There exists a place, called Disorder, or the Abyss. An infinite sea of black water, only a few feet deep. Into this sea, all things lost and forgotten flow. Ancient statues and towers dot the sea. Those who know of it mostly know it as a way between the planes. There is always a door to Disorder somewhere nearby, if you know the places no one goes.

Art by Richard Wright

In the center of the sea lies a city. A haphazard flotilla of lost cities and castles. The god Anarchy takes residence there, but doesn’t rule it like most gods rule their domains. Rule is against it’s nature. The city and the god share a name however, and they do command respect, freely given.

There are other reasons to visit besides travelling through. Anyone is allowed to live here, as long as they don’t breach the fragile peace. Beings cast off from the ranks of the armies of evil: demons, devils, and creatures from the deep. Deserters from the heavens: angels and spirits. Fey and elves, naturally inclined to freedom, make up a large portion of the population. Criminals and exiles, both just and unjust. The poor are welcome, what is money to the outcasts huddled around a forgotten god? There are empty homes a plenty, and anyone can sit at Anarchy’s feast table.

In addition, if you need something you can’t find anywhere else, you can probably find it here. From minor magics to artifacts of incredible power, quite a lot passes through this extraplanar hub. However, lack of a government means money won’t get you far. Only those who plan to leave this place have a need for it. Other things hold value here. Here are several establishments one might visit, and several side quests they may get dragged into.

Kal’s Temple of Carnage

Art by Kekai Kotaki

Look: War tent, bigger on the inside. Red & White. Tall banners, red carpets, lots of brass and steel. Classy brass plaques brag about the kill count of weapons here.

Proprietor: Kali-Hakara, the old god of Battle and Carnage, who has lost his mantle. As with all deposed gods, he retains agelessness but not immortality. He also knows everyone’s true name, and others in his presence feel any emotion he feels (mostly bloodthirst and sadness).

Goods: Weapons, Offensive Magics. (There are no items here that could conceivably be used for protection. Unless killing the hostile party counts as “protection”)

Cost: Blood. Max HP Loss, based on the power of the item. For consumable items, the loss lasts until the item is used, returning during the next long rest.

Quest/Event: Kal feels like Doom-Foretold is cutting in on his turf by selling weapons, and by being a god/shopkeeper. He wants one of you to go fetch one of Doom’s weapons, and he’ll provide another. Then, two party members can fight it out in the town square to prove superior craftsmanship. If Kal’s weapon loses, he’ll be morose, but either way he’ll give the party a weapon. You might have trouble getting rid of Doom’s.

He will get upset if you don’t give the fight your all. He’ll even front the cost of a resurrection, and he does expect the fight to get bloody.

The Brewery

Art by Sergey Vasnev

Look: Three old breweries from different worlds and times, stacked vertically and precariously. Inside, industrial equipment everywhere. Glowing pipes of every color.

Proprietor: Ba & Shee, A fire and ice elemental, respectively. They think of themselves as scientists, but can never tell you what a concoction does before they see it at work. They mostly just like mixing stuff together.

Goods: Potions & Flasks

Cost: The players must take experimental potions into battle, and send back reports. Half credit is given in advance, the rest on delivery of the report. Credit can be used to purchase other, more useful potions. The more credit they offer, the more extreme the effects of the experiment.

Quest/Event: Ba & Shee have developed a revolutionary new alchemical procedure, and they’re chomping at the bit to try it out. They’ll give a lot of credit to anyone willing to undergo the procedure. They need two people.

They take you to the top of the 3 breweries: the laboratory. They strap you to a table, and insert a number of IVs. Strange liquids are pumped into your body, and Ba pulls a number of strange levers. Lightning arcs between metal rods.

Each time they do the procedure, they change a few variables to see if it changes anything. They will insist they can fix any problems caused by the experiments.

The first time, the two participants swap minds. The body keeps all the physical attributes. Some of the magical ability stays with the body, since some of it is in the meat of the brain. One spell slot of each level is left behind, or about 20% of whatever resource spells consume in your system.

