Tarterian Depths of Carceri

Castoffs, prisoners, rejects, along with the lost and forgotten, all adrift in the multiverse, have a tendency of finding a way to the Tarterian Depths of Carceri. Like a magnet, this inhospitable plane draws these discarded elements towards its torturous depths and keeps them there. A subtlety powerful force keeps Carceri’s planar gates and portals shut, with a few notable exceptions, and travelers are warned that finding a way into one of its layers is far easier than finding a way out.

Carceri’s reputation as the prison of the planes is well deserved. Long ago, a race of powerful titans were exiled from the fabled realm of Mount Olympus on Arborea by stronger beings. Some say it was a union of gods from across the multiverse that brought down the titans, while other scholars postulate the titans had been struck down by the very nature of the planes when their ambition became (much) greater than their station.

The truth is hard to guess as part of the imprisonment clause of the titans forced their silence on the matter. Their leader, a supremely powerful being named Kronus, lives on Mount Othrys now, alone and brooding, while the rest of the titans lay scattered in the remaining layers and realms. A great storm surrounds Mount Othrys, a physical manifestation of Kronus’ despair and rage some say, and the ancient titan has not left the mountain for eons untold.

Carceri is a plane of subtle evil that saps the strength away from those that visit. A slumbering malevolence pervades its infinite string of six layers as manifested by a red glow inherent in the ground and air. Whether it’s the swamps of Othrys, the jungles of Cathrys, the deserts of Minethys, the mountains of Colothys, the shallow seas of Porphatys, or the icy sphere of Agathys, a crimson glow suffuses the natural presence of Carceri.

The Tarterian Depths are also laid out unlike any other plane. Each of its layers sit as strings of huge spheres in an air-filled void that most planar scholars link eventually to the Negative Energy Plane. The layers are nestled within one another, spheres within spheres, with the space between each successive sphere in its line growing farther and farther apart the smaller the interior layers become. Othrys is the largest, with enormous orbs that nearly touch (and do in the case of Mount Othrys), while the spheres of Porphatys are much smaller. The exception is Agathys, which exists as a sole orb in the dead center of Carceri.

And the layers are not uninhabited. A race of fiends called demodands, also known as gehreleths, operate as the wardens of Carceri, and always assume anyone they come across has good reason to be locked away forever. They are cruel embodiments of Carceri’s truest idiom – betrayal is the only path to freedom. Demodands stay out of the Blood War between the demons of the Abyss and the devils of the Nine Hells but have been known to offer particularly savage prisons for fiends and angels to enterprising devil princes and demon lords.

While Carceri exudes a scarlet evil like a cancer, its existence as the prison of the planes serves everyone, from the fiends to the angels and everyone in between. Gods have birthed horrors beyond count that defy extermination, and Carceri provides the perfect dumping ground for the things that cannot simply be destroyed. There are dark and terrible things festering within the multitude of orbs that make up Carceri, and many of them have birthplaces in the most revered places in the multiverse.

Powerful & Mighty

Carceri imprisons some of the most powerful creatures in the multiverse, spread across its subtly dangerous layers and separated from each other by countless orbs. Unwanted spawn of deities, power-hungry undead, fallen gods, exiled angels and fiends, and so many more populate Carceri. The below list highlights the ones that have had the greatest impact on the Tarterian Depths from an outsider standpoint, but travelers should be wary from anyone they meet – treachery is rampant and the ones that exiled to Carceri have usually done something horrendous to deserve it.

• Faluzure (dragon)
• Grolantor (hill giant)
• Karontor (formorian giant)
• Malar (Toril)
• Parrafaire (any)
• Raiden (Japanese)
• Talona (Toril)
• Titans: Cronus, Oceanus, Tethys, Hyperion, Mnemosyne, Themis, Iapetus, Coeus, Crius, Phebe, Thea
• Vhaerun (drow)

Apomps the Three-Sided One

The progenitor of the demodand fiends that wander throughout Carceri is an enigmatic being referred to as Apomps the Three-Sided One. It was once a powerful yugoloth on the plane of Gehenna, and Apomps was obsessed with the creation of life itself. It tampered with the forces of creation, pulling in the primordial power of the multiverse and binding it with cold sorcery born of logic and reason. The result was the demodands, three of them with each representing a facet of truth Apomps came to believe in, but through this act the powers of Gehenna cast Apomps into Carceri.

Apomps imprisonment allowed the fallen fiend to spawn more demodands, and soon the plane was populated with the farastu, kelubar, and shator beings borne of Apomps experimentations. Each demodand is given a token of Apomps power – a small black pyramid – that filled each with the eternal memories of the demodands and Apomps itself. And by decree from the Three-Sided One, the demodands do not attack one another but instead work to tear down the prison walls of Carceri and all within it.

Apomps is an asexual fiend that has transcended its previous form. It exists now as a fiendish spirit linked intrinsically to Carceri. The ultimate goal of the demodands – Carceri’s destruction – is likely linked to the conditions of Apomps’ freedom, but it isn’t known exactly sure if this is the case. The will of Apomps moves across the endless orbs of the plane, driving the demodands to greater acts of terror and violence, reminding them of the terrible atrocities performed against their kind by the ilk of the planes.

