The River Gate

The River Gate forms the centerpiece of the Central Slope of the mountain. It rises at the foot of the mountain, a white and blue gate, gleaming in the dawn. A wide tunnel leads beneath the gate complex and slopes upward, terminating at the upper gatehouse. Visitors exiting the gatehouse emerge in the central court.

Two “arches of light” pass over the road on either side of the gate. The arches were made of white marble and illuminated by a dozen torches on each arch. The lights on either arch and on the River Gate danced off the surface of the lake and made a beautiful and impressive sight.

Despite all its finery, the gate is a defensive and defensible position. It was once part of a high Cyrad built wall construction, a wall which ran the circumference of the mountain. The gate remained one of two primary entrances into the heart of the mountain and successive occupants have both fortified and beautified the gate. The gate is actually a long tunnel, dotted with murder holes for archers to man and a succession of heavier and heavier gates concealed in the ceiling. If an invader were to breach the main door, a secondary gate would fall from the ceiling, then a third, fourth and fifth gate.

Immediately above the gate is a mesa style series of barracks rooms, built behind fortified stone. The rows of the barracks are crowned by crenulated defensive positions, but the roof is in a very poor state of repair. Many of the Tarahir Guard, New Tarahiri military and Skaldi warriors have taken up residence in the old barracks and all have worked very hard to turn the ruins into something homelike.

#4300 Cyradon , page 140