The Oubliette
Many of the unfortunates who glimpse the foreboding silhouette of the Oubliette, looming over the waters of the Lake of Tears, know that it will be the last glimpse of the world outside its walls that they will ever see. The Oubliette is a prison complex, bored into the bedrock of the Middle Underdark, which has been constructed to incarcerate prisoners in successively poorer and more degrading conditions as one travels down its length.
The prison is a private operation, founded by ex-bounty hunter Karstal Sal, which operates as a hub for people to hire the services of a bounty hunter and a place where the bounty hunters themselves can come to get work. However, not all those held in the Oubliette are criminals or dangerous individuals. Many of those held within its cells are innocent people, whose enemies have used the rather unscrupulous nature of many bounty hunters to abduct and hold them to ransom, hoping that they will cave in the horrid dank calls of the Oubliette and give into their demands.
Purpose / Function
The Oubliette was built to house people against their will and in accordance with this it has been ingeniously constructed to make it as hard as possible for anyone to get out without those controlling the structure allowing it. However, the Oubliette is not designed as a place that people are sent to immediately die. Whilst those who run the Oubliette have ample means at their disposal to kill people if that is deemed necessary, they have far more means of making the stay of their guests as uncomfortable as possible, without degrading their health so much that they die. This way, with enough time, they can make any one held by them compliant and happy to talk.
Operation
The Oubliette was founded and is still run by Karstal Sal, an ex-bounty hunter who retired from active hunting and realised that there was a gap in the market in the Underdark with regards to a central space where bounty hunters could take on jobs and bring their quarry for holding. With the help of some of his old colleagues who he convinced to join his venture, he used his retirement funds to construct the Oubliette, a move that proved to be the wisest thing that he has ever done. Now the Oubliette acts as a central hub for all bounty hunting activity across the Underdark, with people who wish to render the services of a hunter sending their requests to the Oubliette, bounty hunters travelling there to take on jobs and also bringing back their quarry, either alive or dead, to be held there until the client comes to collect, or sends someone to verify the capture of their target. Those who do not wish to actually take their target into their own custody, can keep them held in the Oubliette indefinitely, provided that they continue to pay a holding fee, whilst some simply order the Oubliette to dispose of the individuals concerned, again for a handling fee. Indeed, so trusted is Karstal Sal now amongst the bounty hunter community, that he even operates a banking service, where bounty hunters can deposit any items or coin that they do not wish to carry with them for safe keeping within the protection of the Oubliette’s walls. Karstal Sal’s activities have made him a very rich man, and he thoroughly intends to continue his activities for as long as the span of his Dwarven years will allow.Entries
There is only one way to access the island on which the Oubliette is situated and that is via a stone archway on the mainland shore opposite the island, in which an arcane portal has been placed. This portal, when stepped through exits onto an identical portal on the island. However, the defenders of the Oubliette can easily and quickly seal off the portal should they wish, making it a matter of short work for them to seal off the island from the shore.
Architecture
Above ground, the Oubliette is a large stone tower, extended up five floors, with a crenelated battlement at its top. The tower has been designed as a fortified structure, so it is well capable of withstanding a prolonged attack should it need to be. This upper section of the Oubliette houses the kitchens, garrison and the private rooms of its founder Karstal Sal, as well as guest rooms for clients who visit the Oubliette and who wish to overnight there before beginning their journeys home.
The largest portion of the Oubliette is actually housed underground.
Immediately below the above ground floors are three levels of well appointed and comfortably furnished cells, more akin to the kind of smart bedrooms that one would expect to find in a high class tavern or guest house, which are used to house high value prisoners. Often these cells are allocated based on instructions from the clients, but occasionally the staff of the Oubliette will make an executive decision and allocate one of these cells to their favourites, or prisoners that they wish to curry favour with.
Beneath these levels again, is a vast tunnel, descending over fifteen stories into the rock, with a wide stone ramp spiralling down all the way to the bottom. Excavated into the rock face all along its length are cells, little more than barred boxes cut into the rock, where most of the Oubliette’s prisoners are housed. The positioning and construction of the Oubliette means that these cells have a variety of different conditions, that its staff use to their advantage to help break the will of the prisoners. Those nearest the top of the shaft are cold and damp, the water from the Lake of Tears above naturally wicking through the rock to drip down on the prisoners within. Conversely those at the bottom of the shaft, positioned not too far above the ceiling of the
Deep Underdark, are uncomfortably hot, as they are naturally warmed by the wave of heat rolling off the Lava Sea on the level of the Underdark below.
Location
The Oubliette is located on an island in the northern portion of the Lake of Tears in the Middle Underdark, a setting that affords the building additional protection as the waters of the Lake of Tears are incredibly dangerous to traverse, whether by swimming or by boat, as there are many creatures cruising through its waters in search of an easy meal. What makes this worse, is that such creatures tend to congregate around the island on which the Oubliette is located, as in most cases, when prisoners die, their bodies are simply cast into the waters, and to the mouths of the creatures within.
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