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On the South side of the Needle a cavern opening releases a large waterfall that falls about 1400 feet to feed Shadow Lake. The lake is named for the fact that most days the sun never reaches it due to the bulk of the Needle. Most of the water dissipates into a cloudy mist by the time it reaches the lake.
A switchback trail ascends the face of the Needle, chipped at unknown cost from the glistening black stone of the sheer face. It averages 4 to 6 ft wide and about 8 to 9 ft tall. This was a single file trail for Ogres with three or four slightly wider passing sections spaced along the way. The trail is about 2.5 miles at an average 10% grade. All surfaces on the lower half of the trail are dripping wet from the constant mist from the falls. (Apply suitable risk rolls, apply to entire trail length if raining.) The trail surface is chipped rock, leading to some slippery sections. There are no handrails or exterior rim on most of the trail sections. On close examination there are old anchor points at about 5 ft above the path where a rope or chain may have been strung. The pitons or bolts have rusted away in the wet environment.
The trail ends at a cavern-mouth about 80' across and 60' high. A river of water flows out the center, about 40' wide. It drops in a spectacular waterfall to the lake below. (Rumors are the Ogres of the Eye did it with tools tipper with what looked like scraps of strange metal over several years. The trail may climb all the way to the Eye if rumors are true.)
The cavern bends to the right as it goes inward, curving towards the Third Falls. A river of water about 40 to 50 feet wide flows down the center in a 20 to 30 foot deep channel. The water is very cold, about 36 degrees year round.
The Third Falls are about 60' tall, with a spray slick set of stairs chipped out on the left side. Above the falls is another small lake in a large cavern. The cavern is irregular, about 600 ft by 500 ft. with a 500 ft long lake in it. Several caves and passages join to this cavern at grade level and there are move openings in the shadows above.
On the far side of the cavern the river cascades down to the lake in the 50 ft cascade of Second Falls. Another trail is chipped out of the left side rocks to reach the top of the falls.
Just past the top of the falls the marked trail crosses the river on a bridge made from metallic girders of a dull grey metal. The girders appear to have been salvaged from something larger and each weighs over a hundred tons. The top of the bridge is salvaged wood and tree limbs lashed on with ropes. It appears it's been ages since they were replaced and the surface is both soft and slippery with wood rot.
A few hundred feet past the bridge the main cavern splits. The river stays to the left side and climbs in a series of cascades another fifty feet over a quarter mile to reach First Falls (a drop of 50 ft). There is not a formal path, but the rocks can be scaled with spikes and ropes to reach the cavern of the Bottomless Lake. The lake itself is about 600 ft x 600 ft with 8 areas around the rim of up-welling water and a central vortex that's about 200 ft across. A few ledges and passages reach the edge of the cavern, however for the most part the sides are nearly vertical, about 250 foot tall. As the drain vortex drops nearly 3 miles to the Sea of Darkness it's not really bottomless, just seems that way.
The main path goes to the right at the cavern split and rises slowly. After about 400 ft a passage to the side shows bright light some distance down. Continuing to follow the path leads several hundred feet onwards to the Sink Hole Cavern.
The branch cavern leads about 400 ft in a slight curve to a large cavern about 300 ft x 600 ft. A 30 ft across glowing shaft goes from floor to ceiling in the center and provides full daylight. (Insert who's growing stuff here?)
The Sink Hole Cavern is about 1500 ft x 1000 ft. The central hole both down and up is approximately 300 ft across. Keeping to the left side the path exits at the South cardinal point into a tunnel chipped into the interior rock. It follows a crevasse upward and starts to spiral clockwise around the cavern walls. The path is about 10 to 12 ft wide, set about 6 ft inside the cavern edge. Periodically alcoves out to the cavern are cut for ventilation and access. The path is ascending at 8% to 10% in most sections. At several places it exits into side caverns or levels, always continuing onward and upward as soon as possible. Most exits/entrances to the Ogre Path are marked by a crude single blade axe emblem cut into the rock.
On the N/E side of the cavern is a large side tunnel with a very smoothed off floor, almost polished. Observant characters might find a lost dragon scale wedged in the rocks from a very large dragon. Several different sigils and glyphs have been scrawled on either side to show this is a dangerous dragon lair. See Old Snaggle-Tooth's lair for write up, TBD. Note that the other entrances are also heavily trapped and alarmed, with guards and protections. He's an old Dragon and very crafty. Adventurers might negotiate with his minions successfully, but any assault upon Snaggle-Tooth will be met with overkill level response, like multiple ground zero fireballs detonating to fill the space.
A passage to the S/W leads back to the Bottomless Lake.
The cavern necks down into a large crevasse to the N/W and enters a zone of smaller caverns. Two more light pillars can be located there.
Note – due to the Vortex Cavern high above and the twisting geometry the air swirls upward in a constant light breeze with a distant moaning sound from the top.
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