Phlegethon
Ervenian Era, 1051 AB
Phlegethon, the third layer of the windswept and maddening plane of Pandemonium, also known as the Layer of Dark Waters, is an endless, echoing expanse of darkness and flooded caverns/ A place of isolation, paranoia, and submerged despair, it holds profound horrors beneath its black, freezing tides.
Portals to Phlegethon rarely stand in the open. They form in forgotten trenches beneath moonless oceans, in drowned ruins echoing with lament, or around still, subterranean lakes where grief itself festers. These gateways often require specific triggers: a solar eclipse, the shedding of tears over a personal loss, or the act of surrendering hope.
Phlegethon flows between the darker layers of Pandemonium and reaches into the Shadowfell Plane. Sometimes, tendrils of its water merge with the River Styx, forming secret channels to other Lower Planes. These rare intersections offer both escape and entrapment, often in the same breath.
The layer is said to be inhabited by large ferocious creatures such as albino cave wolves, giant crayfish, and enormous oozes. The Unseelie fey who inhabit the Court entirely focus their efforts into overthrowing the Seelie Court, also by judging whether captured visitors could prove useful to their cause. The Drowned are spectral remnants of lives consumed by grief. Bound to their watery prisons through unresolved regrets, they drift endlessly beneath the surface, whispering forgotten names and seeking the release that death failed to provide. Lurking in the depths are the Stygian Beasts: predatory horrors perfectly adapted to the plane’s frozen blackness. With sightless eyes and bone-piercing shrieks, they stalk the winding channels for the warmth of a lost soul, ever-hungry and cruel. Below even them lie the Waterlogged Fiends: once outsiders, now twisted by centuries immersed in Phlegethon’s cursed tides. Their bodies pulse with void-wrought chill, and their minds are husks clinging to only one desire: to consume the heat and sanity of others.
Rumors & Legends
Rumors existed of overgrown dragons making their lairs throughout the layer. They seem to be reinforced by the large bounties of treasure that adventurers sometimes stumbled upon while visiting the caverns.Inhabitants
Though sparsely populated, Phlegethon harbors denizens as haunting as the plane itself.The layer is said to be inhabited by large ferocious creatures such as albino cave wolves, giant crayfish, and enormous oozes. The Unseelie fey who inhabit the Court entirely focus their efforts into overthrowing the Seelie Court, also by judging whether captured visitors could prove useful to their cause. The Drowned are spectral remnants of lives consumed by grief. Bound to their watery prisons through unresolved regrets, they drift endlessly beneath the surface, whispering forgotten names and seeking the release that death failed to provide. Lurking in the depths are the Stygian Beasts: predatory horrors perfectly adapted to the plane’s frozen blackness. With sightless eyes and bone-piercing shrieks, they stalk the winding channels for the warmth of a lost soul, ever-hungry and cruel. Below even them lie the Waterlogged Fiends: once outsiders, now twisted by centuries immersed in Phlegethon’s cursed tides. Their bodies pulse with void-wrought chill, and their minds are husks clinging to only one desire: to consume the heat and sanity of others.
Realms
- DhemorDhemor, the once the Realm of Dhemir - now nothing.
- The Unseelie Court, realm of the Queen of Air and Darkness outside of the Feywild.
Geography
The tunnels of Phlegethon twist and narrow like arteries carved into madness, their jagged stone walls perpetually slick from the relentless drip of unseen moisture. The echo of dripping water blends with the constant howling of wind, forming a cacophony that shreds concentration and sanity. Unlike the shifting gravity of upper layers, Phlegethon adheres to a consistent downward pull, allowing massive stalagmites and stalactites to form, only to be relentlessly worn away by abrasive gales. The stone itself drinks in warmth and light, dimming torches and spells so that illumination reaches only half its expected radius.
The water itself is strangely viscous, bitterly cold, and occasionally luminescent, gleaming with spectral reflections of forgotten faces and faded memories. Travelers navigating Phlegethon risk losing their way in an unending labyrinth of drowned tunnels, shadowed passages, and bottomless pools.
Remarkable Landmarks
Windglum
Tucked within a vast cavern held aloft by titanic stone pillars lies Windglum, a sullen city of the Banished. The cavern stretches for miles, lit dimly by hundreds of ever-burning globes suspended between rock and shadow. The city's sprawl is chaotic of a clutter of isolated dwellings huddled around the fortified heart known as the Citadel of Lords. Windglum reeks of distrust. Paranoia hangs heavy in the stale air, and many of its inhabitants suffer from profound mental instability brought on by prolonged exposure to the plane’s oppressive noise. Strangers are met with suspicion, though one haven offers a crack of hospitality: an inn known as the Scaly Dog. Here, planar travelers may find kinship, mercenary hires, whispered rumors, and dubious contracts amid flickering light and thicker-than-usual ale.The Drowning Vaults
The Drowning Vaults are immense subterranean chambers where dark waters have flooded ancient ruins, temples, and lost libraries. It is said that these ruins originate from worlds and civilizations long-forgotten, pulled into Phlegethon by unknown cosmic tides. Relics of immense power and dreadful knowledge lie hidden here, guarded by shades of the drowned who eternally seek living company.Styx's Lament
A legendary subterranean waterfall, Styx's Lament cascades endlessly into a vast, swirling whirlpool. The roaring waters echo with distant screams and mournful whispers, rumored to be the voices of souls lost between planes. It's said that those who gaze too long into the whirlpool may glimpse visions of their past sins or unresolved regrets.Vault of Echoes
This enormous cavern amplifies every sound a thousandfold. A single whisper reverberates eternally here, growing louder and more distorted until it transforms into unbearable cacophony. Travelers must tread carefully, for even breathing too heavily could awaken deafening echoes capable of driving mortals to madness.Localized Phenomena
Phlegethon empowers magic that mirrors its essence: spells of darkness, cold, water, illusion, and memory become dangerously amplified. Yet, magic rooted in warmth, light, fire, or clarity falters, dampened as though suffocating beneath its endless weight.
Occasionally, ambient resonance stirs Memory Echoes, causing the past to bleed into the present. Travelers might witness flickers of their own lost moments, rendered in spectral form, reliving tragedy as if it were happening anew.
Tourism
Those who step into Phlegethon soon find more than just frost on their skin. The air is thick with silence and doubt, where every drip of water seems to echo a personal failure. Memories dissolve like melting ice; thoughts become sluggish and grim. Shame, regret, and self-doubt coil tightly around the soul, tightening with every hour.
Trait Type |
Description |
|---|---|
| Gravity | Normal |
| Time | Slower - each Day in the Plane, is five days in Prime Material Plane |
| Shape & Size | Goes on forever; its layers are bounded |
| Morphic Traits | Highly Morphic |
| Elemental Energy | None |
| Alignment | Chaotic Neutral and slightly Chaotic evil |
| Magic | Special |
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