#230 The Biltwald Arc

Age: 8,000 Years

Hidden or Lost?: Hidden

History: For thousands of years the colossal Biltwald Arc, as it was dubbed after being rediscovered by archaeologist Teller Biltwald, stood buried in the mountainside. It was the final remnant of the ‘Exodus Colossi’ the ancient migration that saw the last race of giants escape our dimension. They left behind the power and mystery of their disappearance, but should the gate ever be reactivated, the truth it would expose could destroy the world.

The Biltwald Arc was first rediscovered two centuries past when explorer Teller Biltwald was studying the Cavern of the Message, a massive cave that held a wall covered in an indecipherable language of runes. Biltwald devoted his career to studying the runes, and found that the etched wall was actually the footstone of a much larger structure hidden behind the cliff wall above.

Taking on the cliff excavation as his life's work, Biltwald spent the next decades blasting and cutting at the rocky outer surface to expose the arc buried beneath. In the process of exposing the impossibly large stone arch, more of the rune language was discovered, and a college dedicated to the study of the site was established to try to more fully decipher its meaning. Through their study, the Hanging College was eventually able to piece together bits of the secret history of the event they dubbed the ‘Exodus Colossi,’ when a lost race of giant humanoids used the arc to seek new dimensions. While they were only able to decipher bits of the history, the researchers deduced that the giants were once seen as a threat to the world and were actually tricked into entering the portal, which was shut behind them and buried by an ancient agreement of more miniscule human nations.

Just before Biltwald passed on, the arcane control chamber for the portal was finally discovered, as well as an odd collection of altar stones and crystalline idols. None were able to discern their function during his lifetime, but the scholars of the Hanging College continue trying to find a way to reactivate the ancient dimensional gate.

Ever since its rediscovery the Biltwald Arc has remained hidden from the larger world, protecting its potential power. But a shadowy group of surveyors has recently begun working to destroy the College and re-bury the arc. While their motives are hazy, some believe that they are secretly being directed by the last surviving giant, who seeks to keep his angry, destructive brethren in exile.

1. Cavern of the Message

2. Provisioner’s Camp

3. The Second Stone

4. Graves of the Small

5. The Colossus Finger

6. Hold of the Giant’s Eye

7. Hall of the Exodus Colossi

8. The Hanging College

9. Warning Glyphs

10. The Locked Sanctum

11. Brobdingnag’s Keystone

12. Missing Skull Socket

13. Smuggler’s Caves

14. Nest of the Blind Flies

15. Biltwald’s Tomb

16. The Hollow Block