Windswept Depths of Pandemonium

Oppressive darkness, howling winds, and the threat of madness lurkin the maze of tunnels that make up the Windswept Depths of Pandemonium. Pandemonium, at the intersection of chaos and evil on the Great While, is similar in many ways to the Plane of Earth in the Inner Planes. Both are comprised largely of solid stone, with cavernous pockets and twisting tunnels cutting through the rock.

However, while the Plane of Earth has little natural light and still air, Pandemonium is filled with cacophonous winds and pitch blackness. No natural light exists in the Windswept Depths, and the driving wind snuffs out torches with ease – even magical light is dimmed and unreliable as some latent property of the plane inhibits all illumination.

The winds of Pandemonium are more than gentle breezes. They howl like a living thing, careening down and around through tunnels made smooth by the constant force of driving windstorm-strength gales. Talking and hearing are difficult anywhere on the plane, and the oppressive darkness makes vision unreliable as well. Every natural element of Pandemonium seems custom designed to isolate creatures and leave them feeling powerless and alone.

Madness is a constant threat on the plane, a madness driven by the constant howling of the wind, the chill air, and the sense of isolation brought on by the makeup of Pandemonium. Native creatures to the plane are usually deaf and blind, relying on supernatural or heightened senses to find prey, and demons are often found lurking in the darkness.

It is no wonder that Pandemonium is least populated of all the Outer Planes. There are only a few scattered points of civilization, and most of these are filled with desperate, huddled beings gone to madness from the nature of the plane. The largest population of people refer to themselves as the Banished, and they are the only native sentient beings. Humanoids of all types are found among their numbers and they share a simple trait – they have embraced the madness of Pandemonium. They are dangerous, disorganized, and unhinged, but they do know the tunnels better than any other.

Monsters of all types prowl in the darkness. These include the gloomgaunt, loathsome bat creatures at one with the shadows, and the giant olms, toxic albino salamanders always on the lookout for fresh meat. Cave goats, giant blind star slugs, and fearsome monstrous insects all crawl in the darkness as well. The River Styx winds through the upper layer of Pandemonium on its tour of the Lower Planes, and many monsters hide in the waters, knowing that the river provides regular traffic into the otherwise desloate tunnels.

Pandemonium also hides dark and terrible secrets in its depths. The planar walls between the Outer Planes and the dangerous Far Realm are thinnest here, and many planar scholars point to the Far Realm as the source of Pandemonium’s wind and madness. Enormous creatures born of titanic nightmares ooze through the lower tunnels of Pandemonium’s depths, ancient entities from lost epochs beyond time and space. Some caves are filled with ruins of lost cities reminiscent of those found in the Plane of Ice belonging to the alien elder things, but in the Windswept Depths their ancient creations still roam the darkness.

Safety and comfort are nowhere to be found in Pandemonium, and travelers that let down their guard in the Windswept Depths invite madness and death. Nonetheless, there are treasures and wonders to be found across the cavernous layers. Exiled from the Plane of Faerie, the Queen of Air and Darkness rules from the Unseelie Court in a realm that offers far more insidious threats than the howling wind. Idols and obelisks dedicated to loathsome Far Realm entities can be found in far-removed places, offering hints to greater blasphemies just outside the planar borders that threaten more than just the miserable lives on Pandemonium. Cursed black diamonds, though rare and powerful, can be found under the right conditions in the darkest tunnels.

Powerful & Mighty

The darkness and isolation of the Windswept Depths of Pandemonium means there are very few natural resources to covet or fight over. The creatures and groups that have rose to prominence in such a desolate plane are the exiled, the imprisoned, and above all else, the insane. Travelers are advised to deal cautiously with any of them.

• Auril (Toril)
• Diirinka (derro)
• Gorellik (gnoll)
• Ho Masubi (Japenese)
• Hruggek (bugbear)
• Loki (also Ysgard)
• Queen of Air and Darkness (fairy)
• Talos (Toril)
• Zeboim (Krynn)

The Banished

Despite the overall lack of habitation, Pandemonium does have native sentient inhabitants. They are descended from the first groups exiled to the Windswept Depths, and planar scholars refer to them as the Banished. They are not a large group, existing mostly in the communities of Madhouse on Pandesmos and Windglum on Phlegethon, and their mannerisms, customs, appearance, and beliefs vary wildly. Humans, elves, dwarves, tieflings, goblins, genasi, kenku, and many others are counted among the Banished, living together in very small groups within their cramped cities in the caves of Pandemonium.

