The Pit of Trials

The Pit of Trials is the subterranean domain of Narzhak, home to many a deadly peril and source of emanations of wrath and strife.

## Description

Deep below the earth, just over the barrier that encloses Galbar’s fiery core, lies the **Pit of Trials**, abode of the Iron God. It is built into a single cavernous vault, so tall that its ceiling would be invisible from below even if it were not constantly shrouded in smoke and so vast that its edges are hidden beyond the horizon. Clouds of unnatural crimson flame, wracked by erratic currents of lightning, and great dripping orbs of magma hover across its height, casting an uneven glow that lights the subterranean darkness into a charnel penumbra.

At the bottom of the Pit is an expanse of rock, arid and warm to the touch. While traces of life upon it are scarce and wide traits of it are flat and barren, it is far from empty. Chains of hills and small mountains, lakes and rivers of molten rock spanned by narrow and treacherous bridges, gaping fissures, ruined or unfinished remains of spires and fortresses, abyssal caverns and many other terrible marvels dot its surface, and monstrous creatures of the depths roam and lurk across this hellish domain. Storms of ash and cinders haphazardly scour the wastes, and the very land seems to subtly work against any intruders - pebbles and rocks will unaccountably shift at inopportune moments to cast the unwary into pitfalls, and vents will abruptly open below one’s feet to spew out noxious fumes.

The walls of the great chamber are a world unto themselves. A myriad of lesser cave mouths, unreachable from below, open over all their extension, leading to forges, breeding pits, arsenals and repositories of instruments of destruction. The brutish denizens of the Pit, thralls of Narzhak, toil and labour therein, scurrying through connecting tunnels or clambering over the sheer ledges from one recess to another. While their artifices are never far beyond the knowledge of surface-dwellers, they are skilfully built, and often given outlandish, vicious shapes. Midway up the height of the vault, the god himself is wont to sit in an immense alcove, contemplating his realm and devising hardships to mete out upon Galbar.

Due to the Pit’s distance from the surface, its influence travels upward by dim and indirect ways. At times, there might emerge a mild tremor in the ground or a waft of malodorous smoke, but such cases are rare. Much broader and more insidious is the shadow it casts over the minds of living things, however simple. Sudden, inexplicable bouts of anger, bloodthirsty musings in moments of solitude, alluring dreams of conquest and dominance, even beasts killing more than they can eat of a whim - all those may be the mark of a fiery breath from the deep.

## Life

Upon creating the Pit, Narzhak infused it with a variety of living species. Although they exist in a stable self-contained cycle, and none, exception made for the Pit Dwellers, are intelligent, they are invariably hostile and dangerous to beings from other spheres.

Life in the Pit ranges from basic monocellular organisms, several of which can cause mild to moderate illness from being inhaled, to large predatory animal. Vegetation largely takes the form of lichens and dry plants, although fungal growths can be found in some caverns. Most of it is toxic, and occasionally deadly, to outsiders, although some more insidious breeds will cling to and corrode anything that touches them.

Insect-like and other small animals are, while not entirely absent, elusive and difficult to notice, which many exploit by parasitically feeding on their victims. The most widespread are the ubiquitous iron-headed worms, which can burrow through solid rock to ambush prey from unexpected angles. While mostly diminutive, some varieties can reach monstrous sizes, and more outlandish ones yet can survive in magma.

The largest creatures are, curiously, perhaps the least noticeable, making use as they do of various camouflage techniques. The black-shelled waste stalkers conceal themselves in the shade of mountains or ruins, relying on their dark carapaces to blend in for an ambush. Concealed dens house bulkier, amorphous horrors whose many arms swiftly dart out to snatch anything alive within reach. Not even the air is safe, as odd dome-shaped beasts hover on gas-filled bladders among the fiery clouds, their hooked tentacles trailing below, just out of sight until it is too late.

## Contact with other Spheres

Galbar: While one could never pierce the Pit's ceiling from above, no matter how deep one digs, the deepest reaches of Galbar may hold fissures and tunnels that lead to entrances into the great vault.

Ehomakwoi: Some of the passageways of the Sphere of Stone may reach the networks carved into the Pit's walls.

The Abyss: Thence flows the molten rock that pools and hovers over its landscape.

The Palace of Dreams: Its influence is subtle and unpredictable, yet undeniably close;

The Hive: The source, through various minute cunicles, of various pests and vermin that come to dwell in the Pit, becoming one of its perils.

The Grand Bazaar: Narzhak's thralls travel there through subterranean passages to trade their grim wares for meats and sundry. Grunting, gesticulating processions incessantly carry their loads back and forth between the two spheres;

Sheol: From its warrens, savage demons crawl out to prowl across the Pit's ragged wastes in search of prey.