Level One (Gravenhand Bastion)
As the first level above the Gate, Level One sees the most foot traffic outside of Bastion. Gravediggers cut their teeth here, and dilettantes venture here to secure bragging rights. Some even make it back.
The level was hastily evacuated 130 years ago due to increasing pressure from a growing population of undead above. Even so, it’s still occupied by a few communities of exiles from Bastion, willing to trade recovered equipment and valuables with gravediggers in exchange for food or other needed supplies.
Known districts include the Milenkov Mausoleum (containing dozens of small crypts), the Cornflower Markets (several connected open squares surrounded by tiny shops), and The Refuge (largely unexplored territory, supposedly claimed by a group of militant exiles led by a warlord named Barefoot Petra).
Level Two (Oilblood Bastion)
Beyond the great stone doors on the landing, one finds the tunnels here to be more curved than those found below or above. Their gentle arcs make it difficult to see more than 30 or 40 feet ahead, outside of a few exceptional straightaways (such as the Grand Avenue, which looks the same as on every other level).
The curved tunnels make plotting a course difficult, which the former inhabitants countered by being unusually thorough in naming the tunnels and bolting signs high up on the walls. While some of these have been scavenged for the brass or as trophies, most remain. With proper directions, navigation on Level Two is easier than almost anywhere else. Without proper directions or careful notes, it’s harder than usual.
Known districts include Goldcrest Passage (a street of wealthy residences), the Helford Tunnels (a slum-like area far from the Well), and the Swarming Sepulchre (infamous for the vermin infesting its tombs).
Level Three (Gladstone Bastion)
The people of Bastion were wealthy when the living last occupied this level, as shown in the architecture and decor. Halls are wider with better sightlines (except the ever-uniform Grand Avenue), walls more universally smoothed, and engravings more common. That makes it a promising place to go gravedigging, especially once you make it out of the areas nearest the Well.
This is the highest level where the architecture digs upward instead of down. Multi-story homes here have windows out onto the tall, wide tunnels common to the level. Some windows are open, some are barred, and some even glazed. It is also the only level of the Well to have a sewer system. Only partially complete, these cramped tunnels nevertheless creep between more than half the city.
Known districts include the Rises (a crowded complex of large, multi-story buildings and high, dark alleys) and the Underpass (a segment of sewers that provides a short-cut between the Well and deeper sections of the level).
Level Four (Grainworthy Bastion)
A preponderance of natural caverns marks Level Four, including one opening off the end of the Grand Avenue before it reaches its standard length (a rare deviation from the norm). Each natural cavern became the central hub for a neighborhood community. Writings from this period indicate life was an age of significant social strife, as the unplanned layout of caverns often put the elite and the disadvantaged in close proximity.
The Hollow is the massive subterranean chasm that cuts off the Grand Avenue. It bottoms out barely deeper than the floor of Level Four, towering high enough to connect with Level Five and stretching high enough to link with Level Six if they lined up. Stairways and ramps mark the sides of the Hollow, many now in disrepair, along with hundreds of buildings cut into the chasm face.
Level Five (Echodeep Bastion)
The presence of the Hollow on this level turns it into a city of bridges and exposed stairs. These range from small footbridges over a five-foot drop to the hundred-yard, column-supported, elaborately railed Great Span, wide and strong enough to take multiple carts side-by-side.
Another notable construction on this level is the Great Instrument, a massive pipe organ built into the wall of the Hollow. Evidence suggests the organ – now inoperable – played a frequent role in one of the period’s dominant religions, the Sanctified Cloister (considered by some historians as the forerunner of today’s Church of the Holy Descent, a theory the Church hotly contests).
Level Six (Vineweaver Bastion)
Most gravediggers push their limits one level at a time, proving themselves before proceeding higher. This explains why almost no gravediggers visit Level Seven: nobody wants to prove themselves on Level Six.
The first thing one notices when climbing the stairs to Level Six is the unmistakable message chiseled into the main doors. Language has changed in the three centuries since people last inhabited this level, but the meaning is clear: plague. Few brave the tunnels with a warning such as that, especially with the rumors of undead monstrosities whose bodies teem with buboes and pus. Of course, fewer gravediggers means more treasure still to find.
Level Seven (Ironstrike Bastion)
Two things strike anyone entering this level. First is the damp: the air has a cold, wet quality that leaches the heat from people passing through. Second is the abundance of plant and fungal life, which have a hold on this level like nowhere else thanks to the many rivers and streams that trickle and seep through the level.
Level Eight (The Unwritten)
Most of this level, beyond the Grand Avenue, is arranged in a disturbingly regular geometric pattern of tunnels and repeating, identical rooms. This pattern continues for a mile or more in every direction, indicating a mania for urban planning that has never been replicated anywhere else in the Well.
Also curious: No new writings exist on this level. Some tomes and tablets from older eras have been found, but nothing original to the age. Archeological research can only guess at how these people lived and why (or exactly when) they abandoned the level to move downward.
Level Nine (Songwise Bastion)
At the landing that opens into this level from the Well, a large stone mask hangs over the doors. This was an age of strange customs, and nearly every door from public to private space has a mask above it, or marks where it used to be. Most major tunnels are long and straight, equipped with carefully aimed reflective devices with built-in lanterns that allowed for the quick delivery of messages from one station to the next.
Level Ten (The Battlefield)
The Grand Avenue of this level was the front line of a civil war that raged across the entire city. Broken weapons of war – including ballistas and battering rams – litter the entire length, as well as most rooms within a hundred yards of the central tunnel. Beyond that battlefield, one can find signs of normal life, albeit with evidence of wartime deprivation.
Level Eleven (The Storm)
It is rare for any gravedigger to speak of exploring this level. They say the level is devoid of monsters, home only to endless gray ash, pushed by inexplicable breezes into ankle-deep drifts. One might think this turns the level into a trove of undisturbed treasures, easy to retrieve and return to Bastion. Many who thought likewise never returned at all, caught by a sudden storm of grit and ash that scoured them down to the bone before they could get back to the Well.
Level Twelve (The Cap)
Just a few yards above the door to this entrance is the cap of iron that blocks off the entire Well, stairs and all. This marvel of construction is bolted together from hundreds of mismatched iron plates, thick and durable despite its patchwork nature. It bears plenty of claw marks gouged across its surface, confirming its strength. Nothing can pass up or down through this barrier.
The level itself is said to teem with undead. Few gravediggers venture this far up, so the population has been growing for centuries. Rumors persist that the denizens have built an entire kingdom of the dead up here, complete with rulers and organization that would rival Bastion. But such stories are usually spoken by a gravedigger in his cups, claiming knowledge shared by the colleague of an acquaintance years ago. It couldn’t possibly be true.