The Split Tooth Mountain used to be located within Graypeaks Mountains. Irisen, the founder of the Hawthorne Guild has sealed a Titan named Bohu there. As time passed, her hold on the seal was weakening, although she was positive she could do so for a while. Unbeknownst to her, various factions had slowly begun to discover this sealed titan, some before than others. Each of these factions was attempting to get to the Titan for their own ends. This served as the catalyst for the seal to be broken, and Bohu was unleashed upon Toril. Its body merged with the Split Tooth Mountain, and it rose, walking towards Hellgate Dell so that it could reach an area of powerful magic located north of it and finally bring his other half, still residing on the Far Realm, on the material plane. This would be the end of Toril as we know it. In an epic battle, the adventurers of the Hawthorne Guild were able to seal it off once more.
The Cube of Rubex was used in the past by the Elder Elves in eons past as part of their efforts to create and manipulate the Vast Gate, an artificial portal into the Far Realm. Both the Vast Gate and the Cube of Rubex were made out of pieces of the Living Gate, the ancient barrier that had once sealed reality away from the Far Realm, but which has long since been shattered, allowing the Far Realm to influence our world. The Elder Elves had built the Vast Gate as part of their exploration into the planes, and they quickly regretted their actions. The Cube of Rubex has power over the planes, and has a particular tie to the Far Realm, able to both open planar connections to and close planar connections to the Far Realm. Somehow, it came into the possession of Anton, the Dungeon Master. It was used as a part of a ritual in conjunction with other artifacts to sever the Titan’s connection to the Material Plane and render it inert while the magic remains active, effectively sealing it away for now. It remains inside Split Tooth Mountain and is extremely well protected.
The Dynakinetic Transmutation Matrix was used during the ritual at Bohu’s core to synchronize the magics of the rituals occuring in Bohu’s head with the Codex of Infinite Planes and Bohu’s stomach with the Cube of Rubex as well as to manipulate the magic of the planes tying Bohu to the Material Plane. The adventurers that activated it were assisted by Vedalken soldiers and scientists of New Nivix to ensure everything went smoothly. This artifact remains at the core of the Split Tooth Mountain and New Nivix scientists and soldiers often do rounds to ensure the Dynakinetic Transmutation Matrix remains secure.
With the Titan’s body now present near Hellgate Dell, various groups have decided to remain either near Split Tooth Mountain or within the mountain.
Turlang and the treants under his command have now taken to watching over the Titan’s body, the Split-Tooth Mountain, along with Hellgate Dell itself.
New Nivix has also begun setting up a new outpost in the area to help keep an eye on the Dynakinetic Transmutation Matrix within the Titan and to watch for any signs of trouble.
Anton, the Dungeon Master, and the Order of the Maze established themselves inside the gigantic mountain that served as the body of the Titan where they continued their worship of Ubtao. Both a burden and a blessing, they quickly began setting up puzzles and traps throughout the mountain, preventing people from easily getting to the Cube of Rubex while keeping an eye on it as well.
Because of the influence of the Far Realm, the Split Tooth Mountain’s appearance has been affected permanently. In the center of the mountain can be found the Cube of Rubex, one of the artifacts that was used to seal the titan.
In addition to the strange environment, confusing pathways and dangerous caves, the Split Tooth Mountain is riddled with puzzles and traps. The Order of the Maze, led by Anton, is constantly creating various puzzles and traps, each more twisted than the last. This is both a blessing and a curse, since this makes it harder for the Hawthorne Guild to check up on the Cube of Rubex, but it also serves as a deterrent for whoever would want to mess with it as well.
Depending on how deep one ventures inside the Split Tooth Mountain, the environment is warped in various ways:
Regions of the affected area are overcome with strange, twisted growths. The landscape is painted with unusual and vivid colors, the grass turns to blue, the tree stumps are dark red, giving it an utterly alien feel. The plants in the area have begun to warp or melt with one another. Some have grown eyes, tentacles, mouth, teeth, and some even ooze strange, poisonous mucus. Anyone touching the mucus with their bare skin must make a DC 13 Constitution saving throw or be poisoned for 1d4 hours. The creature is paralyzed while poisoned in this way. Aberrations are immune to this effect.
For the purpose of spells or effects whose results change across or are blocked by planar boundaries (such as sending), this area is considered its own plane. These restrictions apply to magic items and artifacts that have properties that transport, banish, or summon creatures to or from other locations or planes or that have properties to create portals to other locations or planes of existence.