Chaydarren, Lord of the Pillars

The red sands of Minethys hold countless secrets beneath its scarlet dunes, though most are revealed and buried without anyone noticing. On one of the orbs, the great wyrm blue dragon Chaydarren did notice one such reveal as the dunes parted to show a series of ancient, symbol-inscribed pillars rising from the crimson sands. This was the ruins of Illmoor, the City of Pillars, a place of great arcane mystery and magical might that was banished to Minethys ages ago, and Chaydarren set immediately to plumbs its wonders and plunder its treasures.

The exact reasons why Chaydarren was in Carceri in the first place isn’t known, and the blue dragon carefully avoids any such topics. He is cruel, merciless, and utterly obsessed with unlocking the magical secrets of Illmoor contained within the hundreds of stone pillars buried beneath the Minethys sands. It’s likely that Chaydarren was banished to Carceri from some other plane, for he works largely now through proxies and agents. He spends his days slithering around the pillars of Illmoor, checking symbols and marks, and finding new areas unearthed by the shifting sands.

What secrets does Illmoor’s pillars contain? Chaydarren believes it to contain some deep arcane truth about the multiverse, and that the residents of Illmoor tampered with forces beyond their control that ultimately led to the city’s eternal sentence on Carceri. Mummies of all sorts, dried out and desiccated by the harsh Minethys heat, have risen to stop Chaydarren and his minions from uncovering more about the pillars, but these are nothing more than a nuisance – most of the time. The great blue dragon fancies himself the Lord of the Pillars now but he knows there’s a large section of the city at the base of the greatest pillar that he has yet to open for fear of what it might contain.

Cronus and the Fallen Titans

No beings on Carceri more embody the prisoner mentality than perhaps the plane’s most famous inhabitants, Cronus and the fallen titans. It is widely accepted that these powerful beings hail originally from the storm-enshrouded peak of Mount Olympus in the Olympian Glades of Arborea, a fact the titans do not dispute. However, planar sages debate wildly the nature of the treachery that sent Cronus and his fellow titans on a one-way trip to Carceri’s depths. Did it have something to do with the event that drove the gods from Mount Olympus in the first place? Or was it simpler than that?

Regardless of the origin of their crimes, the fallen titans have not been able to escape Carceri’s grasp in any meaningful way. Over the centuries, many have tried, putting elaborate plans and plots into motion meant to release them from their planar prison, but to date none have succeeded permanently. Cronus himself, the once powerful leader of the titans, now sits alone on Mount Othrys, the tallest peak on the orbs of Carceri’s first layer, and constantly schemes for release. His moods are foul, his anger earth shaking, and his paranoia rampant – Cronus blames every other being in the multiverse except himself for his lonely fate.

The other fallen titans are spread across the layers of Carceri, living in isolation or small groups, never full trusting one another or any other creature they come across. One fallen titan dwells in a crumbling castle in the scarlet jungles of Cathrys, while another pair crew a literal skeleton crew on the icy shallows of Porphatys. They are each powerful beings with great command over their abilities, all of which they bend towards the ultimate goal of freedom from Carceri’s bonds. They are distrustful but few in the Tarterian Depths known more about what’s going on across the orbs than the titans, who have seen centuries pass. Even the demodands avoid tangling with Cronus and his fallen kin, preferring instead the easier pickings of lost travelers and lone prisoners.

The fallen titans of Carceri use the statistics for empyreans, except they are any evil alignment and do not possess the ability to use plane shift.

The Reaper

Agathys, the frozen orb at the center of Carceri, is an impenetrable sphere of icy black cut with streaks of red. Few beings in the multiverse know what’s hidden in its center, and its surface is as smooth as glass with only a few notable exceptions. The Citadel of the Reaper is one such exception. Sitting in the center of a bowl-like depression is a massive black ice tower. Its black walls hold countless souls frozen forever to feed the master of the citadel.

Servants of the master, known only as the Reaper, wander the citadel and keep intruders out. They are black-robed red-boned skeletons bearing scythes writhing with negative energy. They do not speak and make no noise, and in fact the entire citadel has a death-like quiet about the entire structure. Thoughts become whispers, whispers become shouts, and it is said that the master of the citadel hears all that happens within the halls.

What is the Reaper? Some say it is a deity of death and ice who has chosen to dwell upon Agathys, while others say it is a being beyond the gods that commands a legion of undead monsters to do its bidding. The Reaper rarely sends out minions beyond the halls of the citadel though some planar sages have pointed out eerie connections between the Reaper and the force of Death from the deck of many things. Are they related? Does the Reaper carry some connection to each Death spawned from that chaos-infused artifact?

Sinmaker

Few refuges are found in Carceri, a plane of prisoners, betrayers, and malcontents. Any castle, tower, or building could be the home of a foul being trapped for performing some great evil, and even the angels and devas cast into Carceri eventually become twisted by the plane’s treacherous nature. However, that doesn’t mean there aren’t any solaces. On one of the orbs of Cathrys, in a scarlet jungle similar to the others on the layer, sits the Apothecary of Sin and its master, the glabrezu demon Sinmaker.

