Great Crater of Astualdu

Within Kharab is an area where even the most foolhardy refuse to tread. It is more barren than the land around it and not even the Xanida trees or the Shengi grow there as far as anyone can tell. Most of the time it appears to be as a vast rocky crater pocked with numerous other craters. The crater has been there as long as any can remember, though the origin of it's name has been lost to time.

There are many theories as to what caused the crater, and the strange phenomenon in the area, but they are little more than guesses. Some say that it is the final resting place of some dark god, defeated in times past, or a closed portal to the abyss still open just a hair, or a powerful lich or necromancer, the echo of whose magic still taints the land. Still others say that it is simply a strange, but natural phenomenon that we don't yet understand maybe a way for the land to expel poison and toxins from with it, or simply the landing site of a large meteor alien to this land.

Localized Phenomena

At irregular intervals the crater and the area around it go completely black enveloped in an orb of pure darkness. No attempt to see within during this time, magical or otherwise, has proven to be successful thus far. Those few who have approached it and returned when it is enveloped in darkness report feeling drained of energy more and more as they got closer, but also an unexplained attraction to it and desire to continue onward. None who reported this got closer than 500 feet to it, by their best estimate, and in all but one case, said that the feeling continued lessening slightly as they distanced themselves until they were completely out of the blighted lands and the feeling ceased abruptly. They also described feeling fatigued for days or weeks afterwards and experiencing nightmares that they could not remember upon waking.

Type

Crater / Crater Lake / Caldera

Location under

Kharab