Abyss layer 92: Ulgurshek, the living layer

## Ulgurshek, the living layer

A horrible sight

Teleportation circle

## Overview

The Abyss contains many a curiosity in the deep layers, but none quite as curious as Ulgershek. While there are certainly layers that are more hostile, more evil, more grotesque, more... everything, travel to Ulgurshek is nothing short of a bad time wrapped up in an even worse blanket of unpleasantness.

When first landing in the layer, the smell is the first unpleasant thing, next one finds the ground to be soft, fleshy, wet, and slowly pulsating, but firm enough to be stood on. The landscape is of rolling smooth small gray foot hills and mountains that pulsate ever so slightly along with the ground. In all directions the entire layer appears to be encapsulated in the same wet material. In the center of the layer is a strange glowing yellow orb suspended from multiple tendrils, casting the everything with a sickly yellow twilight. There are large caverns spaced throughout the floors, walls, and ceiling, they are almost twisting and turning with the pulse. The visual sheer size of the layer and being able to see the walls and ceiling can alone cause feelings of dread.

Of chief concern is the realization that the wetness is appears to be slightly acidic, slowly dissolving shoes to a soggy mess, which then starts to burn any exposed flesh.

If one were to stay in one spot for an extended period, such as laying down for the night, they will find that the landscape has completely shifted, hills are now valleys and what they thought was a nice camping spot is now descending into one of these caverns.

If caught in a caverns, hope you have a friend. Many have tried various methods of climbing up the walls from the cavern that they fell into. It is a futile endeavor, the walls offer nothing to grab onto and the walls become more slick the lower you go.

Those unable to escape have been lost to the squishy mass, never to be seen again.

Any attempt to cut the squishy cavern walls will simply find their blade be enveloped by the mass and allow the blade to deform as if it is cutting, but once the blade is removed no cut or damage has been done. There are rumors that a sample has been taken off layer, but that is mere speculation.

Due to the shifting landscapes, sickly constant yellow light, and slightly acidic everything, Ulgurshek does not see many travelers, so finding a stable portal into the layer is always a challenge, but not an impossible one for the enterprising planer citizen.

## Survival

A traveler to this layer will find that the air is breathable, albeit rather putrid and muggy, reminiscent of a rotting pile of meat in the summer sun. The weather is calm, with no reports whatsoever of anything more than a slight gust of warm soggy wind. Temperature is mostly pleasant, keeping a warm temperate zone.

There is no edible plants or animals, bringing your own, or ability to create food and water with your travels.

The organ-like masses and mountains offer a bit of shelter from sight, but are too volatile to be considered a safe place to rest for the night. In general, be prepared not to rest the whole time that you are on layer, as anything that stays in one place too long gets lost in a soft cavern that appears beneath them.

A danger that has been noted at very rare occasions, a gravity shift. These shifts exist as a layer-wide sudden but severe increase and directional change in gravity causing anyone on the plane to be thrown to the whims of the new down and gravity shift. One minute you could be standing on a seemingly safe hill, and the next you're falling up onto the previous roof. The one saving grace is that the new ground takes a few hours to firm up, so typically travelers only receive minor damage. However travel on the new ground is said to be nigh impossible until it does firm.

Travelers who stay on the plane for prolonged periods sometimes state that their feelings towards the layer turn more favorable. Others state that when they manage to leave the layer, they feel an intense need to go back, losing themselves in fits of rage. When they do eventually go back, they are never seen from again. Presumed to be lost in a forgotten cavern deep in the layer.

## The locals

A place like Ulgurshek may seem a strange place to expect life, and indeed you would be correct. There is only one known permanent species here calling this place home. A strange race of 12-tentacled beings known as the Ji'thari.

The Ji'thari are roughly human sized semi-aquatic beings, with no eyes, ears, nor mouths. Indeed they do not even seem to have a top, bottom, or front. Their skin is a pale milky white and appears to secrete a similar acid substance as the layer is filled with. Some researchers into the Ji'thari suggest that the substance prevents the caverns of the plane from interacting with them.

They appear to have some sort of sentience as they interact with each other, however any attempt to communicate with the Ji'thari has been met with complete ambivalence. No matter the external stimuli that are applied to one of them, no reaction has ever been recorded. Some researchers have resorted to violence, and have found no matter what attacks, spells, or mean words are used, the Ji'thari get up and continue doing whatever task they were previously doing completely un-phased, and strangely completely unharmed.

No information on the origins of the Ji'thari exist, there are speculations that those lost on the plane are somehow converted into the Ji'thari by the plane itself. The only societal knowledge we have is that there appear to be anywhere from a few hundred to a few thousand, but that is purely based on speculation. No Ji'thari has ever been seen outside the layer leading some to believe that they cannot exist outside of the layer.

Of note, there have been reports that Lolth the spider goddess has been spotted in the layer.

## Notables locations and peculiarities

### The Wetness

Everywhere on the ground, walls, and everything else is found the Wetness, this strange liquid is every present and will dissolve nearly everything that has been tried up to this point. Even heavy leather shoes and coats are rendered into sludge in a manner of days, the one saving grace is that outside of a Gravity Shift there is no precipitation to worry about.

