Esh Alakar

Esh Alakar was a site of ruins on the Pasocada River in the Pasocada Basin in Maztica.

Geography
The massive ruins were located on the floor of the Long Canyon by the Pasocada River. Nearby was the Bridge of the Ancients.


 * The Bridge of the Ancients: A stone bridge built in the same style as the ruins, it was a valuable crossing point over the Pasocada River, especially since there was no safe ford nearby.

Reputation
The origin of the ruins was not known but believed to be elven, possibly by the ancestors of the Poscadar elves, who would not go near them. They were alleged to be inhabited by ghosts or other malevolent creatures. The Nahopaca also refused to go near these ruins, because they feared what evil might be within.

History
The ruins were once the home of a powerful, magic-wielding civilization that destroyed itself in a magical war. Their remains could still be found in the ruins even after centuries, and some of the stone golems they created outlasted them as well. The ruins were full of remains of their culture, such as treasure, gold, weapons, clay tablets inscribed with bizarre runes, and similar objects.

Not all of the former inhabitants' remains were corpses. Some were trapped within gemstones (via trap the soul), some were turned into stone "statues", and many more were turned into venomous snakes, whose descendants continued to live in the ruins. The back of these snakes' heads each bore a vague impression of a screaming face.