Layer 422 — Death Dells

The Death Dells

Abyss — Layer the Four Hundred and Twenty Second

The Seeping Woods, Savage Searing, Otaheti

The Nature of Evil: Survival of the savage, plain and simple. Everything here is designed to test your mettle. The grasses can slice through flesh, the thorns and strangleweed are deadly, and even the water can kill you. Yeenoghu’s realm embodies his belief that only the strong deserve to live, and mercy is for the weak. Civilization and order have no place here; it’s a dog-eat-dog world, or more accurately, a gnoll-eat-everything world.

Powers of Note: Yeenoghu, the Prince of Savagery (planar tanar’ri lord [he/him] / CE)

The Chant: The Death Dells, the 422nd layer of the Abyss, is a place lifted right out of your nightmares. Yeenoghu, the Howling Prince, rules by brutal tooth and claw. His realm is an endless expanse of sickly yellow forest and dun savannah, under a low-hanging, blood-red sun. The grass is razor-sharp, the air is thick with the stench of decay, and the water teems with venomous parasites. This is not a place for the faint of heart, berk.

Yeenoghu’s seat of power is his Palace of Ill-Omen, a city-sized towering mountain mansion of cracked bones and withered limbs ripped right off those who’ve displeased him. This macabre monument is visible from nearly any point in the realm, a grim warning of the fate that awaits any berk foolish enough to cross the Savage Prince. The Yeenoghu forces an army of slaves and captured undead to drag this bony mountain around the layer, visiting all of its important sites in turn. The land around it is a hellscape where Yeenoghu and his gnollish retinue hunt anything that moves—lesser tanar’ri, unfortunate travellers, roaming ghouls, and even each other when the bloodlust takes over.

The Savagery of the Dells

One of the most dangerous parts of this layer is Azael’s Waste, a vast desert north of the Screaming Peaks that Yeenoghu hasn’t fully conquered. It’s a barren reminder of the layer’s former lord, Azael, whose influence still lingers on. This landscape defies even Yeenoghu’s control, truly a nod to the Abyss’s own savage nature. The Screaming Peaks themselves are a treacherous range of blade-like mountains, filled with ghoulish horrors and colossal flying beasts, making any attempt to traverse them a probable death sentence. And the sounds the winds make there cutter! Those shriek can chill you to your very soul.

Bechard’s Landing is a pit of misery, where the dying obyrith lord Bechard festers in eternal torment. This ancient demon, resembling a massive beached whale, offers incomprehensible telepathic counsel to Yeenoghu. His death throes sometimes trigger violent weather, turning the area into a tempestuous nightmare of wind and acid rain. Yeenoghu seems to value Bechard’s ancient knowledge, even if he can’t fully grasp its significance.

Then there’s the Curswallow, a rough yellow ocean to the east. It’s the closest thing to sanctuary for escaped slaves and gnoll petitioners fleeing Yeenoghu’s tyranny. An armada of escaped slaves, led by the Cannibal King Malagash Unosh, roams these unforgiving waters. Their survival largely depends on cannibalism, which surely must make them wonder why they even bothered fleeing in the first place. They rescue other fugitives, but those who join must partake in the gruesome practice or face a grisly end themselves. Whether or not this is part of Yeenoghu’s grand design, or it simply amuses him, is unclear.

Lastly, the Seeping Woods mark the traditional boundary of Yeenoghu’s influence. It’s a twisted forest of sickly yellow-leafed trees, home to predatory ghouls and rebellious factions. Here, a group of succubi, servants of Malcanthet, plot to humiliate Yeenoghu by destroying a colossal statue of the Prince of Gnolls.

So, planewalker, if you’re thinking of braving the Death Dells, you’d better prepare yourself for something wicked. This place is a test of survival at its most brutal. Tread carefully, and remember: in Yeenoghu’s realm, only the strong survive.

The Rancor of Ghouls

So you’re asking the sensible questions, cutter. What’s with all the ghouls in Yeenoghu’s realm? Well, listen close, because the Prince of Savagery’s ways ain’t for the faint of heart or the weak of stomach. Yeenoghu’s gnollish followers and the undead ghouls are locked in a perpetual dance of death, a gruesome game of cat and mouse where both sides are actually rabid dogs—and some of them undead ones.

See, one of Yeenoghu’s first triumphs was his defeat of Doresain, the King of the Ghouls. The undead ruler controlled the White Kingdom—the 421st Abyssal layer neighbouring the Death Dells—that Yeenoghu and his savage army invaded and conquered, dragging much of his territory into his own. Yeenoghu’s Seeping Woods, as this realm used to be called, combined with captured portions of the White Kingdom of the ghouls, came to be called the Death Dells by Abyssal scholars. And who would argue with an Abyssal scholar, cutter? They’ll rip yer quill arm off.

Yeenoghu, ever the bloodthirsty tyrant, doesn’t lift a claw to protect his gnoll petitioners from the ghouls that now infest his domain. No cutter, he actually enjoys watching them tear each other apart. See, for Yeenoghu, life—or unlife, as it were—is a constant proving ground. Survival of the fittest, survival of the savagest, that’s his creed. In the Death Dells, only the strongest, most cunning creatures earn the right to exist.

The gnolls, ferocious as they are, have to constantly prove their worth against the ravenous ghouls that roam the Seeping Woods. It’s a brutal cycle: gnolls hunt ghouls, ghouls hunt gnolls, gnolls and ghouls hunt planewalkers—but not together. Each pack that roams the razor-sharp savannas or the bleached forests knows that every hunt might be their last. This relentless struggle for survival keeps them keen, keeps them savage, and that’s just how Yeenoghu wants it.