The following is how long items tend to last, and the damage that is dealt to those who do not prepare themselves (this is for standard travel):

· Good Leather Shoes – 2 Days

· Good Leather Coat – 2 Days

· Steel Shoes – 5 Days

· Steel (nonmagical) Armor – 5 Days

· If exposed flesh not treated – 10 necrotic damage per day

· Wood Structures, Crates, Wagons, etc. – Disintegrates 0.125 Inches (3mm) per day

· Metal Structures, items, etc. – Disintegrates 0.030 Inches (1mm) per day

### The Wet Sea

The only body of liquid on the layer is known simply as the Wet Sea. Due to the gravity shifts the location of the sea is ever changing, the Ji'thari population center is always on the shore. The sea always appears at the lowest point of the current gravity. The sea consists of the same wetness substance and anyone attempting to bring a boat will need to protect against it, as it will dissolve through 4X the amount on the shore. (0.5 Inches / 6mm per day)

### The Heart

The only permanently sized object and the highest peak in the layer, residing in the exact center of the Wet Sea is the Heart mountain about 3 days boat travel from shore. Resembling a giant 12-valved heart, the peak towers out of the sea 1 mile into the sky. The mountain is the only thing on the plane that does not pulsate, and does not secrete the wetness, if it were not for everything else about the layer, it would be a prime location to setup an interplanar settlement. A major downside is that the Mountain is upheaved and sent flying to the new ground on every Gravity Shift. Pray you are not caught in sight of the mountain as it crashes down.

### The Eye

In the center of the Layer is the glowing yellow orb known as the Eye. After a grueling 7 day journey climbing one of the tendrils, can get someone within view of the giant orb. This mass of glowing stuff is always in the center of the layer, but defies all attempts at categorizing it. Those staring at it up close have reported getting visions and hearing voices.

## Mysteries

With the strange things in Ulgurshek, the mystery of the layer is what it is. All the sensations and aspects of it seem to point that the entire layer is alive. In fact it is, the entire layer is encompassed by an ancient Draeden named Ulgershek that had laid dormant as the Abyss grew in it, warping its essence and pulling parts of the creature into the layer itself. This being an incredibly rude awakening, the massive Draeden is furious about being entangled for one universes existence. The Draeden being older than our universe, has seen multiple existences light up and burn out, it is simply waiting for the energies to dissipate enough for it to escape.

What are the Ji’thari? How many of them are there? Why are they immune to seemingly all sources of damage? What is the connection between Ji'thari and Ulgershek? If the Ji'thari are natives there, are they Ulgursheks immune system? If the Ji'thari are victims of the caverns, and ultimately what happens to travelers who fall into a cavern? What happens if a different species of power were to visit and be transformed?

What is in the Wet Sea? Certainly there cannot be an entire sea with no life in it. The Ji'thari can't be the only beings can they? Is there an ancient being in the depths, one that transcends our universe?

What is Lolth doing there? Can she communicate with Ulgershek? What would a being beyond time and an evil spider talk about? Do the loyal Lolth priests know about Ulgershek?

What does Ulgurshek want? How can Ulgurshek interact with the layer and the rest of the Abyss/cosmos? Can anyone talk to Ulgurshek? How does the communication work? What is the cause of the Gravity Shifts? What powers does a Draeden have? How does a Draeden exist beyond a universe?

Is Ulgurshek eating people who fall into the caverns/tentacles? What does an entity beyond time and space consume for sustenance? What is the liquid on the layer actually made of, and what are its properties?

How does the mind infiltration work? How long does it last? Why does it compel people to go back? What purpose does Ulgershek have for these lost travelers? How many people has this impacted?

## Plot hooks

· A Drow Priest learns about a place of higher knowledge and sends an [evil] party to investigate the layer.

· A planar scholar just murdered dozens of people in town, ranting about needing to go back, MUST GO BACK. The local authorities enlist the party to investigate this scholar, which leads to a book with writings of travel that descend ever slowly into madness after visiting a particular layer of the Abyss.

· A Scholar learns that there is a place where knowledge of time immortal exists outside of forbidden and dangerous libraries, they want to enlist the help of strong adventurers to help get them there and back

· A vial of strange liquid has been found and sent to an Alchemist, it is unlike anything they have seen before. Reaction after reaction convinces the Alchemist that there is great hidden potential in this material and enlists a party to help investigate its source.

· A god learns a horrible secret about an ancient threat to the multiverse, from a being beyond time that seeks to end this universe before its given time and place

· A Ji’thari is seen in the city of Sigil telepathically screaming unintelligible ancient words, it is captured and the city council wants someone to bring it back to where it came from and find out how it got there in the first place.

· A worried nobel has not heard from their previous adventuring party they sent to Ulgurshek, they are willing to pay handsomely if the party were to retrieve the writings the previous party took with them, and collect any additional information on the layer.

· A strange chunk of a jiggling material has been brought forward from a strangely dressed person, insisting that it is the flesh of an ancient being. The adventurer offers to bring anyone there who wants to see a true ancient horror.

· The Cult of Draeden has been gathering power across the cosmos and has a plan in place to untether a real Draeden from the Abyssal layer and unleash it upon the universe. What can be done to stop them and what is there plan?