Gatshadow

The mighty mountain known as Gatshadow is a spire of death that looms over the Dividing Plains. Westruun sees it always upon the horizon, and the most vicious monsters of the Bramblewood grow cruel in its fell shadow. Folkloric tales about the evil powers within Gatshadow are told in all cultures of the Dividing Plains: stories of giant spiders in the forest, of beings of pure shadow that dwell within the mountain's tunnels, and of the tunnels themselves, which are so labyrinthine and shifting that no one who enters them will ever escape. These days, most of these stories are told to keep children from wandering into the forest alone—but they are far from simply children's tales.
Gatshadow was transformed into a place of evil in the Age of Arcanum. Acek Orattim, a priest of the Betrayer god known as the Chained Oblivion, made the mountain his seat of power. The Oblivion's inexorable might corrupted the mountain, stretching it like putty until it was a jagged needle that towered over all other mountains, and etching a mind-bending labyrinth of twisting passages into its heart.
Acek spread the Oblivion's nihilistic despair across the Cliffkeep Mountains and the Dividing Plains below. All bowed before their influence, their minds lost to unfathomable contemplation of the end of all things. Untold thousands died at the hands of Acek and his god, willingly entering Gatshadow—which then became their tomb.
The bitter cold of oblivion threatened to consume the land, but it was repulsed by the Dawnfather and his warriors of light. The Dawnfather struck a telling blow against the Oblivion, and doggedly pursued as it retreated to Gatshadow. He shackled and banished the god of the end within Gatshadow's depths. It was said that Acek's mind and spirit were so saturated with his master's essence that the god's banishment tore his body asunder. Today, only the empty maze of deadly chambers and traps remain beneath the mountain, forgotten and awaiting discovery.
The high bluffs of Gatshadow have in recent years been the home of many a villain, most recently Umbrasyl the Hope Devourer, the black dragon of the Chroma Conclave. Legend says that Gatshadow's interior tunnels spiral infinitely downward, into a void of utter darkness. Immortal, white-eyed devotees of madness pace endlessly into Gatshadow's tunnels, carrying lightless torches, whispering that the secret to feeing their god from the Divine Gate is sealed in the depths below. The stone doors that bar entrance to Gatshadow's lowest reaches are sealed by magic so great, even the most inquisitive of the Arcana Pansophical can't breach them—and it is well that t hey cannot, for who knows what terror would be unleashed if they were opened?

Type

Mountain / Hill

Location under

Cliffkeep Mountains

Related Historical Events

• 1913 Q.R.
  Tharizdun Banished