The Crypts of Staerow

A prison for abominations

These hallways reeks of death, and just being here makes my head hurt. Whatever happened here, in these godforsaken crypts, will be a mystery I alone will uncover.
The Crypt of Staerow is one of the oldest and most infamous of its kind. At least on this side of the Nalio Fall, and only if you have looked in the correct places and read the right sources. Those that costs blood to uncover. A part of me feel abhorrent at what I needed to do, but that is in the past now. No need to dvell there too much now, is there?

These hallways reeks of death and just being here makes my head hurt. Whatever happened here, in these godforsaken crypts, will be a mystery I alone will uncover.

— Excerpt from an old, water-damaged diary.
A few page-corners are covered in dried bloody fingerprint.

General

The Crypts of Staerow are among the oldest and most infamous of their kind. At least on this side of Nalfall, and only if you look in the correct places and read the right sources. Those that cost blood to uncover.

— Excerpt from an old, water-damaged diary.
A few page corners are covered in a dried bloody fingerprint.

Difficult to enter

It is not easy to find the Crypt of Staerow, even with the help of correct sources; one first have to climb down a crevice no wider than one and a half meter in the middle of nowhere and then drag oneself through a set of damp, claustrophobic caves. One then has to jump over a pitch-black precipice about a meter wide that feels like it wants to drag you into its depts.

— Excerpt from A glimpse into the Crypts of Staerow.

Not alone in the Crypts of Staerow

I started hearing them after a day of wandering the crypt halls. Scraping against the stone floor and walls. Growls in the dark, the sound of something being drabbed over the floor. I am not alone here. The old broken corpses, the dried blood, and claw marks in the stone makes that clear.

— Excerpt from an old, water-damaged diary.
A few page corners are covered in a dried bloody fingerprint.

The former lair of a Draugr Lord

The Crypts was formerly built by the self-proclaimed Draugr Lord Staerow and was once considered to be an elaborate lair for him, his small group of followers and his abominable creatures of death.
The Crypts is where he experimented on both the dead and the living, on souls and on spirits alike. Be they human or animal. It did not matter. And some of his creations still wanders the hallways and rooms in search of blood of the living. More than a few poor sods have sought out the Crypts only to find themselves face to face with an abomination. It keeps them calm at least and thus is a price that needs to be paid for everyone else.

— Excerpt from A glimpse into the Crypts of Staerow.

The former lair of a Draugr Lord

I was meant to find this place. But not for the reasons I have been lead to believe. I found a fairly fresh corpse a few hours ago. I knew the man. He sought the Crypts as well but I never thought he would find them. At least not before I did. And now he is dead, as I surely soon will be. I was led to the slaughter like an oblivious sheep baited with a carrot.

— Excerpt from an old, water-damaged diary.
A few page corners are covered in a dried bloody fingerprint.

A prison for abominations

These Crypts. I think they are something of a prison. Whether it was their original purpose or not is lost to me, but nonetheless, it now serves to keep the monsters from reaching the surface. I cannot explain why I think this. It is just something about these crypts that tells me that. Maybe it is the way the hallways and rooms are built or the numerous steel doors. The strange symbols on the floors and walls.

— Excerpt from an old, water-damaged diary.
A few page corners are covered in a dried bloody fingerprint.

The last scribbles by dead prey

And a warning

Tis. Is. A. Prison. No EscApe. MonsErs. HuNt ME!! Need To ESCAPE! Find a Way OUT! NEED TO FIND THE SILVER KEY!!

— Excerpt from the last page from an old, water-damaged diary.
The last few pages are severely damaged by now dried blood.
A few sketches of deep-eyed dog-human hybrid faces
and sabertooth horse faces can be found
next to some text that says 'Do not look at them'.

Built by

Draugr Lord Staerow

Alternative Names

The Old Lair of Staerow, The Den of the Draugr Lord, The Prison of Staerow, The Death Laboratory of Staerow

Type

Catacomb