Location: Antelope Canyon

This is the first in a series of posts that will be based off of images I got off Reddit. This and many others came from an album entitled "23 Unbelievable Places" but unfortunately I forgot to copy down the name of the Redditor who provided it. Google tells me it was Boatakk, but I'm not sure if that was the post I got them from or if it's just reposted a lot. C'est la vie. 
My idea here is pretty simple, but I find it exciting. I will take the images I find as inspiration for a location in my D&D campaign. The write-ups will be hopefully setting-neutral enough that they can be adapted to anybody's game, but I will definitely focus on how I personally would like to use them. This is the first one that I ever did, and honestly I consider it the one that I did the best job with. I may edit it later and post a "revised" version of all this at some point in the future, but I have yet to decide.


                                                         Description:
The walls of the canyon stretched up towards the sun. The walls looked oddly smooth, worn by centuries of wind howling through the halls. The canyon's walls and ground were caked a reddish brown, the dirt packed hard like the stone pillars all around. The light from the sun was cast about the canyon, with shadows playing off the walls with harsh streaks of sunlight glaring into your eyes. The air is dry, and the heat bears down on you to no end. The canyon forms it's own natural maze, twisting and turning, the random patterns on the walls never looking the same twice. The wind howls through the passages, forcing you to block your eyes or be blinded by all the dirt. 

Associated Knowledges:
Nature:

• Long ago, this place was a mighty river that has long since dried up. Over the course of centuries, this canyon was carved out.
• Though it doesn't seem like it at first, this place teems with life underneath the ground.
• Pools of water can be found hidden in some areas in the canyon.

Arcana:

• An ancient magic thrums through these halls. In some places it seems to resonate with the structure of the walls of the canyon.
• Some of the shifting patterns on the walls seem magical in nature, obscured by the natural worn look of the canyon.
• Old illusions play through these canyons, sometimes obscuring passages or turning you around. It is very subtle, but strong.

History:

• This place is mostly uninhabited by sentient life.
• A long time ago, a kingdom was centered here.
• The civilization that once held it's center in this place extended through this entire region, but this canyon was the site of the capitol city.

Finding pools of water: Knowledge(Nature) or Survival
Detecting the shifting patterns on the walls: Perception, Knowledge(Arcana), or Spellcraft

DM Info:
  Antelope Canyon was once the center of the Formian Empire. What the players may or may not realize is that, instead of their capitol city being above the canyon, they were actually both above and below ground. The canyon was originally formed by a large river flowing for centuries, but once it dried up the Formians moved in. The surface was burned away by the dragons, and the Formians have long since left the continent - but their infrastructure still remains. The ground and walls of the canyon have tunnels dug all through them, and the ancient magic the Formians used still lingers. New creatures have taken up residence in these ancient halls, but are largely divided. Some are just mindless creatures that stumbled upon the canyon, others are sentient and now consider this their lair. There is a lot of fighting raging beneath the ground.
  The canyon itself forms a natural maze above ground. Illusions may obscure passages or turn the players around until they find some way of overcoming them. This can be handled in a narrative through a skill check by an arcane spellcaster, or a very talented Survivalist specialist. While at one point the magic may very well have been one of the strongest spells in existence, it has been millennia since it was originally cast and has faded to a very subtle illusion matrix. Although the canyon was formed naturally, it was repurposed by the Formians into a sort of magical resonance chamber. Some areas of the canyon have been altered such that different forms of magic will have amplified effects there. Again, this has faded over time, but remains noticeable to anyone with magical talent that looks hard enough. Examples:

• Enchanting Area: Enchantments within that area are treated as though you had your caster level +5
• Summoning Area: Creatures summoned in this area have +5 HD, and last twice as long
• Crafting Area: Magical items made in this area can be made at one-third the price, and require half the caster level as normal.

Obviously these are just examples and aren't necessarily set in stone. Pun intended. Those numbers and effects were just made up by me on the spot, I know they aren't balanced at all. But that's the idea here.

  The environment is very inhospitable. As such, only some creatures live here. Examples are Lizardfolk, minor demons, Rocs, and other appropriately desert-themed creatures. Underground, the story changes: more powerful magical creatures live down there, either the descendants of whatever the Formians bred, or more dangerous entities trying to carve their territory in the old kingdom's home. I'm picturing older demons, illithids, and some random magical beasts. All of this should depend on what level the players are.

  The canyon has two levels: the surface and underground. The surface is a maze, and should feel more like an extended puzzle encounter. The illusions can be repurposed into a number of different things. Also, traps should include dumping some of the Formians' ancient experiments or baiting dangerous creatures into the players. Magical traps are also going to be par the course. The underground should feel more like a dungeon crawl: the halls will be irregular as they weren't designed for bipedal life, but dangerous monsters and factions will be everywhere. As will ancient treasure and magical knowledge. 

Adventure Hooks:

• A nobleman wants the party to seek out a particular relic he's heard of being somewhere in the canyon.
• A band of raiding lizardfolk have been seen coming from the canyon, and have found a way to hide behind the illusions.
• A demon lord is preparing to wage war from beneath the canyon, using ancient magic and subterranean creatures as his base for power.
• The players have heard that the canyon is filled with magic and treasure, and go to investigate.