The unifying factor among the Banished is a deeply etched madness imprinted on their very souls. They are wildly unpredictable and dangerous, with many displaying psychotic and paranoid tendencies that alienate family and outsiders alike. They are deeply distrustful of leadership figures, so the populations of Madhouse and Windglum recognize no authority and there is no central government or force to speak of. The Banished work independently, live independently, and deal with their own problems, ignoring the plight of anyone outside their immediate family.

Despite these shortcomings, most of the Banished can trace their ancestry back generations, and they are good at hoarding information. Many of them have gone out into the tunnels of Pandemonium on errands, quests, or simple walkabouts, and while some never return the ones that do keep records of what they’ve found and how to get to it. Perhaps due to their underlying madness, the howling winds that drive travelers insane seem not to affect the Banished, so they make useful guides. If they can be convinced to help, that is.

Ibholtheg the Squamous Toad

The barrier between the Far Realm and Pandemonium is dangerously thin, especially in the strange worked stone ruins of Cocytus. Nonetheless, it seems most of the greater Far Realm powers are confined to that distant plane – terribly alien beings such as Yog-Sothoth, Azathoth, and Nyarlathotep, names only whispered by maddened sages, degenerate philosophers, and deranged cultists. A few of their servitors have managed to cross, and arguably the most successful of these is Iboltheg, a horrendous monster also known as the Squamous Toad.

Ibholtheg pierced the planar veil separating the Far Realm and entered Pandemonium generations ago. It established a worshipper base among the Banished and brought forth many monstrous allies, such as the gloomgaunt and blind croakers that now roam Pandemonium’s tunnels. Idols still stand in caves honoring the god-like loathsome monster, but Ibholtheg itself was cast to an airless vacuum in Agathion by a group of powerful planar wizards who recognized the threat posed by the Squamous Toad.

Now, Iboltheg sits in the vacuum, largely cut off from its creations and worshippers, and the cult of the Squamous Toad has nearly collapsed. For those that seek it out, however, there are certain places holding idols of Iboltheg where the Squamous Toad’s croaking whisper can still be heard. Its alien mind seems bent on opening the barrier fully to the Far Realm to release its loathsome kin, and thankfully to date its machinations have been thwarted. But for how long?

Master of the Dire Dirges

To some, the howling winds of Pandemonium are more than just shrieks and gusts in empty tunnels. Among the Banished in the settlements of Madhouse and Windglum, there are some who hear music within the piping winds. They are referred to as dire dirgists, and most respectable bardic colleges view them as unhinged lunatics, but they follow the teachings of an ancient bard known only as the Master of the Dire Dirges.

The Master of the Dire Dirges was the first to discover music within the winds of Pandemonium hundreds of years ago. He followed the music, sounds only he could hear, and traveled the caves and tunnels outside the small settlements on a pilgrimage in search of the music’s source. He returned years later changed, and claimed he had found the symphony of Pandemonium. The Master of Dirges had returned as an undead lich with bardic skills, and he stayed in Madhouse for years, teaching disciples how to listen for and harness the winds of the plane. His music was referred to as the dire dirge and he wrote much of it down in a nearly incomprehensible tome called the Funeral’s Lament.

Then, one day, the Master of the Dire Dirges disappeared. He’s left a legacy of maniac bards in Madhouse who work to spread the music of the dire dirge across the multiverse, and copies of the lich-bard’s Funeral’s Lament have circulated among respected bardic colleges. Most view the theories as total nonsense, but to some, it has been a key to unlocking great potential. As an immortal undead, the Master of the Dire Dirges is likely still out there somewhere. But where? And what forced him to leave Madhouse?

Queen of Air and Darkness

The Plane of Faerie is largely ruled by powerful archfey beings of incredible age and importance. They are as different from one another as the seasons, and the courts they hold in their magnificent cities are both wondrous and dangerous to behold. Queen Titania sits at the head of the Court of Summer, and it was by her decision the other faerie courts came together to banish one among them from the Plane of Faerie forever. In this way, the Queen of Air and Darkness, a twisted and cunning faerie ruler, was cast out and sent to Pandemonium.

She rules the Gloaming Court in a massive cave on Pandesmos, and by her will the winds blow or do not inside her realm’s borders. The Queen is attended by thousands of groveling subjects, including a great number of fomorians who have defected from the Plane of Faerie in service to the Gloaming Court. Wicked sprites of all kind keep tabs on the events in the Feywild, spying and reporting on the actions of the other archfey courts. For her own part, the Queen of Air and Darkness still longs to return to her original home, and many of her diabolical schemes are designed to get enough of the archfey courts on her side to make a comeback.

