GRIFFSPOTTER CAVERNS (Mouth of the Gods / Delvings of Duncanthrax)
Although history gives Duncanthrax full credit for the excavation of
the Griffspotter Caverns, this is not entirely accurate. Centuries of
oral tradition give strong support to the notion that at least some
large portion of the caverns near Egreth and Fort Griffspotter existed
previous to the dawn of the Great Underground Empire and were known as
the Mouth of the Gods.
Litbo Mumblehum, the noted scholar
from the 4th and 5th centuries GUE, who was on hand for the battle
against Belegur, remarked that, “the caverns were undoubtedly natural,
hollowed out by unknown centuries of tides, coastal winds, and the flow
of the nearby river.” Although Mumblehum's analyses of other events are
surely beyond reproach, his skill as a natural historian must be called
into doubt. Ernie Flathead, a somewhat less scholarly figure with years
of extensive experience in the underground construction of that are,
insists that the tunnels and caverns just off the coast are entirely
artificial in origin. As evidence, he cites “the weird way the tunnels
branch so evenly.” In other words, Flathead found it odd that the
passage descended into the earth in the uniform binary pattern. When
asked whether any combination of natural forces could be responsible
for that sort of underground formation, Flathead’s reply came quickly:
“No way, man.”
Perhaps an even more compelling source of
evidence for the origin of the Griffspotter Caverns lies in the
so-called Anatian Inscriptions. These rather cryptic engravings have
been the source of much controversy. Some of these accept the
inscriptions as authentic while others dismiss the inscription itself
as an
archaeological hoax. Others reject the whole idea outright, citing the
entire engraving as nothing more than complicated chicken-scratch.
It would seem, according to an ancient legend of the Platypus
Transformation that the mythic ancestors of the 10th century
platypus kings were in fact truly human monarchs, ruling over a massive
and forgotten empire centuries before the dawn of Quendor. Curiously,
the people of this realm shared the same sort of obsessive interest in
tunneling and underground living that so possessed the world from the
time of Duncanthrax on. In fact, this mania for caverning seemed to
take on an urgent religious aspect, the underground tunnels seen as a
way for these people to attain communion with their gods. Some who have
drawn comparisons with Brogmoids have spectulated that these early
Anatians begain to dig on the shores of the Westlands in hopes of
reaching the Great Brogmoid himself. In any case it is estimated
that around 800 BE, a "goof-up of the first order" transformed without
warning every member of the ruling Anatian family, and large segments
of the population into platypi.
In
fact, chroniclers of the early kings of Largoneth make it clear that
one particularly deep branch of the caverns would be the sight of an
epic battle between Belegur and the forces of Zylon the Aged in 398
GUE. This fallen Implementor took residency with a secret lair in the
Griffspotter Caverns where he pulled the strings of all his marionettes
into place to enact his wicked acts. Zilbo Throckrod, Litbo Mumblehum,
and the Nezgeth tribe, descended into the caverns where they defeated
the fallen Implementor. Zilbo had been skeptical about Belegur's death.
To commemorate and guard the site
of the battle with Belegur, he later ordered the foundation of a
military outpost, the famed Fort Griffspotter, named in honor of the
deceased military advisor. The caverns beneath were subsequently named
the Griffspotter Caverns.
In the late 666s, Pseudo-Duncanthrax chose this
obscure jungle area as the site of his capital. These pre-existing
caverns became the nucleus of his underground empire. The great works
of underground expansion initiated by Pseudo-Duncanthrax
turned the area into the largest network of caverns anywhere outside of
the Eastlands. The Griffspotter Caverns were renamed the Delvings of
Duncanthrax, but the name did not last long, and are still referred by
their previous name.
957 GUE would see the
reemergence of the demon Jeearr, who established his lair in a large
chamber of extraordinary size within the Griffspotter
Caverns. The villain's plot for conquering the world involved
manufacturing an army of millions of light-resistant grues, using
infernal machines conveniently provided by the Frobozz Magic Grue
Breeder Company (luckily, these grues were never released
into
the world at large). Other devices seemed to have been designed to aid
the forces of
evil while sapping magic powers of Enchanters everywhere. Also within
these caverns, Jeearr built the
Chamber of Living Death, and Hall of Eternal Pain, and another room
where which was the control center for the evil experiments. He
possessed Belboz and drew him to the caverns. Fortunately for the
world,
the same Enchanter who defeated Krill found Jeearr's lair and
permanently defeated him.
UNKNOWN CREATURES IN THE CAVERNS:
Several
of the most peculiar, and currently unidentifiable, creatures have been
spotted within the bowels of these caverns. One was a low-crawling,
four-legged, malformed rodent with large, bulbous eyes unaccustomed to
the light. These cannibals had scarred flesh of
an unnatural, blackened color. Immense sagging, fleshy earlobes ripped
to
shreds by the claws of countless underground dangers. Small but
efficient fangs, still wet with blood.
Dozens of other creatures, smaller than the deformed rodents nested
together. These solid, shelled beasts crawled around each other or over
the motionless
bodies of several hundred more of their comrades, small tentacle-like
claws clicking, clicking.