El Dorado

Descending into El Dorado requires moving through tunnels carved with warnings
in colonial Spanish and other, older and forgotten languages. El Dorado’s
famous golden structures, though tarnished by centuries of neglect, still
catch and amplify what little light reaches them, creating pockets of amber
radiance amid the gloom.

The central temple, a stepped pyramid whose dimensions precisely match those
of certain constellations, dominates the cityscape. Its golden surfaces have
developed a strange patina that shifts colors depending on the viewer’s angle
of approach, sometimes appearing greenish-black, other times taking on a deep
crimson hue. The temple’s interior chambers remain largely intact, though the
weight of the earth above has caused several lower levels to collapse into one
another, creating a treacherous labyrinth of broken walls and collapsed
flooring.

Surrounding the temple complex stretches the Garden of Offerings, where
hundreds of stone altars stand in concentric circles. Each altar bears unique
carvings depicting transformation rituals, human figures morphing into
jaguars, eagles, or stranger creatures not found in any zoological text. The
ground between these altars is littered with fragments of ceremonial masks,
their expressions frozen in states of ecstasy or agony. Delvers report that
these mask fragments occasionally assemble themselves into temporary wholes
when no one is directly observing them.

The artificial lakes once used for ceremonial purposes have long since
stagnated, becoming thick with an oily substance that exhibits unusual
properties. Objects submerged in these waters emerge coated in a metallic film
that gradually hardens into something resembling gold. More disturbingly,
living tissue exposed to the liquid experiences accelerated but unpredictable
growth, a discovery made at great cost by early exploration teams.

The streets of the buried city are still somehow stalked by dangerous jungle
predators, and living in pockets throughout the city are twisted beast-men who
dine on human flesh and seem to have lost all language and higher thinking
long ago.
While the ghosts of those who were sacrificed mingle with remnant spirits once
conjured to drive the Spanish from their country.