Few people have seen the Queen of Air and Darkness in person. Her most loyal servants and confidants are twisted shadows of herself, powerful in their own right, which she can communicate through at will. The sycophants and petty nobles that occupy the Gloaming Court fight amongst themselves for scraps of respect and words of notice from their aloof Queen, but she finds their infighting keeps them sharp and only takes note of a noble or family when they become too important for their own good. It is a dangerous world where the madness of Pandemonium is the least threatening of all the problems.

Shorgrallis the Devourer

Not all the inhabitants of Pandemonium are exiled. Shorgrallis the Devourer is an ancient black dragon with an unhealthy obsession with the lich Acererak, a powerfully evil being devoted to the consummation of souls from across the multiverse. Shorgrallis seeks to harness the same power, and while she respects the ancient lich’s prowess, she believes it is her destiny to surpass his legacy and become one with the negative necrotic energy that fuels all undead beings.

Shorgrallis remains a living black dragon, however. She has spent her life gathering knowledge about the Negative Energy Plane and stealing from Acererak’s secret hiding places. In a black chasm known as the Fetid Fissure, Shorgrallis devotes her time and energy to experimenting with death and the idea of a creature’s living soul. She took the title Devourer out of both respect and defiance to Acererak, a split reason that reflects the black dragon’s fracture psyche and unstable mental condition.

Shorgrallis has toyed with the idea of becoming a dracolich, but her natural incredibly long lifespan means she can enjoy the fruits of life longer without having to resort to bodily transformation into undeath. Within the Fetid Fissure, she tinkers with magical formula, working on a device to capture the souls of those that have died to fuel her manic desire for total control over life and death. She was inspired by Acererak’s work in the Material Plane with the Soulmonger and seeks to create a similar device. Thankfully, her efforts thus far have proven to be failures, but Shorgrallis is nothing if not stubborn and tenacious.

Creatures & Denizens

The things that lurk in the darkness of Pandemonium’s endless tunnels and wind-filled caverns are dangerous predators well-adapted to their unique environment. Many of these are beasts, exaggerated from their Material Plane counterparts but largely recognizable, but more than a few defy easy categorization. Things have pushed through from the Far Realm into Pandemonium to slither, croak, crawl, and ooze, and they seem to hunger for life itself.

Aberrations

The depths of Pandemonium are filled with horrible monsters that defy easy categorization. Many originate from holes in the plane that lead to the Far Realm, a place of utter madness and malevolent chaos, and these form the worst of the things that crawl and slither in the dark tunnels. Blind croakers hop on their grotesque parody of toad legs, serving cults of Ibholtheg and working to free their imprisoned master, while shoggoths are one of the most dangerous abominations in the multiverse.

Gloomgaunts are cowardly eldritch beings that travel in great packs amongst the elder ruins found on Cocytus, the second layer of Pandemonium, and mad slashers are strange whirling creatures capable of inflicting great damage with their claws while they hunt for fresh blood in the tunnels. The insect-like phargion roll around within their hard carapaces like great wheels, stopping only to cut victims before rolling away again. Star slugs attach themselves to vessels on the River Styx and use sticky goop to ensnare prey so that they can dissolve victims in their vast stomachs.

Beasts

A handful of unusual beasts have adapted to the howling winds of Pandemonium. Most notably, cave goats who can spray freezing black ice at opponents and coat their territories with the slick stuff to protect themselves and their young. Olms are lizards found all over the caves and tunnels, and the giant olms serve as mounts for those mad or foolish enough to live in Pandemonium. Other creatures in the tunnels include a staggering variety of spiders and insects, most of which prey on lost travelers and each other for their meals.

Fiends

Almost any fiend can be found in the depths of Pandemonium, especially in areas that draw travelers, such as Howler’s Crag. Devils, demons, and yugoloths all traffic in the dark markets of Windglum and Madhouse as well, and some even find the maddening winds of the plane soothing. The most common fiend is one of the native species of Pandemonium, howlers, whose mind-breaking howl inspires fear amongst even the bravest of travelers. Great packs of them scour the tunnels looking for fresh meat, and they serve as effective hunting dogs for fiend lords across the Lower Planes.

Humanoids

Anyone who chooses to live on Pandemonium is probably mad to begin with, and the driving wind and deep-seated madness is enough to push the rest over the edge into insanity. Each inhabitant experiences the madness of Pandemonium differently, but it persists for as long as they stay there. The towns of Madhouse and Windglum are populated by many types of humanoids from all across the multiverse – some are seeking something, while others are running away. Innocent is a word rarely used to describe anyone in these forlorn isolated towns, clinging to caves in the everlasting darkness.

