Witch Mountain is a mountain in the Three Gorges region of China, which hides a trap system devised by Laozi to conceal the Philosopher's Stone.
History[]
Early History[]
Nearly 2,000 years after Thuthmosis / Moses stole it, the Philosopher's Stone ended up in the hands of the Chinese Scholar Laozi. While it was under his possession, Laozi learned of its trans-mutative properties, and also of other elements relating to the Machine such as the Dark Star, the Vertices and the date the first Pillar had to be laid.
At some stage, Laozi arranged for a tower to be built within a gigantic cavern beneath Witch Mountain, intending to keep the Philosopher's Stone in it. Within the tower, a carving that depicted the Five Warriors of an ancient prophecy standing behind Kings of the Four Kingdoms was engraved upon one of the walls (though who carved it and why is unknown).
Once the system was finished, Laozi left the Philosopher's Stone in the tower and had the tunnels leading to the cavern converted into a trap system that reflected his philosophy of yin and yang. Then, in the outer chamber, he had much of the information he had gathered regarding the Machine carved onto one of the walls, before Laozi then had the entry chamber concealed and left Witch Mountain.
At some point in the next few millennia, a village was established at the bottom of Witch Mountain, just above the entrance to the chamber, apparently with the settlers being unaware of the history of the site. Towards the late 20th century, the village was flooded because of the diverting of the Wu Gorge river, and soon abandoned.
The Six Sacred Stones[]
On the 1st of December 2007, Wizard, Tank and Chow located Laozi's chambers at Witch Mountain, hoping to locate the Philosopher's Stone. While Chow remained up top, Wizard and Tank entered the entry chamber and began noting the various writings on the wall that Laozi had had inscribed on the chamber's walls regarding the imminent return of the Dark Sun. However, moments after they realised that the first Pillar had to be laid 100 days before the Return, a little over a week away, they were interrupted by the approach of Mao Gongli and his men.
After Chow was executed in cold blood, Mao and his men entered the chamber and detained Wizard and Tank, sending them to Xintan Prison to be tortured for information while he attempted to claim the Philosopher's Stone.
After four days, the brute force with which Mao and his men employed to get through the trap system proved to be ill-suited for making their way. Mao was furious at their slow progress and the deaths of his men to the Cylindrical Doorway and Crawling Tunnel traps, and ordered fast-setting cement to cover the traps to make their way past.
The Coalition of Minnows team, led by Jack West Jr, arrived at Witch Mountain after liberating Wizard and Tank. Unlike Mao and his men, however, they were able to overcome Laozi's traps by figuring out the truth of the yin-and-yang-based system, quickly catching up to the Chinese in the Grand Hall of the Warriors. After stunning Mao's men and making their way through the wall trap, they crawled through the final tunnel towards the Cavern of the Tower.
Jack soon began making his way through the speed-and-time trap system on the mercury lake to the tower. Because of the speed necessary to make it to the Philosopher's Stone and return to the shore, Jack had little time to note his surroundings in the tower, only briefly noting the carving of the Five Warriors and Four Kings before rushing back. Upon successfully retrieving the Stone and reuniting with his teammates, Jack and the others soon left Witch Mountain, and when they regained consciousness so did Mao and his men.
Features[]
Submerged Village[]
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Laozi's Trap System[]
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Entry Chamber[]
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Traps[]
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Cavern of the Tower[]
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Trivia[]
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