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Brinesoup
(by
Lucas
Berghaus)
Brinesoup is a watery
town in the Plane of Salt. Its buildings are made of
rotting purple coral, and host undead tritons and mermen
in servitude to the local king, Ashaerman. Travellers
here are provided no services (but death), unless they
offer something Ashaerman wants. All who enter the town's
vicinity are met by 2d6 elementals, all of which capture
the travellers and take them to Ashaerman's
palace.
Inhabitants:
The burg is home to outcast water elementals,
servants one of the Gods of Water - Olhydra. Istishia
banished these elementals, for gathering in worship of
Olhydra. For a time they continued in faith, but Olhydra
sent no help for them. Unable to return they have
established a town, almost a mockery of the elemental
lords' palaces. The briny saltwater causes continual pain
to the elementals, and they entreat travellers for aid,
and are hostile to those who refuse. The elementals are
all barmy from the pain, acting in a chaotic evil but
intelligent manner, seeking any means to leave, and
vengeance on those who help not.
Leader:
The Water Elemental
King: Ashaerman (Male water elemental CE 20 HD).
Ashaerman has gathered an undead army, using his own
formidable magic and the planes tendency toward negative
energy, for his return to the plane of Water. There he
plans to overthrow both Olhydra and Istishia. The other
elementals do not challenge him at all, but loyally
support the self-proclaimed monarch. Guests who do not
properly respect him easily offend Ashaerman. These
guests provide additions to the Water King's army.
Crustpore
(by Jim
Barrett)
Like a festering sore,
Crustpore is a heaving, open portal in the Stagnant Sea
connecting to Juiblex's layer in the Abyss. On both sides
of the portal, the portal is a 10' diameter ring of salty
crust, thus the name Crustpore. It opens to a rivulet of
the Styx on the Abyssal side of the portal. The Styx's
foul waters surge at random tides through the portal,
occasionally sweeping Abyssal residents and a good amount
of liquid into the other side of the portal in the
Stagnant Sea, an area between the Quasielemental Plane of
Salt and the Paraelemental Plane of Ooze. After a Styx
surge, the elemental power of Salt dominates, eventually
drying up the waters and sealing the portal. One can
still enter the Abyss through the dried portal by casting
Touch of the Styx or Forget spells as
portal keys. When the portal is flowing with Abyssal
waters, no portal key is necessary. It is one of two
known portals from Jubilex's layer to the Inner
Planes.
If one can emerge from the
Styx safely after travelling from the Inner Planes
through Crustpore, he will find himself in Juiblex's
realm in the Abyss. This has been numbered by Guvners as
Layer Two Hundred and Twenty Second, or Shedaklah by
some. It is also commonly referred to by many as the
Slime Pits, due to the nature of its resident power
Juiblex, the Faceless Lord of slimes, oozes and jellies.
It is said to be a plain consisting entirely of living
slime.
Where Crustpore opens on the
Inner Planar side, a caustic sea of brine absorbs the
foul waters of the Styx. As Crustpore belches Abyssal
fluids, the waters flow in two directions: to Ooze and to
Salt. Where the Styx flows towards Ooze, the waters
eventually dilute, losing their memory-stealing powers
but gaining an acidic nature. Where the Styx waters flow
towards Salt, the surge creates a tunnel temporarily
dissolving Salt as long as it flows. Eventually Salt wins
out over the Styx, and a rapidly crystallising tunnel is
left behind. Crystallised corpses of unfortunate Stithid
and Hyrdoloth alike can be found in this tunnel.
The
Dark: A recently ascended
Bwimb II, Paraelemental Princess of Ooze, uses Crustpore
frequently to broker power with Juiblex. Rumour has it
that the previous Lord of Ooze met an untimely end at the
hands of a mysterious evil force known only as Tenebrous.
The present 'Lady' of Ooze wishes to be a bit more
plane-savvy to prevent similar unfortunate occurrences
from happening again.
Juiblex seeks inner planar
allies against the Facets of Salt, who seek to conquer
his liquidy realm. Juiblex's forces of slime cannot
tolerate the environmental conditions found in the
Stagnant Sea, and conquest from the Abyss is
near-impossible. Only the memory-stealing powers of the
Styx prevent the facet legions from overrunning Juiblex's
natives and absorbing their moisture. While powerful,
Juiblex fears this possibility, and is sliming up to
Bwimb II's 'good' side for some assistance in its
struggles against Salt.
In the tunnel from Crustpore
towards Salt, it is said that the dehydrated remnants of
the Styx's waters can be used to enhance Forget
spells. A mage travelling this area can easily collect a
lifetime supply of spell component crystals from this
area, which add a segment of casting time and a material
component to the Forget spell. However, the enchantment
can then be cast as if the mage were one level higher!
These dehydrated Styx remains are also spell keys for the
Forget spell, allowing the spell to be cast normally in
Ooze, Salt and Shedaklah.
Drensolg
(by Rip
Van Wormer)
Drensog was founded by
a heucuva or possibly a clerical lich in the
indeterminate past. The creature, known only as Mauer,
founded a state worshipping the element of salt itself. A
tight theocracy of which Mauer is the absolute master,
Drensolg has grown since then, with a half-hearted arts
program and a conservative nature. Currently stirred up
into a paranoid frenzy by the expansionist actions of
Echidrine across the waterless sea, Drensolg is
not a welcoming place at the moment. Laws here are
enforced by golems and living statues made of salt. Two
huge chemical plants dominate the barren landscape,
turning the filthy salt into purple dye and shipped
abroad in expertly crafted ka-jars. Mauer is known for
its fondness for moist young ghouls of either sex, but
what it does to them is a mystery.
The Dark of
Drensolg: The
ka-jars have lately occasionally contained something
other than dye: messages. It seems that some element in
Drensolg is seeking allies among the enigmatic elemental
spirits of the plane for a possible coup, though what
price they might ask is anyone's guess. They might want
to be worshipped in the land's shadowy temples, or they
might wish tribute of the sort that Mauer now
gets.
Toil
(by Jon
Winter)
Sweat, salt and grime,
that's what real work is made of. Bashers from the burg
of Toil know that for a fact, for they're some of the
hardest-working bloods this side of Baator's green iron
mines. Fact is though, there's no slavery here; the
cutters of Toil are working day-and-night to keep their
burg from sinking below the surface of the Stagnant
Sea.
A hotchpotch of abandoned
boats, piers and hanging rope walkways just inches above
the filth, most of the time spent living here is a
struggle against sinking into the mire. The lowest of the
low turn gears which pump out ooze and silt, and those
who perform well have the unenviable task of being
promoted to reinforcing the great crystalline dykes built
to hold back the Stagnant Sea itself. But why?
The real reason remains
dark, but chant goes the locals are digging for something
special, maybe an artifact. At the very least, the effort
they're putting in -- and for decades now, mind; this
ain't some flash-in-the-pan settlement of gold-diggers --
suggests it must be something of great magic and wonder.
Such is the mystique of the place that a fraction of the
Godsmen has gathered. Named "The
Calling", the members claim
to believe that hard work is next to divinity, and that
fulfilment in life can only be attained if a berk's ready
to work his heart out for it.
Every so often a local
cutter leaves Toil, never to return, with incredible
power and vigour -- but the rest of the workers remain.
It's one of the great mysteries of the place, and it
seems nobody's talking...to find out more you'll just
have to join the fraction, berk!
Copyright
2000, the Mimir Team,
Layout by Jon Winter and Jeremiah Golden
Stagnant Sea picture by Vicki Hood
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