The Planes: Hades
Our next stop in The Planes series is Hades - the gray plane of apathy and despair.
What is Hades?
Manual of the Planes, 1987 TSR Inc.
Known as the Gray Wastes of Hades or simply as the Three Glooms, this plane is a dismal location in the Outer Planes and is a land of evil solely. Chaos and law are in equal balance through this dismal wasteland, just as all color between white and black is grayed out in a bleaching effect. Those who make this plane their home are either stuck here, as the plane caused them to be too apathetic to care to leave, are the yugoloths who were created here, or a petitioner whose soul had no other Outer Plane to reside in.
The gray wastes are made up of three layers, commonly called the Three Glooms. These dull gray lands feature gray earth, gray skies, and withering gray plants. Even the residents are gray as all color is dulled away within a matter of days. The only light is the gray light of this plane that reveals the varying gray shades of this plane. There’s a reason why most travelers don’t want to visit Hades, it doesn’t have much to offer.
History
Introduced in the Manual of the Planes (1987), Hades has stayed largely the same depressing and apathetic plane it was in the beginning. In 2nd edition’s Planes of Conflict (1995) we are provided with locations to visit, people to be feared, while 3rd edition provides scant more information, though what it does provide is interesting. No new locations are revealed, instead, it provides several paragraphs about how a certain throne ruled by a yugoloth works and how, if such a thing were to happen, a character might take control over this chair and create new diseases to wrack the top layer of Hades. It’s a strange choice to put so much focus on considering the limited word count that each plane gets in that editions Manual of the Planes (2001). 4th edition only provides scant information about the plane and reduces it only to an Astral Dominion known as Pluton and ruled over by Nerul before he was killed by the Raven Queen. In the current edition, Hades is back to having three layers but not much more can be gleaned from the Dungeon Master’s Guide (2014).
An Outsider’s Perspective
Uncaring. Dismal. Unappealing. Detached. All these words sum up the experience of outsiders to this plane, though none sum it up as simply as calling the plane gray. The people of this plane are dull and lifeless, long given up their emotions and hope of something in life. There is nothing beyond the gray pallor of this plane for it sucks all life from the landscape and a creature. It’s a draining experience, not only for your hope and emotions but for the very colors that might adorn your clothes.
There isn’t much reason to visit this plane and very little reason to stay, but for those who spend too long on this plane, they lose the will to ever leave. Many who journey to this plane use one of the numerous portals to get exactly where they need to go, and do their best to leave as soon as possible. This plane is where the vast majority of the battles of the Blood War take place, and thus the top layer is especially dangerous for demons and devils alike care little about your wants and will draft you into their ranks, or simply kill you where you stand.
A Native’s Perspective
While most who journey to this plane are expecting obscene acts and depravity, knowing full well that this plane is the sole focus of evil, this plane is far more insidious than that. Its inhabitants have the first-hand experience at the evil that exists on this plane. The first layer, known as Oinos, is a gray battlefield with dark gray stains of blood that flow into the River Styx, further clouding those waters.
Planes of Chaos, 1995 TSR Inc.
Those who are trapped on Hades because they are its petitioners are grayish larvae and spirits that have been drained of all emotion and personality. They seek out visitors like moths to bright light, hoping for a desperate chance at possessing the creature and experiencing something. Anything. Just wanting to crave any type of emotion or feeling. Outsiders who make it to this plane, and aren’t able to escape it before giving in to the dismal fate of despair, become non-responsive the longer they stay in the glooms. Rarely speaking, simply staring ahead and unable to focus on the world around them, if they can make it off of Hades, not through any ability of their own, they might eventually get a spark of life back in them, but it’s always faint and they are prone to apathy.
The rest of the creatures on this plane fair slightly better than mortal beings. The yugoloths are from this plane, though many have moved to Gehenna, probably because after untold millennia the dismal gray was starting to get to them. The other fiends, demons and devils, are unaffected by the gray atmosphere. Their ties to chaos and law are so strong that they can simply walk through the creeping gray mists, walk across the gray landscape, and still feel the same hatred burning in them for their enemy that they always feel. Which is a good thing, for some, because the top layer is constantly ringing with the muted and dulled sounds of claws, flesh, and the hopeless cries of anguish whenever the two armies clash.
A few mortal creatures can overpower the dismal dread of gloom, somehow finding a way to beat the very nature of this plane. Those creatures are often the leaders of small villages and towns across the Three Glooms, though their reigns are typically short unless they find some way of keeping their hope or desire alive. Eventually, the plane will win out and even the most stubborn being, like the gods themselves, will succumb to gloom.
