Fifth Splinter: The Writhing Pit
A living carapace of scrabbling, chittering vermin surrounding a gelatinous entity hellbent on consumption.
Visual Interest Board
Properties & Geographical Features
Everything about this realm is alive. It is constantly consuming and rebirthing itself. Unlike other Splinters that exist as distinct from their lords, Juiblex is the core of this world and it tolerates no competition. It ate the last several devils that tried to stake a claim to its domain.
The Writhing Pit does not connect to any splinter of the Dark Dimension occupied by Devilkind. The rare portals that do spontaneously form to diabolical sites are quickly targeted by Muunsin the Gatewarden.
Notable Inhabitants
Juiblex
Epithets
Lord of Nothing, The Faceless Lord, Prince of the Deliquescent PitStat Block
As Juiblex (MPMM p. 160),with the following change:
Juiblex is a gargantuan, amorphous mass of blackish-green sludge and covered in watering, red eyes. The eyes are not in fixed positions, and it can open them anywhere on its amorphous body. Juiblex sends its ooze progeny through any gateways that spawn in its world, hellbent on consuming and destroying whatever lies beyond. Juiblex craves the final harvest, where it has devoured a fat, ripe multiverse and his hunger is at last satiated. It is from this that he gets his title ‘Lord of Nothing’, for he wishes not to rule but to devour.
Although Juiblex is not itself a collector of magical items or artifacts, it nonetheless has consumed beings who were. Extraplanar treasure hunters seeking magical items or artifacts belonging to Juiblex’s long-digest meals would find a king’s ransom within. Assuming those treasure seekers can survive the biting insects and crushing hunger of Juiblex, of course.
Places of Interest
Nowhere
Despite the utterly vile and unstable nature of the Pit, small pockets of civilizations manage to exist in extradimensional spaces or on magically protected ships. The largest of these is The Nowhere. It is built from the skeletons of spelljammers - ships designed for travel through the astral plane - and pushed aloft by a churning mechanism that keeps the ship afloat in the sea of swarming vermin. V'nemrusul, a shipwrecked githzerai, currently captains the Nowhere.
An Abyssal Prison
Rumors say that more than treasure drifts within the Juiblex. Inside it are indestructible prison cells, holding the incapacitated foes of devils and demons. However, this prison exists outside the order imposed by Sixth Splinter: Narakkas. Meaning it is reserved for creatures who would not be subjected to a fiend’s sense of justice - i.e., creatures not native to the Dark Dimension (like celestials, dragons, or adventurers).
Spiders, Snakes, & Vermin
- While on this splinter, humanoids must consume twice as much food as normal to sustain themselves.
- At the beginning of combat, creatures not native to the Writhing Pit that have line of sight to the splinter’s skittering sea must make a Wisdom Saving Throw (DC 10). On a failure, the creature is considered frightened of the living ocean. The creature can repeat the saving throw at the beginning of each of its turns, ending the effect on a success.
Comments