The second time, the two participants swap brains with the observers. This is the other players, if they choose to come watch. If not, it’s Ba and Shee themselves. (They have poor physical attributes, cannot use any potions, and are vulnerable to the other’s element. But they are immune to their respective elements and can fly). They are not particularly bothered by the swap, since this means they can experiment with potions on themselves.

The third time, the two participants will fuse into one person. HP, spell slots, and uses per day of abilities add. Everything else takes the better of the two. If the two players can’t agree on an action, flip a coin.

The next time they come to town, Ba and Shee will have prepared a potion that ends the effects of these experiments. This one actually works. Otherwise, Wish or the intervention of a powerful (but more responsible) spellcaster can help.

An Odd for Every End

Art by K. Kanehira

Look: Old brothel. Comfortable and ample seating. Claustrophobic. Shelves and couches everywhere. Saldana will be very specific about where you can sit. Anyone who can see ghosts will notice that this is because most seats are already taken.

Proprietor: Saldana, A Troll and a Medium. Wearing a feather boa and a huge dress. Slides gracefully between the shelves and ghosts, despite her size.

Goods: Magical amulets, rings, and miscellaneous items.

Cost: Trade of a magic item of equal value

Quest/Event: Some of her ghost friends have unfinished business, but they need bodies to do it. As luck will have it, the party has the exact right number of bodies in it. Roll a d6 on the table below or choose a task for the ghosts to complete. The ghosts will possess the players. The players will then play as the ghosts until the task is complete. They can use all of the ghost’s abilities, but none of their own. They still use their own attributes.

She’ll give you one item for free for helping her ghost friends.

1d6 Task 1 They are a theatre troupe who’s theatre burned down before opening night. They want to put on the show. They need a location, a crowd, and costumes. Something Lost (see below) is a clothing store in town that will do custom orders. 2 Two of them were deeply in love, but died before getting married. They want bodies to do the ceremony in. Luckily they found the ghost of a priest and a wedding planner to help out. 3 They were precocious youths, and they want to go on one last graffiti spree. Each will compete for the most dangerous location to tag, and down here there is a LOT of dangerous locations. Kal’s shop, Anarchy’s feast hall, and the top of the Brewery are some possible options. 4 They were slighted by a gang of thieves back in the day. It’s not how they died, but they still want to get even. Unfortunately, that gang of thieves is all old now, so they can’t just beat them up. They’ve got find some way to inconvenience these elderly ex thieves that doesn’t make them feel like the bad guys. 5 They were the city’s version of cops, tasked to find people who were harming or taking advantage of other residents. They were investigating a serial killer, but were all killed before they could find the identity. Find the identity of the killer, plus proof, and report it to the community. They’ll be taken in, and then there will be a trial by jury. 6 The players have no memory of what the ghosts did with their bodies. They awake in a run down house with massive headaches and some very angry people outside.

Something Lost

Art by Tim Löchner

Look: A large loom dominates this room. Other work stations sit around the corner. Glass jars containing floating wisps line shelves and hang from threads. They provide the only light in the room. The weaver will occasionally take one down to weave into their current project.

Proprietor: Arachi, human with a set of spider limbs. Plain, forgettable features, except for the extra limbs.

Goods: Magical clothes. Can also teach you skills by weaving wisps into your skin. She also does public service by removing traumatic memories. She doesn’t have a huge use for them, but she does it for free anyways.

Cost: A piece of knowledge. A language, a skill, a spell, or even just mundane knowledge. The more valuable the item, the harder to get piece of knowledge she’ll request. She pulls it out of your head as a wisp to puts it into a jar. If you want a skill, it’s not a 1 for 1 trade (she’ll request an additional piece of minor knowledge). She has to make a living after all.

Quest/Event: There’s an attic room where a spell of Knock managed to get itself loose along with a bunch of other wisps. If you can catch them all in jars, she’ll teach you all something from her collection. Watch out though, the spells have a tendency to cast themselves when threatened, and you can get trapped inside a bad memory. Make sure you get that Knock spell tied up tight.

