[Information] Life in Olothruul

[Lormador]

Getting There Anyone can wind up in Olothruul: and vanishingly few would travel there willingly. The very existence of the place is beyond the knowledge and understanding of all but the wisest sages, so difficult it is to learn about it- or escape from it.

Background It is a city of foulest evil, built in a planar anomaly: a region of caves and caverns formed from the effluent of Ravenloft. When the mists of that place move to capture a mortal, or a place, from the multiverse, occasionally a crack opens. Beings are sometimes drawn through these cracks, to arrive at this place. Some of those live long enough to migrate to Olothruul. There are also native creatures here: the offspring of those who came accidentally, or perhaps formed of the evil of the plane itself. Perhaps a creature might be deposited here by the Dark Powers, who may one day appropriate (or have appropriated) the city already. The city of Olothruul is shrouded in a stronger form of Faezress than that found elsewhere in the multiverse. It renders any form of Astral travel extremely hazardous, and all but totally blocks most divinations. Scrying, Teleport, Sending, Contact Other Plane, and related spells and powers almost always place one's fate in the hands of the Dark Powers, and there treatment is always to the extreme detriment of the one thus subjected.

Inhabitants The city appears to be ruled by Beholders. These occupy a great Dark Tower at the center of Olothruul, which pierces the ceiling of the huge cave and rises into black nothingness. About this tower, throughout the floor of the cave of Olothruul are the Warrens: the dank and disgusting dens of orcs, goblins, kobolds, grimlocks, and worse. To escape their revolting smell, the more civilized creatures dwell in caverns carved up the cave wall, guarded and kept free from the rabble. Duergar, Drow, Svirfneblin, and numerous smaller enclaves exist here: including a hidden one of the Githyanki. The higher one climbs, the more magical power and prestige one commands, until one reaches the ceiling of the great cavern. Only those with significant wealth or power reside here: for in a city where Beholders are common, magical flight is unreliable. The Colosseum is located on the Warrens level, but constitutes its own ward of the city, due to its size and the efforts of the Beholders to keep the stench away. Only those with money to spend are allowed within. Wagers are often high.

See and Do I wrote that the city appears to be ruled by Beholders: this seems strange because the Beholders, grand and arrogant as they are, are often assigned the most menial tasks in the city. They hate their fellow Beholders even more than the inhabitants of the city, and there is no one safe from a disgruntled Beholder's Disintegrate ray. Occasionally Beholders, and the other high-and-mighty, can be seen performing the most disgusting and demeaning acts. A drow matron mother, of venerable age, was once forced to gather mushrooms on the farm levels, located below the Warrens. An Elder Orb was once seen shoveling orc offal from the street in the Warrens, at his great age and mystical might, using his mouth alone.

Getting Away Beneath the Warrens, the Farm levels, and then the wilds of the Underdark.

[Lormador]

[Lormador]

[Lormador]