Chasing River is nearly a mile wide when it takes the 3,000-foot plunge that empties 200,000 cubic feet of water into the Roaring Basin every second of every day. This breathtaking power can be seen from a staggering distance on a clear day. The waterfall is named for its effect on the peculiar minds of laetines, especially otters.
Seeing the falls for the first time flips some mental switch in a dozen otters a year or so. They become obsessed with traveling over the precipice and begin studying protective contraptions built by those who came before. Every “Otter Barrel,” as they are called, is slightly different, as laetine researchers attempt to push the survival rate of the plunge a little higher. Currently, about half the otters who paddle their gadgets to the upper river’s center survive the trip to the bottom. Advancements in Otter Barrel technology have been applied to delver wagons to make them safer, provided their users live to share the schematics.