Kenku. Long ago, kenku were servants of a greater power on another plane. Certain texts suggest they were scouts for the Wind Dukes of Aaqa on the Plane of Air, but regardless of their true identity, the kenku eventually betrayed their masters and punished. Their punishment removed their wings and stripped them of their creativity and voices, and they scattered across the planes. Many found Pandemonium and settled there in isolated flocks, where they learned to mimic the sound of the howling winds in order to communicate effectively with each other. Many kenku flocks now live in the caves of Pandemonium, serving as secret spymasters and assassins, rarely seen or heard, but keeping a constant eye on the events around them in order to take advantage of any perceived weakness.

Hazards & Phenomena

The most striking feature of Pandemonium is its namesake – the wild, howling wind that creates a complete uproar of sound. The wind is dangerous and omnipresent, but there are other dangers to assail travelers as well. Unprepared visitors often end up gibbering in the tunnels, awaiting a swift death from the monstrous denizens that prowl the tunnels.

Cacophonous Wind

The wind in Pandemonium is incredibly loud. The sound is more than just the howling zephyrs whipping through narrow tunnels, however. Tricks of the rock take voices, growls, and other sounds from all over the plane and toss them together in a wild, cacophonous vortex that is dispersed on the wind as easily as leaf.

The most immediate effect is that creatures must shout to be heard if they are within 30 feet, and all Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on hearing suffer disadvantage within that range. Beyond 30 feet creatures are considered deafened. Spells or effects that inflict thunder damage only inflict half normal damage. In addition, finishing a long rest doesn’t reduce a creature’s exhaustion level unless the creature can somehow escape the winds. Ranged attacks suffer disadvantage.

Madness

Beyond the winds, Pandemonium inflicts madness upon visitors that quickly becomes debilitating. At the end of every short or long rest on the plane, non-native creatures must make a DC 14 Intelligence saving throw. On a failure, the creature gains a level of exhaustion, but they can only gain one level of exhaustion from this effect.

Creatures that suffer from at least one level of exhaustion while taking a long rest on Pandemonium must roll 4d6. If the total of the roll is equal to or greater than their Intelligence score, they gain a random indefinite madness from the following table.

This madness lasts until cured (as described in Chapter 8 of the Dungeon Master’s Guide), but it cannot be cured while the victim is on Pandemonium.

Oppressive Darkness

Darkness in Pandemonium is a black, consuming presence that creates a claustrophobic atmosphere in the already cramped tunnels and caves. Coupled with the wind, unprotected torches get blown out in one round after being lit, and even protected lanterns only last 1 minute before eventually being snuffed out. All light sources, regardless of source, are only half as effective on Pandemonium, and the darkness eventually consumes magical light as well. Usually these light sources extinguish at the worst possible moment for a group of travelers.

Pandemonium Windstorm

Windstorms are a constant threat on all layers of Pandemonium, except for Agathion with its sealed caves. A windstorm can appear suddenly without warning, causing untold damage in an area, before dying down just as quickly. A typical Pandemonium windstorm lasts for 1d10 rounds with variable effects; roll on the below table to determine the exact threat posed by a particular windstorm. Rarely, a storm changes effects each round, known as a wild windstorm by the natives.

The area affected by the windstorm is normally confined to a cave, but it can spread as far out as the DM needs.

Pandesmos Spider Climbing

The top layer of Pandemonium, Pandesmos, has an unusual effect on gravity. Any creature with a walking speed is able to walk along the walls and ceiling of the caves and tunnels without having to make an ability check. It has been observed that in some larger caves, it’s possible to hang suspended in the absolute center, but this situations are rare. Normally objects and creatures fall towards the closest surface, meaning it’s possible to jump up and land on the ceiling in some areas. The effect extends to buildings and natural features as well. The River Styx meanders through wide tunnels, moving up along walls and over ceilings, and some neighborhoods of Madhouse are on the ceiling of its cavern.

Sites & Treasures

Pandemonium is the home of the desperate and exiled, and while it remains one of the least inhabited planes in the multiverse, it still holds fascinating sites and treasures to entice travelers. Most of these exist in isolated pockets, requiring careful navigation to find – or blind luck.

Black Diamonds

Some of the rugged tunnels of Pandemonium’s third layer, Phlegethon, hold unusual veins of black crystals. Exposed to the howling winds, they are worn down over time, and rarely they produce a powerful item known simply as a black diamond. A black diamond ranges in size, but it is always absolute black and cold to the touch. It absorbs light in a similar manner to the consuming darkness of Pandemonium, and it corrupts those that hold it, inflicting them with a permanent madness that quickly descends into chaos and depravity.

