Bert Verwaest

Crystal Cave [40x50]

Added 2024-11-05 22:25:56 +0000 UTC

Adventurers yearn for the mines.

This map reveals a hidden crystal cave, deep underground and accessible only by a lone, rickety lift. Its walls shimmer with precious gemstones essential for rare and costly magical components, along with veins of metal that are refined and smelted on-site before returning to the surface. Owned by a sinister order of mages, the mine’s valuable resources fund their experiments and dark research.

The mages utilize captive labor—prisoners and slaves who, if they are not toiling against the stone, are confined in a secured chamber for sleeping. Guards, who wield spells instead of traditional weapons, oversee the captives from atop towers dispersed throughout the cavern. Traditional weapons are strictly forbidden within the mine; even basic tools like pickaxes and shovels are counted and locked away after every shift. Any hint of defiance from the laborers is ruthlessly punished, often by public displays in iron cages behind a reinforced gate in the northeastern corner.

Guards and off-duty officers rest in comfortable quarters with plush beds, fine wines, and high-quality meals, while prisoners subsist on stale scraps and thin blankets. A mage scribe meticulously records the mine’s production, preparing scrolls and crates of precious crystals for shipment. Beyond mining, the cave’s damp, secluded depths serve as an ideal incubation chamber for dangerous creatures—giant spiders, basilisks, bulettes, or perhaps even driders.

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