Stockade, Thir Met
A pit in the ground where prisoners can be forgotten.
Food made its way down slowly. Dropped off by the wardens above, it was hoarded by gang leaders and influential ruffians to be meted out in exchange for labour and favours. I had to assume that supplies didn't reach the depths of the prison; other arrangements must keep the inhabitants fed.
As the city state of Thir Met is encompassed by a large antimagic zone, it offers a natural solution to imprisoning people with magical abilities. The Thir Met Stockade is unassuming from the outside, but its denizens include warlocks, sorcerers and other magic users captured and imprisoned from all over the world. Thir Met earns money for this service - when death is not desired as a punishment, another nation may purchase the right to put a prisoner within the stockade. This is almost invariably a permanent punishment.
As a location that exists mostly underground, the stockade is rumoured to have secret entrances and even connections to much deeper below. Particularly knowledgable or curious people may wonder whether the guard have a way of reaching and controlling that which happens below the surface.
Architecture
In its current form, the stockade is a large, sunken region surrounded by a high stone wall. This wall is 30 feet tall with respect to the inside but only 10 feet tall from outside. There is a single gatehouse which can lower a steep drawbridge down to a raised area of ground within. This is how new prisoners are forced to enter, the guards of Thir Met not leaving the gate itself. There are seven guard towers spaced around the wall and a number of guards patrol the area. The wall has a slight overhang from which downward facing iron spikes are fixed to deter the more athletic prisoners from climbing out.
Within the wall, the stockage is a slum with squat buildings made from a mess of refuse, spare wood and a small quantity of dark stone. Buildings that get too high or too close to the wall are burned down in retribution. A small hole in the western section of the wall allows water in, flowing in a small stream before disappearing down a hole into the spaces below.
The space underneath the stockade has become a warren of carved out spaces. Muddy living spaces and communal areas give way to a sub-prison below where prisoners mete out their own form of justice. Rumours of cannibilism and ritualistic horrors abound in the depths.
Intelligence (History) checks:
10 - "Thir Met has a large prison people are locked in forever."
15 - "The stockade contains dangerous people stripped of magic ability."
20 - "There are deep spaces underground where unknown things take place."
25 - "I'm pretty sure there are secret entrances where deals can be made with the denizens."
Summer Camp 2021
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This was an article originally written as part of the 2021 Summer Camp challenge. I have edited the article since then, so what appears on this page no longer reflects the original competition entry. - Theoclymenus
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