Now, oue might think that no certain gnoll chieftain or a ghoul overlord would have a special place in Yeenoghu’s black heart, but the truth is, he’s got a particular favourite, and it ain’t just any gnoll or ghoul. There’s one beast that stands out in the Death Dells, a creature that embodies the pure essence of Yeenoghu’s savage philosophy. They call her Shentarr Blood-Mane, a vampiric gnoll huntress of unparalleled ferocity. She’s as barmy as a bag of vorpal ferrets and ten times as deadly. Her fur is matted with the blood of countless foes, her claws and fangs sharpened on the bones of the fallen.

Shentarr has earned Yeenoghu’s favour not through loyalty or submission, but through her sheer, unbridled savagery. She leads a pack of gnolls so ruthless, they can tear through ghoul hordes like a scythe through wheat. Chant goes she’s also got a macabre sense of humour, often leaving gruesome trophies mocking her ghoul adversaries. Whether her pack realises she’s actually undead herself is unclear, but Yeenoghu does and he finds it highly amusing.

But don’t think for a moment that Yeenoghu shields her from danger. Oh no, he pushes her harder, sets her against even more terrifying foes, just to see if she can overcome. It’s said that Yeenoghu watches her battles with gleeful anticipation, savouring every moment of carnage. In his twisted mind, Shentarr is the epitome of his ideals, an unliving champion of the savage chaos he adores.

This brutal, never-ending cycle of violence, it’s what keeps the Death Dells in a state of perpetual chaos. The land itself seems to feed off the bloodshed and psychic energy of constant conflict. The gnolls, driven by their bloodthirsty god’s expectations, and the ghouls, mindless in their hunger, create a landscape of endless war and death.

Locations of the Death Dells

• Azael’s Waste, the Savage Searing (former realm of Azael)
  • Fiendish Codex 1 [3e] p146-148
• Bechard’s Landing (resting place of Bechard)
  • Fiendish Codex 1 [3e] p147
• Bloodrot Grove (site)
• Cursewallow, the (site)
  • Fiendish Codex 1 [3e] p109,147
• Dun Savanna, the (site)
  • Fiendish Codex 1 [3e] p146-148; Where Devils Fear to Tread [5e]
• Forest Sentinel, the (site)
  • Fiendish Codex 1 [3e] p147
• Gathering Gate, the (interplanar gate)
  • Fiendish Codex 1 [3e] p146-148; Where Devils Fear to Tread [5e] p4
• Harsh (independent burg)
  • Where Devils Fear to Tread [5e] p10
• Mazaran (realm of Ma’azbert)‡
• Palace of Ill-Omen (wandering site)
  • Fiendish Codex 1 [3e] p147
• Screaming Peaks, the (site)
  • Fiendish Codex 1 [3e] p146-148
• Seeping Woods, the (realm of Yeenoghu)
  • Fiendish Codex 1 [3e] p147
• Vujak-Kesk (realm town)
  • Fiendish Codex 1 [3e] p146-148
• Vujak-Riln (realm town)
  • Fiendish Codex 1 [3e] p146-148
• Vujak-Sesko (realm town)
  • Fiendish Codex 1 [3e] p146-148

Denizens of the Death Dells

• Azael the Ensnared (tanar’ri lord, dead)
  • Fiendish Codex 1 [3e] p146-147,155
• Bechard, the Rotting Husk (obyrith lord of tempests, dying)
  • Dragon Magazine #349 p31; #357 p69
  • Fiendish Codex 1 [3e] p146-147,155
• Crackfang (gnoll pack leader)
• Death Pack (cult of gnolls)
  • Demonomicon [4e] p26
• Malagash Unosh (the Cannibal King)
  • Fiendish Codex 1 [3e] p109,147
• Ma’azbert (drow elf power of disease, decay, poison)‡
• Shentarr Blood-Mane (favourite of Yeenoghu) ‡
• Splitfang (gnoll cambion proxy of Yeenoghu)
  • On Hallowed Ground [2e] p137
• Thirthralleth (obyrith prince of teeth, lieutenant of Bechard)
  • Where Devils Fear to Tread [5e] p10
• Yaacrou the beast (tanar’ri)
  • Where Devils Fear to Tread [5e] p10
• Yeenoghu (intermediate power, Prince of Savagery)

Creatures of the Death Dells

• Escaped mortal slaves
• Flind — Monster Manual III [3e] p62
• Ghast
• Ghoul
• Giant, Frost
• Gnoll
• Juggernaut — Monster Manual II [3e] p132
• Mantrap
• Nightwalker
• Peryton
• Roc
• Shoosuva
• Tanar’ri, Armanite
• Tanar’ri, Balor
• Tanar’ri, Gadacro — Monster Manual V [3e] p27
• Tanar’ri, Marilith
• Tanar’ri, Maurezhi
• Terror birds — Fiend Folio [3e] p175
• Vorr — Planescape Monstrous Compendium 2 [2e] p120

Canonical References:

• Book of Vile Darkness [3e] p141
• Demonomicon [4e] p26
• Dragon Magazine #270 p65; #341 p23; #349 p31; #357 p69
• Fiendish Codex 1 [3e] p78,109,146-148,155-156
• On Hallowed Ground [2e] p49,137,176
• Planes of Chaos [2e] Book of CHaos p23; Abyss Poster (brief layer description)
• Where Devils Fear to Tread [5e] (set in the Death Dells) https://www.dmsguild.com/product/321069/DDAL0920-Where-Devils-Fear-to-Tread

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.

Source: Jon Winter-Holt, mimir.net