Post by Kaber on Nov 20, 2008 15:57:25 GMT -5
INFERNAL BATTLEFIELD OF ACHERON
It is where ignorant armies clash by night.
It is the refuse-plane of a million failed rebellions.
It is a plane of enforced order, where conformity is more important than good.
The hue and cry of battle is the first sound a soldier hears when arriving on Acheron and the last sound a refugee hears when leaving. That's all there is on Acheron: conflict, war, strife, and struggle. Many armies populate Acheron, but leaders are scarce. Truly, rebels without a cause are common on Acheron, whether they're petitioners, mortals, fiends, or celestials. Acheron has four layers, each made of island- or even continent-sized iron cubes floating in an airy void. Sometimes the cubes collide, and echoes of past collisions linger throughout the plane, mingling with the ring of sword on sword as armies clash across the faces of the cubes. Acheron hosts many deities, including Wee Jas, the deity of death and magic; Gruumsh, the god of orcs; Maglubiyet, the goblin deity; and Hextor, the deity of tyranny and self-proclaimed champion of evil.
ACHERON TRAITS
Acheron has the following traits.
Objective Directional Gravity: The strength of gravity is the same as on the Material Plane, but which way is down depends on which face of the cube you're on.
Walking across edges between faces can be dizzying for the inexperienced.
Normal Time.
Infinite Size: Each cube is finite, but the void the cubes hang in is infinite.
Divinely Morphic: Acheron changes at the whim of its deities. Ordinary creatures must use spells and physical effort to change the infernal battlefield.
No Elemental or Energy Traits.
Mildly Law-Aligned: Chaotic characters suffer a –2 penalty on all Charisma-based checks.
Normal Magic.
ACHERON LINKS
As on all the lower planes, the River Styx flows through the top layer of Acheron, called Avalas. The Styx flows on many of Avalas's cubes—welling up from a crater on one cube to flow many miles, then leaking down into another crater, and reappearing on another cube. Sometimes the river takes a new course over a cube face, which can result in entire cities being washed away in a tide of forgetfulness and death. Portals to other planes are fairly common. Usually, such gates appear in the mouths of the many tunnels that riddle most of Acheron's cubes.
ACHERON INHABITANTS
Renegade armies filled with every sort of creature wander the faces of Acheron looking for enemy forces to fight. However, mutiny or madness soon brings down even the strongest military leader, leaving most armies without a true objective other than the destruction of other renegade armies. Sometimes armies of undead or constructs last longer, because they are able to mindlessly fulfill their last orders. Armies that have not gone completely mad may still seek a goal, such as the defense of a realm, the procurement of provisions, the overthrow of an impostor king, or any of a hundred other causes. Unfortunately, because most of those causes were important on a plane far from Acheron, even the most steadfast armies soon lose focus and go renegade. Achaierai, devils, imps, fomorians, rakshasas, dragons, and yugoloths also inhabit Acheron. Rakshasa clans rule several hidden cubes throughout Acheron, all cloaked by powerful illusions. Clockwork creatures from Mechanus keep a few hidden mining colonies scattered through the two lowest layers of Acheron.
Finally, Acheron holds enormous flocks of birds. Ravens, vultures, gulls, bloodhawks, and swallows tumble on the wind, sated on the carnage of the many battlefields.
Acheron Petitioners
Deserters and petitioners make up many of the renegade armies on Acheron. If soldiers have killed others for a cause they do not believe, and killed happily, they might wind up as petitioners on Acheron. Particularly rabid revolutionaries and terrorists slain on the Material Plane also find their way to Acheron, often as leaders of the roving armies. The renegade commanders cannot rest until they are finally slain and their essence merges with the plane itself. Renegade commanders have the following special petitioner qualities:
Additional Immunities: Electricity, sonic.
Resistances: Cold 20, fire 20.
Other Special Qualities: Hearten.
Hearten (Ex): All members of a renegade army within a 1oo-foot radius of a petitioner commander receive a +2 morale bonus on saving throws against charm and fear effects and a +1 morale bonus on attack and damage rolls.
MOVEMENT AND COMBAT
Movement on the Infernal Battlefield of Acheron is much like movement on the Material Plane. Walking between faces seems daunting to the uninitiated, but is relatively easy. Moving between cubes requires some son of flying ability. Travelers in Avalas and Thuldanin must be wary of collisions between the cubes, because everything between the two cubes at impact is crushed into nothingness. Cubes bound for collision are visible a day or two in advance of impact, providing enough warning for evacuation.