The larges black diamond is known to be in the possession of the Queen of Air and Darkness in the Gloaming Court. It is widely believed that the object formed the crux of her fall from the Plane of Faerie and the courts of the archfey, or at least it was the catalyst the propelled her rapid descent. It also explains why she moved her Gloaming Court to Pandemonium in the first place. She has teams of dark faeries hunting for black diamonds at all times, and they have strict orders to return them to her personal palace if found.

The Queen of Air and Darkness then uses the black diamonds in her never-ending efforts to tear down Queen Titania’s Court of Summer in a blaze of fiery ruin and destruction. She uses spies to place the dangerous items in the Plane of Faerie and across the multiverse, delighting in the corruption they spread.

Blizzard Halls

The wind blows cold and frozen in the Blizzard Halls, a series of connected caves in a remote region of Pandesmos. Snow, ice, and wind billow around in the darkness of the caves, several of which measure more than a mile across, and the resulting drifts tower hundreds of feet tall. Several clans of deranged frost giants roam the Blizzard Halls along with their winter wolf pets, and they pay homage to a dark master known only as the Trickster.

The Trickster is said to have an invisible castle somewhere in the Blizzard Halls, and it is by its will the cold winds blow and the snowstorms rage. The frost giants hunt beasts that stumble into their territory, eating the meat raw and frozen, while mumbling to themselves about the whims and wiles of the Trickster. They believe anyone could be the Trickster in disguise, so they are careful upon meeting new visitors, but they are a suspicious and violent lot prone to bouts of savage violence.

One of the caves in the Blizzard Halls holds the icicle tombs of the frost giants’ honored dead. Unfortunately, the dead don’t stay dead for long, and this region has become plagued by frost giant zombies hungering for fresh life of any kind. Is this the work of the Trickster, testing the frost giants? The frost giants certainly think so, and they are careful to not disturb the snowdrifts when interring their recently fallen in the blackened tombs.

Fetid Fissure

A rank, foul odor spreads out from a yawning black chasm in Phlegethon’s depths. This is the Fetid Fissure, a narrow gas-filled rent in the stone that extends for nearly a mile into the ground, and serves as the lair of the ancient black dragon Shorgrallis the Devourer. The great dragon’s influence over the area creates thick carpets of swamp moss clinging to the sides of the fissure, an otherwise unknown feature in Pandemonium. Cave entrances riddle the sides as well, allowing Shorgrallis easy access to nearly any location in her lair.

Inside the larger caves, Shorgrallis keeps her most prized possessions, many related to the demilich Acererak and his obsession with control over souls from across the multiverse. Bones from winterwights, rubies and diamonds supposedly pulled from Acererak’s physical form, and numerous other artifacts litter the rather modest hoard in the Fetid Fissure’s deepest core. This is also where Shorgrallis is building her own Soulmonger from a large black diamond she wrestled away from the Queen of Air and Darkness, an incident that has created bitter enemies between the two powerful figures in Phlegethon.

Shorgrallis has a legion of undead servants at her command as well, including flocks of skeletal griffons she acquired after a foray into the Material Plane. Few are more than rudimentary undead monsters, but her skill at necromancy grows as her obsession with harvesting souls increases.

Funeral’s Lament

Most people view copies of Funeral’s Lament as the mad ramblings of an unhinged bard gone too long in the Pandemonium winds. On a general theoretical level, it is a treatise on bardic magic designed to enchant, confuse, befuddle, and harness necrotic energy in a bard’s repertoire, but the esoteric prose, complex musical calculations, and general attitude regarding the futility of existence itself makes utilizing the knowledge difficult and disturbing for most. Copies have circulated around bardic colleges across the multiverse, with most appearing without proper cataloguing or inventorying – they simply appeared.

The original is supposedly contained somewhere in Madhouse, in the former residence of the Master of the Dire Dirges who penned the rambling tome. Many devotees of the dire dirge have sought out the original copy as it is rumored to contain darker secrets the master kept out of the other copies, including secret formulae regarding utilizing the intersection of bardic magic and necromancy to transform oneself into an undead lich.

Gibbering Tunnels

There are many strange sites in Pandemonium, but one of the most disturbing is located in a stretch of Cocytus known as the Gibbering Tunnels. The wind that whistles through this network of narrow tubes carries an incoherent babbling that grates on the nerves, but the most unsettling part are the walls, floors, and ceilings. Instead of hard rock, the surrounding stone is dough-like, and undulates with the sound of the wild gibbering.

