The Ancient System

The **Ancient System** is a complex series of long-forgotten tunnels which were abandoned generations ago and are located above the current Duncton system. It is located near the top of the hill where the Stone is found.

## Landscape

### Overview

The layout of the Ancient System is intricate, with a large communal tunnel running parallel with the cliff's edge towards the top of the hill and back down to the slopes' easternmost side, encircling a group of summer tunnels that were bigger and served a central core. From this communal tunnel branch out many subsidiary tunnels and several scattered, oval-shaped burrows. There is also an older, deeper set of tunnels whose location made it more worm-scarce except during winter moleyears, when worms travelled deeper underground.

The further into the center of the system, the more complex and confusing the tunnels become. The complexity of the deeper tunnels, which seem to take random twists and turns to confuse anymole who travel them, were created to protect the secrets of the Ancient System from anymole who didn't belong there. In earlier times, the tunnels themselves had the additional protection of guardmoles, but the ancient moles who created the system foresaw a time when it might be abandoned, and so its design was purposefully made to be difficult to navigate.

### Communal tunnel

The communal tunnel is a wide, main tunnel that encircles the summer system. It runs along the edge of the hilltop where the Stone sits, tapering off at its northern and southern points.

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### Chamber of Dark Sound

The Chamber of Dark Sound is a massive chamber in the central part of the Ancient System. The chamber gets its name from the sometimes melodious, eerie, and often dark sounds that echo back from the intricate carvings and flint rock protruding from and running into its main wall. The chamber is so large that, to a mole, its curved wall appears straight. At the middle of this curved wall is a small secret tunnel where Bracken first emerged from into the chamber.

Three tunnels lead to different parts of the system on each side of the enormous wall on the other side of the chamber; towards its centre, sharp pieces of large flint jut out from it which lead to a central set of jagged flint running into the wall, forming the face of a towering owl described as "infinitely evil to look on." A seventh tunnel can be found beneath its beak and between its talons, before which lies the blanched skeleton of a massive mole.

### Chamber of Roots

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### Chamber of Echoes

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## History

### Pre-story

The large communal tunnel of the Ancient System is thought to have been dug by ancient moles, who were much larger than their modern descendants. As the hill became more worm-scarce, its inhabitants were forced to move farther down the slopes where better food and protection from predators could be found. Many moles found living so close to the hilltop too risky, and as more moles moved away, the Ancient System became a relic of the past.

### Duncton Wood

Bracken had heard stories of the Ancient System, first from his mother, Aspen, then from several other moles while exploring outside of the Westside, including Hulver. Hulver never got a chance to take Bracken to the Ancient System, however, and it isn't until the latter's fight with Mandrake that he happens to find refuge in one of its lost tunnels after falling off the side of the hill and thought to be dead.

Bracken spends weeks attempting to recover from the wounds inflicted by Mandrake, but they become infected and he gradually loses strength, nearly dying from starvation and disease. He is discovered just in time by Rose the Healer, who cures him using the ramsons she picked during her first meeting with Rebecca. She only stays with him long enough for his illness to improve before returning to her home burrow in the Pastures.

Slowly, Bracken's strength returns, and he finds himself exploring the Ancient System. After coming across the communal tunnel, he memorises it before moving on deeper into the system. There, he discovers the Chamber of Dark Sound and the skeleton of a massive mole lying before the flint-carved face of an owl, and a tunnel past it which Bracken thinks must lead up to the Stone. The image and dark sound of the chamber horrifies him, and Bracken flees.

Not wanting to go back there anytime soon, he decides to find Hulver's burrow, which is located somewhere at the edge of the Ancient System. When Bracken discovers a wall he suspects leads to one of Hulver's tunnels, he uses a talon to slice through the dirt, not realising that a piece of flint was hidden beneath or that another mole, Rue, had moved into Hulver's old burrow. The sound sends Rue running for her life and Bracken feels sorry for unwittingly chasing yet another mole away.

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