The Acolytes pick their way around the outskirts of the abandoned city, over to the other side of the plateau. Far above, dim light trickles down, and distant noises echo through the caverns. The ground here is soft gray, lifeless dust specked with the debris of centuries...or millennia.
Sooner or later, all the hive's rubbish ends up trickling down to the underhive.
The ground starts to slope downwards on this side of the plateau, as the Acolytes find themselves on the shattered, stony remains of what might have once been a highway, back when the city was part of the hive proper, long ago. Now, it's a rough trail made of rockcrete. The faded footprints of countless travelers are faintly visible in the dusty road- along with faint, old tracks from what might have been a troop transport.
Far below, the Acolytes can dimly make out ruins and foul-looking artificial swamps before their vision's obscured by lack of light further out. The hive's water waste's pooled over the years, mixing with other, worse things. Even from up here, it reeks of acrid chemicals and rot. Halfway down the ground abruptly drops off in a cliff face.
The collapsing remains of an ancient, rusted bridge connect the plateau with the trail below. Metal creaks underfoot, and faceless gargoyles are rusting away atop what were once support pillars as the Acolytes walk down the crooked plane.
The further away from the city the Acolytes get, the dimmer the light becomes- before they reach the bottom of the bridge, it's already harder to see more than a few feet in front of them. Their surroundings are lit by the already-faint ambient light from above, the fading glimmer of the city, and the noxious, dim glow from the vast swamps below.
Ruined buildings are half-sunken into the ground around the Acolytes as they reach the depths below the city.
The ground here is wet, squelching underfoot. The trail is drier- somewhat- than the bubbling swamps on either side, but not by much. Again, deep trenches have been carved into the ground in twin trails left by caterpillar tracks.
[Light your lamp(s)]
[Keep moving in the gloom.]
[Other]
The dataslate glows faintly with green light if anyone consults the map. The area around the city seems to be fairly well mapped- the trail was apparently once a highway for motor vehicles and apparently stretches on intact for several kilometers...but it's heading at a 45 degree angle. Past a certain point, it'll take you away from your objective...and it's been years or even decades since the last time some of these locations were visited. One of the hive's massive, cylinderical support pillars is between you and the damaged generator. Honeycombed and many times larger than any building, it stretches up to support the weight of the hive above...and might even be visible from this distance if the underhive wasn't so dark.
The marshy ground rumbles as something falls from far above. Rubble splashes from the ruins into the water. Those of you familiar with the underhive will recognize it as a minor hivequake, caused by a large influx of wastewater or garbage from the Hive city above...or even a minor collapse in the lower hive.
Nothing to be concerned about- the underhive is dark and full of tremors.
[Follow the highway. For how long?]
[Go off the beaten trail. Try and find your way there more directly. You'll need a way to navigate, of course...]
[Other]
GM note: Rolling Navigation, Tech-use or anything else you can justify works here for any given course of action. Rolling Lore can be done at any time.
