Krangath

[ Gehenna ] [ Khalas | Chamada | Mungoth | Krangath ]

Krangath

Gehenna — Layer the Fourth

The Dead Furnace

Themes of the Layer: Smothering stillness, the end result of purest avarice, moral bankruptcy, perversion of the natural order, undeath

Krangath: The bleak, breathless abyss that is the fourth and final layer of Gehenna. In this forsaken place, even the fires of hell have given up, leaving an endless realm of shadowy crags and icy desolation. If you’ve the misfortune of finding yourself in this dreadful place, prepare yourself for overpowering silence and unending darkness, where the cold bites deeper than any blade and the air itself tries to freeze in your lungs.

The Surface

The landscape of Krangath is a study in absolute stillness. The once-roaring volcanoes are long-extinct now, their blackened stone a silent shadow of a fiery past. The entire layer is plunged into an unending night, with no stars or moon to guide the way. The only illumination comes from the faintest, eeriest glow of brimstone ice that seems to hang in the air, casting a dim, sickly light over the landscape.

Sound is a rare commodity here. The layer’s smothering stillness means that even the softest attempt at a footfall echoes like a shout. The air is so still that the mere opening of a portal can cause a whisper of wind to ripple across the slopes, a brief reminder of movement in an otherwise static world—and one that is sure to attract the attention of Things Whose Attention You Don’t Want. When the wind dies down, hope flickers out like a candle in a storm, leaving behind an oppressive silence.

Traversing Krangath is not for the faint of heart. The surface is too cold even for the hardiest of petitioners, who have retreated to the caverns below. The cold here is a cruel enemy, causing damage to any exposed flesh, freezing through armour and clothing alike. The only scent in the dry air is the faint, acrid smell of the brimstone in the ice, a reminder of the long-dead furnaces that once roared with life.

Above ground, the terrain is dominated by shadowy crags and ruins of past cataclysms. The icy stone is treacherous, and every step is a risk. But it’s below ground where the real dangers lurk…

The Deeps

The caverns of Krangath are a battleground for those who seek dominance in this lifeless void. These broad, labyrinthine chambers are filled with the echoes of ancient conflicts and the bitter cold of eternal night.

In the midst of this desolation lies Hopelorn, the stronghold of Mellifleur the Lich-Lord. Perched on an ledge in a truly enormous cavern, this obsidian complex is a city of the dead. Glowing sarcophagi light the streets, and necromantic magics swirl around the stalactites. The dim, red lights from slit-like windows cast an eerie glow, creating a gloomy atmosphere of perpetual twilight. Hopelorn is something of a sanctuary for the undead, a place where liches and necromancers conduct their research into the nature of life, death, and undeath. Mellifleur’s cabal are obsessed with unlocking the secrets of existence, conducting outrageous experiments on captured petitioners and fiends (although interestingly, never yugoloths). Rumor has it that Mellifleur was once a yugoloth, before embracing the eldritch art, attaining lichdom and then undergoing apotheosis—no doubt in some unspeakable ritual. Living beings and petitioners are not welcome in Hopelorn, viewed by Mellifleur’s minions as pathetic beings unable to manage the passage of their mortal lives. The city is a place of cold, unfeeling intellect, where the pursuit of knowledge comes at any cost.

The Denizens

Suspiciously, the yugoloths seem to avoid Krangath altogether. Don’t celebrate too hard though, cutter, because the depths of Krangath are home to the most malevolent of divs, including the dreaded akvans. These fiends plot grand schemes of destruction, gathering strength and recruiting minions in the desolate silence. They are masters of ambush and subterfuge, using the shadows and stillness of Krangath to their advantage. Their cruelty knows no bounds, and they revel in the suffering and despair that permeates this layer. Somewhere in the Deep Dark lies Ahermanabad, the realm of Ahriman, Lord of the Divs.

The Dead Furnace of Krangath is the ultimate expression of Gehenna’s smothering stillness, avarice, moral bankruptcy, and the perversion of the natural order. It’s a place where the fires of ambition have long burned out, leaving behind a cold, dark shell. Survival here is a constant struggle, and those who dwell in this layer are as ruthless and unfeeling as the environment itself. If you ever find yourself in Krangath, remember this: Here, hope is as dead as the furnaces, and mercy is a luxury that’s been long forgotten.

