Geography
Neverlight is situated in the Underdark, but the tunnels leading to the settlement are well traveled and relatively easy to navigate. Stone signs illuminated by continual flame spells can be found at every junction, pointing the way to the settlement.
Description
The town is situated in a vast cavern tinged red by the magma that flows through the channels that separate the various districts. By and large, the town is well maintained, with streets and buildings composed of gray stone bricks.
Bridges made of wood and metal span the magma lake at various points, connecting the town’s various districts to one another.
Buildings
Most of Neverlight’s buildings are single-story stone structures (about 12 feet high) with stone doors that are 5 feet high and 3 feet wide. Building interiors tend to be unlit (which is of little concern to deep gnomes, who have darkvision), and they contain furnishings sized for gnomes.
Slagline
Suspended above the magma lake is a carousel-like chain of dangling steel buckets called the Slagline. The buckets are spaced 15 feet apart. Roughly half of them contain ore and uncut gems from the mines; the rest are empty and big enough to carry five Small creatures or two Medium creatures each.
The Slagline is automated so that the buckets move counterclockwise around the town. Ore and gems from the Cavemouth district are received at the foundry in the Smoldertown district for smelting and refining. The processed materials are then transported past Turbine Heights to Old Neverlight, where they are sold by merchants and guild artisans.
The Slagline alternates between running for 1 minute and then pausing for 1 minute to allow time to load and unload its buckets. Whenever the Slagline stops, the buckets suspended above the magma bob and sway slightly—not so much that they spill their contents, however.
Creatures can safely climb into buckets at one of four loading stations (two in Cavemouth, one in Smoldertown, and one in Old Neverlight) and ride the Slagline from one district to another.
Old Neverlight
Entrance and Gatehouse
A set of impressive gate allow outsider to penetrate in Old Neverlight. Standing watch by the gates are two dour gnomes in black robes. A wave of heat washes through as the gates part, revealing atown bathed in hellish light and periodically brightened by flashes of lightning.
The outer gates are usually shut, and the old mechanism, too rusty prevent them from being normaly open. The two gnome mages on duty have prepared knock spells, which they use to circumvent the gates’ rusty locking mechanisms. It takes two knock spells to open the gates.
Old Neverlight is the oldest part of the town. The cobblestones here have been worn smooth over the centuries.
Gatehouse. A modest gatehouse stands inside the gates. The gatehouse contains sleeping quarters and an armory.
Town Hall
The town hall features a spacious chamber for large gatherings and has three small offices at the back.
Halfway Isle
Halfway Isle used to be a giant stalagmite until the gnomes sheared off the top of it to create a plateau, atop which they built the Abbey of the Deep Brother. Bridges connect Halfway Isle to the neighboring districts of Old Neverlight and Turbine Heights.
Abbey of Ornn
Next to the road stands a squat stone building capped with a stone dome. The building’s entrance is a double door carved to resemble interlocking hands, and centered above the doorway is a symbol of Ornn.
Abbey Interior. A 4-foot-tall statue of Ornn, stands in an alcove just inside the entrance. The statue’s right hand is held out, displaying stone-carved rings on every stubby finger.
The largest room in the abbey, directly across from the entrance, serves as a place of worship. Low benches face the middle of the domed chamber, where every word spoken—even a whisper—can be heard throughout the space.
Turbine Heights
The streets of this district are filled with steam.
Infirmary
A stone sign depicting a crutch hangs above the entrance to this one-story building. The double door below the sign is ajar, revealing a hallway beyond.
Beyond the double door is a long, dark hallway with three small examination rooms on one side of it and three small storage rooms on the opposite side. At the far end of the hall, behind another double door, is an operating room.
Jail
This fortified, two-story stone edifice has a heavy iron door that hangs open.
The lower floor contains a kitchen and mess hall for the jailers and an office reserved for the head jailer. A spiral staircase connects to the upper level, which contains prison cells.
Smoldertown
The acrid stench of hot metal hangs over this district. Buildings here have no decoration, and nearly every surface is caked in decades of grime and soot.
Smoldertown, with its many workshops and smithies, is the industrial heart of Neverlight. Including the
Clockwork automatons workshop.