This area is magically sealed off from other locations throughout the world and throughout the planes. No spell or effect—not even wish—allows creatures or objects to magically transport into, within, or out from the area. Astral projection, teleport, plane shift, and similar spells or effects that are for purpose of entering, leaving, or travelling within the area simply fail, as do effects that dismiss or banish a creature or object to another plane of existence or summon a creature or object from another location or plane of existence, as well as the portals created by arcane gate, demiplane, gate, or other similar spells or effects. Summoned creatures brought into the area no longer return to their native plane if the associated spell or effect that summoned the creature expires while the creature is within the affected area; the summoned creature remains on the plane but is no longer under the caster’s control. Aberrations are immune to this effect.
While in the area affected by Eldritch Veil, when a creature casts a spell of 1st-level or higher, the DM may choose to roll a 1d20, rolling with advantage if the spell is a conjuration or divination spell. On a 20 on the roll, the creature must roll on the Wild Magic Surge table (see the Player’s Handbook, page 104). This effect applies to magic items and artifacts that have properties that allow one to cast spells from it. Aberrations can choose to ignore this effect.
At the DM’s discretion, spells and other magical effects can be modified cosmetically to enhance the strange and eldritch atmosphere. Here are some examples:
Because the area has been touched by the Far Realm, some rare rifts still open once in a while which lets aberrations come through to the material plane. This makes the Split Tooth Mountain fairly dangerous since no one can really tell when and where this can happen. Although aberrations can definitely be encountered in the Split Tooth Mountain, there may be other types of creatures lurking around the area. These rifts are unstable and sporadic in appearance and longevity. Contact with one of these rifts can have dangerous and perhaps irreversible consequences for those unfortunate or foolish enough to contact it. If a creature’s space overlaps with the area of a Rift to the Far Realm, the creature must make a DC 17 Dexterity saving throw or come into contact with the rift. If a creature comes into contact with a Rift to the Far Realm, roll a d4 and use the table titled “Rifts to the Far Realm.”
| d10 | Effect |
|---|---|
| 1-5 | Arm. The creature loses an arm of the DM’s choice. The creature can no longer hold anything in two hands and can hold only a single object at a time. |
| 6-9 | Leg. The creature loses a leg of the DM’s choice. The creature’s walking speed is halved, and the creature must use a cane or crutch to move unless the creature has a peg leg or other prosthesis. The creature falls prone after taking the Dash action. The creature has disadvantage on Dexterity ability checks made to balance. |
| 10 | Head. The creature loses its head. The creature dies if it cannot survive without its head. A creature is immune to this effect if it doesn’t have or need a head, has legendary actions, or if the DM decides it is too big for its head to be destroyed in this way. Such a creature instead takes an additional 6d10 force damage. |
| d4 | Effect |
|---|---|
| 1 | The creature must make a DC 17 Charisma saving throw. On a success, the creature takes 6d10 force damage and is hurled 1d6 x 10 feet away from the Rift in a random direction. On a failure, the creature is forcibly pulled through the Rift into the Far Realm. The process is not clean and there is a 50% chance that the creature dies in the process of being pulled through. In this case, enough residue of the victim remains behind to serve as the basis of a reincarnate spell or similar magic. |
| 2 | The creature must make a DC 17 Dexterity saving throw. On a failed save, a random body part of the creature comes into contact with the rift and is annihilated, and the creature takes 6d10 force damage. On a success, the creature takes half as much damage and does not have a body part annihilated. On either success or failure, the creature is then hurled 1d6 x 10 feet away from the Rift in a random direction. To determine the severity of the loss of a body part, roll a d10 and use the table titled ‘‘Loss of a body part.’’ |
| 3 | The creature must make a DC 17 Wisdom saving throw. On a failed save, the creature learns some terrible truth about the upcoming apocalypse and is blinded. On either success or failure, the creature is then hurled 1d6 x 10 feet away from the Rift in a random direction. A DC 13 Wisdom (Medicine) check reveals that the blindness is not due to any physical cause, such as damage to the eyes. If the creature is cured of being blinded in this way by lesser restoration or similar magic, the creature no longer remembers the terrible truth they had learned. If the creature attempts to communicate this truth to others, others will hear only incomprehensible babbling or read illegible gibberish or the like. |
| 4 | The creature rolls once on the Wild Magic Surge Table (see the Player’s Handbook, page 104). The creature is then hurled 1d6 x 10 feet away from the Rift in a random direction. |
Random cerebrotic blots linked to the Far Realm can be encountered and explored throughout the affected area. Cerebrotic blots are areas where the Far Realm overlaps with reality. They are comprised of two regions: the periphery and the marrow, with the core consisting of a persisting Rift to the Far Realm.
Cerebrotic Periphery
“The first time, I didn’t realize what it was before it was too late. You can’t see it at first sight. It’s not immediately distinct from normal reality; instead a subtle influence pervades the area, overlaying it with an unnerving sense of dread.”
