The House of Death

To the unfamiliar eye, the House of Death is hard to distinguish from the tangle of metal and scaffolding that lines the rest of the ash-covered streets. The thick wooden doors are stained with ash and littered with nicks, scratches, and the occasional char. The few windows have been boarded up to cover portions of broken glass. From the roof a large smokestack rises. Unlike the factories, smoke does not rise from the House of Death at all hours… but it seems to be more and more frequent. At almost all hours, the gray-robed Acolytes move in and out of the House of Death, sometimes carrying a bundled corpse or what little could be recovered from a factory accident.
The House of Death is, in the present day, primarily a morgue where the dead are identified, prepared, and sent off to their afterlife as their body is burned or buried in the crypts below. Unable to stand against or even resist that advance of the factories, the House of Death has almost been entirely absorbed into the fray. Large, bulky metal and stone buildings and ramshackle homes cover the sides and rest on top of the two-story temple. The only way to distinguish the House’s smokestack from those of the surrounding factories is to watch them closely… if one stops, then you’ve found the House of Death.

Although regarded first and foremost as a morgue, the House of Death is still a Temple to Ah’Shal. Through the old and scratched front doors lies an open foyer with a center of a robed figure in the center. This statue of the Goddess of Death is the best preserved in the entire city, cleaned and tended to daily by the Acolytes. Arranged around it are old, outdated and worn pieces of furniture, but the walkways between are kept particularly large in case Acolytes carrying bodies need to quickly shuffle through. Hallways and doorways lead to small worship chambers, rooms to prepare bodies, and rooms for family members and friends to say their goodbyes. The smell of incense is heavy to mask the smell of death that lingers permanently in almost every corner and crevice of the place.

The Crypts & Urns

Most of the doors on the first and second story of the House of Death are kept unlocked, but the doors leading down are. All Acolytes and tenders of the Dead are given keys with which they may descend downward into the Crypts and catacombs that wind and twist far below into the core of the Cliffside. Preparation rooms and temporary storage spaces are on the first underground level with a few of them enchanted to be well below freezing temperatures. The level below that contains the first of the crypts and urns storing ashes. This level is simple, but neat with stone archways and alcoves lined with stone. Those of particular note – political figures, previous priests and priestesses, and those with wealth to spare – are buried in full coffins, with names and dates of death marked by a plaque. Those of more simpler means receive a plague placed on the wall – an indication of their tomb’s location. Those that chose to be cremated have had their jars displayed on wooden shelves. The first level of the crypts contains the oldest of corpses and is like a window into the past.

As one traverses down through the crypts, the floors become more and more crude, until they become nothing more than winding and twisting tunnels carved to be just wide enough for two people and just tall enough for someone of average height for a human. There are no longer any coffins here and some of the plaques seem to have been placed quickly and haphazardly. The urns that are here are not placed on shelves, but arranged on the floor, tucked behind protrusions of rock to protect them from the flow of Acolytes moving past.

Death Tally – The Archives & Records

Alongside the preparation rooms and first-level of crypts, there is an archive that stores and catalogues all recorded deaths, their location, and how they occurred. The majority of the records are from Ah’Shal, but Acolytes that are tasked with overseeing the Rites of the Dead are also tasked to keep records and return them to the archives on regular intervals to be placed or transcribed. While Acolytes regularly returned to the House of Death, those that are deployed elsewhere rarely desire to return to the stifling City of Smog nowadays.

The Acolytes of Ah'Shal

Unlike other religious orders, there are not many among the servants of Ah’Shal who hold the title of priest or priestess. The majority of those in her service are Acolytes. They are trained to console the grief-stricken, keep records of the deceased, and oversee the funeral rites of the dead. As many of them are deployed elsewhere, they are typically trained in the specific rites and customs of the region where they will serve. Priests & Priestesses, however, are those who have proven to be devoted, have traveled and serve loyally and faithfully, and who are willing to reside within the House of Death. They are capable of training others in proper funeral rites and manage the large death tolls of the City of Smog.

It was said that in the olden days, the priests and priestesses of the Goddess of Death were trained to hunt ghosts and to destroy the undead and undying… or those who would summon them to the land of the true living. Those days, however, have long past.

Type

Temple / Religious complex

Parent Location

The Smog-Covered Factory City

Owner

High Priest Baladon

Characters in Location

Related Report (Secondary Locations)