FEATURES OF ACHERON
The cubes that make up each of the four layers of Acheron are pitted and scarred with cracks and dents from their many collisions and craters from their many battles. On the orderly plane of Acheron, the cubes always rust or fracture along straight lines and at right angles. Some of the cubes are only a few hundred feet on a side, but others are big enough for whole cities and kingdoms. Geometric shapes other than cubes exist, though they are rare (except on Tintibulus, the third layer). Vision is normal on Acheron. The plane is lighted by a gray, fluctuating illumination that varies slightly between bright moonlight and a dark, cloudy day. Hearing is also normal, though the echo of colliding cubes and the ring of battle is always in the background.
THE ORC-GOBLIN WAR AMONG THE CUBES
The realms of Clangor and Nishrek were once a single cube, but the opposing deities of each realm finally managed to separate their realms into two wholly separate cubes. Though they are separated, enmity between the goblins of Clangor and the orcs of Nishrek is still great. Though the rival deities can prevent an entire cube face from being crushed by an opposing cube sent hurling through the void, that doesn't stop either side from trying. Most battles are now fought when one side manages to land an invasion force on an opposing cube.
Avalas
The first layer of Acheron is also called the Battleplains, for it contains the most cubes—and enough armies and fortresses to populate them. The clash of distant cubes is indistinguishable from the closer clash of a nearby battlefield. The cubes vary from city-sized to continentsized. The smallest cubes are usually the oldest, having been reduced to their present size by eons of collisions.
Clangor: Clangor is a cube completely carved and tunneled to house a single great set of barracks for the goblin nations and their eternal war. It is also the seat of the goblin deity Maglubiyet. The towers and walls of Clangor are arranged with deadly precision to inflict the greatest damage on any attacking force. The air is cold and dry, and breath fogs the air. What regions are not given over to goblin barracks hold wolf warrens for elite goblin riders. Because most of the forces of Clangor are goblin and hobgoblin petitioners, no great store of food is necessary. However, some heavily guarded stores are available for mortals, wolves, and other creatures that also reside on Clangor, brought from offplane at a hefty price through heavily guarded portals.
Shetring: The fortress Shetring blends into the rest of the metal-carved structure of the cube. The great River Lorfang pierces the fortress, with five strong bridges providing access between the two sides. The river wells up from a spring, travels a few miles, then plunges into the cube again. Maglubiyet himself lives at the bottom of the plummeting waterfall in a magnificently carved steel cavern dripping with moisture. The goblins fling sacrifices from the top of the waterfall before mounting a great offensive (usually against Nishrek, home of the orc pantheon).
Nishrek: This metallic cube houses the orc pantheon, the head of which is Gruumsh, the one-eyed deity of the orcs. The mildly law-aligned trait is negated on Nishrek. Like Clangor, Nishrek is heavily carved and tunneled and houses great legions of orc troops. Unlike on Clangor, the barracks are chaotically arranged, and the tunnels meander. Where Clangor seems gridlike from a distance, Nishrek is swirled with winding streets and trenches, and blotchy with haphazardly arranged strongholds. While the orcs under the command of lesser orc deities such as Bahgtru and Ilneval are content to marshal their forces against Clangor, Gruumsh pursues his long vendetta against a more distant foe: Corellon Larethian. In ages past, Corellon Larethian put out Gruumsh's left eye, a debt that Gruumsh always seeks to repay. The fortress towns of Rotting Eye, White Hand, and Three Fang all lie under Gruumsh's direct dominion. He has residences in each, moving between them in a random fashion. Bahgtru and Ilneval control other, less fortified towns, while the hidden orc deity Luthic is content to send forth her plagues from deep within the heart of the cube, where her realm is said to lie.
Scourgehold: Hextor's realm, Scourgehold, is found on a particularly large cube where battle always rages. Hextor's fortress is a many-walled edifice of iron and stone, bristling with watchtowers and roving siege engines. The innermost structure, The Great Coliseum, is a miles-wide, many-leveled arena of beaten bronze and glass. Here, legions constantly train in the arts of war. Hextor himself (or his avatar), in his visage as a grayskinned, horrible six-armed being, often walks the training coliseum, his various weapons awhirl. The mere sight of his symbol of hate and discord, six arrows facing downward in a fan, sends his worshipers into a blood-mad battle frenzy.
