Café de Nuit

In the Gazeteer section devoted to Falknovia, it mentions that far below the soil is H'rakizuhm, an ancient dwarven prison made to house the abominations which the dwarves uncovered in the course of their mining. While I applaud the concept (had Durin's people been foresighted enough to have such a facility, they might not have lost Moria !) there are problems in the application. First, wouldn't living creatures they found underground be burrowing and so you can't imprison them underground? For that matter, given the prison is apparently long abandoned, wouldn't the inmates have long ago starved to death?

So far the only solution I've come up with is Ancient Dead inmates. Can you guys think of any other beings who can plausibly populate H'rakizuhm?

Solan wrote: ↑Sat May 18, 2024 12:16 pmSo far the only solution I've come up with is Ancient Dead inmates. Can you guys think of any other beings who can plausibly populate H'rakizuhm?

Eastern Falkovnia is full of tombs of ancient dead so I would say that whatever "lives" there is undead, mostly ancient dead as you already said. Huecuva can be considered ancient dead too I guess.

Solan wrote: ↑Sat May 18, 2024 12:16 pm (had Durin's people been foresighted enough to have such a facility, they might not have lost Moria !)

If we are drawing parallels to Moria, perhaps they imprisoned demonic or elemental entities that do not age or starve. Fungoid creatures (such as the rukarazyll from the 3e Monster Manual II) could also work, thriving in the moist darkness.

Granted, a vault full of outsiders would be a bit much for Ravenloft, so the mileage may be a bit limited (unless most of the outsider creatures in the vault are Mist outsiders).

Solan wrote: ↑Sat May 18, 2024 12:16 pm So far the only solution I've come up with is Ancient Dead inmates. Can you guys think of any other beings who can plausibly populate H'rakizuhm?

Steal Demonreach from the Dresden files and you could put anything in there.

'H'rakizuhm' is the jail, _not_ the actual cells. The cells are sort of stasis containers in which the prisoners are stored. Whether these are giant crystals (as in the DemonReach case), small rooms with a stasis effect, a box full of 'Soul Trap Gems', binding circles, the basic idea is the same - a 'warehouse' to put the actual cages.

Maybe over time wards have weakened, or because some miners broke a circle, and some live ones have escaped their cell but not the actual jail.

Another differing option is the Endless Paths from Pillars of eternity. The 'top' levels have living things that have moved into the abandoned upper levels (guard barracks, etc) one way or another, but as you get deeper into the 'high security' sealed areas you get elementals, dead things, slimes, outsiders and others able to endure without food or air.