Sinmaker is a master of poisons, perhaps none greater in all the multiverse, and the Apothecary of Sin receives a surprisingly large number of visitors from all across the planes. Sinmaker has special poisons and acids that can lay low demons and devils in the right dosage, or, if the rumors are to be believed, even a god. The glabrezu is surprisingly charming, and is usually seen wearing a specialized robe of flexible obsidian cut to allow the use of his extra set of hands.

Sinmaker employs a small cadre of demons that travel throughout the multiverse to procure rare ingredients for his various poisons, but he is always on the lookout for especially unique specimens. He can create large or small batches of almost any poison he supplies, and Sinmaker famously does not care who the buyer is – as long as they can pay. The glabrezu poisoner only accepts magical items and trinkets as payment for his valuable services, the rarer and more powerful the better, which means the Apothecary of Sin also contains a large number of potent magical items at any given time. What Sinmaker does with these items isn’t known but most do get transported out of Carceri.

Creatures & Denizens

Carceri is the home to a multitude of dangerous creatures along with the countless prisoners sent there from across the multiverse. Characters traveling through the prison plane should expect to run into foul monsters of all types, many of which prove the old planar saying true – “there is no innocence in Carceri."

Fiends

Many of the foul denizens of Carceri are fiends of a wide variety of types from all over the Lower Planes. Most are prisoners, having been sent to the Tarterian Depths by greater powers, such as a powerful celestial being from the Upper Planes or particularly potent rituals cast by wizards or clerics on the Material Plane. Demons and devils can all be found lurking around the layers, trying desperately to find a way to break the bonds of their imprisonment. The banks of the River Styx on Othrys is a popular place for fiends to congregate, hoping to convince some passing traveler to take them with them – whether by diplomacy or sheer force.

Several creatures have adapted to Carceri’s punishing terrain to transform into native species. Assassin crows are great fiendish black birds with enormous eyes and poisonous beaks that even other fiends fear. Hatemonger vultures stir up powerful emotions wherever their foul wings beat on any layer but usually keep to Colothys as their preferred hunting grounds. Vargouille packs are common pests along with hungry packs of hell hounds and angry nests of hellwasps.

Demodands. The most common fiend on Carceri are the demodands, who are also one of the few sentient native creatures of the plane. They are loathsome, greedy, cruel monsters who delight in bullying and inflicting as much pain as possible. There are three types of demodands – the common and lanky farastu, the slimy and greedy kelubar, and the loathsome and hideous shator. It has been found by conjuration experts and summoners that bringing forth a demodand from Carceri is very easy, but the fiends are notoriously difficult to deal with and remain quite powerful. They honor a strange quasi-deity called Apomps the Three-Sided One, and each demodand carries a black pyramid stone that some say allows them to access a shared pool of demodand memories; they guard these items with their lives.

Humanoids

There are no cities on Carceri, but there are representatives from most humanoid creatures somewhere on the plane. Whether they were wrongfully imprisoned by demon lords, captured and tortured by devil princes, condemned to exile by solars, or simply ran afoul of the wrong power at the wrong time, any humanoid can find itself on the receiving end of a Carceri life sentence. Most of these imprisoned souls grow bitter and wicked in their isolation, succumbing to the dark impulses that fuel the plane itself, and they dig into makeshift lairs.

Over the countless centuries, strongholds and castles have risen and fall across the crimson layers of the plane, and these have become home to the stronger prisoners looking to carve out their own personal kingdom and make the best of their imprisonment. The original builders of these structures is rarely known, but some believe that Carceri was once home to an entire plane’s worth of humanoids. Remnants of their fallen civilization still remain, buried in the muck of Othrys or the red sands of Minethys. Did they escape? Or did they succumb?

Undead

If a humanoid creature sentenced to Carceri dies while on the plane, their soul remains trapped within the confines of the Tarterian Depths. They usually return as mindless zombies, skeletons, or ghouls, but occasionally their tenacity keeps them on as torments, ghostly undead creatures with hate and longing in their hearts that do anything to escape from Carceri. Most of the time, these efforts are lethal, but many torments try to hide their spectral forms from travelers for as long as possible in order to wait for the perfect moment. No torment has ever escaped from Carceri to date.

Liches, mummy lords, ancient ghosts, and vampire nobles can all be subject to imprisonment in Carceri, just like any other creature, and these powerful undead live unnaturally long lives, a length of time that gives them hope for escape. Zombies, skeletons, and ghouls are common, but rarer are the malevolent kebro – enormous undead beetles that burrow beneath all the layers of the plane. Their carapace is a dull rainbow of many hues that can reflect energy back at creatures, a unique property that makes them valuable in the creation of certain magical items.

