This article is one entry in the Traversing Terrains series of articles. Below you will find 33 read-aloud descriptions that can be used while traveling through underworld terrain.
Intricately formed gates standing guard over a large entrance cast amorphous shadows across the cobbles riddled with moss and pits, the faint whisper of shuffling carried on a sour wind.
The imposing bulk of a sharply edged building looms out of grey mists, its structure boasting of the creatures kept restrained behind its obsidian walls.
At the end of a set of winding blackstone stairs spreads out an impressive necropolis built from bone white stone caged within ebon wrought iron, the occasional blue spirit wisp dancing between archways.
A deathly stillness follows the trails of an ill wind blowing through alleyways of dark and broken stone buildings. Creeping shadows steal from the depths of the darkness lingering within each old structure, the shape of hands slowly becoming more visible.
A pivoting corridor leans heavily to one side, large boulders and scree scattered across the floor providing evidence of a recent subterranean landslide that has left several tombs bare and exposed.
The sound of heavy chains dragging across stone in repeated pattern heralds the arrival of a horrid rotting corpse, broken from its bounds that now drag limply behind its ambling shuffle.
The beautiful gilt designs upon a pristine vault, contrasted by the worn and crumbling structures surrounding it, hint of its recent addition to the sprawling necropolis.
The heavy stone lid of a large sarcophagus has been shattered from within, its dark vacant interior leaving the question of where its inhabitants have gone.
Shadowy figures promenade with stuttered movements along the distant brim of the city of the dead. A stark reminder that not all interred rest peacefully.
A sudden flash of cerulean luminescence invokes spiraling wisps that coalesce into the ghostly figure of a coachman, moments later an ethereal stagecoach and twin spectral horses fade into view behind him as he bows and motions towards the vehicles open door.
In the center of the necropolis is a massive lake brimming with glowing algae. A small tomb-scattered island is situated at its center, bearing a long chain affixed to a skiff the floats upon the fog-traced water’s surface.
A massive, rounded iron door blocks the way into a black marble tomb, enumerable wards have been scratched into its dark surface—an obvious attempt to assure whoever resides within remains in eternal rest.
A ensemble of clacking precedes a troupe of animated skeletons patrols a vast citadel, each donned in various bits of rusted plate mail and wielding the remnants of shattered swords and broken shields.
Natural cavernous curves transition to sharp angular masonry as winding natural steps unfurl to a strait stairwell lined with towering columns manifesting an elegant entrance to the massive necropolis below.
Narrow intersecting halls laden with dust and undulating cobwebs deviate to dozens of narrow niches housing ornate burial chambers cramped with heavy stone sarcophagi.
Thick, stale air and unnerving silence permeate every chamber of the mausoleum, seeming to muffle your every step against the rugged stone-worked floor.
Centuries-old walls bear rows of sacred inscriptions etched with care, each remembering the life and deeds of long-ago forgotten souls, an homage to eras forgotten.
A massive stone statue of a blindfolded maiden wielding an elegant scythe stands station upon a raised dais beneath a looming domed vault, her curvaceous figure now garbed in a gown of gossamer webs.
Pale and sickly, a verdant glow is cast upon the walls as a spectral figure of a soldier, his ghostly armor bearing the scars of battle, marches silently along the ancient halls of the crypt.
A mottled carpet of bioluminescent moss lends a soft glow to an otherwise darkened chamber, the downy morass shaped around deeply engraved groves that form an elegant labyrinth design covering a crumbling stone wall.
A pair of stone sarcophagi have been adorned with bas relief likeness of the souls there entombed, a slender maiden draped in flowing silks and a crowned man donned with angular plat armor, a sword prone across his torso.
Shallow niches housing large alabaster urns line the cracked and timeworn walls of the hallway as it falls to a landing, twined stairwells descending further in parallel to the crypts lower levels.
The sound of an anguished scream echoes through the darkness of the necropolis for relenting to utter silence, its source unrevealed yet seeming to have oriented from every direction.
Cracked and faded paintings adorn stone walls constructing the long halls of the sepulcher, each depicting lively scenes of a bustling city that bare stark contrast to the deathly stillness of the necropolis.
A marmoreal coven of robed figures encircles a singular gilt black stone sarcophagus, each facing towards the massive sigil-adorned vessel with arms outstretched in arcane gesture.
An ethereal sobbing whimper softly caresses the twisting halls of the crypt soon followed by the ghostly blue incorporeal likeness of a young girl seeming to aimlessly wander the maze of darkened corridors.
A shallow reflecting pool, edged in ornate stone-worked filigree, ripples gently in a rhythmic repose as droplets of condensation slip from jagged stalactites high above, each plunge provoking a hollow plink.
The shattered remnants of a plundered sarcophagus are littered with a jumbled mass of bones and torn bits of fabric in decay, devoid of anything valuable, the dust-covered desecration appears to have occurred centuries past.
A gigantic natural cavern expands into darkness, shrouding a metropolis of mismatched tombs and crypts that continue in disarray beyond the vista’s shadowy edge.
Heavy iron braziers ablaze with roiling green flames line a wide corridor that leads to a hexagonal chamber that encompasses a faintly glowing pale white marble tomb.
Submerged beneath dank, brackish water, the floor of the flooded halls of the lower crypt appears as flawless black marble reflecting the ruin and decay present upon the ancient walls rising above a motionless surface.
The stench of death and decay rush from the darkness of the necropolis, carried by an errant breeze that stirs a canopy of nebulous cobwebs.
A robed skeleton reclines upon a carved stone throne, layers of decaying wool clinging to its brittle bones as its cowled skull, frozen in crooked toothy grin, gazes towards the entrance of the tomb chamber.