BOILING LAKE
The tunnel widens and the moisture clinging to the black rock of the passage increases along with the sound of boiling water as the lava tube intersects a large cavern. A beach of rock meets a steaming pool of bubbling water as dark as the volcanic stone it laps against, and the ceiling, fifty feet above, echoes with the sound of water dropping from the stone. The passageway continues on the far side of the cavern.
ELEMENTAL JUNCTION
The tunnel branches up ahead. One passage leads off to the right, sloping up slightly, while the other bends sharply down and off to the left. The ground ahead gives a sudden lurch, as if in protest to the volcanic activity that’s plagued the area.
C1. THE GATE
A monstrous gate of black metal blocks further progress along this smooth, volcanic tunnel. Fully fifteen feet high and eight feet wide, the gate is emblazoned with the Carcerian Eye - the symbol of the Cagewrights. A twisted, leering visage sculpted from the same metal as the gates adorns the lintel over the door. The face seems both calm and entirely insane, if such a thing is possible, and its race or gender is indeterminate. Its glowering eyes have also been carved in the symbol of the Carcerian Eye.
C3. GAU’S CHAMBERS
The severe neatness and organization of this chamber stands in stark contrast to the animal stench that fills the room - a combination of sweat, manure, and wet fur makes the air thick and fetid. This appears to be some sort of dueling or training chamber. Practice dummies line the walls, along with weapon and armor racks displaying exotic equipment of all sorts. The most disturbing thing about the chamber is the spikes protruding from the walls in clusters at various heights.
C4. FARASTU LAIRS
Beyond the heavy curtain is an irregular room. Odd, uncomfortable pieces of furniture lie about the chamber, including several long, narrow beds. Bizarre statuary and paintings adorn the walls and several low pedestals, and a thick, black, tarry substance covers most of the room’s surfaces.
C7. KELUBAR COMMAND
This chamber reeks of a strong, acrid odor. A pale green ichor coats the floor in the chamber beyond, and strange, warped furniture can be seen among the room’s contents. A rack has been attached to the far wall, and stretched out on it are the burned and disfigured remains of at least seven humanoids, although an exact number is difficult to ascertain given the condition of the corpses.
C8. PASSAGE OF FIRE
The floor, walls, and ceiling are polished to a mirror finish in this stiflingly hot hall, the light of dozens of cages of glowing grubs reflected a hundredfold. The western wall has been carved in a series of terrifying scenes. Fiends of all shapes and sizes force creatures of an even wider variety into burning servitude. Lording over them all, however, is a horrifying menace. Its misshapen face seems to face two directions, implying that nothing escapes its fierce, maniacal gaze.
C9. FLAMEWARDER BARRACKS
Long cots fill this chamber in orderly rows. The cots are immaculately made and look quite uncomfortable. Closed footlockers rest at the end of each bed. The walls bear only a single decoration - a tapestry depicting a field of red with a black silhouette of a bearded face outlined in flames and howling in fury. The air smells strongly of brimstone.
C10. TI’IROK’S CHAMBERS
The walls here are rough and natural, although the floor is polished smooth. A massive iron bed fills half the wall to the east, and a stream of glowing lava runs slowly though the center of the room to what appears to be a large sunken pool built into the west wall. A tapestry made of a dark, heavy metal adorns the wall across from the door, displaying a silhouette of a bearded face outlined in flames and howling in fury, all on a field of red. A large iron bookshelf sits on the floor below, carrying several oversized books. Next to that and facing the door is a massive iron table cluttered with metal sheets and a dragon’s skull.
C11. TESTING CHAMBER
This chamber is some sort of martial training facility. Combat dummies in various states of repair line the walls, padded practice weapons rest in racks on other walls, and curls of mist rise from a low pool in a nook across from the door, heated by trickles of lava running down the walls into fissures around its edges.
C12. DECRIHNI BAIUL’S CHAMBER
The first object that draws the eye is a massive pipe organ along the west wall. Black iron pipes run up from the large organ, and along the contours of the natural ceiling. The keys are made of what appear to be the fingerbones of various humanoid creatures, and the organ bench is the skeleton of a dwarf, bent into a squatting position with hands raised to support the musician. A gilded bed sits against the opposite wall next to a carved stone wardrobe that looks to be part of the rock wall of the room. A small shrine sits against the south wall, and the scent of burning incense fills the air.
C13. MEETING ADJOURNED
Every surface of this large, rectangular room has been polished to a mirror sheen. Quarter-circle pools of lava in three of the room’s four corners augment the light provided by numerous grub cages. Massive double doors carved with the Carcerian Eye exit the room to the east, but the chamber is dominated by an immense, carved stone table, also in the shape of the Carcerian Eye. Thirteen chairs surround the table, the one at the head larger than the others.
C14. PYROCLASTIC ACTIVITY
This massive cavern is lit by a large lake of lava. Islands of volcanic stone protrude from the molten rock, but gaps of five to fifteen feet separate them. To the east, the cavern wall curves gently to a larger ledge. At the rear of that far ledge hangs a magnificent tapestry, black with thread of gold strung through it. Through a gap between the tapestry and the wall, you can see a dark chamber extending even further beyond.