Hazards & Phenomena

The monsters and prisoners that lurk in the recesses of Carceri’s orbs are only part of the threat. Each of the plane’s layers offers its own way to harm inhabitants, from the sucking quicksand of Othrys to the deadly chill of Agathys. Through all of the layers and orbs, Carceri earns its reputation as the prison of the multiverse by preventing the escape of any who come into its borders.

Agathys Cold

The deathly chill of Agathys rivals and exceeds that of the coldest reaches of the Nine Hells and the Abyss. After each 10 minutes spent on Agathys, creatures without cold immunity must make a DC 15 Constitution saving throw. On a failure, the creature gains a level of exhaustion. After every hour in Agathys’ deathly cold, creatures without cold immunity gain a level of exhaustion (no saving throw). Long rests on Agathys do not provide any benefit for creatures without cold immunity and usually end in frozen death.

Cathrys Acidic Rot

An acidic rot pervades the scarlet jungles and grasslands of Cathrys. At the start of every hour on the layer, creatures suffer 5 (1d10) acid damage. This acid damage cannot be healed by natural or magical means while on Cathrys. Nonmagical items break down from the insidious acidic rot eventually; using such an item on Cathrys carries a 50% chance of the item being rendered useless.

Colothys Echoes

The mountainous terrain of Colothys has been known to suddenly create rockfalls, stone avalanches, and earthquakes, but the layer holds a more subtle threat for those that travel its rocky paths. The unusual stones of Colothys combined with an amplifying configuration means sounds carry far farther than they do on the Material Plane. Whispers can be heard from up to a mile away, and normally conversations carry for 25 miles or more. These echoes can be traced with a DC 15 Wisdom (Survival) check.

Minethys Sandwave

The red sands of Minethys stand as titanic silent dunes beneath the gray twilight of the ever-present dark sky. No natural wind blows, but occasionally the sands lurch forward from unseen forces, creating a dangerous sandwave to bury and choke the unwary. A Minethys sandwave covers an area up to several miles long and stretches up to 100 feet in the air. Creatures caught in the crash of the sandwave must make DC 15 Constitution saving throws. On a failure, they are buried beneath the sand and crushed for 35 (10d6) bludgeoning damage; suffocation begins immediately. A successful save reduces the damage in half and only renders the target prone.

Monsters, such as hatemonger vultures and demodands, learn to watch for sandwaves and dig through the dunes for stranded travelers to devour.

Othrys Quicksand

Traveling through the swampy orbs of Othrys is a difficult business. Dry land is sparse, and the swirling eddies of crimson water hide treacherous patches of quicksand from the untrained eye. Stepping into an Othrys quicksand patch sinks the victim 1d4+1 feet and restrains them. At the start of each of the creature’s turns, it sinks another 1d4 feet. As long as the creature isn’t completely submerged in quicksand, it can escape by using its action and succeeding on a Strength check. The DC is 10 plus twice the number of feet the creature sunk into the quicksand. A creature that is completely submerged in quicksand can’t breathe.

A creature can pull another creature within its reach out of the quicksand by using its action and succeeding on a Strength check. The DC is the same to pull a creature out as it is for the creature to escape on their own.

A patch of Othrys quicksand usually hides just beneath the water, out of sight except for a DC 15 Wisdom (Perception) check. It can cover an area as large as half a mile in radius on some orbs.

Porphatys Scarlet Snowstorm

A deadly scarlet snow falls on Porphatys on a regular basis. Scarlet snowstorms last for 1d6 x 10 minutes, and creatures within the storm’s radius suffer 4 (1d8) acid damage and 4 (1d8) cold damage at the start of every turn. The clinging dangerous snow is particularly effective against buildings and items, dealing double damage to objects and structures in the area.

Prison Plane

The inherent nature of Carceri prevents creatures from leaving easily. Magical efforts to leave the plane by any spell other than a wish simply fail. Spontaneous portals and gates that open onto the plane become one-way only. There are secret ways out, including some fixed portals, but these are typically well guarded by demodands and other creatures.

Sites & Treasures

As the dumping grounds for all of the multiverse’s unwanted denizens, Carceri has more than its fair share of mysterious places with imprisoned residents. Only the very foolish are on Carceri by choice, and those that have been sentenced to the Tarterian Depths by greater powers have little to do with their time other than plot their revenge against a multiverse that wronged them in some way.

Apothecary of Sin

The Apothecary of Sin sits in the swollen branches of a massive black-barked tree in the densest part of a Cathrys jungle. It is equal parts alchemical laboratory and storefront catering to the most wicked and vile of concoctions – poisons. Beneath a shielded canopy of acid-dripping leaves, the alchemists within the Apothecary of Sin work tirelessly to create, extract, and distill the most lethal poisons in the multiverse, with specialty doses created to deal with fiends, angels, and everything in between.

The Apothecary is run by a glabrezu demon named Sinmaker, who by all accounts is a prisoner of Cathrys like most of the other inhabitants of Carceri. He developed a fondness for poison and venom creation, and found the distinct properties of the scarlet jungle uniquely suited to this purpose. Sinmaker has a small team of alchemists at his disposal, blind servants who have agreed to serve the master poisoner for a period of time, but the glabrezu is always on the lookout for new and exotic ingredients from across the multiverse.

