The caverns beneath Mount Misery...
... and the Netherworld caverns on the other side of Someplace Else.
- Intent: To codify a major location for future RP, and submit my entry for the Codex Netherworld Contest 2021.
- Image Credit: Luray Caverns | Dominique Velsen
- Canon: N/A
- Permissions: N/A
- Links: Mount Misery
- Rift Name: Someplace Else
- Rift Alignment: Neutral
- Location: Caverns beneath Mount Misery, Dahrtag
- Destination: Oblivion
- Direction: Both
- Size: Small
- Accessibility: Located underground on private property (well, theoretically private property - there are no records of a living resident at Mount Misery these days...), accessibility to this gate is limited to either those who manage to reach it from Mount Misery, or those on the Netherworld side. Either way, trespassers in the domain of the Maestro will have to face his undead and ghostly servants.
- Description: There is a natural cavern located beneath Mount Misery, a startlingly large and impressive subterranea. It has numerous winding passages filled with limestone stalactites, one of which seems to go much, much deeper into the earth than the others...
- Lucidity: The Netherworld rift is located inside a cavern passageway, and because of it the passage seems to grow longer as you walk through it. Other than stretching time and distance, it has no other prominent effects.
- Hostility: The rift leads to a similar cave located in Oblivion. The Oblivion cavern has a much harsher looking landscape of jagged rocks and rolling rough terrain, and the low points are filled with water, some of which is deceptively deep. Rusted chains and metal hooks appear to hang from the ceiling, and rumor has it they have been known to grab or entangle travelers as if they were alive and malevolent.
- IC Rules: A living character may feel as if hours have passed, along with a heaviness that makes them drag their feet, struggling to continue. If they are in a weakened state, they may collapse from the strain. The dead do not suffer from these issues and time does not seem to stretch for them, unless they are occupying a physical body of some kind (i.e. a ghoul or possessed host).
On the Dahrtag side:
- Mount Misery - An abandoned, dilapidated mansion sitting on top of the mountain directly above the caverns. This is the home of the Maestro and his "family" of undead thralls and ghostly servants. The Maestro is presumed to have originated from the rift, though nobody knows the exact circumstances - not even Maestro himself.
- Black Valley - A small town located near the mountain, population roughly 38,500. The town is fairly typical of Dahrtag: shrouded in a perpetual fog, the buildings are all designed with a grotesque style of architecture featuring gargoyles meant to scare away the spirits of the dead. The general populace is no longer as superstitious as their ancestors were, although within the past fifty years (so within living memory) they've had a few run-ins with the Maestro and his "family" that have forced them to confront the possibility of the supernatural right next door.
- Caverns - An unnamed underground cavern is the first thing a traveler through the rift will encounter on the other side. These caverns are treacherous, but can be navigated to eventually reach Oblivion.
- Oblivion - Outside the caverns, the area is full of rolling hills and mountains, though they are barren and devoid of plant or animal life. The dirt is a dark purple color and as fine as sand. Chunks of glass rise up out of the dirt, which can be dangerous if you get too close to them. The atmosphere is very cold and buffeted by icy winds.
Nobody knows how exactly the rift came to be, but the Maestro's servants refer to both the rift and the Nether beyond it as "someplace else" as part of their unique slang. It has been suggested that the Maestro himself opened the rift many centuries ago in order to enter the domain of the living - or perhaps that it was created in order to force the Maestro out of the Netherworld.
Either way, the rift has been there for a long, long time, with no signs of sealing up. It definitely predates Mount Misery, the grand and steadily decaying old mansion which sits atop the mountain through which the caverns flow. It probably predates the nearby town of Black Valley, too. The Maestro and his servants pass through the rift freely, almost regularly, but if something tries to come through that isn't one of their number, they're sure to send it back, no matter how hard they have to fight against it.
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