Senot Tik

Most easily accessible entrance to the caverns that isn’t part of an operating mining operation. It is also notable as the largest cenote in the system. Senot Tik is a large, rounded cavern 150’ from the surface hole to the water. The surface hole is 50’ in diameter. The lake is approximately 250 feet across and 100 feet deep. There is a staircase carved into the curving wall of the jug-shaped cenote. There is around 50’ of exposed rock on the South side of the cavern. The South side of the cavern also contains the entrance to the deeper caves. There are routes than may be more or less perilous; if you wish to enter it without a guide, you are almost sure to be lost. There may be reason to do so, however, if you want to learn more about Chelor -- and perhaps even speak to him.

From the exterior:

At the crest of a small rise, the treeline abruptly breaks. You look out over a large, crater-like depression about 75 yards across. The roots of the redwoods on the lip of the depression snake down across the rocky embankment, running over the stone like gnarled red-orange veins. Beneath some of the trees, the soil has eroded, creating a hollow undercut beneath the base of the trunk, from which the tangle of roots emerge. A clear path runs obliquely from your vantage point to the front of the archway, the vegetation creating a kind of border that reminescent of the lair of The Council of the Hallowed. At the center of the 40’ deep depression, an almost perfectly circular 50’ wide hole is flanked by a large stone archway covered in woody vines and a wizened old pine tree: Gohl-dana. The tree’s bark is yellow-orange, significantly brighter than the deep red of the dew wood you have become accustomed to. Natural fissures in the grain of the trunk create the appearance of several trees splintered together, the thin and peeling bark revealing a deep orange core beneath. Rich blue-green needles are clustered at the ends of the limbs which weave themselves into a great arboreal knot. A beard of greyish green hanging moss cascades from the ancient tree’s burled roots and descends into the shadows of the hole beyond like a chandelier. Burled roots descend into the earth below. Through the archway, you can just see a set of wooden stairs set into the wall of the cave disappearing into the gloom beyond.

Looking into the entrance:

The roots of the tree cling to the wall of the cave. They twist and wind across themselves, forming a lattice which makes a staircase of wide steps. From the lip of the aperture, you see that the entrance is not centered over the green-blue water. The stairs hug the roundish wall and spiral down to a terraced surface of rock mottled with lichen and softened with jewel-green moss. The cenote pool is about 150 feet from the surface hole, and stretches out to make a pond about 250 feet wide and vaguely circular. The water is clear and still. (The pool is 100’ deep.)

From inside the cenote:

As you descend the steps, you notice a strange refraction inside the pool. The surface of the water appears pristinely clear and still, but below that, a layered effect begins to resolve. You get the strange sensation of seeing a second surface of water below the true surface (see: Halocine). Tree branches and a few large, rounded rocks breach this second surface as if bursting through a layer of clouds. Below the "second surface", it is hard to resolve specific features. This layer is significantly colder than the top layer, which is warmer than the ambient temperature. During the day, three large pale catfish bask in the sun coming through the hole. At night, an intelligent albino crocdile prowls. He does not harm people. The terraced surface on which you are deposited ranges from about ten to thirty feet across before intersecting with water or stone wall. Each “step” is only about 4 inches deeper than the one preceding it. In the west side of the cenote, a smooth stone basin about 8 feet across and a few feet deep is filled with a milky white liquid -- moonmilk. You all recognize the fluid as the same thing you saw in the Witches’ lair. Basin Info The wall that faces you upon entering the cave contains a series of fissures, ranging from tiny cracks from which a haunting whistling wind can occasionally be heard to a crevasse about ten feet wide allowing access to a narrow pathway. The latter is the entrance to the main cave system. *** See notes *** The Chelor Dun is written on the wall opposite where the stairs deposit. It is only visible in piter-light during the night. The best way to view the prophecy is from the middle of the pool while someone else uses a piter lamp to illuminate the sections. The Chelor Dun is written in austere, neat lettering, almost appearing to float in front of the uneven surface of the cave wall. The words alight in a silvery white gleam, and they remain fluorescent for 1 minute after being within 3 feet of piter light.