Atmosphere
Gray. Gray skies. Gray land. Gray trees. Gray everything. Whatever color might arrive in this plane is quickly dulled and muted, with even the brightest fabrics losing their color within days and becoming a dull gray color. Like hope, color fades from this plane replaced with the ever-pressing doldrum of life bereft of emotion, life, or hope. The atmosphere of this plane is breathable, the ground can be walked upon, and the sky flew through but travelers eventually realize - What’s the point? This atmosphere sucks the emotions, the drive, and the desire out of all but the fiends who seem unperturbed by it all. Even the gods can find this plane to be too devoid of anything to find much reason to stay, and so few gods make their realm in this plane.
Traits
Travel to the Plane
Manual of the Planes, 2001 WotC
Traveling to this plane is quite easy, though it is highly recommended that you don’t. Portals can be found in the Astral Plane, with it's color pools taking on the color of rust, in Sigil, the Outlands in the gate-town of Hopeless, and in the neighboring planes of Carceri and Gehenna. The portals on Hades appear as large spinning coins of different colors, each color signifying what plane it is linked to. Copper coins lead to Gehenna, Silver to the Outlands, Gold for Carceri, and the incredibly rare Platinum coins lead to the Astral Plane. Many denizens, specifically demons, devils, and yugoloths, build gray fortresses over the known portals, guarding them jealously.
Luckily for travelers wishing to avoid using the portal system, to avoid getting drafted by the various fiends of this plane, there are a few other ways of arriving on the plane. Of the four major planar routes, three of them pass through the Gray Wastes, they are the River Styx, the bottom slopes of Mount Olympus, and the tree roots of the Yggdrasil Tree. The only major planar route to not flow through Hades is the River Oceanus which spans the good-aligned planes and its waters are much too pure for Hades.
The River Styx cuts across the top layer, Oinos, and is used heavily by ferrymen carrying large amounts of fiendish troops from the Abyss and the Nine Hells. The base of Mount Olympus bypasses the first layer and appears on the third layer, known as Pluton, and stretches just to the outside of the greek underworld ruled by Hades. Yggdrasil’s roots are on the second layer, known as Niflheim, where a great wingless dragon, Nidhogg, chews and gnaws at the roots. One day Nidhogg will chew through all of the roots of Yggdrasil, and destroy the tree.
Traversing the Plane
Traversing the plane is rather difficult for newcomers as they are often focused on going to a specific location and then leaving Hades as soon as possible. Unfortunately for them, Hades acts like the opposite of most other planes. For other planes, you simply must focus on your destination and begin walking and the distance between you and there seems to melt away and you arrive quite quickly, especially for being infinite sized planes. On Hades, if you have a destination in mind, the miles drag and progress is slowed. Only those who wander with no destination, no care of where they go, can make quick progress in arriving at a destination.
For outsiders, the last thing they want to do is give up the hope of arriving at their destination, but the sooner they surrender to the plane, the faster they arrive at their destination. This has the unfortunate consequence of when they do arrive there, they may not care anymore about their destination. They may not care about anything and simply just sit down in the dirt and just… despair.
Dotting the layer of Oinos are hundreds of roads, except they all just end after a mile or so. Whoever decided to try and connect the villages, cities, fortresses, and other locations in this plane just gave up. Travelers of this plane simply wander, some wonder the point in wandering, but still, they trudge on. It's even impossible to simply teleport around the plane unless one of the gods here allows it to happen, the plane doesn’t want anyone getting by without first suffering from the gloom.
To reach the lower layers, or Glooms, of this plane, there are very specific locations where you can do so. Unfortunately, most of them are guarded by the gods who control those layers. The conduit from Oinos to Niflheim appears close enough to the feast halls for Hel, a Norse power over death, while between Niflheim and Pluton are the beaten brass gates to Hades’ domain with its guardian, a three-headed hound known as Cerberus, who attacks any who make it past the gates.
In 2nd edition, there is a city that exists in all three layers and connects them, making for easy travel so long as you can arrive at the city known as The Town at the Center.
Diseases of Oinos
The top layer is known to be a layer of disease and plague. The inhabitants of the bottom two layers of the plane, despite their apathy, work hard to ensure that the Oinos diseases don’t travel down to them. The diseases are created by the Oinoloth who sits upon its throne, Siege Malicious, in the Khin-Oin, the Wasting Tower. The diseases created by the yugoloths can sweep across the top layer at just a thought, it’s deadliness and symptoms are as varied as the imagination of whoever controls the throne of Siege Malicious and gives them perfect control over it. At the very least, the controller of the diseases can only control what is on the top layer, any attempt at sweeping the disease down to the lower layers with the throne fails. If they want the lower levels infected, they have to usher in plague-ridden petitioners and travelers to those layers, but the gods who control those layers don’t take kindly to it.
Locations
Planes of Chaos, 1995 TSR Inc.
