The Heart of the Mountain

Created by NV for the Valdorin campaign

Deep in the Jothrok mountains, deeper, even, than the inhospitable landscapes of the Underdark, lies the beating heart of the mountain. The thundering booms of the heart echo throughout the deepest caverns. For some creatures, this is cause to hide in opposite ends of the Underdark. For others, like the stout duergar, the highest honor is to become one with the mountain. A goal that some of them pursue by traveling to the heart of the mountain. All stories about the heart are speculative though, for none have ever returned from the heart.

Geography

The poor souls who have traveled to the heart of the mountain have all been faced with the same entrancing sight. Hidden in these abandoned depths a subtly waving veil envelops the ruins of a city. Interwoven with deep chasms, layers of the city were built into the sides of the rock. On the top-level, giant obelisks look to have crashed into the streets. The glimmering Elirium, protruding from the rock, illuminates the cave containing the veiled city with a soothing red-purple glow. Observing the patterns in the veil one notices repeating patterns. Spiraling light moving around the city in fractal-like patterns. The light patterns evoke a trance-like state.

Once every half an hour the whole cave seems to give way to the earth below as shocks are emitted throughout the stone. Bellowing sounds of explosions and crashes spring from the veil. After a precarious minute the cave returns to a peaceful equilibrium and the veiled patterns repeats exactly.

Show Spoiler

If one were to travel to the heart of the mountain and pierce its veil, that unfortunate person would be the newest addition to the still-living city.

Inside the veil, the enclave's trapped population is reliving the city's last half hour before its destruction over and over again. Now it's up to this new guest, or these guests, to save the city from the brink of its destruction. See The Buried Enclave for my interpretation of this adventure.

Type

Cave System

Related Reports (Secondary)

• Journal 20: The Buried Enclave
• Journal 22: The Discombobulated Mike
• Journal 23: 2 ADD PCs = Max Chaos
• Journal 24: Back To The Future
• Journal 25: Reassessing