Thuldanin
The second layer of Acheron appears much like the first. However, Thuldanin's population is quite small. The cubes of this layer are riddled with pockets and hollows. Surface pits lead down into labyrinthine spaces cluttered with the refuse of every war that was ever fought. Broken scraps of a plethora of devices are everywhere. Great ships that have burst asunder, toppled siege towers, enormous weapons, steam-driven carriages, flying devices of every description, and contraptions with even more obscure sources of power and purpose can be found within these cubes. Most of the refuse is inoperative, petrified to stonelike immobility by the “preservative” quality of the layer. Scavenging for intact weapons is an occupation for many a team of salvagers and opportunists, because many quality weapons and engines of war are scattered through the rubble on Thuldanin. Persistent searchers can uncover items of fantastic power and intriguing mechanisms, which they can use or at least copy. But wise salvagers don't spend too long on Thuldanin, because creatures can be petrified the same as objects.
RESISTING PRESERVATION ON THULDANIN
The same preservative quality that afflicts objects on Thuldanin also afflicts living, undead, and petitioner alike. Any given object or creature is 1% likely per 30 days spent on Thuldanin of spontaneously petrifying into stone. Creatures, if potentially affected, can avoid the effect with a successful Fortitude save (DC 18). Objects or creatures petrified by the natural qualities of Thuldanin cannot be returned to their previous state, except with such high-level magic as a wish or miracle spell. Veteran travelers make certain their stints on Thuldanin last no more than 29 days without a respite elsewhere.
Tintibulus
Unlike the other layers of Acheron, four-sided, five-sided, eight-sided, nine-sided, twelve-sided, and other odd-sided solids outnumber six-sided cubes on TintibuIus. The solids are made of gray volcanic stone, each coated with a layer of ashen dust to a depth of several inches (and in some places several feet or more). When collisions occur, the geometric solid fractures along its natural fault lines, splitting into two smaller solids. The constant collisions create a ringing, bell-like roar throughout the layer at all times. Few creatures live here, petitioners or otherwise. The constant ringing on Tintibulus causes characters to suffer a –4 circumstance penalty on Listen checks.
Ocanthus
The fourth layer of Acheron is lightless but filled with fastflying, razor-thin shards. Some shards are little more than needles, while others are miles wide. The largest shards have their own objective gravity like the cubes of the upper layers, as well as a breathable if icy cold atmosphere. The constant blizzard of bladelike shards makes acanthus inimical to creatures and objects alike. The shards are black ice, frozen into thin layers. Their collisions break them into progressively smaller shards, and eventually into needles and then dust. The shards all originate from a single source: the night-black boundary of acanthus, a sheet of infinite, magically charged black ice. No one knows whether the ice sheet is a boundary or a barrier between acanthus and some deeper, more sinister layer. Some say that the ice is the source or destination of the River Styx, and that every memory stolen by the river still exists, frozen into the black ice. Whatever the truth,
the truth, the ice sheet has objective directional gravity, and it is possible that it is simply a shard of black ice so large that it is mistaken for acanthus's boundary.
Cabal Macabre: Wee Jas, the Witch Goddess of Death and Magic, keeps her realm on acanthus. Built on the surface of the boundary ice is a crystalline castle of delicate yet horrifying architecture. It gleams with a pale, heartless light all its own—the only point of light in this otherwise pitch-black layer. On closer examination, a visitor notes that the translucent outer walls of the ornate castle are crenellated with ice sculptures depicting skeletons of every race in the multiverse. Inside Cabal Macabre, Wee Jas tests spellcasters kidnapped from across the planes, though none ever pass her exams. The penalty for failure is death at the Goddess's hands, though many of her worshipers consider this a great honor. Wee Jas spends much of her time away from the castle, walking the boundary ice and mentally sifting it for memories of lost magic and the memories of death. Within a quarter-mile of where she walks, the continual bladestorm of acanthus is temporarily quelled.
SURVIVING AN OCANTHUS BLADESTORM
Creatures that are not projected by some supremely strong artificial structure (which eventually is breached anyway) are constantly vulnerable to shards slicing through the darkness like knives. Creatures and objects are subject to the equivalent of a greatsword attack (2d6 points of damage) every round at a +10 bonus on the attack roll. Damage reduction does not apply, but hardness does.
