In the northern part of Marble Desert, to the west of the elven settlement of Oasis and near where the sand meets the mountains, there lies a temple that stands as monument to the violence of Tanis' path. Muldwarof Temple is known as the final resting place of the last dwarves known to have seen the surface during the First Age. It is a recommended location for a customary pilgrimage taken by elves with doubts about their society. In observing the tombs of a society believed to be destroyed by genocide, the elves reflect on the barbarism that once ruled their homeland and in the superior values of modern Tanisian society. But like all structures in Tanis, a lot more to this temple lying beneath the surface.
Shortly before the end of the Second Age, elven visitors to Muldwarof found a secret passage in a coffin leading into a deep tunnel. Where this tunnel leads has been the subject of years of speculation and debate Some believe that the tunnel leads to the Oasis, or the capitol city of Orion, which are the nearest towns to the temple. If this is the case, no one has ever managed to find a similar passage in either place. Another prevailing theory is that this tunnel leads into the far subterranean territory that the surviving dwarves were believed to have been driven to. Proponents of this idea suggest that the dwarves created the tunnel themselves so they could make journeys to the temple as well in secret, but no living dwarf was seen using it.
Explorers who chose to explore this tunnel almost never return for reasons revealed only by the scant few who have. As the adventurer plumbs deeper into the tunnel's depths, they soon find themselves assailed by twists and turns that seem to defy logic. Backtracking never seems to lead back the surface. Attempting to leave a trail inevitably fails as the markers seem to rearrange themselves. Those who have escaped this unnatural labyrinth all admit to having done so through pure luck. Without exception, they admit to only escaping the underground after giving up on navigating it. Whatever lies at the source of this curiosity, one thing remains clear: those wishing to explore the Muldwarof tunnel must forget everything they know about subterranean exploration.
This mystery has given birth to a legend of its own about an explorer who claims to have seen what lies at the end of this tunnel. Hailing from Galeon, Saira Sadalbari famously declared that she reached the end of the labyrinth. This claim has been disputed for years, owing to the lack of evidence she produced of her journey and the fact that she remained cagey about what she found. She died without ever telling anyone where the tunnel leads, but left everyone with a tantalizing message. While she was in the deepest part of the tunnel, she allegedly left something behind: a personal treasure that proves she fully explored Muldwarof and remains valuable enough to be a prize for the next person brave and lucky enough to do the same.
For centuries, Muldwarof has humbled and confounded the people of Tanis. While tourism in this temple remains a constant in the elves' culture on the surface, the constantly evolving mystery of Muldwarof's caverns has drawn some of the bravest souls and sharpest minds. Even with the eventual resurgence of the dwarven race in the Third Age, most of its questions remain unanswered and all possibilities remain unconfirmed.
No comments:
Post a Comment