The Tashal Tunnels

Questions By: Ron Kanwischer
Answers By: N. Robin Crossby
Date: October 21, 1990

Question One

I am assuming that the tunnel exits on the Tashal underground map represent places where the tunnels connect to the basements of buildings. But are the tunnels below the level of the basements, or at the same level as the basements? If they are at the same level as the basements, they would connect to the basements through doors in the basement walls (possibly secret). However, if the tunnels are at the same level as the basements, how do the tunnels avoid running into all of the other basements in the city? If the tunnels are below basement level, that solves the problem of running into other basements, but it also requires that the tunnels connect to the basements through trap doors in the basement floors, and that some sort of ladders down into the tunnels be built and maintained (and hidden as well, if the surface entrances are to be hidden from the tunnel side of the secret doors). Another possibility is that the tunnels are below the basements and connect to the basements through doors (possibly secret) in the walls of sub-base- ments (possibly also secret). This would eliminate both the problem of running into other basements and the necessity of ladders. Please clarify.

Answer One

The tunnels would connect to basements. The level at which they run would vary according to the purpose for which they were built. A sewer might connect by way of a drain, a secret passageway by a flight of (hidden) stairs, ladder, etc., to either a trapdoor or hidden door. If there is a ladder it could as easily be a series of notches (hand and foot holds) in the wall of a vertical shaft.

Question Two

Are all of the unmarked buildings to which the tunnels connect tenement houses? Who generally owns them? Do the owners generally know about the tunnels? Do the residents generally know about the tunnels? Who generally has access to the basement in these sorts of buildings? What about the sub-basement, if access to the tunnels is by sub-basement? (Specifically, can a PC rent an apartment in such a building and access the tunnel entrance without arousing suspicion? Can a PC just walk in off the street and access the entrance if he knows where it is?)

Answer Two

Not all, but some of the access-buildings are tenaments. The owners/residents would not necessarily know about the tunnels. Of course. The Lia-Kavair own a number of the access-buildings, and they know about the tunnels they know about. In most cases, the presence of an accessway would be a good reason for the LK to buy the building in the first place. A PC might have difficulty just walking into any building... They're not public subway stations... Every building is owned by someone.

Question Three

Are there generally traps on the tunnel entrances? What kinds of traps? Who had them built (or cast, if magical)? If mechanical, who maintains them (if they are maintained)? Are the traps generally on the tunnel side, the basement side, or both (i.e., are they intended to affect people exiting the tunnels, entering them, or both?)

Answer Three

Both the Lia-Kavair and church of Naveh lay traps in the tunnels. The Navehans confine their traps to the tunnels only they know about. Maintenence is a job for acolytes/apprentices...

Question Four

Does any group regularly place traps in the tunnels themselves (designed, for example, to discourage outsiders from using the tunnels)? What group? What sorts of traps? How common are these traps?

Answer Four

Traps would be changed, moved and otherwise shuffled about with some regularity (Also a job for apprentices/acolytes.) Outsiders are definitely discouraged from using the tunnels...

Question Five

Are the tunnel entrances generally hidden (either mechanically or magically)? If so, are they hidden from the tunnel side, the basement side, or both? If they are hidden from the tunnel side, and the tunnels are below basement level, how are the ladders (or other means of getting up to the basement level) hidden? If access to the tunnels is by sub-basement, is the entrance from the basement to the sub-basement generally hidden?

Answer Five

Secret non-drain accesses are nearly always carefully hidden from the basement side. Many houses have drains, most of them leading to dry-wells, and a ladder to clean out the drain would not be uncommon. These drains are not, for the most part, very pleasant places to visit.

Question Six

Are there generally people guarding the tunnel entrances? Do these people live in the basement (or the basement, if applicable)? Is their existence known to the other residents? To the owners?

Answer Six

The Lia-Kavair do patrol the tunnels they know about, but not on any schedule. A patrol would check for signs of visitors, make sure that the hidden entrances were still actually hidden, and so on. It is common practice for them to cover their own tracks when they use the tunnels, so footprints in the dust are a dead away. The Navehans are somewhat more likely to have a guard quietly watching an entrance to one of their tunnels. The Lia-Kavair maintain several special bolt-holes under Tashal, and the tunnels leading to them are always guarded.

Question Seven

Do the city guard know about the tunnels? If not, do they suspect their existence? Do they know about any of the entrances?

Answer Seven

Officially, no one knows anything. Some members of the city guard probably suspect that the tunnels exist, but they wouldn't know where the entrances were, and would not be inclined to go down there even if they did.

Question Eight

How much does the temple of Ilvir know about the tunnels? How intensive are their searches for the lost tome they believe to be there? Do they just look around? Do they perform rituals? Do they undertake excavations? How do they view other persons in the tunnels?

Answer Eight

The Ilvirians don't know much about the tunnels. Most of the groups they send in don't come back. The church is not well organized and its efforts are sporadic...

Question Nine

Are there any other groups (besides the Lia-Kavair and the temple of Naveh) that know about the tunnels? How much do they know, and for what purposes do they use the tunnels?

Answer Nine

There may be others, we're not sure. Those who know about the tunnels do not, generally, share their knowledge.

Note: (from Robin) Would you believe this is the first query I've seen about the Tashal tunnels. I thought there'd have been a lot more. I had always expected to do an article on the Tashal underworld...