The periphery’s shape is not necessarily a symmetrical circle enclosing a smaller marrow, but may be made of river-like swathes or even be discontinuous. Peripheries can enclose areas miles wide, can be completely or partially above or underground, and expand or contract unpredictably in accord with unknowable tides.
The periphery of a cerebrotic blot is not immediately noticeable. The first sign is the unshakable sense of dread one feels upon walking inside its area. As one gets closer to the marrow, the landscape becomes increasingly warped as per Warped Landscape as described throughout the stages. The boundaries of a cerebrotic blot can be ascertained with a successful DC 15 Wisdom (Perception) check made over the course of an hour. Despite a periphery’s discontinuous nature, a periphery always possesses one or more “foci” that anchors the periphery and also allows access to the marrow of the cerebrotic blot. While the periphery of a cerebrotic blot exists “in phase” with reality as normally experienced, the marrow of a cerebrotic blot is “out of phase” and cannot be accessed by simply walking through the periphery towards its “center” as conventional reason would dictate. Instead, access to the marrow of a cerebrotic blot is restricted to a few chokepoints throughout the periphery in a region.
Foci can take any number of forms, from strange phosphorescent growths, freestanding archs of crystal, or more. To the traveler, it seems the path inward is continuous while to observers they appear to fade to translucence before disappearing entirely.
The environmental effect in the Cerebrotic Periphery is as follows:
Cerebrotic Marrow
Once a creature uses the focus to cross from the periphery to the marrow, the hidden awfulness of the blot becomes apparent. The nature of the marrow reflects the lawless and unpredictable nature of the Far Realm itself, with anything from warped landscapes to terrifying dungeons possible to encounter within. The sky above can shift and warp, raining down amoebic rain, the ground can shake, and creatures of nightmare are prevalent.
Typical marrow can be as much as 20 miles square in size, with foci scattered about allowing passage from the marrow back to the periphery and vice versa. The environmental effect in the Cerebrotic Marrow is as follows:
Cerebriotic Core. At the center of the marrow lies a persisting Rift to the Far Realm, which itself can take any number of nightmarish forms, such as black voids or portals with tentacles sprouting from within.
Dragon Magazine #300
If a DM wishes to add an extra minor property to one of the items obtained in this area, it is possible to select a property from the list. The items must follow the guidelines for minor properties in the Hawthorne DM Guidelines.
| d10 | Minor Property |
|---|---|
| 1 | Stained. This item appears to be stained. No matter how much it is washed, the stain never goes off. |
| 2 | Destructive. This item amplifies the destructive impulses in its bearer. When the bearer of this item reduces a creature to 0 hit points with a melee attack, they cannot choose to knock the creature out. |
| 3 | Paracusia. The bearer of this item experiences auditory hallucinations at unpredictable times, with the hallucinations often of a threatening or unsettling nature. |
| 4 | Translucent. The item is translucent. While in physical contact with the item, the bearer’s skin becomes translucent, making their blood vessels apparent to sight. |
| 5 | Warped. The item is twisted into an unnatural shape. While bearing the item, a tumorous growth appears on the bearer’s body within 1d4 hours since first bearing it. If the item is separated from the bearer for a period of at least 24 hours, the growth disappears. |
| 6 | Paranoia. The bearer of this item finds themself more inclined to distrust others and has their sense of suspicion heightened, regardless of whether their suspicions are justified or not. |
| 7 | Disturbed. Being in the presence of the item is extremely disturbing. Whenever the bearer of the item takes a long rest, they must make a DC 12 Wisdom saving throw or take 1d6 psychic damage. |
| 8 | Alien. The item seems to be made of a strange material of a grotesque organic or crystalline nature. Its durability is unaffected. |
| 9 | Madness. The item threatens its bearer’s sense of reality while in their possession. While bearing this item, the bearer suffers from an indefinite madness as selected by the DM. This indefinite madness lasts until the bearer is separated from the item for at least 24 hours. The use of greater restoration or similar magic made to cure an indefinite madness suppresses this effect for 24 hours. |
| 10 | Lingering Presence. While bearing this item, the bearer gets the sensation of being followed by a strange creature and can even see tentacle like appendages in the corner of their eyes. Whenever they turn around to look, there is nothing there. No one else is affected by this. |
For DMs wanting to learn more about the Far Realm and add their own effects or monsters to the location, we recommend reading the following material for inspiration.
Advanced D&D 2nd Edition
D&D 3rd edition
D&D 4th edition
D&D 5th Edition
This document has been created by Kathy in collaboration with Luolang and the Lore Consultants of the Hawthorne Dungeons & Dragons Guild.
Background Image: Fantasy Landscape with a Walking Moutain by Martin Hatala
Hawthorne Guild