Sinmaker’s reputation as a poisoner is without equal, and he charges customers the only thing he considers valuable – magical items. The canny demonic merchant of death runs a brisk trade in these items as well through a network of black magic marketeers, but Sinmaker’s true passion is for poison. He meets personally with every potential client of the Apothecary of Sin, which provides the first real challenge for visitors. Up in the black branches of the tree, the acidic nature of Cathrys here is stronger than other places, and the use of magic is the only way to guarantee access.

Bastion of Last Hope

Anyone who says there’s a safe place on Carceri is lying and shouldn’t be trusted. Nonetheless, there are less dangerous areas, and one of them is the obsidian fortress known as the Bastion of Last Hope. Located on a small rocky plateau in the middle of a vast swamp on an orb of Othrys, the Bastion of Last Hope is regarded by most as a neutral ground. No one runs the place and no one lives there permanently.

The refuge attracts anarchists and troublemakers from all across Othrys, and there are numerous tunnels and smaller antechambers in the twisting regions below the fortress. It has stood for centuries, predating even the arrival of the titans, but whomever built it originally doesn’t seem to mind its new status as a waypoint for the lost and angry. Merchants do stop in at the Bastion of Last Hope occasionally, many of them traveling along the River Styx via their own conveyances, but treachery is always afoot within the obsidian walls.

The Bastion of Last Hope is also a waypoint for information. Creatures stop by the fortress to swap stories, trade rumors, and chase down leads on possible escape routes from Carceri. For their own reasons, demodands avoid the place but occasionally a pack of them can be seen lurking around the edges of the swamp, hoping to pick off a stray visitor.

Baleful Bog

The orbs of Othrys are filled with treacherous swamps, but few are so dangerous as the Baleful Bog. This massive stretch of muck and mire encompasses an entire orb, with thick mud, oil pools, and vast expanses of quicksand. Deeper than most on the layer, the Baleful Bog contains a tremendous number of titanic frog-like monsters, including hydroloths, giant demonic toads, and a cruel entity called the Warted One.

The Warted One is truly massive, a croaking fiend from the depths of the Abyss, that keeps an eye out over the entire Baleful Bog. It uses swarms of banderhobbs birthed in the deepest recesses of Othrys to do its bidding, but all the monsters of the orb pay homage to the powerful demon. The Warted One seems interested in learning more about the fallen titans, especially Cronus on far Mount Othrys, and it has been known to bargain with those caught in the Baleful Bog. In exchange for stealing something from Cronus or another titan the Warted One offers freedom and some bit of treasure dredged up from the bottom of its swampy lair.

Even without the ever-present threat of the demonic toad lurking in the depths, the Baleful Bog is a dangerous place. The quicksand stretches are enormous, and great clouds of fiendish insects buzz about in massive clouds. Slick patches of black oil are actually liquid shadows that drain the strength away from trapped victims.

Blackrazor’s Rest

The endless icy sea of Prophatys’ orbs are dotted with a low islands and sandbars, but the scarlet snow of acid and ice eventually wears down every structure. On one orb, however, the cold waters swirl in a continual whirlpool, churned by a raging snowstorm that never abates. This is Blackrazor’s Rest, encompassing half of a Porphatys orb, and its center supposedly holds a key to the infamous artifact that bears its name.

Blackrazor is a sentient sword that devours souls. It’s night-black blade is studded with stars representing the countless multitudes it has consumed on its blood-soaked path of conquest. Famously, it landed in the Material Plane and in the hands of a collector before it was stolen by a deranged wizard named Keraptis and entombed within the dungeons of White Plume Mountain. The sword is far older than most realize, however, and planar scholars have traced its origin to the swirling whirlpool on Porphatys.

Was it forged in the whirlpool’s heart? Most that lend credence to the stories believe the molten blade was quenched on Porphatys, and the suffusion of such power created the whirlpool that now moves endlessly towards an inky black center. Escaping Blackrazor’s Rest is a challenge for any, especially with the scarlet snowstorm that rages all around it, but its center is a bit of a mystery. Some say that a powerful pulse of negative energy sits at the center, churning the waters, which would explain the slow drain of life essence for any living creature that finds itself caught in the waves.

Many planar scholars believe Blackrazor can only be destroyed in this dark disturbance on Porphatys, but so far none have captured the willful sword and trekked to Carceri to find out. Adventurers and swordmasters who have wielded the powerful artifact and questioned the intelligence within have gained no insight beyond an extreme desire by Blackrazor to not get dragged into Carceri.

Blood Orchid Vale

The jungles of Cathrys are dangerous to say the least, but truly some wonderous sight lay hidden behind the acid rot of the scarlet domain. Blood Orchid Vale is one such place, nestled in a low mountain range and filled with enormous flowers that give the area its name. It is also home to the dryad queen Thymea who tends the valley with a host of servants.

