Sunday, November 29, 2020

A Map of the Tel al Safina

In hopes that this will help orient parties setting out from Cothon on expeditions to delve into the depths of the Tel:



 

It should be noted that there are a number of sea-caves riddling the headlands further north, beyond the Ocean's Throat; these are known haunts for clans of the Alkari and the Sakkra, and periodically home also to mighty sro, pale serudla, and dreaded haqel.

There is also a "lesser" spire north of the Great Spire of the Klackons; and doubtless there are other smaller entrances into the Tel, as the whole mound is riddled with caves and catacombs.

The Tower Invincible is the only completely intact remainder of the old city of Tsur; it is remembered that no missile hurled by catapult or trebuchet could wrack it, for it is surrounded by a field of power that deflects all such missiles; but that a man on foot might be able to find some secret way, or invisible gate, and thus gain entrance.

This Tower is also the source of the terrible Elver Worms that emerge once every generation or so to wreak their desolation. The last such to come forth was during the Office of Anno and Arrahmni as Soufets, and it was Lost Vrialta, then but a squire of the Knights Pylaean, who dealt that Worm its death-knell, and thus secured his reputation as "the greatest warrior of his age" before his Disapperance.

As to the rest of the Ruins of Tsur al Qadim, they have been picked over by generations seeking old artefacts or buried treasures; and yet, they are wide, and sometimes secrets are dis-covered even now. The crumbling towers and slumping walls also offer shelter or hiding places to various bands of highwaymen, or to wandering creatures inimical to Man, so that one should be wary when venturing along the broken thoroughfares. The safest path east from Cothon to the Tel is along the Pallbearers' Way, from the Gate of Mourners to the Necropolis in the Colossian Temenos. This road is regularly patrolled by the Poor Brothers of the Dead, a warrior-mourning society.

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