It is where ignorant armies clash by night.
It is the refuse-plane of a million failed rebellions.
It is a plane of enforced order, where conformity is more important than good.
The hue and cry of battle is the first sound a soldier hears when arriving on Acheron and the last sound a refugee hears when leaving. That's all there is on Acheron: conflict, war, strife, and struggle. Many armies populate Acheron, but leaders are scarce. Truly, rebels without a cause are common on Acheron, whether they're petitioners, mortals, fiends, or celestials. Acheron has four layers, each made of island- or even continent-sized iron cubes floating in an airy void. Sometimes the cubes collide, and echoes of past collisions linger throughout the plane, mingling with the ring of sword on sword as armies clash across the faces of the cubes. Acheron hosts many deities, including Wee Jas, the deity of death and magic; Gruumsh, the god of orcs; Maglubiyet, the goblin deity; and Hextor, the deity of tyranny and self-proclaimed champion of evil.
ACHERON TRAITS
Acheron has the following traits.
Objective Directional Gravity: The strength of gravity is the same as on the Material Plane, but which way is down depends on which face of the cube you're on.
Walking across edges between faces can be dizzying for the inexperienced.
Normal Time.
Infinite Size: Each cube is finite, but the void the cubes hang in is infinite.
Divinely Morphic: Acheron changes at the whim of its deities. Ordinary creatures must use spells and physical effort to change the infernal battlefield.
No Elemental or Energy Traits.
Mildly Law-Aligned: Chaotic characters suffer a –2 penalty on all Charisma-based checks.
Normal Magic.
ACHERON LINKS
As on all the lower planes, the River Styx flows through the top layer of Acheron, called Avalas. The Styx flows on many of Avalas's cubes—welling up from a crater on one cube to flow many miles, then leaking down into another crater, and reappearing on another cube. Sometimes the river takes a new course over a cube face, which can result in entire cities being washed away in a tide of forgetfulness and death. Portals to other planes are fairly common. Usually, such gates appear in the mouths of the many tunnels that riddle most of Acheron's cubes.
ACHERON INHABITANTS
Renegade armies filled with every sort of creature wander the faces of Acheron looking for enemy forces to fight. However, mutiny or madness soon brings down even the strongest military leader, leaving most armies without a true objective other than the destruction of other renegade armies. Sometimes armies of undead or constructs last longer, because they are able to mindlessly fulfill their last orders. Armies that have not gone completely mad may still seek a goal, such as the defense of a realm, the procurement of provisions, the overthrow of an impostor king, or any of a hundred other causes. Unfortunately, because most of those causes were important on a plane far from Acheron, even the most steadfast armies soon lose focus and go renegade. Achaierai, devils, imps, fomorians, rakshasas, dragons, and yugoloths also inhabit Acheron. Rakshasa clans rule several hidden cubes throughout Acheron, all cloaked by powerful illusions. Clockwork creatures from Mechanus keep a few hidden mining colonies scattered through the two lowest layers of Acheron.
Finally, Acheron holds enormous flocks of birds. Ravens, vultures, gulls, bloodhawks, and swallows tumble on the wind, sated on the carnage of the many battlefields.
Acheron Petitioners
Deserters and petitioners make up many of the renegade armies on Acheron. If soldiers have killed others for a cause they do not believe, and killed happily, they might wind up as petitioners on Acheron. Particularly rabid revolutionaries and terrorists slain on the Material Plane also find their way to Acheron, often as leaders of the roving armies. The renegade commanders cannot rest until they are finally slain and their essence merges with the plane itself. Renegade commanders have the following special petitioner qualities:
Additional Immunities: Electricity, sonic.
Resistances: Cold 20, fire 20.
Other Special Qualities: Hearten.
Hearten (Ex): All members of a renegade army within a 1oo-foot radius of a petitioner commander receive a +2 morale bonus on saving throws against charm and fear effects and a +1 morale bonus on attack and damage rolls.
MOVEMENT AND COMBAT
Movement on the Infernal Battlefield of Acheron is much like movement on the Material Plane. Walking between faces seems daunting to the uninitiated, but is relatively easy. Moving between cubes requires some son of flying ability. Travelers in Avalas and Thuldanin must be wary of collisions between the cubes, because everything between the two cubes at impact is crushed into nothingness. Cubes bound for collision are visible a day or two in advance of impact, providing enough warning for evacuation.