The region spawns a great number of gibbering mouthers, though exactly how or why is perhaps best left unknown. The creatures seem capable of moving through the surrounding stone like it was thick mud, appearing and reappearing in the walls and floor at will, quivering with their incoherent gibbering all the while. There are sections of the tunnels where eyes and mouths spontaneously appear, shouting in the same babbling tongue as the gibbering mouthers, but capable of swallowing up people whole. Where do such victims go? None have returned from the journey to say, and the Banished know to stay away from the Gibbering Tunnels at all costs.

Gloaming Court

Crystalline lights twinkle in the cavern ceiling in the Gloaming Court, home of the Queen of Air and Darkness and her twisted fey servants. While initially reminiscent of stars, these crystals have a cold distant quality about them, and do nothing but heighten the darkness and isolation of Pandemonium. These crystals drain hope away as they serve as a physical reminder of the unattainable dream of all fey creatures in the queen’s exiled home.

Or at least that’s the desired effect. Beneath those crystalline lights, the Gloaming Court stretches out in the gloom. Sprites, nymphs, grigs, and many other types of fey, all twisted into cruel mockeries of their former selves, live in hatred and solitude under the gloating eye of the Queen of Air and Darkness. Fear, cruelty, and naked ambition run rampant through the faerie citizens in the Gloaming Court, heightened by their queen’s obsession with the destruction of the archfey courts in the Plane of Faerie.

The Gloaming Court itself is comprised of hundreds of stalactites and stalagmites that serve as the homes for the various fey residents. The Queen’s home is a palace of black marble nearly invisible in the darkness, but those that go to visit rarely return unchanged. Petrified forests dot stretches of the massive cavern as well along with rivers of liquid sludge (minor tributaries from the River Styx on the first layer). The Pandemonium wind howls just as strong through the Gloaming Court, but most of the fey residents have become inured to its effects. Or were simply insane to begin with.

Grotto of the Grinning Goblin

One particularly broad cave in Pandesmos holds a curious piece of statuary. On a raised dais in the center of this cave stands a 20-foot stone statue of a goblin, grinning from ear to ear, with a mischievous look on its rugged face. It is crudely carved with many out of proportion details, such as a wider head than normal and thick stumpy legs, but it’s likeness cannot be mistaken. No one knows who carved the statue or if it represents a petrified version of an oversized goblin enhanced with magic.

The Grinning Goblin serves as a landmark in the otherwise unremarkable wind-filled tunnels. It has also become the meeting point for a tribe of goblins who have stylized themselves as planar merchants. Known as the Grinning Goblin Company, these conniving, greedy merchants have worked out a strange system for buying and selling their wares, which range from the conventional to downright dangerous. Anyone that wishes to get in touch with them must get in touch with the Grinning Goblin statue – literally. Touching it and saying the name out loud summons a goblin merchant within one hour, usually laden down with a cart filled with rattling odds and ends.

The Grinning Goblin Company buys and sells all kinds of esoteric junk, and they come across many magical items in their travels. They’re always looking for bargains, however, so travelers looking to deal with them must be prepared to haggle against expert negotiators. But some of the things in their collection are rare treasures, and even if they don’t have a particular item, they’ll probably have information on how to get it. For the right price, of course.

Howler’s Crag

A jagged pile of stone sits at the center of Cocytus, though how an infinite plane could have a center is beyond the understanding of most travelers. The piled debris stands over 500 feet tall and consists of a mixture of natural rubble and worked stone blocks with no explanation for any of it. The rest of the cave that holds the pile shows no sign of destruction or having collapsed, giving rise to the belief that this was a fortress at some point. The lower reaches are riddled with tunnels and burrows, many connecting up to form a complex maze. Creatures of all types hide in those tunnels, from fiends to natural predators of Pandemonium, for this is Howler’s Crag and it attracts a large amount of traffic for an otherwise desolate realm.

It is said that anything shouted from the top of Howler’s Crag travels the length and breadth of the multiverse to find the ears of its intended recipient, no matter where they are or what barriers stand in the way. Even divine decrees can be violated by the shrieking winds of Howler’s Crag, or so the rumors go, and these rumors have fueled a steady trickle of travelers coming to test the theory. Monsters of all kinds have learned this and wait in ambush around the base of the crag, lurking in the darkness, waiting to ambush unsuspecting archeologists, sages, diviners, and others that come seeking to send a message on the frigid wind.