Thymea is a prisoner of Cathrys but was once a powerful guardian of Arborea. She pushed against the advances of Olympus long ago, believing the trees and woodlands of the plane deserved more respect than the gods granted, and for her transgression Thymea was cast into Carceri. She ended up on Cathrys and through careful administration built a new home for herself and her minions, but the insidious treacherous nature of the plane wormed its way into her mind. What was once a noble defender of the forested realms has become an isolated bitter creature determined to punish any who step foot into her sacred valley.

Which has been many since rumors of the fabled blood orchids that grow there have spread. Some say they have mystical healing properties, and that they can even restore life to the dead, while others claim the sweet nectar can be distilled into a particularly potent poison. Sinmaker, the glabrezu demon that runs the Apothecary of Sin, has a standing bounty for anyone who can return a blood orchid flower to him, but to date none have succeeded. Thymea is jealous and has twisted the natural vegetation of the valley to her isolated whims. Trespassers have faced black-barked treants, twisted blights, and blood-hungry shambling mounds.

Canyon of the Carrion King

In a particularly deep crevasse on Colothys, Carceri’s mountains orb layer, the screeches of vultures and crows echo for hundreds of miles. Here, in the Canyon of the Carrion King, the scavengers pick flesh from bones and hunt for fresh meat to satiate the inestimable appetite of their master. The Carrion King is an enormous, grossly obese vrock that hides in the shadows of its canyon, sending out minions to do its bidding and searching for a way out of Carceri.

The Carrion King was an agent of Demogorgon on the Abyss, serving faithfully in the Blood War, when a chance opportunity arose for the ambitious vrock to usurp a more powerful rival. The plan went awry, however, and the favored rival pleaded with Demogorgon to treat the vrock as harshly as possible. Death was too quick an escape so the demon lord cast it into Carceri to live until it grew strong enough to fly out of the prison plane. Now calling itself the Carrion King, the vrock decided the only way to grow strong enough was to grow as large as possible.

It cajoled and magically enchanted the monsters of Colothys to do its bidding, and eventually it attracted the attention of the hatemonger vultures that wing through Carceri’s darkened skies. The monsters fell under the Carrion King’s sway almost instantly, and soon the vrock began to gorge itself on the offered feast. Its wings grew strong and large and it tried to fly out several times, but the pull of the prison plane kept it from escaping. So the Carrion King dug down deep into its canyon and commanded its minions to keep bringing it food.

Now, the Carrion King is likely too large to even fly or even escape its canyon without great difficulty. The prize of escape remains the light that keeps the engorged vrock going on its path of gluttonous glory, however.

Chains of the Worldscourge

Many ancient and powerful creatures have been cast into Carceri to keep them from causing greater harm to the multiverse. One of these monsters is the Worldscourge, but most would be surprised to learn that it was the angelic warmasters of Mount Celestia that birthed the worm-like horror originally. It was supposed to be a super weapon meant to end the Blood War, or at least curtail it, and the Worldscourge was created as a hollow worm capable of eating pure evil.

Unfortunately, while their intentions were good, the end result was a horror borne of hate, fear, and pure malevolence. The Worldscourge proved too much for the celestials to handle, and thus it was decided to banish the living weapon to Carceri forever. The mindless engine of destruction proved too much for even Carceri’s wards, however, and the angelic smiths of Mount Celestia forged gold and silver chains to bind the Worldscourge to the Tarterian Depths.

The chains were deployed, but the Worldscourge had already sunk deep tendrils into Carceri’s depths. The chains wrapped around it and kept it bound to the plane, but its form defies logic and reason, stretching across Othrys, Cathrys, and Minethys in a twisting river-like stretch. Occasionally, a link in the chains of the Worldscourge emerges from the swamp, jungle, or red sands, and some foolish demodands and other creatures have chipped away at sections hoping to break free the terrible weapon. Few realize what such an action would unleash, however, and the chains have thus far held up to tampering.

Citadel of the Reaper

The Citadel of the Reaper is the only structure known to exist on the surface of Agathys, the deep dark heart of Carceri. It is a black stone tower rising from a bowl-like depression on the frozen orb, and its walls are filled with the frozen faces of the dead. Those few brave explorers who have tread the darkened halls have heard the muttering of those frozen dead and experienced the cold shiver of wraith-like monsters that move silently in the shadows.

Most agree that this mysterious citadel was or is the home to a powerful deity of death and cold, but whatever master built it seems to pay little heed to it now. The deck of many things, known throughout the multiverse for its capricious nature, is the only known tie to the citadel. One of the cards summons a vestige of Death, and those killed by this specter are imprisoned forever in the walls of the Citadel of the Reaper. Is the master of the citadel linked to the existence of the deck of magical cards?

Several black-hearted necromancers and other masters of the undead have sought out the Citadel of the Reaper in an effort to glean sorcerous secrets from its shadow-haunted halls. Rumors persist of a library within the citadel wherein hide necromantic arcane formulae lost to the multiverse. Sharrla of the Shroud, a necromancer from the planar city of Ravnica, is one of the few known to have stepped foot in the citadel and returned. She was changed from the experience but Sharrla maintains that the treasures she gained from her experience were worth the price she had to pay.