MC-9 Planning and Design

Art by Ubisoft

Look: An old bank. The vault is full of meticulously sorted treasure, but is locked up tight. The main room is empty and spotless, except for one large drafting desk in the center.

Proprietor: Missionary Construct 9, “MC-9”, artificial life form and Paladin of the Architect. One of the missionary constructs was sent by the Architect to each other god in better times. Many have died or been lost, but MC-9 has been working diligently the whole time.

Goods: Designs and blueprints for machines and magical items. Each is custom made to the customer’s request

Cost: Firstly, the proposed design must interest them. Second, the customer must provide a copy of the finished item to them. It might also accept any exceptionally rare materials you bring with you.

Quest/Event: MC-9 has placed itself in charge of organizing new buildings that have flowed down to this city. It is the only reason there are streets and a loose order to the city.

A town swallowed by a flood has finally worked its way down. It is starting to push upwards out of the black sea. It is doing so right under an existing block. MC-9 can fix it, but it will be noisy and take a few hours. Unfortunately, the only resident of that block is Tergial Wrex, a powerful demon who abandoned the armies of hell, and is hiding here from reprisal. It dislikes disturbances, and dislikes MC-9 on principle of hating organization in general.

If you can get the demon out of the house for a few hours, MC-9 will waive its usual fee for designing an item.

Hall of Doom Free Things Just For You, Fleshy Mortal

Art by Bruno Henriques

Look: An old church. The items are haphazardly strewn about. Arcane glyphs of binding and warning abound, as well as macabre carvings and real bones worked in to the structure. Most of this is covered by friendly colored rugs and tapestries, but badly.

Proprietor: Doom-Foretold, the God of Curses. Currently nailed to a giant arcane stone slab in the center of this shop, through each limb and each eye, with a few in the chest for good measure. His left is free, so he can drag himself around the shop. Otherwise friendly. He’s very honest about the nature of the shop. He will ask you to free him, but will also be honest about why that’s a very bad idea.

Goods: Cursed items. All still useful, but with steep downsides. He will never tell you the effects of the curse, only the useful half.

Cost: Free (Lets just say you don’t pay with… money)

Event: If freed, he will put Doom amulets around the party’s necks, and then disappear in a puff of cackling laughter. They put the wearers under the effect of the Doom spell permanently, and if they’re ever removed the head will come with them. Doom is a powerful and potent curse that can only be broken by the spells Wish or Power Word Heal, or intervention from a powerful angel or god.

Once out in the world, there will be a distinct uptick in curses, and a new church of worshipers will be following him. This church will be very friendly to the party, even if totally unsympathetic about your doom curse. The amulet also will let you call upon Doom-Foretold once a week, who will grant your wishes in exchange for equivalent curses. Usually in the form of another cursed item. This works even after you’ve found a way to end the Doom curse and remove the amulets.

Doom

9th Level Enchantment

Casting Time: 1 action

Range: 60 feet

Components: Only verbal

Duration: Instantaneous

This spell lays a powerful curse on the target, foretelling their Doom. For the next year and a day, they are at extreme risk of death or dismemberment. Any time they are hit with a critical hit or roll a 1 on a saving throw, increase their Doom counter by 1, then consult the table below. Anyone who knows this spell or has been affected by it can see the doom counter as a number of red swords above the head of the target.

Doom Counter Effect 1 Failed death saving throws only reset on a short or long rest 2 Failed death saving throws only reset on a long rest 3 You only require 2 failed death saving throws to die. 4 You only require 1 failed death saving throw to die 5 You do not get death saving throws. You simply die at 0 HP 6 Your max HP is halved 7 Your max HP is 1

Further Reading on The Abyss

This is a journal entry that chronicles a man’s journey from one plane to another through the black sea. It can be used to show the presence of the Abyss to your players: Journal of Heimar Volsun

This explains gods, mantles, and how the players might interact with them at high level. Kal can provide this information, or hints towards it, to your players: The Evetongue

Disorder, the location, was originally part of the feywild, as was its opposite, Dominion. They’re still connected to that place. Read more: The Feywild