FEATURES OF ACHERON
The cubes that make up each of the four layers of Acheron are pitted and scarred with cracks and dents from their many collisions and craters from their many battles. On the orderly plane of Acheron, the cubes always rust or fracture along straight lines and at right angles. Some of the cubes are only a few hundred feet on a side, but others are big enough for whole cities and kingdoms. Geometric shapes other than cubes exist, though they are rare (except on Tintibulus, the third layer). Vision is normal on Acheron. The plane is lighted by a gray, fluctuating illumination that varies slightly between bright moonlight and a dark, cloudy day. Hearing is also normal, though the echo of colliding cubes and the ring of battle is always in the background.
THE ORC-GOBLIN WAR AMONG THE CUBES
The realms of Clangor and Nishrek were once a single cube, but the opposing deities of each realm finally managed to separate their realms into two wholly separate cubes. Though they are separated, enmity between the goblins of Clangor and the orcs of Nishrek is still great. Though the rival deities can prevent an entire cube face from being crushed by an opposing cube sent hurling through the void, that doesn't stop either side from trying. Most battles are now fought when one side manages to land an invasion force on an opposing cube.
Avalas
The first layer of Acheron is also called the Battleplains, for it contains the most cubes—and enough armies and fortresses to populate them. The clash of distant cubes is indistinguishable from the closer clash of a nearby battlefield. The cubes vary from city-sized to continentsized. The smallest cubes are usually the oldest, having been reduced to their present size by eons of collisions.
Clangor: Clangor is a cube completely carved and tunneled to house a single great set of barracks for the goblin nations and their eternal war. It is also the seat of the goblin deity Maglubiyet. The towers and walls of Clangor are arranged with deadly precision to inflict the greatest damage on any attacking force. The air is cold and dry, and breath fogs the air. What regions are not given over to goblin barracks hold wolf warrens for elite goblin riders. Because most of the forces of Clangor are goblin and hobgoblin petitioners, no great store of food is necessary. However, some heavily guarded stores are available for mortals, wolves, and other creatures that also reside on Clangor, brought from offplane at a hefty price through heavily guarded portals.
Shetring: The fortress Shetring blends into the rest of the metal-carved structure of the cube. The great River Lorfang pierces the fortress, with five strong bridges providing access between the two sides. The river wells up from a spring, travels a few miles, then plunges into the cube again. Maglubiyet himself lives at the bottom of the plummeting waterfall in a magnificently carved steel cavern dripping with moisture. The goblins fling sacrifices from the top of the waterfall before mounting a great offensive (usually against Nishrek, home of the orc pantheon).
Nishrek: This metallic cube houses the orc pantheon, the head of which is Gruumsh, the one-eyed deity of the orcs. The mildly law-aligned trait is negated on Nishrek. Like Clangor, Nishrek is heavily carved and tunneled and houses great legions of orc troops. Unlike on Clangor, the barracks are chaotically arranged, and the tunnels meander. Where Clangor seems gridlike from a distance, Nishrek is swirled with winding streets and trenches, and blotchy with haphazardly arranged strongholds. While the orcs under the command of lesser orc deities such as Bahgtru and Ilneval are content to marshal their forces against Clangor, Gruumsh pursues his long vendetta against a more distant foe: Corellon Larethian. In ages past, Corellon Larethian put out Gruumsh's left eye, a debt that Gruumsh always seeks to repay. The fortress towns of Rotting Eye, White Hand, and Three Fang all lie under Gruumsh's direct dominion. He has residences in each, moving between them in a random fashion. Bahgtru and Ilneval control other, less fortified towns, while the hidden orc deity Luthic is content to send forth her plagues from deep within the heart of the cube, where her realm is said to lie.
Scourgehold: Hextor's realm, Scourgehold, is found on a particularly large cube where battle always rages. Hextor's fortress is a many-walled edifice of iron and stone, bristling with watchtowers and roving siege engines. The innermost structure, The Great Coliseum, is a miles-wide, many-leveled arena of beaten bronze and glass. Here, legions constantly train in the arts of war. Hextor himself (or his avatar), in his visage as a grayskinned, horrible six-armed being, often walks the training coliseum, his various weapons awhirl. The mere sight of his symbol of hate and discord, six arrows facing downward in a fan, sends his worshipers into a blood-mad battle frenzy.
