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Lands of Deepearth	-	-	-	DSG

Geography: This region can be reached by crossing the lava
sea, or through the tunnel from Area 18. Like the neighboring
regions, it is uncomfortably hot here and characters approaching
through the tunnel run the same damage risks as they do in the
other linking passages of the area.

The tunnel eventually ends in a huge cavern, 1,000 feet in
diameter and 300.feet high. The cavern was formed naturally, but
tremendous heat has long since dried and rotted once-fabulous
cave formations. The heat here has the same effect on characters
as that in Areas 19 and 20.

The floor of the cavern is smooth and flat, except for the very
center. There, a perfectly circular hole that is 100 feet across
drops to the unknown depths below. Red and orange fingers of
flame flicker around the circumference of the hole, occasionally
flaring up as high as the cavern’s ceiling.

The hole appears to be truly bottomless. The sides swirl
around in a hypnotic pattern, and any character staring down the
hole for more than a single round must make a Wisdom Check. If
the check fails, the character is compelled to jump into the hole
and journey to the Plane of Fire (see Unique Features).
The cavern has no entrances or exits other than the tunnel
from Area 18 and the hole in the floor.

The hole in the floor is not a pit leading to the lava sea, although
that body of lava flows underneath this area. Instead, through tremendous
heat, pressure, and arcane force, the hole has become
a vortex to the Plane of Fire. Through it, creatures from that fiery
region can journey to the Prime Material Plane without being
summoned. Likewise, properly protected creatures from the
Prime Plane can journey to the Plane of Fire by entering the vortex.

Denizens: The only denizens of this chamber are those that
have journeyed here from the Plane of Fire. Fortunately for the
Prime Plane, these creatures do not journey far from their fiery
home.

The fingers of fire flickering around the edges of the vortex contain
1d6 fire elementals, each of a randomly determined size. The
fire elementals remain in or very near the vortex, but combine
forces to prevent any creatures from the Prime Plane from entering
it.

There is an additional 50% chance that 1d6 of the following
creatures immediately emerge from the vortex to battle any
invaders: efreeti, salamanders, azer, fire bats, and elemental
grue. Check for these reinforcements on the first round contact is
made, and every other round thereafter (i.e., third, fifth, seventh,
etc.).

Resources: There is a minimum amount of breathable air in
the chamber, and that is hot, {dry}, and sulphurous. Little else of
value can be found here.

Unique Features: Any creatures entering the vortex who are
not completely immune to fire suffer 8d8 of damage per round.
Because it is an extraplanar location, the vortex is not subject to
the normal effects of gravity. Anything entering it descends as if
under the effects of a feather fallspell. Magic such as levitation or
fly spells allows a character to reverse course and emerge from
the vortex if cast within the five rounds of entering.

After this, the character is committed to a journey to the Plane
of Fire. The entire passage requires 10 rounds, after which the
character finds himself on a bleak and volcanic landscape with <this seems to indicate a location close to the border with the Para-Elemental Plane of Magma>
eruptions, geysers, and flowing lava on all sides. The vortex is
evident directly behind the character, appearing as a chute leading
into the depths of a large volcano.

The vortex actually has two connections to the Prime Plane in
roughly the same area. Anyone re-entering the vortex has a 50%
chance of emerging in Area 21, and a 50% chance of emerging in
the lava sea. The vortex to the lava sea is directly below the one in
Area 21, and appears to be a giant whirlpool of molten rock. Any
lava boats venturing within 500 feet of the whirlpool are drawn in
as if in water. This lower vortex is the source of the elemental armies
that occasionally journey here to attack the fire giants and
lava children.