Khyber’s Gate
Khyber’s Gate covers the distance between Ashblack and Blackbones. Due to the lack of lava streams, it does not have any of the heavy industry found to the east or west. For the most part, Khyber’s Gate is a tenement district, filled with tiny houses carved into the tunnel walls. A great many of the monstrous immigrants from Droaam have settled in Khyber’s Gate, using strength or supernatural abilities to drive the original residents away. Beyond these monsters, the vast majority of the inhabitants are goblins. The other inhabitants of the Gate are drawn from all races, though they share a common desperation; an elf resident of Khyber’s Gate has little in common with one of the haughty inhabitants of Shae Lias. Many of the nongoblin inhabitants of the region are criminals who have fled from justice.
Some people have established businesses in the depths, while others travel up to the surface and make a living by begging or stealing. While the vast majority of the
trades and services offered in Khyber’s Gate are illegal, there are a few people who practice useful mundane trades. Khyber’s Gate is a community of sorts, and brewers, tailors, and cooks are just as valuable as burglars and assassins.
Khyber’s Gate is an extremely disorganized region. There is no central authority—it is simply a question of who has the power to enforce their desires. At the moment, Daask is the most powerful force in the undercity. The Cults of the Dragon Below have a strong following in the undercity, but as is often the case, the cults are not a unified force; there are three
different sects, and they fight one another as often as anyone else.
In Khyber’s Gate, an adventurer should always be cautious—there’s no telling when what appears to be a lowly goblin might turn out to be a vampire, a wererat, a rakshasa, or an even more dangerous fiend.
