Temple of the Whale

This chamber, at the bottom of The Plunging Vault, over a mile below the surface of Acroshia , houses a living monument to Baartzabel, the Lord of Rot. Two hundred years ago, a Great Black Whale was teleported into the chamber and ritually slaughtered by Priests of Baartzabel. The whale was allowed to decompose until its reached the point of maximum putrefactive activity, frothing with rot and decomposition, while the priests remained in the chamber, subsisting off of its decomposing flesh. When the room was hot with the energy of decay, the stench at the height of its foulness, the maggots swarming, the priests performed their final ritual, to hold the whale in time at that most glorious moment, allowing it to become an inexhaustible engine of rot, forever to feed more and more microorganisms, molds, and detritovores. Though the Priests gave their lives gladly in the performance of this final ritual of desecration, it's Baartzabel's tear, a large, blood-red gem placed at the center of the corpse, that anchors and stabilizes the time-defying spectacle. And so the chamber began to overflow with rot and filth, ever creeping, spreading, and feeding upon itself, for many generations.

Very recently, a group of clueless exiles found themselves portaled into its center, where they took the Baartzabel's Tear and broke the charm which keeps the chamber sealed. They escaped to the surface with the Artifact, with nary a thought for what might happen to the Temple... or the Whale.

Type

Room, Secret, Chamber