Foundry
The soot-stained foundry stands at the edge of this district, overlooking the magma lake far below. Its huge sliding doors stand open, revealing dark furnaces and machinery. A raised loading dock allows access to the dangling buckets of the Slagline, which deliver unrefined ore to the foundry.
The foundry interior is one large, open space. The building has no ceiling, allowing heat and smoke to escape. Ore from the Slagline’s buckets can be dumped via chute into any of the foundry’s five large furnaces.
Motherlode Tavern
Hanging above the entrance of this grimy stone building is a painted wooden sign that depicts gemstones pouring from a flagon. A minor magical effect causes the gemstones to glitter invitingly.
The tavern’s interior consists of a cellar and a taproom.
- Cellar. The cellar contains crates of worthless supplies, several kegs of a locally brewed mushroom beer called Rubbleclub Classic, and several more kegs of an oaky whiskey called Oofenklanger’s Finest.
- Taproom. The taproom contains seating areas, including a row of stools next to a low bar made of carved basalt. Hanging above the bar are two soot-stained lanterns with continual flame spells cast inside them.
Cavemouth
Mining equipment lies abandoned in the alleys and stalagmite-lined streets of this gloomy district.
The cavemouth district is often attacked by monster who are kept at bay by gnomes clockwork automatons.
The Cavemouth district is where most of Neverlight’s miners live and work. Two roads lead to the mines.
- Miners’ Guildhall. Hanging above the open doorway of this large, gem-studded building is a stone sign depicting a pick and a hammer. The miners’ guildhall has offices for senior guild members and stout metal lockers where miners can store their gear.
- Warehouses. Numerous warehouse store various gnomish contraption, the biggest one being Warehouse 6. Bright light seeps through cracks around the sliding metal doors of this otherwise nondescript warehouse.
The Overlook
The central feature of Neverlight is an enormous, hollowed-out stalactite with luminous clock faces built into it. The Overlook’s clocks are mechanical wonders illuminated by magic. They keep perfect time.
A hollowed-out central chamber in the Overlook contains magnificent fungi gardens and open windows overlooking the town. Residents of Neverlight come here to wander the gardens, pick mushrooms, and enjoy the views.
A large, rough-hewn cavern in the heart of the Overlook has a floor that rises toward the middle. Scores of lizards—a few of them big enough to ride as mounts—sleep and crawl on the slopes of this natural rise. Perched atop the rocky mound is a squat stone building topped with a crystal dome. Multicolored light gleams within the dome.
The cavern is home to six giant lizards and hundreds of ordinary lizards, all of which are docile but skittish. The giant ones are trained to serve the gnomes as pack animals. A character who approaches a giant lizard can use an action to try to keep it from running away, doing so with a successful DC 13 Wisdom (Animal Handling) check. A giant lizard that doesn’t run away can be used by that character as a mount.
Spiral staircases on the north and south sides of the building climb 15 feet to a circular chamber. Beneath a fifteen-foot-high crystal dome is a chamber containing a ten-foot-square, three-dimensional projection of Neverlight.
Magical Projection. The projection of Neverlight is a harmless illusion that changes to match the current state of things in town. The projection has no substance, allowing creatures to pass right through it.
Society
Law
The city boasts a military force. Use the Guard Arrival Times table to determine how long it takes for guards to arrive at a location after a crime or similar incident is reported.
Hazard
Magma
While most districts sit 150 feet above the magma lake, two do not. The Overlook, built into a rock formation at the center of the cavern, sits 170 feet above the magma. Cavemouth is 120 feet above the magma.
The roof and walls of Neverlight are bathed in a fiery hue, thanks to the magma that fills the lake and heats the town.
Any creature that falls into Neverlight’s magma lake is likely to be killed instantly unless that creature is immune to fire damage. Any creature that enters the magma for the first time on a turn or starts its turn there takes 55 (10d10) fire damage.
Map
Neverlight is a city of deep gnomes located within the
Underdark beneath the Lightfoot lands. Built from the ruins of a city that collapsed into the Underdark after the
Great Extinction, Neverlight has since become a thriving city, serving as a crucial link between the Underdark and the world above.
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