Pits of Karnesh
The Pits of Karnesh are a group of holding pens built partially below the level of the surrounding streets designed to hold as many as 600 living slaves waiting to be auctioned off within the City of Karnesh. The Pits are four pens of varying size but all built down at least 5 feet lower than the surround ground level and all accessed only by a single narrow gate and ramp that allow one individual at a time to ascend or descend. These pens are surrounded by an 8' high palisade of oak and iron posts covered in animal fat that prevents anyone from climbing out (and inhibits rust and rot that might be caused by the damp sea-side climate).
These Pits are accessed via a narrow road that leads from two gated stone quays on the Karn River just a few hundred yards from the Oshahni Quarter walls. These quays allow the unloading of hundreds of captured slaves from ships into an area that cannot be escaped from except by a single gated entrance guarded by many armed Oshahni ruffians (called Gray Cloaks by the Karni locals).
Located roughly in the center of the four pits is a three-story structure known as Big House where the Oshahni Master of the Block resides and works. The Master of the Block is the local strongman that is in charge of tending the pits between auctions, running the auctions and ensuring the safe and profitable transfer of newly-sold slaves from the pits to their new owner's care. The current Master of the Block is Conlyn Bencorin, an escaped slave himself originally from Colo.
Purpose / Function
A secure holding area for newly captured slaves awaiting sale at auction.
Entries
All four Pits are accessed through a narrow gate with a heavy iron barred door that opens onto a narrow ramp only 18" wide that leads down into the Pit. Anyone attempting to force the door from the inside of the Pit would be instantly speared through the doorway's open grate by ruthless and utterly uncaring Oshahni guards.
Sensory & Appearance
All four Pits are roughly square in shape and only the actual outside demensions of the pits are varied. Once inside, all are as equally horrible as the next. None have any sort of pavement or structure to the floor. It is an earthen floor of unpacked riverclay, which in dry weather is hard, sharp and extremely dusty and in rain is a knee-deep morass of stinking red clay mixed with accumulated feces and urine deposited by the thousands of slaves that were there before. Rain or sun, the Pits offer a stink to the City of Karnesh that is unforgetable to any that expereince it.
Denizens
As many as 600 slaves have occupied the Pits at one time, but on an average there are fewer than 300 in the Pits at any one time. Aside from the slaves there are at least 18 armed and capable Gray Cloaks beating, stabbing and taunting the creatures contained within them.
Contents & Furnishings
The Pits have no shelter from weather or sun, no latrines, no place to lie down other than the bare ground. Those contained within the Pits receive one container of water per day and a fist-sized piece of hard bread.
Architecture
Four dug-out areas in the heart of the City of Karnesh where slaves are kept in deplorable conditions while awaiting auction. the pits are at least 5' deep and are surrounded by 8' palisade walls that prevent escape except through a very secure and narrow gate at each pit.
Defenses
The palisade walls of the pits are made of heavy wooden posts and iron bars all covered in rendered animal fat to prevent anyone from being able to climb out of the Pit.
