The Cauldron
The captain fumed. "Again! Check again," she shouted, as her grim navigator double and triple-checked the maps and calculations he'd been slaving over all night.
"I... I'm sorry, Captain, it looks like we're heading straight for it! I-i did everything I could, I told you, this part of the ocean is cursed!" The captain rolled her eyes. Curses weren't something you could deny the existence of, but she'd sailed this section of the sea before. And she was too full of herself to admit that maybe she only made it out due to luck. "My calculations, which, I remind you, I've run three times now, indicate that we've nothing left to do but drop our lifeboats and pray we can row to one of the nearby islands... We're already stuck in it."
The captain grit her teeth, frustrated. She looked out. The telltale ripples of the water were subtle, but they were different from normal. She had to admit that much. They had direction now. And she knew her navigator was right.
"Order the crew to drop the lifeboats and row due east. " The officer nodded and swiftly left.
A short while later, the captain knew that the majority of her crew would make it out alive, but she would not. As they desperately attempted to row away, she found it difficult to get her boat moving the proper direction, even with her small crew of five. They fought the current for hours, but eventually, exhaustion setting in, they gave in to their fate. It wasn't long before the current pulled them in to the cauldron. An enormous whirlpool, centered between three islands. The water rushed, pulling in colder water from the north, as well as boiling hot water from the Coal Islands to the south. Heated steam rose from the center of the whirlpool, covering the area. The uncomfortable humidity of the area made the crew of the lifeboat sweat. The Cauldron was bubbling and roaring, and the crew was heading right for it. They'd heard stories, and yet... seeing it for real was... something else.
And so they waited. They saw their death, and knew that it was far, far too late to escape it. They had nothing left to do but drink a bottle of rum and enjoy a game of Ante together one last time, as they waited for the roaring hot waters to claim them.
Geography
The Cauldron is a massive, swift-moving whirlpool in the center of three islands, Though captains will periodically refer to the sea surrounding it as "the Cauldron" as well. The cauldron lies directly north of the Coals, and as such pulls in the incredibly hot water of the area, mixing it with the relatively cool water of the north to create bursts of explosive steam. This, on top of the incredible speeds of the water make it incredibly dangerous waters to navigate. It is widely known that the Cauldron is inescapable, with only a few accounts of legendary ships and crews being able to pass through the waters in which it lies. Those who sail into the region never return. Gnomish natives to the area believe that the whirlpool's pull extends far into the surrounding ocean, and it can be drawing you in long before you even consider it a danger. This superstition has spread to the rest of the world through sailors, and most northern peoples try to stay as far away from the region as possible.
Type
Sea
Location under
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