Idol of the Squamous Toad

The largest physical remnant of the imprisoned elder deity Ibholtheg squats in a distant tunnel on Cocytus, far removed from the most commonly traveled passages. This is the home of the Idol of the Squamous Toad, a great black stone representation of Ibholtheg itself. The positively blasphemous form is enormous, over 100 feet tall, and the exact form shifts subtlety under the gaze. Its general form is toad-like, with a broad flat head, oversized limbs, armored body, and five large eye sockets each set with a twinkling black sapphire of inestimable value. Blind croakers and gloomgaunts live in the shadow of the idol, trying desperately to release their master imprisoned in a vault in Agathion far below.

This idol is one of Ibholtheg’s only links to the world outside its stony prison. Through great effort it can reach out its mind to speak to its followers through the massive stone effigy. Its will is focused on escape, though the servants squawking and croaking in the cave have offered little to actual advance this goal. Cultists of Ibholtheg seek out the Idol of the Squamous Toad to offer sacrifices and hear the words of their master, but these degenerate priests offer little more than supplication. Ibholtheg yearns for freedom but the bonds of its prison remain firmly in place.

Smaller versions of the idol have circulated around the multiverse as the cult of the Squamous Toad spreads. They keep their allegiance secret for as long as possible for most civilized places view the insane goals of the cult as abhorrent and wholly unwanted. Is the cult destined to free Ibholtheg? Or is the Squamous Toad forever bound to its Agathion prison?

Madhouse

Madhouse serves as one of the few points of civilization on Pandemonium, but it is by no means a safe place for travelers to visit. The cramped streets and buildings of Madhouse crowd over one another along the walls, floor, and ceiling of the cavern that holds it, with no real reprieve from the howling winds that eventually drive everyone mad.

There is no singular organization to Madhouse, so each building exhibits unique architectural and design qualities designed only to satiate the builder’s appetite for applying order to chaos. Leaning towers, crumbling citadels, abandoned warehouses, and more line the crooked unpaved streets. Garbage and litter lay strewn about everywhere, constantly blowing about in the frigid winds, and everyone keeps a close eye on themselves, their neighbors, and especially any strangers come to visit.

A few taverns and inns cater to outsiders, but many residents are deaf, insane, or both, so trust should be earned in Madhouse before freely given out. Poison masters, trapsmiths, retired thieves, skilled assassins, burglars, and other larcenous types round out the population who otherwise mostly keep to themselves. No single authority rules Madhouse, though there have been attempts in the past to bring order to the town – these efforts seem doomed to fail at the outset, owing to the chaotic nature of Pandemonium and erratic behavior of the citizens.

Mindfire Sanitorium

Madness is a cruel affliction that wastes the mind and robs people of their faculty, a fact few dispute, and the priests known as the Order of the Holy Mind have made it their crusade to cure the multiverse of madness. They work across the planes in small hospitals and sanitoriums, but their largest efforts are focused on a special facility in Pandemonium called the Mindfire Sanitorium. The clerics believe they have created a haven safe from the madness-inducing winds of the plane.

Unfortunately, they were only partially successful. The Mindfire Sanitorium does keep most of the howling winds out, but unfortunately the madness of Pandemonium rages on victims inside just the same. The clerics have become infected with the madness as well, many resorting to terrible acts in their crusade to cure everyone, and the upper echelons of the Order of the Holy Mind remain oblivious to the insanity spreading among their very own ranks.

The Mindfire Sanitorium sits in a cave on Pandesmos not far from Madhouse. The stone walls are treated with a special luminescent power that makes the entire sprawling structure glow in the darkness, but for most that witness it the effect is more ominous than inspiring. The sanitorium is divided into wings with hundreds of rooms for the patients, and the clerics try to keep an ordered schedule of checkups, medicine, and divine magic. That’s the idea at least, and the reality is that most of the clerics in resident at the Mindfire Sanitorium have lost their divine abilities completely. The divine “magic” they perform is nothing more than prayers and chants dedicated to a host of gods ranging from the benevolent to downright cruel. This is a place of heartache, despair, and terror, and few people admitted every get released.

Ruins of Shothra

Pandemonium’s second layer, Cocytus, remains a befuddling mystery. Much of the layer contains passages, halls, and chambers of worked stone on an almost unbelievable scale, and there is evidence to suggest the titanic masonry was the result of Far Realm inhabitants pushing into the known multiverse. Very little remains of any definite proof outside of one remarkable site – a ruined city that has come to be known as Shothra.

