Crystalfen Caverns

Deep beneath the Bladeshimmer Coast lies a vast network of natural underground caverns and rivers that predate the Age of Arcanum. This seemingly endless and unfathomably deep series of caves reaches even below the ocean, and has roots in early colonization by denizens of the Far Realm.
An ancient society of powerful aboleths and other aberrations sprang up from a door between worlds and conquered this subterranean web; drove their slaves to construct their imperial capital of Salar, the Unseeable City; and slowly pressed upward toward the surface. Their plot was unintentionally ended when the final battle of the Calamity sent powerful waves of magical force throughout Exandria, causing many of the underground caverns to collapse and the aboleth civilization to fall under rock and rubble. Fragments of the City Which Eyes Cannot See still remain, however, with surviving terrors slowly rebuilding from the dust within their once-great capital.
The ruins of this sprawling city are now known as the Crystalfen Caverns. These caves are home to scattered veins of azuremite, a gorgeous blue crystal that formed from millennia of psychic energies near element deposits. Curious explorers who discovered the veins found that when mined and refined into a fine dust, the powder has a strong mind-altering agent and induces temporary visions and other psychic phenomena. This substance is a powerful hallucinogenic drug called suude, and is peddled secretly across Tal'Dorei.
While a number of small, isolated entrances to this labyrinth of tunnels have been discovered and several adventuring parties have attempted to chart the mines, the caverns are so vast and deep that they either gave up for fear of becoming lost or were assailed by the terrible denizens of the caverns, never to return. Most who now brave the caverns are foolish treasure hunters or criminals seeking to mine more azuremite for the suude trade.

The Sisters Grast

Mythic tales of a pair of ancient hags siwrl through learned circles within Emon, typically to frighten Lyceum students off of wandering forbidden vaults at night. Some folk, however, take these whispers seriously. A number of explorers and treasure seekers wandering the subterranean ruins of Crystalfen have encountered one, or both, of these wretched witches, returning with tales of fright, dark dealings, and unholy pacts.
In reality, these creatures are elven scholars who stumbled upon the Ruins of Salar long, long ago. Their discovery and research of the profoundly magical location twisted their minds and bodies, infused them with power, extended their lives, and granted a glimmer of knowledge of some immense, unknowable purpose to the lost city. They've become obsessed with the mysteries of the ruins. The elder, Trysta, remains below to continue to excavate and study, while her sister Forscythia travels back and forth from Emon under the veil of a half-dozen illusions to acquire goods and gold in exchange for her unsettlingly insightful fortune-telling. Anyone who seeks the sisters with ill intent is rarely seen again, but those who stumble upon them often find themselves temporarily in service to them, a pact made out of fear and self-preservation.

Type

Cave System

Location under

Bladeshimmer Shoreline

Included Locations

• Ruins of Salar