In the utmost south of Moria, caught between two terrifying regions of peril and shadow, lies the strange serenity of the Waterworks. Here, cool mists and wide stretches of calm water create an ethereal atmosphere that simultaneously mingles grandeur and reflection. That calm is dangerous, for it belies the threats that lurk there, both above and below the surface.

Though far removed from Moria’s Hollin and Dimrill Gates, the Waterworks includes what appear to be some of the most ancient stone-works in Khazad-dûm. Rough, old-fashioned statuary and corridors made of stacked stone bricks still stand here from the days of old. Enormous palatial structures, built to contain the region’s massive namesake waterworks, stand alongside older and more modest towers. The road connecting to the dark and dreaded mines of the Silvertine Lodes in the north leads through aged catacombs built into the rock behind the rushing waterfall called Durin’s Beard. From the east, rustic statues of Dwarf-warriors line the way in from the hellish smoke of the Flaming Deeps.

The Waterworks territory consists of a single, gigantic cavern beneath the mountain, which a network of aqueducts divides into orderly sections. Hulking edifices—from functional palaces to lofty pillars—stand where lines of aqueducts intersect. In the east, this neat plan meets the cavern wall at a series of modest buildings and plazas punctuated with stained-glass windows. An arched passage here connects to the Burning Stair and, thus, the Flaming Deeps beyond. In the west, the plan gives way near the cavern wall to a short wilderness of mushrooms, shoals, and stalagmites known as the Drowned Deep.

The sheer scale of the Waterworks is difficult to take in all at once. A damp haze diffuses the light, and fog swallows up distant buildings. The misted ceiling feels more like an overcast sky than a dome of stone.

Perhaps the best vantage point for taking in the vision that is the Waterworks can be found in the array of buildings in the northeast corner of the region, built up along the cavern wall. This is also roughly where the roads to the east and north meet. Not coincidentally, the Free Peoples make their camp in this most remote corner of Moria as well.