Locations of Krangath

• Ahermanabad (realm of Ahriman)‡
• Hopelorn (realm of Melif)
  • Manual of the Planes [3e] p114
• Night Below (realm of Shargaas)
  • Cold Fever (realm town)
  • On Hallowed Ground [2e] p134,177; Planes of Conflict [2e] Liber Malevolentiae p40-41

Powers of Krangath

• Ahriman (Div paragon of destruction and nihilism)†
• Chirasu (Faerûnian power of ninjas and stealth)
• Mellifleur (Oerdian power of necromancy)
  • Dragon Magazine #358 p68, #359 p121; Manual of the Planes [3e] p111,114; On Hallowed Ground [2e] p47,176; Planes of Conflict [2e] Liber Malevolentiae p28
• Null (draconic power of energy draining and death)
• Shargaas (orcish power of stealth)
  • Monster Manual IV [3e] p118; On Hallowed Ground [2e] p134,177; Planes of Conflict [2e] Liber Malevolentiae p28,40-41, Player’s Guide p26; Planescape Campaign Setting DM’s Guide [2e] p58
• Steep Ascent (planar pathway)

Creatures of Krangath

• Combusted†
  • Reanimated corpse of a victim of spontaneous combustion. Bestiary 6 [PF1e] p63
• Div†
  • Aghash†
    • Embodiments of the evil eye. Bestiary 3 [PF1e] p84; Bestiary 3 [PF2e]
  • Akvan†
    • Destroyers of beauty and wonder. Bestiary 3 [PF1e] p85
  • Doru†
    • Corrupting whispers in the dead of night. Bestiary 3 [PF1e] p86; Bestiary 3 [PF2e]
  • Druj nasu†
    • Corrupters of corpses. What Grows Within [PF1e] p84
  • Sepid†
    • Elite enforcers of the div. Bestiary 3 [PF1e] p89; Bestiary 3 [PF2e]
  • Taromaiti‡
    • The gorgons of hate and malice. Creature Codex [PF1e]
• Ghorazagh†
  • Tunneling monstrosities who build nests out of blood-glue. Bestiary 3 [PF1e] p124
• Giant, tomb†
  • Towering lean giant with milk-white skin and a scythe. Bestiary 6 [PF1e]
• Larva
  • Spirits of the evil dead, reformed into horrid worms with humanoid faces. Planescape Monstrous Compendium [2e] p62
• Phiuhl
  • Spirits of slain elementals which haunt the desolate cliffs of Gehenna. Planes of Conflict [2e] Monstrous Supplement, Fiend Folio [3e] p135
• Slasrath
  • Flying lamprey predators. Planes of Conflict [2e] Monstrous Supplement, Fiend Folio [3e] p158
• Spider, hook
  • Patient psionic hunters of fiends. Planescape Monstrous Compendium II [2e] p92
• Terlen
  • Vicious winged shark predators of the land, rivers and skies. Fiend Folio [3e] p174; Planescape Monstrous Compendium 2 [2e] p114; Monster Manual 2 [3e] p197; Planes of Conflict [2e] Liber Malevolentiae 13,32,50
• Urhag†
  • Urhags are unnatural creatures of ancient ruins and barren canyons. Originally natives of the Demiplane of Leng, they can slip into the waking world via an infected dreamer’s flesh. Bestiary 6 [PF1e] p269
• Weaverworm†
  • Foul servants of powers of greed and gluttony. Pathfinder Adventure Path #45, Broken Moon [PF1e] p86

Canonical Sources

• Dragon Magazine #358, #359
• Hellbound: The Blood War [2e]
• Manual of the Planes [1e, 3e, & 5e]
• On Hallowed Ground [2e]
• Planes of Conflict [2e]
• Planescape Campaign Setting: DM’s Guide to the Planes [2e]

Canonwatch: Entries are from D&D canon unless otherwise marked, although when the canon is sparse I’ve got creative with the details; † adapted from a 3rd party publication; ‡ homebrew.

More details to follow!

Other Sources:

• Jon Winter-Holt