Manual of the Planes

CHAPTER 7:THE OUTERPLANES106Acid is also sold here, by the one-dose vial or by the thousand-dosekeg. Neither the size of the purchase nor thenature of the buyer matters to Sinmaker.MinethysThe third layer of Carceri is filled with sand. Stinging gritis driven so hard by the wind that it can strip an exposedbeing to the bone in a matter of hours, should one of theplace’s terrible windstorms spring up. Sandstorms(which function like duststorms as described in Chapter3 of the DUNGEON MASTER’s Guide) are 10% likely in anygiven area per 24 hours. All who dwell in this layer,mortal and fiend alike, cover themselves in cloth garmentsto block out the stinging sand.Tornadoes are common on Minethys. To avoid thesehazards, petitioners live in miserable sand-filled pits, dugby hand. Their crude pits must be constantly dug out toprovide even the slightest shelter.Sand Tombs of Payratheon: Payratheon is the nameof a vanished city built on an orb of Minethys eons ago.That city is long buried, but its sand-drowned avenues,crumbled towers, and silted porticos still remain farbelow the shifting surface of the layer. Sometimes theshifting sands reveal Payratheon for an hour or a longer,but it is always engulfed again by the sands, smotheringmost creatures who were tempted by its appearance andentered the sand-blasted city.Particularly resourceful adventurers have burroweddown to find outlying suburbs of the city during itsphases of submersion. Tales of terror walk hand in handwith these accounts, which tell of dragonlike “sand gorgons”that swim through the sand as if water. Also mentionedare the remnants of former inhabitants that forcetheir way through the streets as petrified undead, soweathered and eroded that little can be discerned of theirrace or original size.ColothysThe fourth layer of Carceri is a realm of mountains so tall,rough, and cruel as to stagger the imagination of a travelerfrom the Material Plane. Travel on foot here is almostimpossible, because the land is divided by canyons milesdeep where it is not lifted to absurd heights by mightytectonics. A few trading routes do exist, usually in theform of rickety bridges and cliff-face trails barely wideenough for one.It’s impossible to move normally away from the areasalong the trading routes. Characters must make Climbchecks (DC 15) to move one-half their speed as a miscellaneousfull-round action.Garden of Malice: The hanging gardens of Colothysare found on a single orb of the layer that travelers woulddo well to avoid. To the inexperienced eye, many of thecliff faces and sheer slopes of this orb are home to thickvines and tubers that sprout a riot of beautiful flowers.Characters who attempt to collect samples for theirbotanical collections quickly learn that the vines are animateand determined to wring the life from any creaturethat would dare to use them as climbing aids, defoliatethe flowers, or even move too close.It may be that the animate vines represent one largeorganism that has grown through the eons to cover onewhole orb. Once every six hundred days, the vinesrelease tiny seeds into the air that look like dandelionfluff. The winds of the layer often send the seeds blowingacross several hundred other orbs of the mountainousrealm. Though many are eaten by vermin, manyother seeds have also found nourishing soil, and havesprouted tubers in small nooks and forgotten cliff-faceson other orbs.PorphatysThe fifth layer of Carceri is a realm where each orb iscoated in a cold, shallow ocean fed by constant blacksnow. The snow and water are mildly acidic, automaticallydealing 1d6 points of acid damage per 10 minutes ofdirect exposure.Artificial structures do not last long in Porphatys.Small islands barely taller than sandbars rise above thewaves. Most petitioners crow from atop the small sandbarislands, promising anything to those who can takethem away. Despite their entreaties, they reward anycharity with betrayal at the first opportunity.Another exiled titan lives here, but even his palace ishalf sunken and slowly crumbling before the acidicwaves.Ship of One Hundred: A ship rides the cold swellsof Porphatys’s seas, called the Ship of One Hundred,pqqqqrsSINMAKER’S SURPRISEThe demon proprietor synthesizes a special acidic poison from Sinmaker’s Surprise has the following characteristics:the acid plants native to the plane called Sinmaker’s Surprise. Fortitude Save: DC 24 (injury) or DC 18 (ingested).This concoction has two components: poison and acid. Initial Damage: 2d6 points of temporary ConstitutionSinmaker’s Surprise is specially formulated such that its causticqualities remain quiescent until it comes into contact with Acid Damage: 1d6 points of damage per round for 3 rounds.damage (from poison).living tissue. Therefore, it does not harm weapons or objects to Secondary Damage: 2d6 points of temporary Constitutionwhich it is applied. Victims make saving throws against the damage.poisonous component normally, but automatically take damage Price: 4,400 gp.from the acid component.pqqqqrs