Eyes of Shadow

The darkness between the orbs of Carceri is not an empty void, though it certainly appears so at first blush. Monstrous predatory leviathans known as skyswimmers, blacker than night, skim through the inky regions seeking out fresh prey to hunt and devour, and a great number of shadow monsters lurk in the space between the orbs as well. These particular denizens are always found near pools of midnight in the sky known as Eyes of Shadow. It has been theorized these large expanses of life-draining darkness are planar “leaks” from the Plane of Shadow, though none have thus far been able to use them to travel to that realm from Carceri. Nonetheless, the Eyes of Shadow are surrounded by shadows and wraiths that hunger for the sweet life of the living. The skyswimmers avoid the pools floating in the darkness though the undead horrors birthed from these locations seem to pay the huge leviathans little mind.

A few prisoners of Carceri that make a habit of traveling between the orbs claim a voice can be heard from within an Eye of Shadow, a soft seductive voice promising escape and freedom from the utter misery that is life in the Tarterian Depths. Those that follow the voice become lost in the shadow, consumed by the darkness utterly, losing their soul in the process to the great hunger that dwells mysteriously inside each Eye of Shadow. Are they all vestiges of one entity, perhaps an imprisoned deity of shadow and twilight? Or are they each individuals, manifestations of some distant or older realm?

Garden of Malice

Most of Cathrys is wild, overgrown scarlet jungle and vast plains of red-tinged grass. Like much of Carceri it gives the impression of an untended wilderness, but for travelers that stumble upon the Garden of Malice, that wildness is replaced by order and well-maintained flora amidst blooming flowers of all kinds. It is not a peaceful region, however, as great tigers dripping acid from their fangs stalk the paths and manicured bushes, all under the guidance of the garden’s master, the imprisoned rakshasa Rameyos.

Rameyos is as cruel and manipulative as all of his kind, and he angered the wrong devil lord in a risky gambit in the past. That misstep sentenced him to a lifetime in Carceri where Rameyos has decided to make the most out of his situation. The rakshasa always possessed a surprising affinity for plants so he took an instant liking to Cathrys. Over the years, he carved out the Garden of Malice from the surrounding wilderness, bending the very land to his whim, and he learned to speak with the savage tiger-like monsters that stalked the scarlet jungle. Eventually, Rameyos’ sanctuary flourished under his patient guidance and pruning, and in that time he learned much about the special plants that grow only on Cathrys.

Rameyos still has a keen interest in escaping Carceri, but for now he has contented himself with growing specialty plants for the poisoner Sinmaker in the Apothecary of Sin. The two exiled fiends have formed a partnership, with Rameyos supplying the raw ingredients for many potent poisons, and Sinmaker giving the rakshasa first refusal rights on the magical items given in trade for the demon’s lethal concoctions.

Illmoor, City of Pillars

The red sands of Minethys move and shift with an almost primordial intelligence, all to the whims of no discernible weather or effect. They create sandwaves out of nothing, burying and revealing secrets on the countless orbs that span the layer, and thus it was when the great blue dragon Chaydarren stumbled upon a series of buried pillars rising from the newly uncovered scarlet sand pit. Curious, and with nothing else pressing considering his imprisonment in Carceri, Chaydarren investigated, finding the lost remains of Illmoor, City of Pillars.

Since then, the blue dragon has become obsessed with unlocking the secrets of Illmoor. The city itself boasted hundreds upon hundreds of magnificent pillars, each carved with intricate sigils and runes of arcane mystery. Some of them Chaydarren has been able to translate, and in the process he has learned that the city boasted a magical academy that lifted up the citizens to profound heights of opulence and wonder. What Illmoor did to become cast into the red sands of Minethys is still unknown, but Chaydarren has already learned a great number of new and powerful magical secrets to make him a force to be reckoned with.

The blue dragon is not the only one interested in the ruins of Illmoor. All around the site, black-bandaged mummies rise up from the scarlet sands to fight against any who tread the city’s ancient pavilions and causeways. Chaydarren believes these to be Illmoor’s original inhabitants, cursed to protect the city against all invaders by the same power that banished them all to Carceri, and the undead have proved to be quite a nuisance. Chaydarren has come to believe these dark guardians are under the guidance of some larger intelligence as they move with surprising tactics and always seem to know where the blue dragon is going to working next.

Word of Illmoor’s discovery is beginning to leak out across the multiverse, and several expeditions of adventurers and arcanists have been spotted by Chaydarren in recent years. Most of those fall prey to the black-robed mummies but the blue dragon has had to personally deal with a few himself. Illmoor’s secrets are Chaydarren’s to unlock and hold, and he jealously guards the site against any he views as invaders.

Mount Othrys

The first slop of Mount Othrys rises up from a jumble of boulders within a dismal swamp on an orb in Carceri’s first layer. It stretches up into the black gulf to touch a neighboring peak on the adjacent orb, and the two miles-high tall mountains form the whole of Mount Othrys, the mountain with two peaks. This is the home of Cronus, the greatest of the fallen titans, and his foul mood creates a perpetual storm of gloom and fierce red lightning around the entire region.

