The Undercity

### The Undercity

Twice in the history of Darkwell, the entire city has been destroyed,
 with a new city built atop the old. This has resulted in a significant
number of subterranean areas, still roughly organized into streets and
buildings. In other words, a whole buried city—two, actually.

Everyone knows about the Undercity. It’s not uncommon for the
cellar of a surface structure to actually be the ground level of a
buried building—complete with access to the underground street. Most of
these have been boarded up or otherwise sealed (to prevent subterranean
creatures from finding their ways into people’s homes). But if you look
hard enough, it’s not that difficult to find a way into these old buried
 sections of Darkwell’s past. These unlit avenues tell a history of the
city, of old wars and times of peace, too. Unfortunately, this is not a
place for historians—the Undercity is fraught with danger. Bandits and
other criminals make their secret lairs here, in the deep reaches where
no one goes. Horrible beasts and monsters also wander the buried streets
 and the natural caverns to which they now connect. Even without the
buried layers of urban settlement, the areas beneath Darkwell would
still be honeycombed with natural passages, caves, and natural
catacombs. Underground streams have carved through the rock here for
thousands of years, producing limestone caverns and winding tunnels. Of
course, the presence of the land of the dead deep below the surface here
 might have had some supernatural influence on their creation, as well.
The Undercity is really two different places. There are the buried
streets and natural caves (usually called the Catacombs), and there is
the path down to the Shroud of Spirits, known most commonly as the
Darkwalk.

#### Catacombs

Stretching out mostly beneath the Portal Ward, the subterranean
streets of the buried cities connect to a vast series of natural
tunnels, mainly under Spirit Hill, but extending far to the south. The
buried streets are usually about fifteen or twenty feet wide but only
about ten feet high (in some places, they are much lower than that).
Rubble lies everywhere, often completely choking off a passage. The
streets are winding and difficult to predict (particularly since
collapsed or blocked areas are common). Most of the old buildings are
filled with rubble or are completely collapsed. A few, however, are
open. While some of these serve as basements and cellars for structures
above, most are completely sealed off from the surface—man-made caves.
These make excellent hideouts for gangs and criminals.

#### Headquarters of the Half Hands

The Half Hands, the city’s primary thieves’ guild, keeps its
headquarters in the buried city. They use what was once an entire city
block, including a tavern, a number of houses, and a school. The thieves
 use these buildings much as they were originally intended—as homes, as a
 gathering place, and as a training facility. The tavern is still
operational under its “new management” and is now called Onethumb’s
Place, named for its proprietor, “Onethumb” Mugree (male halfling). The
tavern has an attached theater where the Half Hands holds formal guild
meetings. The school is used to train young thieves. A large sampling of
 locks, traps, and other devices are there to practice upon, as well as
trainers who test their charges’ lockpicking, listening, and sneaking
skills.

### The Darkwalk

Below Darkwell there is an underground path that was ancient before
the city was first built—a path known around the world as the Darkwalk.
It was well worn when the now-buried buildings of the first city were
shining and new—and it is still functioning and in good repair centuries
 after those same buildings crumbled and were buried from living memory.
 More ancient than the Grand Portal that serves as its entry, the
Darkwalk leads from the surface world—the world of the living— to the
land of the dead. It passes through collapsed abandoned streets and
natural caves, but it also passes through corridors and huge chambers
whose architects remain a complete and utter mystery. It is possible
that the Deathwarden dwarves created these places—created the Darkwalk
path itself—but no one knows for sure. For their part, the dwarves do
not give any indication one way or the other. In fact, the Deathwarden
dwarves steadfastly refuse to discuss with outsiders any of the details
pertaining to the Darkwalk.

