Lake Placid
Overview
Lake Placid is the largest lake in the Ferrisian Peninsula, which is bordered by the monks of the The Tower of Belles on the northern end, and the ruins of Old Ferrus on the southern border. It was once used for trade between Old Ferrus and the villages surrounding it, including the peaceful village of Medivh.
It is a closed (endorheic) lake meaning it does not drain into an ocean or river. Geomancers and other mages have studied how it maintains its relatively freshwater with low salinity despite this not having any outgoing connections, but are hindered by its unusual deep center. At it's center, the lake bottom is thousands of feet deep, creating crushing pressure and darkness that is impossible to traverse in any meaningful way. Some have suggested that it is actually connected to the ocean through a large underground tunnel system, while others have harped on about groundwater seepage and evaporation. Still others suggest that it is connected at its deepest point to the Infernal Plane, and that monstrous creatures lurk below the lake's aptly named surface.
Name
Lake Placid is named for its idyllic clear water along its edges and outer banks. You can see the bottom of the lake even a mile out from the banks, but that tapers out as you get closer to the center, as the depth of the lake increases exponentially several miles inwards. Many vacationers would spend their summers in the outlying villages, until they were all destroyed by the massive blast that ended the Great Lich War which destroyed Old Ferrus completely. In the last 250 years, there has been several movements to begin rebuilding around the river, but efforts have been hampered due to strange attacks by an unidentified beast.
Attacks
Not long after the destruction of Old Ferrus, several enterprising merchants set off to the destroyed villages around the banks of Lake Placid to begin a restoration effort to the extremely lucrative vacation spots around the Lake. One such company was the Bleating Sheep, a company of wool traders who were looking to expand into the bed and breakfast market. Around a dozen of their journeyman spotted a perfect location near some of the ruins of a lakehouse, and made their camp nearby to begin construction. The quiet and peace of that first night was shattered when one of the journeyman, on a late night trip to relieve himself, tripped upon the mangled corpse of his co-worker. The body looked as if it had been torn apart by a massive creature, with the blood stains leading directly to the banks of Lake Placid. He raised the alarm and ran back to camp to wake his companions only to find that in his absence, something had attacked the camp. The tents were torn to shreds, and blood and viscera stained the dirt and trees around the campsite. The journeyman immediately returned back to the city where he was eventually admitted into an insane asylum. Over the years, several similar accounts have been reported, with eyewitness accounts stating that they had seen a "massive, scaled creature with razor sharp teeth", pulling their victims into the Lake. Other than these accounts, however, there has been no hard evidence that such a creature exists, or what it may be. Eventually it got to the point that the Iron Brotherhood declared the Lake closed to commerce for the safety of the population.
Type
Lake
Location under
Included Locations
Owning Organization
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