C16. DEMODAND TORTURE CHAMBER
The walls of this chamber look like melted wax, and the air smells acrid and foul. Various implements of torture occupy the chamber, including a bed of wicked, barbed spikes, some sort of stretching device resembling a rack, and hooks on the wall that hold corpses in various states of decay. A large chest sits in an alcove to the south.
C17. FREIJA DOORGAN’S CHAMBERS
A large canopied bed rests against the far wall, the covers pulled tight and neatly tucked. Workbenches and shelves line the other walls, covered with magical apparatus, books and papers. A circle has been carved into the floor. Arcane glyphs and runes have been scribed and intertwined around and through the circle, and it glows with a soft, silvery light.
C18. FIRESTREAM
A stream of lava running along the far wall of the tunnel empties into a pool of molten rock that fills the majority of the eastern section of this cavern. A rough stone table covered with scraps of charred, nearly raw meat, along with several stone stools stands in the room’s center. A water barrel rests near the entrance.
C19. FALLING FLOOR
A tall stone door stands in the northern wall of this cavern, with passages leading to the east and south. A single rill of lava flows out of the far wall through this chamber, then follows the east wall of the passage around a bend to the south.
C20. GATHERING CHAMBER
This large chamber looks partly natural and partly sculpted. The ceiling is high here, reaching to roughly thirty feet. Two thick streams of lava course slowly along the floor. One emerges from the north wall and the other from the south. The two lava rivers merge in the center of the room and continue to flow through a channel to the south. Sturdy stone benches line the walls where the lava doesn’t flow, sculpted out of the volcanic rock. The Carcerian Eye has been carved into the south wall. The sculptor was either a master or had the aid of magic, for the disturbing image seems to follow movement in the room.
C21. STALAGMITE GARDEN
A cluster of large stalagmites rises toward the roof of this fifteen-foot-high cavern. Each has been sculpted into humanoid shapes of exquisite detail. In addition, parts of the figures appear to be made of some clear material, allowing you to see that the stalagmites seem to be filled with lava. The molten rock glows from within the partially translucent figures, casting strange shadowy shapes on the walls. The display of statuary would be quite beautiful if not for the gruesome scenes depicted. Each figure displays a visage of cruel savagery, snarls in fury, or grimaces in pain. Several display cruel deformities or vicious wounds, the light from the magma within causing them to glow with terrible fire.
C22. THEARYNN LOUVEL’S CHAMBERS
This chamber is almost barren of furnishings. A narrow cot rests against the far wall next to a workbench containing a few tools and a simple wooden chest. A perch that looks like it might act as a rest for a large bird sits in one corner; a number of black, foul-looking droppings litter the floor beneath it. An iron brazier heats the cold space.
C23. ARDETH WEBB’S CHAMBER
A pool of glowing lava nearly thirty feet across fills a sunken region to the south of this large cavern. The ceiling is forty feet high, and the room appears to be some sort of training facility. Paper screens line most of the walls, painted in various impressionistic patterns and designs, and reed mats cover the floor. Weapon racks hold a variety of exotic weapons. A pair of practice dummies hangs from the high ceiling along the east wall, and a low, wooden cot sits against the west. To the south stands a large armoire.
C24. SHEBELETH REGIDIN’S CHAMBERS
The western half of this chamber is decorated lavishly as a bedchamber. Fine rugs cover the stone floors, and tapestries the walls. An ornate desk sits against one wall, emblazoned across the front with the Carcerian Eye. A wardrobe built of ebony sits near a large, four-poster bed. The room narrows to the east, then opens into a second chamber. This one is much more spartan. The floor is bare, but has been carved once more with the symbol of the Cagewrights. An altar and font stand near the far wall, both covered in a strange glowing script.
C25. FOOD AND SUPPLIES
This large cavern is used to store food, water, and other supplies. Several barrels of wine, ale, and fresh water rest against the north wall, and three heavily laden shelves hold several hundred pounds of food.
C26. DYR’RYD’S CHAMBER
The walls of this large chamber are dark red. In the corner of the chamber lies a pile of cushions nearly thirty feet across, stacked nearly six feet high. The cushions, like the floor, are covered in a pale, sickly slime. A desk behind a bend in the chamber is sized for someone overly large - at least ten feet tall.
C27. TREE OF SHACKLED SOULS
This massive elliptical chamber glows with a hellish light from lava bubbling through shaped channels that form a familiar pattern in the floor. These rivers of lava form the sign of the Carcerian Eye, and from the eye’s “pupil” grows a horrendous sight.
A large tree of metal erupts from the lava there. Thirteen branches sprout from a central trunk several feet across, twisting menacingly around the chamber to increase the diameter of the area occupied by the tree to nearly sixty feet. The branches are covered in wicked barbs, but each branch tapers to end in a hook. From each hook hangs a cage, and within each cage you see the slumped form of a humanoid figure. These must be the Shackleborn - individuals cursed by fate to be the keys to unlocking the gate to Carceri.