TS: The Causeway
Jul 7, 2014 15:22:56 GMT
Post by ArnoldY on Jul 7, 2014 15:22:56 GMT
The Causeway
"I wouldn't stay too near the edge."
(laughter) "What, you think I'll jump off?"
"No, but you might get hit by someone doing just that."
- A conversation overheard in the Causeway
Off the Beren Tasurdur's south-western quarter is a service tunnel into a vast, neglected antechamber once used as an emergency outlet for overflowing sewage. The Causeway is a corner of the city where the desperate, the fearless, and the death-seeking converge, perhaps for their final moment. For this reason, thousands of messages of hope and sympathy are scrawled into the rough metal, accompanied by the periodic altar dedicated to the kinder gods of the realm. Novice clergy are also known to venture here, both to tend to those altars, and to dissuade a wayward soul from leaping to their deaths. Cuckolded men and women sometimes come here to throw away their wedding bands. There are some merchants who choose to barter their wares here. Others rattle empty cups, sprawled upon the cold metal pipes, hoping for alms from those who're about to abandon their life. But strangest of all are the reported sightings of "the Priest" throughout the years. It is said that he appears in one of many guises, though always of a religious styling, and asks dangerous favours of those who come to the Causeway.
The Causeway was built inside a natural grotto, 60ft. tall at the apex of its vaulted ceiling. Within is a roughly hexagonal web of half-piped storm canals, suspended by chains at fifty feet over a perpetual vortex into the underground river system. Each segment is barely wide enough for a wagon and some (15 ft.), and spans about 90 ft. in length along each vertice. At the farthest extent of the web is a broken half-pipe which juts 10 ft. before terminating abruptly over a waterfall. Across a gap of 30 ft. is the mouth of a deliberately caved-in tunnel, sealed by the massive head of a screaming Elf cast in some formidable metal and scrawled in indecipherable runes. It bears many names, but the official designation is "The Howling Gate". Whatever the reasons are for the disturbing guardian, beyond it lies the mysterious "infestation" of reservoir #5.
"I wouldn't stay too near the edge."
(laughter) "What, you think I'll jump off?"
"No, but you might get hit by someone doing just that."
- A conversation overheard in the Causeway
Off the Beren Tasurdur's south-western quarter is a service tunnel into a vast, neglected antechamber once used as an emergency outlet for overflowing sewage. The Causeway is a corner of the city where the desperate, the fearless, and the death-seeking converge, perhaps for their final moment. For this reason, thousands of messages of hope and sympathy are scrawled into the rough metal, accompanied by the periodic altar dedicated to the kinder gods of the realm. Novice clergy are also known to venture here, both to tend to those altars, and to dissuade a wayward soul from leaping to their deaths. Cuckolded men and women sometimes come here to throw away their wedding bands. There are some merchants who choose to barter their wares here. Others rattle empty cups, sprawled upon the cold metal pipes, hoping for alms from those who're about to abandon their life. But strangest of all are the reported sightings of "the Priest" throughout the years. It is said that he appears in one of many guises, though always of a religious styling, and asks dangerous favours of those who come to the Causeway.
The Causeway was built inside a natural grotto, 60ft. tall at the apex of its vaulted ceiling. Within is a roughly hexagonal web of half-piped storm canals, suspended by chains at fifty feet over a perpetual vortex into the underground river system. Each segment is barely wide enough for a wagon and some (15 ft.), and spans about 90 ft. in length along each vertice. At the farthest extent of the web is a broken half-pipe which juts 10 ft. before terminating abruptly over a waterfall. Across a gap of 30 ft. is the mouth of a deliberately caved-in tunnel, sealed by the massive head of a screaming Elf cast in some formidable metal and scrawled in indecipherable runes. It bears many names, but the official designation is "The Howling Gate". Whatever the reasons are for the disturbing guardian, beyond it lies the mysterious "infestation" of reservoir #5.