Driller's Hives
A vast, possibly infinite maze of tunnels crafted by deadly insectile races, the Driller's Hives were the first layer beyond Pazunia to be catalogued by the Fraternity of Order, and as such are recorded as the secont layer of the Abyss. Unluckily for the Guvners, the Driller's Hives are amongst one of the deadliest layers of the Abyss. Not only are its inhabitants virulently against any but their own kind, but the very air seems to be infected with a disease that will cause any being of flesh, living or dead, to decompose into innumerous insect eggs within a matter of hours.
The initial expedition into the Driller's Hives, as the first step into Factol Clarille's great endeavor, was selected as having the most interesting potential via those of Cabiri's abandoned scrying portals that the faction was able to unlock. only took place following six months of preparation and training using the disorganized and scattered lore on the Abyss up to that point. The initial expedition consisted of four teams of twenty sages and combatants each, hand-chosen by Sigil's then-leading Abyssal experts: Andor Damodred of the Fraternity of Order, Harldin Jhondar of the Guild of Travelers, the priestess Masema Larisett of Lolth, and Lord-Provost Carolan of the Sons of Mercy. Of the four expeditionary teams, only the Lord-Provost's returned. Only ten of its members including Carolan himself — all paladins — survived, their bodies studded with deep wounds left by the local creatures; of those five, two perished within a week of returning. As a result, the layer soon became the first to be put under Fraternity interdiction; so disasterous was it that Factol Clarille suspended all planned further expeditions, and work on the Compendium did not continue for a further seven years.
Those that managed to return were changed by their experience, the horrors of the plane and the creatures both wearing down their sanity; they still held themselves enough to tell stories of the vicious natives, a blend of ant, spider, scorpion, and wasp since identified as the obyrith race known as the ekolid. The layer is ruled by the ekolid-like obyrith lord Tharzax, thought to potentially be a former rival of Cabiri. The entire layer, so far as its few incursions have revealed, consists of the hives of ekolid, abyssal ants, twisted versions of formians and abiels, and likely other insectile beings, with no sites of note.
References
- Fiendish Codex I: Hordes of the Abyss, pgs.39,156
- Planes of Chaos - Abyss poster map
