For being overpopulated there still seems to be vast mysteries in RavenBlack City yet unexplored. How can we be so lazy? The humans had the entire world as they knew it detailed and mapped while vampires didn’t even bother to know what lay just down the road in their own city. Nevertheless it remains that just when you thought you’d seen everything in this city, your whole understanding of its terrain changes somewhere around Yearning and 98th.
For being such an ambitious spectacle, it remains bafflingly hidden. At first you come across two massive Willows, noticeably more cryptic and somber than most, but there is something else to them as well. I found myself, unbidden, drawn towards these trees by an inner desire… nay… a NEED to sing a stoic rendition of ‘Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman’. I had to look into this.
Betwixt the umbrella of sadness these wavering trees created was also a rusty old cage blowing in the breeze, unlocked. Behind this useless eyesore was a less useless door, but also unlocked. Was a pair of Willow trees meant to ward off trespassers with their ominous nature, or was this merely a nonchalant warning that this was private property and the true dangers would be brought upon the trespasser inside? I entered, thoroughly dared and ready for what lay within.
An eerie blue light accosted me first, bouncing from the walls of the hallway into which I entered. In a short while it turned into a stone pathway, carved naturally from long years of aquatic wear and tear, presumably from the illuminated waters that lay beneath it. It was unnatural and unexplainable to the naked eye that the water should glow the way it did, but I knew better. I’d see those sorts of underwater lights in a magazine once for boat owners who liked to light up their home docks at night. It was certainly a classy touch, but looking around the only thing I really wanted to know about this place was where they were hiding the Balrog.
As I found myself lost in the beauty of my surroundings after a time I stumbled upon a corner that appeared out of nowhere along my path. Struggling to keep my footing I let out a few choice swears and angrily wondered what sort of magic hid not just a massive natural wonder like this from the surrounding streets, but something as simple as a bend in the road before me? It was as if it was meant to make you look dumb or at least blind. Despite the insult to common senses the corner, once around, revealed an immovable stone door with a crude familiar family tree etched deep into it. It was difficult to tell if its maker had used a chisel or a handful of box cutters, but either way it looked like a lot of commitment went into the tagging of this door. The names read Devil Miyu, AdaMaS and Drakhaon with Devil Miyu’s only slightly fainter than the latter two names. While I inspected these things an airy voice carried across the water and said, “Turn away from the grotto. Within resides the house of Mahorela. Their secrets shall not be yours.”
When I turned to see who had spoken, I saw that a cloaked Skeletor had wheeled up a street vender’s cart without my hearing. It was strange how such a soft voice might echo far and wide along this path while a cumbersome cart of goods would go unheard, but at this point I didn’t question much about the queer habits of the five senses in this place. The Dead Man made a gesture I wasn’t familiar with, with his hands. He appeared to be raising the roof in a stern, glum way that I had never seen before in all her years as a party goer. Not to hurt his feelings she immediately broke into the cabbage patch and nervously chanted, “Go Dead Man, go Dead Man… go go, go Dead Man.” They both stood for a moment enduring each other until finally I politely looked over the goods he was selling, window shopping despite not being prepared to buy anything. His offerings were meager, but then again this was a strange place to run a trade. My pickings were between scrolls of turning, scrolls of teleportation, scrolls of succor, scrolls of displacement, holy water, garlic spray, sprint potion, perfect dandelions, roses and orchids. I wasn’t interested in paying full price and he wasn’t interested in haggling so from there I took my leave the way I’d come feeling strangely perplexed by the whole experience, but not disappointed; Grotto of Deceptions indeed.
Creativity:4 out of 5
Unique Name: 4 out of 5
Ease of Travel: 2 out of 5
Welcoming Nature: 1 out of 5
Curb Appeal: 3 out of 5
“Grotto of Deceptions” Overall Rating: 14 out of 25
[The willows aligned to both sides of the lonely road of Yearning and 98th hang low like sorrowful tears of weeping spirits of the woods, wisping and trailing in the light stale winds of the night air. If one looks hard enough, through those weeping willows can be found a hidden door, barred by cage but never long since unlocked. The rusty caged door swinging to and fro to the willows sad song. And if one follows the corridor past that caged door, towards the aquatic blue lights shimmering against the walls, they would come to a naturally carved stone path atop the many waters in the subterranean caverns in its depths. The eerily clear turquoise waters shine with a light beneath that's origins remain unknown. Stalactite and stalagmite structures adorn the vast space, cubbies long ago carved into their sides and candles inserted, offering a secondary light to the cavern.
Round the bend of the unseen corner is an immovable stone door. Engraved upon the surface of the stone are the tracings of a bloodline, carved deep. At the apex of the tree in deep etchings bears the name of Devil Miyu, then tracing down to even deeper, permanent scrawlings of AdaMaS and Drakhaon. This door will not open to any but those who possess the permission of its master. Instead, an airy voice echoes repeatedly from throughout the vast expanse of water, "Turn away from the grotto. Within resides the House of Mahorela. Their secrets shall not be yours."
Upon turning away, the pathway stands blocked by a strange cloaked salesman and his cart of goods. Outstretching his robed arm, a skeletal hand is seen palm to the sky in display of fair trade. He appears to be offering to sell you his wares; shall you buy goods from the hands of the Dead Man?]
