The Foetid Pit

The Hollowcroft hamlet was previously a piece of farmland upon which an alchemy shop and inn were also built. It was often used as a retreat for trainee alchemists and herbologists, with the farm utilising parts of its land to grow herbs and medicinal plants alongside its usual animal fare. It was also a stopping point for folks journeying across the island. The Hollowcroft farmland was relatively large, about half a square mile, considering it was owned and operated by a single family, though the inn and shop were operated by tenants.

Now, the Foetid Pit has little value other than the study of Necromantic energies on animals and plantlife.

The Foetid Pit started out life as the Hollowcroft hamlet, a small settlement with nothing but an alchemy shop and an inn built around a farmhouse. The location was a popular rural retreat for alchemists and herbologists, particularly trainees, and offered internships at the alchemy shop alongside its regular farm fare and alchemical horticulture.

During the Folly of Blackguard, the area was hit particularly hard by the devastation due to the large, unexplored, cavernous structures beneath the land. Previously held in place by solid rock, the catastrophic earthquake and necromantic cascade that shook the land caused a major collapse, and the entire hamlet was swallowed up as a giant sinkhole opened beneath it. There were no survivors, and even the animals within the surrounding farmland could not escape the destruction; nor Undeath.

The Pit, some 400ft in diameter and 100ft deep at the ruins, soon became a haven for Necromantic plantlife as it thrived within the swampy hole that formed. Early expeditions to the area also unearthed a small quantity of rare, high quality Mana Stones, likely from the Fall of the Floating Cities. It was theorised that the caverns beneath the location had been some of the remains of the Floating City Tallasine, which fell to the Isle at the end of the Age of Arcana. Attempts were made to excavate through the ruins of Hollowcroft, but the persistent swampy conditions and relentless necromantic energies, coupled with the instability of the land itself, made these explorations impossible. Many were killed trying to find more Mana Stones, adding to the already higher than average amount of Undead inhabiting the area, and the excavations were ultimately halted.

While the area was known as the Ruins of Hollowcroft for at least two decades, that name fell out of use in favour of the common nickname the area gained: The Foetid Pit. This moniker likely stems from the fact that the entire interior of the Pit is little more than rotting, stinking swamp. The stench of the area can reach several miles with favourable winds, and is likened to rot combined with sewage and a variety of bodily evacuations. In the last 400 years, the Foetid Pit has become something of a No-Go Zone, due to the abnormally large number of Undead in the area. Some Scout teams pay visits there to ensure that nothing untoward is occurring, but due to the violence of the Undead in the area, it is otherwise abandoned.