that breech the surface, or attack outside structures and passageways. Both the diamond mine and the ascarlin mine share their entrance, a reinforced tunnel that is next to Negav, within the radius of protection of the Isolon eye.

Great ascarlin mines

Danger: Hazardous
Inhabitants: humans, silver succubi, fire succubi, earth elementals, night anemones, shadow fishes, glophorbias, lucicamps, various demons, antithronos
Characters : Iridan

The upper section of the mine is brimming with activity. Miners, Negavian guards, merchants, wizards, and adventurers from every world are gathered there, chatting, forming plans, and buying artifacts. Once your go deeper into the mines however, past the powerful protective magical wards, the place become eerier. It's an immense network of long, wide, winding tunnels seemingly stretching endlessly through the mountain and under. The walls are covered by strange fungi, some of them glowing faintly.

Only solid teams dare to venture there. It's common for them to hire powerful wizards and mighty mercenaries to escort them along the way, to and from the excavating sites for going this deep is very dangerous. In their frenzy to extract the precious ascarlin, the human miners have dug too deep and attracted the attention of the many strange, dangerous, and hungry creatures that dwell in these depths; countless miners have fallen prey to them. Some vicious demonic monsters roam the deeper parts of the mine as well. There is even tales of whole tunnels suddenly turning to flesh, becoming the digestive track of an earth elemental, trapping the miners inside.

The deeper you go, the stranger the environment become and the more unbearable the heat gets. At first people believed it was due to some intense volcanic activity. yet there is no lava, tremors, or any of the other normal signs of it. The sweltering atmosphere has now been confirmed to come from an open portal to an infernal dimension.

Madeggna throne room

Danger: Normal
Inhabitants: silver succubi, fire succubi

When you arrive in the Madeggna throne room, the oppressive, dark tunnels suddenly give way to a very large and majestic chamber. The place is well lit, with large candles, and some cracks and narrow clefts piercing the walls and leading directly to the outside, bathing the room in a gentle dim light. A lush and colorful vegetation grow all over the room, on top of stone statues and other ornaments decorating the place. At the end of the room stands a massive throne, made for a giant being. The throne seems very ancient, with many cracks and some ivys growing on its chipped surface. A serie of small streams flow through the room, coming from one wall next to the throne, and filling the quiet atmosphear with their gentle flowing noise.

The place is definitely charming and very relaxing. It's not really safe however, as the throne is sometimes occuped by one of the giant succubi of the zone, who decided to take a nap to digest the result of a successful hunt, in the gentle tranquillity of the place. Who Madeggna was and why this throne has been created is unknown.

• credits to XLRP for some ideas to develop the Ascarlin mines.