#### The Deathwarden Dwarves

The Deathwarden dwarves are truly the key to the enigma of the
Darkwalk, and perhaps to the secrets of the land of the dead itself.
Most folk in Darkwell will never see Deathwarden dwarves unless they go
near the Grand Portal—where the dwarves gather to escort dead bodies
down to the Shroud of Spirits. This journey takes about three days, for
the Shroud of Spirits is very deep underground. The way is fraught with
danger; various forces wait in ambush. From time to time, when activity
along the Darkwalk is particularly heavy, the Deathwarden dwarves hire
adventurers or mercenaries to help them guard their “cargo.” The
Deathwarden dwarves seem to have a very good sense of when there is
danger on the Darkwalk and when there is not. People who develop a
rapport with the dwarves (quite a difficult task—it takes years for an
outsider to prove his or her reliability to the Deathwarden dwarves) use
 them to gather information regarding current goings-on in the Undercity
 as a whole. Members of the Guild of Morticians manage when (and which)
bodies are brought to the Grand Portal and take their “charges” only
just that far. At the Grand Portal, the dead are placed into the
Deathwarden dwarves’ care. This is where friends and family (if any) pay
 their last respects. The dwarves, as always, are acutely respectful of
the dead and of the mourning of loved ones. Although some have described
 the Deathwarden dwarves as cold, it would perhaps be more accurate to
simply say “somber,” or even just “dedicated.” The dwarves pull narrow
carts on which they arrange the dead bodies as reverently as possible.
These carts have iron wheels and flexible axles, making them very
efficient for moving underground. The passages, tunnels, and caves that
make up the Darkwalk, however, are usually wide and clear of debris, so
the carts can move along easily. When a cave in happens, the dwarves are
 quick to repair it or devise an alternate route.

#### The Shroud of Spirits

The gatehouse known as the Shroud of Spirits is actually a vast
underground fortress, home to hundreds of Deathwarden dwarves. The
Shroud of Spirits is shaped like a horseshoe, with the entrance on the
inside of the curve. The back end of the curve is built into a huge
stone wall, beyond which lies the land of the dead. Once through the
well-guarded entrance, a Darkwalk caravan takes its cargo into the
Moribund Passage, a long hall, 80 feet wide, lined with statues of
heroes, kings, queens, and other people of import— all dead and all
having passed through the Shroud of Spirits (both in body and spirit).
Here, a great many ghosts pause, not quite ready to make the final
passage through the Shroud. These ghosts sometimes spend days or even
weeks here, chatting with each other and the Deathwarden dwarves that
pass through. They are obviously nervous about going to the lands of the
 dead—they know that after they enter, they cannot come back. Once
through the Moribund Hall, characters come to the Shroud of Spirits
itself. Within a great stone arch, it seems as though the well-crafted
dwarven walls simply give way to a natural rock passage filled with
mist. Two Deathwarden dwarves stand at the point where the walls end and
 warn the living, “If you pass through the Veil, you will never return.”
 Nevertheless, the dwarves themselves pull their carts through into the
mist. They never ask any hired hands to perform this task. No one knows
what lies beyond. Presumably, the dwarves come back after unloading
their cargo— people in Darkwell have seen (and talked to) the same
members of the Deathwarden clan at the start of dozens of separate trips
 down the Darkwalk. But none of the adventurers or mercenaries who have
helped on the journey have ever seen anyone walk back out from beyond
the Shroud. The rest of the fortress is a sweeping structure of tall,
finely crafted chambers lit by ever-burning magical torches. Although
they appear to have actual flames on their ends, these torches consume
no oxygen and cannot be used to start fires. There are large banquet
halls and meeting rooms throughout the structure, but there never seem
to be festivals or meetings. It is a very quiet place, akin to a
mortuary; in truth, that’s what it is, for the Deathwarden dwarves are
really the ultimate morticians (not to imply that they have any direct
relationship with the Guild of Morticians in the city above). The
dwarves have their own almost completely self-sustaining community here.
 The Shroud of Spirits is a city unto itself. It has its own water
supply and its own food supply (the dwarves farm edible fungus, although
 they prefer food from the surface when they can get it). Deathwarden
craftspeople fashion beautiful but somber stone and metal objects here,
although, for obvious reasons, wood is quite scarce. The dwarves seem
content to carry out their duty and live their lives here, at the edge
of death itself.