Pandemonium, also known as "The Windswept Depths of Pandemonium", is a plane of madness: a great mass of rock riddled with tunnels carved by howling winds.[1] It is cold, noisy,[2] and dark, with no natural light.[3]
Involvement[]
Fan art of Grog pulling a card from the Deck of Many Things, by Hugo Cardenas.[art 1]
"The Search For Grog" (Sx42)[]
Vox Machina traveled to this plane to retrieve Grog's soul after he drew the "Void" card from the Deck of Many Things. The soul was trapped in a glowing red gem atop the Howler's Crag in Cocytus (the second layer of Pandemonium).[4] The gem was being guarded by a corrupted empyrean, and when the party reached the top of the tower, a battle commenced. As soon as Grog's soul was restored to his body, the goliath struck an incredible series of blows to finish the empyrean.[5][6]
Official art of Bob, by Hugo Cardenas.[art 2]
"The Search For Bob" (Sx45)[]
With Grog's soul restored to his body and the corrupted empyrean slain, Vox Machina then set about recovering their stolen spell components from the thieving githzerai known to the party as "Bob".
The party was pursued by a dust titan, and at the ruined citadel where Bob resided, they had to quickly persuade Bob to return their spell components, which he did in exchange for help to return home. The dust titan attacked, and in the final moments, Pike Trickfoot, using Divine Intervention, called on Sarenrae to restrain the dust titan long enough for the party to Plane Shift back to Exandria.
Inhabitants[]
- "Bob" - Revealed to be Shanak, a githzerai anarch.
- Howlers
- Balor
- Bugbears
- "The Roiling Anger" (a corrupted empyrean)
- "The Rolling Thunder" (a dust titan)
Trivia[]
- Matt revealed in a quick epilogue that the empyrean was the son of the former god of death...the now-forgotten deity usurped by the Matron of Ravens after she ascended to godhood. The empyrean had been imprisoned on Pandemonium over a millennium ago as a short-term punishment. But with the death of his father, the empyrean was never retrieved and became corrupted. Unaware of his father's demise, the empyrean had become insane...begging for death and for mercy from a father long since destroyed.[7]
- In the official Dungeons & Dragons cosmology, Pandemonium is located between Limbo and the Abyss, representing Chaotic Evil that leans toward Chaos.[8]
- In previous editions of Dungeons & Dragons, the wind in Pandemonium quickly extinguishes non-magical open flames such as torches and campfires. It also makes conversation possible only by yelling, and even then only at a maximum distance of ten feet. Most of the plane's inhabitants are creatures that were banished to the plane with no hope of escape, and many of them have been driven mad by the incessant winds or forced to take shelter in places where the winds die down until they sound like distant cries of torment.[9]
References[]
- ↑ See "The Search For Grog" (Sx42) at 52:22.
- ↑ See "The Search For Grog" (Sx42) at 1:54:18.
- ↑ See "The Search For Grog" (Sx42) at 1:38:56.
- ↑ This is revealed to Scanlan in a vision. See "The Search For Grog" (Sx42) from 47:03 through 49:05.
- ↑ Grog got the killing blow, and Matt Mercer briefly described the fallen empyrean. See "The Search For Grog" (Sx42) from 4:35:21 through 4:37:31.
- ↑ See "The Search For Bob" (Sx45) from 3:50 through 7:43. Matt summarized the major events of "The Search For Grog" (Sx42).
- ↑ Grog got the killing blow, and Matt Mercer briefly described the fallen empyrean. See "The Search For Grog" (Sx42) from 4:35:21 through 4:37:31.
- ↑ See D&D: Player's Handbook, 5th ed., p. 303.
- ↑ See Manual of the Planes 1st Edition, pp. 99–100, and Manual of the Planes 3rd Edition, pp. 96–99.
Art:
- ↑ Fan art of Grog pulling a card from the Deck of Many Things, by Hugo Cardenas (source). Used with permission.
- ↑ Official art of Bob, by Hugo Cardenas (source). Used with permission.