Lockroot Tunnels
They say the Lockroot Tunnels weren’t built — they grew. A fusion of living tech and ancient city spirits, woven together when Convergence first punched through the fabric of time, and the stacks were still neatly arranged. The walls vibrate with buried memories, the floors pulse with faint currents, and the bio-lumoss isn't just lighting the way — it’s watching. Travelers who linger too long find the tunnels shifting behind them, walls reknitting into new patterns. Some swear the corridors breathe, guiding or trapping souls depending on the city's will and the character's heart. In the Rootwake, doors open to places that don't exist on any map. Some lead to hidden treasures. Some lead to other Ages. And some... never open again.
Graffiti Scrawled Within the Tunnels
The walls close faster when you scream.
Map your path with light. Step where it dies.
Two doors open. One door lies.
Not all moss is moss. Step carefully.
Legends
The Door of Thorns
Somewhere deep in the tunnels grows a door made entirely of living thorns and bone-white wood. It bleeds when touched. Legend says if you pry it open (without getting cut), you’ll find a cache of forgotten tech from the Lost Ages... but every thorn that pricks you steals a memory you'll never get back.
Trade a Memory to the Moss
Old scavvers say if you speak a true memory into the bio-lumoss and leave something behind — a photo, a name, a piece of yourself — the tunnels might open a hidden shortcut.
But the memory is gone forever, ripped clean from your mind, leaving only an aching blank space.
The Clockhand Stranger
Some who get truly lost report meeting a tall, thin figure whose arms are made of warped, ticking clock hands. If you bargain wisely, they’ll guide you back to the surface. If not... you might keep ticking down there forever.
The Candlemouth Ritual
It's said that if you find an abandoned maintenance terminal with a still-flickering red screen, you can perform the Candlemouth Ritual: whisper the name of someone you lost, press your forehead to the console, and wait.
If the Rootwake approves, you'll find them — or a version of them.
If it doesn’t, you’ll forget why you ever went looking.
The Doorless Chase
Sometimes, explorers hear heavy, wet footsteps behind them — but when they turn around, nothing's there. The only way to survive is to keep moving until you find a door with no handle and no hinges.
Bang on it exactly three times.
If you do it right, you’ll pass through to another part of the tunnels. If you don’t... well, at least you won’t hear the footsteps anymore.