The vast majority of Shothra’s remnants stand in an enormous conical cavern, like an upside down pyramid, all converging to a single point in the center that leads to an unknown infinite pool of blackness. Terraced steps, strange geometric buildings, and crumbled archways fill the surrounding bowl-like depression, with evidence of water-filled canals running through much of the ruins. The streets were once paved but time has eroded much to broken masonry, and many of the interior buildings are crushed shadows of their former selves.

Shoggoths are a constant threat in Shothra, and the uncovered murals in the city tell a confusing story about its origin. It was built by the shoggoths at the direction of alien creatures known as elder things, and Shothra served as one of their main points of habitation in the known multiverse after they came from the Far Realm. Another site in the Plane of Ice is referenced though the relationship between the two is unknown, and whatever befell the elder things remains a mystery as well. Perhaps the shoggoths rose up in rebellion to tear down the buildings they built with their protoplasmic hands, or perhaps the elder things had to flee suddenly, leaving their grotesque servants behind.

The piping winds of Pandemonium tear loudly through all of Shothra, and the madness that descends upon mortal travelers to the area is deeper and more insidious than elsewhere on the plane. Within the borders of the ruined elder thing city, the Madness effect of Pandemonium has no limit to the number of exhaustion levels it can inflict, and the DC to resist it rises to 20. What treasures remain in the ruined city, waiting to be uncovered?

Weeping Vault

The howling winds of Phlegethon are accompanied by a number of other sounds, such as dripping water and mournful wails, and near the Weeping Vault those sounds are reminiscent of hysterical sobbing. The Weeping Vault is a rare feature of Pandemonium – it was originally a sealed cave in Agathion before it was thrust suddenly and violently into Phlegethon, cracking it open and releasing its contents. The original vault was an enclosed in a steel box, and the shattered remnants of those walls mark the boundaries of the site now.

Inside was imprisoned a ghost of terrible power and reputation who threatened life on a grand scale. Centuries inside the vault on Agathion tempered its power but not its rage, and through some powerful ritual it was able to pull its prison out of the stony void and into Phlegethon. The walls split open and the torrent of rage from the imprisoned was released. However, by some cosmic power, that powerful creature’s former victims kept it from regaining its former glory by forming a wall of wailing, crying spirits.

Few have ventured past the crying ghosts that keep the perimeter of the Weeping Vault to find out what lay inside. Cultists of Ibholtheg, interested in freeing their master, have been the most interested in learning about how the Agathion prison was pushed to Phlegethon, but the ghostly guardians have proved troublesome to deal with. What dwells inside the Weeping Vault now? How long can the crying spirits keep dark forces inside and out?

Windglum

Suspicion and greed mark the inhabitants of Windglum, a city of Banished in a great pillared cavern in Phlegethon’s deep depths. Squat buildings surround the stony columns that support the ceiling, and the people live in isolation and fear. Fear from what? From one another, from the monsters that lurk in the tunnels, from the threat of the Far Realm, from cultists, but mainly fear from an authoritarian power called the Order of Lords that rules over Windglum. And in this case, the Order of Lords literally rules over the city – the Citadel of Lords is built from a connected series of fortifications built into the cavern’s ceiling.

The Order of Lords is a mysterious, masked group that largely take a hands-off approach to Windglum. They occasionally send their armored knights in black plate armor to patrol the city or crackdown on a particularly loud rabble-rouser, but for the most part these legions are devoted to protecting the interests of the Order of Lords. Their exact interests are vague, however, and few in the city have actually dealt directly with them. All manner of fiends and other creatures have been seen coming and going into and out of the Citadel of Lords though.

Goods and services can be found in Windglum at about twice going rate, or three times going rate for outsiders. They manufacture little and very few merchant companies make the journey through Pandemonium to reach the remote settlement. The ones that do deal directly with the Order of Lords who “confiscate” certain items before letting merchant caravans in to sell their stuff to the general stores and markets of Windglum.

Windglum does have one popular spot for planar travelers – the Scaly Dog Inn. It’s always been the spot the locals direct outsiders to, forcibly at times, and for a long time the Scaly Dog had a deserved reputation as a haven for rogues, thieves, murderers, and cutthroats. It is currently owned and operated by an exiled githyanki warrior named Gimcrack who has tried to turn the Scaly Dog’s reputation around and cater to the adventurers and travelers that come to Windglum ahead of expeditions deeper into Pandemonium. Gimcrack has worked to upgrade many of the inn’s amenities and it’s staffed with transients since the local population won’t have anything to do with it. Rumors persist that there’s a connection to the famous World Serpent Inn somewhere in the Scaly Dog and Gimcrack is determined to find it and exploit it. But it’s just a rumor so far.