Shafts

Sometimes natural progressions form deep pits or wells in the earth. The shaft of such a structure may be carved out by water flowing straight downward in a subterranean waterfall, or created by volcanic activity. Unlike a gorge or a rift, a shaft tends to be a relatively small feature, but it may drop for miles straight down.

Because of their relatively small cross-sections, shafts often serve to channel air movement between disparate portions of the Underdark. In places where the conditions are life-threatening such as a shaft near a super-heated magma chamber, the air movement can also be extreme. Screaming winds might roar up or down a shaft in a scouring blast that would put a hurricane to shame. Sometimes, cave systems “breathe” in conjunction with changes in the surface world above, resulting in tremendous rushes of wind in and out through shafts every day.