Elder's Maw

2022 Location Lore Event Entry
Author: Aylabug

The Frost Peaks of Shengdao are renowned for its bitter cold and relentless winds, whipping and tearing at anyone brave enough to scale its mountains. It eats any animal or shiji in its tracks, erasing their body under layers of frost and snow. The temperatures drop even further as night falls, blanketing the cold ice in its dark claws. Blizzards and storms rage and thrash across its land, punishing anyone daring to make their way through its barrier.

Beneath all of the ice and snow, lie secrets long hidden from curious eyes. They lie dormant, waiting for the right animal or man to stumble upon its treasure. Only those that can master the Frost Peak's challenge can lay eyes on these hidden gems, one such being the massive crystals encrusted with ice, protecting a ruin belonging to the Elders. It has since been forgotten, eaten by the Peaks as punishment, or perhaps, protection. Relics of the Elders are revered, worshipped even, dug out from their slumber by hungry claws thirsty for hidden secrets. This ruin, however, is shadowed by a 'C' shaped mountain, curving around it as if to swallow it into the belly of the Peaks. Crystals formed by harsh wind and water captured the long-standing ancient temple, and thus covered by thick ice. The Temple itself, had stood tall and grand when the weather had not been so harsh. The steps into the temple were still leading into its open doors, thousands of years since any foot; or paw; had stepped up to them. Massive doors carved from wood, their original color since fades and eaten away by years of weather, stay forever open in their prison of crystal and ice. Huge, teeth-like icicles climb their way down from the cliff's overhang, a dangerous warning during the summer months of the Peaks. The mountain protecting the ruin itself was covered in trees only meant to survive such harsh weather, their needles a barrier of their own, covering the ground and hiding their thick roots. They curve and twist, holding the mountain in its place. At the top of the mountain, however, no trees will grow here. It remains barren, empty, as if to pay homage to the sleeping chambers down below. Roots of trees that had attempted their growth hang down, stuck to the sides of the mountain by ice, little claws desperate to reach the ground below.

Because of the weather and blizzards, this remains unseen by all. The ice protecting its beautiful treasure glints off of the sun, casting prismacolor shadows across the bright white snow. Nothing out of the ordinary for the average explorer. Those that will stumble upon this natural treasure, will be stunned by its brilliance. Massive crystals the size of small buildings, jutting out from the inside curve of the mountain. Ice had begun to grow from the base, a fitting cage for such a place, a huge mouth emerging from the earth itself, threatening to swallow anyone whole and take the Temple with it.