The Epitaph

is a Tier 5 Adventuring Area. This area can be entered from the town of Desolis.
 * The Epitaph (aka Chamber of Souls): This vast underground complex was the heart of the Obsidian Order’s power. It was where they used the power of the Obsidian Shards to create the Elves, Satyrs, Kobolds, and Trolls. Remnants of these experiments still roam the halls and eat unwary adventurers as well as those poor souls sent here as prisoners. It is also the location of the Chamber of Souls, where a key element of our story unfolds.

Map

 * This map was created too hastily and cannot be deciphered!

Lore

 * This complex is the former seat of the Obsidian government. When you first enter this complex through the passage in the rock face of the Epitaph, a huge plateau of earth and stone thrust up by the Cataclysm, you will travel through a huge passage deep into the earth flanked by carved stone dragon heads which act as sentinels, and which match the huge ones on the outside of the entrance. The passage opens into a vast cave called the Cavern of Night, where the Old City’s basement layers are exposed around a funnel of ruins leading to the edge of an enormously deep shaft that descends into the heart of the plateau’s inner core. The Acolyte’s Stair descends into the terrors below. Over two centuries ago unfortunate prisoners were led by the dozens into this place, around the walkway to the right of the stairs, and into the upper dungeons on the opposite side of the great shaft. After they were processed they would be taken down the second staircase, known as the Long Stair, on a singular path that would lead down into oppressive darkness to only one terrible destination, the dreaded subterranean laboratories of the Reshapers. The desert people that dwell outside the walls surrounding the Epitaph throw their criminals and captured rivals into the ruins beyond the wall, and some of them seek shelter from the burning sun in the Cavern of Night. Those that have survived have claimed the old upper prison ruins as their own, and use the two stairways as choke-points to slaughter the many insane and horrid creatures that rise up from the depths.  The Pool of Destiny lies far, far below… The shaft of the stairs allow for a few harrowing fights with ascending monstrosities, while simultaneously enjoying the view of the Obsidian Falls, which plummet into the caves below, before finally getting to the bottom. A path leads down the center of the cave toward Fate’s Lake, beside the arcing end of the Long Stair. Here, visiting dignitaries and members of the Obsidian Court once looked down to their left and saw the majesty of the Cascades where the falls pour down toward the lake, or gazed down to their right upon the poor souls being led to their doom.  ''Near the center of the town of Desolis is a prison composed of the fortress walls of what had long ago been the seat of power for the once mighty Obsidian Empire. These walls surround the Epitaph, a towering plateau containing an entrance to the underground zone I’ve been building. Those who live in the town of Desolis place their criminals beyond these walls (instead of behind bars), where they wander the contained rocky ruins and small oasis surrounding the plateau, unable to escape. Some of the toughest of them choose to enter the Epitaph to claim the cooler inner chambers as their own, though they rarely dare to delve deeper, for fear of the hideous monstrosities that dwell far below.  The entrance hallway leads toward the Cave of Night. Here it is protected by the sentinel dragon statues favored by the Obsidians, which mirror the even larger version that overlook the outside entrance.  Inside the Upper Prison you will encounter the toughest of the criminals who have been thrown beyond the dark and ancient walls of the Desolis prison compound. Beyond the passages containing the old cells, which now have been claimed by those that wander these upper ruins, you’ll encounter their self-proclaimed leader, who lives in what was one the Upper Garrison Commander’s quarters,…now decked out with the nicest things the convicts could scavenge.  Below the Obsidian Keep, we move on to the Lower Prisons, on our way to the terrible Reshapers’ Labs. We know we’re about to reach the laboratories themselves because, despite over 200 years having gone by, the disgusting chamber of the Charnel Pit still reeks of the thousands of bodies once dumped into it, each one a failed experiment. No doubt it is still in use to this day, since the mad remnants of many of those experiments still wander the dark halls seeking vile sustenance. Just beyond the foul pit is the great central chamber of the Laboratories of the Reshapers. Three other hexagonal passages lead from this room to unknown areas.  Connected to this main hall are numerous sub-chambers devoted to the Obsidians’ dark alchemical arts of twisted transformation. Subtle yet hideous vignettes can be glimpsed beyond shadowy archways and reinforced gates; piles of bones surrounding a fleshless, huge troll-like cadaver,…chambers with arcane work-tables,…the skeleton of a dragon, long dead and forgotten.  And lastly, beyond the Chamber of Souls is the deepest destination in the Desolis Underground. Here the Obsidian sorcerer lords once stood, to catch a glimpse into their future, at the heart of the power that drew them to this place long ago. This is the cave of the Pool of Destiny, a stone bowl set above a shaft of air and fire to catch the powerful energies of the obsidian shards, carried by mineral-rich waters as they fell, drop by drop, from above. Legend has it that the waters of this pool once gave visions to those powerful enough to use it. What secrets might it still hold?''

Trivia

 * The Map Name and Area Name for this scene is:
 * Area Name: The Epitaph
 * Map Name: Novia_R4_City_Desolis_Underground
 * The older style map for this scene can be found at https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/map/?map_id=649