The few beings that have come to Mount Othrys have been invited by Cronus for various reasons. The mountain slope is treacherous and steep, but inside is a honeycomb of tunnels and rough stairs that serve as Cronus’ personal lair. The point where the two mountains rise up and touch is the throne room of the fallen titan, a grand if gloomy chamber where Cronus sits and broods for most of his days. There are no other fallen titans that dwell within Mount Othrys, but Cronus is attended to by various ogres, trolls, and other foul-minded creatures that serve the great titan with a zealous fervor.

There are rumors of treasure vaults inside of Mount Othrys where Cronus has hidden away the great magical artifacts of his previous days on Arborea. The banishment curse that keeps him and his fellow titans on Carceri prevents Cronus from using these items so he and his home have become unwilling guardians of these great treasures. However, Cronus has been known to bargain with outsiders from time to time, always seeking a means of permanent escape, and has used several of these powerful items as potential rewards. Most planar scholars believe that none of the treasured items have been released from Mount Othrys to date, especially considering Cronus still remains imprisoned on Carceri.

Sand Tombs of Payratheon

One of the better known secrets of Minethys are the remnants of Payratheon, a site filled with tombs and sarcophagi buried beneath the scarlet sands. Treasure hunters and adventure seekers have found that the shifting sands of Minethys only reveal Payratheon for about an hour at a time, but in that time great relics have been found interred with the dead.

Unfortunately, treasure is not the only thing to be found in the sand tombs of Payratheon. Monstrously powerful creatures that resemble gorgons swimming through the red sands perpetually stalk the dunes around the site. No one knows if these are intentional guardians or just opportunistic predators, but the result is the same. They chase down visitors to the area and seem to especially enjoy surprising foes that have burrowed into the sandy waste in search of Payratheon’s secrets before the shifting sands reveal them naturally.

Some of the items found in the sand tombs suggest the area is the final resting place of a great religion dedicated to a long-lost god. Magical scarabs and unusually curved blades have all been pulled from Payratheon, but more than a few of these seem to bear an unusual curse on their bearers. At least one adventurer had their body liquified from the inside by a boiling black ooze after claiming a gem-encrusted scarab ornament as their own, and several others have been haunted by visions of jackal-headed demons in the night before relinquishing their claim on uncovered treasure.

Sepulcher of Screams

On one of the more forlorn orbs of Colothys, the endless echoes carry a chilling but mournful scream that can be heard everywhere and continually. This is the cry of Clothra, a banshee queen interred within a deep valley, in a forbidding place known as the Sepulcher of Screams. Clothra’s scream is lethal at a larger range than normal due to Colothys’ unique echoing nature, and she never lets up the cry to keep outsiders away from her final resting place.

Clothra’s story is not well understood. References in ancient libraries say she was a banshee queen on the Material Plane, cursing the living after her life as an elven princess had been stolen away by the fiendish drow elves. She clung to unlife, haunting the once beautiful palace that was her home, before being offered a chance at redemption by a kind group of priests. Clothra’s rage could not be stilled, however, and she betrayed the priests, and in that moment a divine eye saw the betrayal and hurled the banshee queen into Colothys forever.

The Sepulcher of Screams that serves as her forever home is littered with reminders of her days as a living elven princess, and the nature of her curse forbids her from removing any of it. It is simply there to remind Clothra of her betrayal of the only people who gave chance to help her overcome the original rage that brought upon her unlife. She is unreasonable, hateful, and furious at being imprisoned on Colothys, and so she wails constantly from the Sepulcher’s deep mountains location.

Ship of One Hundred

The shallow seas of Porphatys, like the other layers of Carceri, hold secrets aplenty, many dangerous or lethal to the foolhardy. The mysterious vessel known as the Ship of One Hundred is one such secret. It is a massive bone-white ship without crew or sailors, yet it winds through the snow-laden seas of Porpathys with expert skill, avoiding sandbars, rocky islands, and other obstacles that may sink it or cause it to run aground.

The only cargo aboard this mysterious ship are one hundred stone sarcophagi in the lowest hold. They are unmarked, bearing no writings or sigils of any kind, but all who have opened one have met with a grisly fate by some unseen force aboard the vessel within an hour. Is the ship powered by the imprisoned souls within the sarcophagi? Or is it their prison as others have surmised? Like much of Carceri, divine guidance offers no insight into the truth behind the Ship of One Hundred.

However, that doesn’t mean the ship is uninhabited. The lost and forgotten that populate Porphatys have found that, as long as they leave the sarcophagi alone, they can move about the ship unmolested by spirits or evil forces. The ship never stops for long in any one location, and it can transport itself between the orbs through the summoning of a thick fog. Some residents of Porphatys have taken to living on the darkly mysterious ship, which seems to hold more room than a normal ship of its size would suggest, but just as many passengers are along for only a short ride, knowing ultimately that there is no safety among the scarlet snows of Porphatys – or indeed anywhere on Carceri.