Thuldanin
The second layer of Acheron appears much like the first. However, Thuldanin's population is quite small. The cubes of this layer are riddled with pockets and hollows. Surface pits lead down into labyrinthine spaces cluttered with the refuse of every war that was ever fought. Broken scraps of a plethora of devices are everywhere. Great ships that have burst asunder, toppled siege towers, enormous weapons, steam-driven carriages, flying devices of every description, and contraptions with even more obscure sources of power and purpose can be found within these cubes. Most of the refuse is inoperative, petrified to stonelike immobility by the “preservative” quality of the layer. Scavenging for intact weapons is an occupation for many a team of salvagers and opportunists, because many quality weapons and engines of war are scattered through the rubble on Thuldanin. Persistent searchers can uncover items of fantastic power and intriguing mechanisms, which they can use or at least copy. But wise salvagers don't spend too long on Thuldanin, because creatures can be petrified the same as objects.
RESISTING PRESERVATION ON THULDANIN
The same preservative quality that afflicts objects on Thuldanin also afflicts living, undead, and petitioner alike. Any given object or creature is 1% likely per 30 days spent on Thuldanin of spontaneously petrifying into stone. Creatures, if potentially affected, can avoid the effect with a successful Fortitude save (DC 18). Objects or creatures petrified by the natural qualities of Thuldanin cannot be returned to their previous state, except with such high-level magic as a wish or miracle spell. Veteran travelers make certain their stints on Thuldanin last no more than 29 days without a respite elsewhere.
Tintibulus
Unlike the other layers of Acheron, four-sided, five-sided, eight-sided, nine-sided, twelve-sided, and other odd-sided solids outnumber six-sided cubes on TintibuIus. The solids are made of gray volcanic stone, each coated with a layer of ashen dust to a depth of several inches (and in some places several feet or more). When collisions occur, the geometric solid fractures along its natural fault lines, splitting into two smaller solids. The constant collisions create a ringing, bell-like roar throughout the layer at all times. Few creatures live here, petitioners or otherwise. The constant ringing on Tintibulus causes characters to suffer a –4 circumstance penalty on Listen checks.
Ocanthus
The fourth layer of Acheron is lightless but filled with fastflying, razor-thin shards. Some shards are little more than needles, while others are miles wide. The largest shards have their own objective gravity like the cubes of the upper layers, as well as a breathable if icy cold atmosphere. The constant blizzard of bladelike shards makes acanthus inimical to creatures and objects alike. The shards are black ice, frozen into thin layers. Their collisions break them into progressively smaller shards, and eventually into needles and then dust. The shards all originate from a single source: the night-black boundary of acanthus, a sheet of infinite, magically charged black ice. No one knows whether the ice sheet is a boundary or a barrier between acanthus and some deeper, more sinister layer. Some say that the ice is the source or destination of the River Styx, and that every memory stolen by the river still exists, frozen into the black ice. Whatever the truth,
the truth, the ice sheet has objective directional gravity, and it is possible that it is simply a shard of black ice so large that it is mistaken for acanthus's boundary.
Cabal Macabre: Wee Jas, the Witch Goddess of Death and Magic, keeps her realm on acanthus. Built on the surface of the boundary ice is a crystalline castle of delicate yet horrifying architecture. It gleams with a pale, heartless light all its own—the only point of light in this otherwise pitch-black layer. On closer examination, a visitor notes that the translucent outer walls of the ornate castle are crenellated with ice sculptures depicting skeletons of every race in the multiverse. Inside Cabal Macabre, Wee Jas tests spellcasters kidnapped from across the planes, though none ever pass her exams. The penalty for failure is death at the Goddess's hands, though many of her worshipers consider this a great honor. Wee Jas spends much of her time away from the castle, walking the boundary ice and mentally sifting it for memories of lost magic and the memories of death. Within a quarter-mile of where she walks, the continual bladestorm of acanthus is temporarily quelled.
SURVIVING AN OCANTHUS BLADESTORM
Creatures that are not projected by some supremely strong artificial structure (which eventually is breached anyway) are constantly vulnerable to shards slicing through the darkness like knives. Creatures and objects are subject to the equivalent of a greatsword attack (2d6 points of damage) every round at a +10 bonus on the attack roll. Damage reduction does not apply, but hardness does.