Hades is separated into three layers, also known as the Three Glooms, each featuring a different connected planar pathway so that travelers can travel directly to that layer. The top layer, Oinos, has the River Styx that cuts through it and is often compared to a massive, gray battlefield between demons and devils. The second layer, Niflheim, has the roots of the Yggdrasil resting on its surface, this layer appears like the Prime Material world, though it is devoid of color and sensation. The third and last layer, Pluton, resembles a subtropical climate with withered date trees that appear to be dying from lack of care.
Oinos, the Battle Plain
The first layer, or gloom, of Hades, is a barren wasteland of gray and disease. Fiends war across this layer, spilling gray blood into the gray sand that washes into the gray waters of the River Styx. Massive iron fortresses guard portals to Gehenna, the Outlands, Carceri, and the Astral Plane, the fiends fearful that the other side might use those portals against them. This layer has been ravaged by war from the devils and demons, and disease by the yugoloths who control its sweep across the layer.
There are no gods that make their domain here, in due part because of the constant war between chaos and law, but also because of the yugoloths. Some believe that the creators of the yugoloth, the Baernaloths are the rulers of this layer, but that they’ve hidden so completely that they can never be found. Creatures from all over the planes hear the rumors of their great power, for they are thought to be the first creatures to stumble out of the mists of creation and are the ultimate power in the multiverse, and wish to speak with them or entreat them for favors. If anyone has found these reclusive creatures, not even rumors of such a meeting have surfaced.
Khin-Oin, the Wasting Tower
Stretching 20 miles into the gray skies of Oinos, and just as far underground, is a massive spinal column of an ancient dead god that thought to question the hold that the yugoloths have over Oinos. At least, that’s the rumor about this massive tower. Another rumor is that this tower is the birthplace of the yugoloths and it was the Baernaloths that killed the power and planted their spine here for their children to use. Regardless of the actual reason, everyone knows it is the property of the yugoloths and has never fallen out of their hands. What knowledge and powerful artifacts might be hidden away in this massive tower, one can only guess. The yugoloths were the first fiends and from them came the demons and devils, such an ancient race in the multiverse must contain some of the greatest knowledge in all of the multiverse.
Unfortunately for outsiders, this tower is never going to leave the yugoloth’s grasp. Even though the yugoloths who reside in the tower are constantly fighting in political factions against each other, if they are ever threatened, they quickly jump into action to defend their home. No matter what the demons or devils might do, this tower has never fallen and no one believes that it ever can. Seated on the top of this spinal tower is the artifact known as Siege Malicious and is thought to be so powerful as to control every disease on Oinos. That the yugoloth who sits upon the throne, and has killed its former sitter, becomes the Oinoloth and can monitor everything in the tower and across their layer.
Niflheim, Northmen’s Despair
On the second gloom, Niflheim, it is covered in a thick and swirling gray mist that saturates everything with dampness. While not destroyed like Oinos, probably because the mist makes it difficult to properly fight, there are still dangers that dwell on this layer. From dire wolves to trolls, from night hags to giants, creatures opposed to the Northmen, sometimes referred to as the Norse can be found in large numbers hunting through the lands.
This layer appears to be much like the northern landscapes of the Material Plane, with thick forests and wide oceans of saltwater, all on the backdrop of gray. No color can be found on this plane, and this layer is no exception as it drains the color from fabric, from blood, from the spirits of those who died, not in battle, but their bed. This is said to be the afterlife of warriors who were too good to die in battle, who ran away like cowards, who simply chose to not bring glory to themselves on the battlefield.
Death of Innocence
This small town is tucked away in a fog-drenched pine forest and is largely constructed of that hewn wood. The city feels abandoned, even though it holds several thousand petitioners and mortals, as they stay inside. With a massive wooden wall wrapping around the city, covered in bristles and spikes, the city is relatively safe from the creatures and horrors that hunt through the outside forests. Of any town or city in Hades, this is one of the very few where Hades has not completely overwhelmed the townsfolk in apathy and dismay.
The buildings and walls of this town are built from the same pine trees that make up the forest, causing many to believe that the pine trees themselves are petitioners. Many believe that petitioners are trapped inside the trees because the hewn wood oozes blood where ever it is chopped or hacked, though that hasn’t stopped the town from lumbering and building additional buildings and fortifying their walls. The center of this town features a gray marble fountain and statue of a man riding a horse and every week a planar traveler comes to this city, ties a colorful bolt of fabric to the statue, and then leaves. Over the next week, it slowly fades, but it’s seen as the last glimmer of hope for the inhabitants who are trying to fight against Hades' influence.
Niflheim, Hel’s Domain
Planes of Chaos, 1995 TSR Inc.
The domain of Hel is also named Niflheim and is where the Norse power watches over the dead. Hel is the daughter of Loki, though any of his joy never made it to her, instead, this realm, and by extension, Hel broods on death and disease. The realm is as cold and emotionless as its leader, and she ensures that no soul escapes before its proper time, meaning when Ragnarok comes to the multiverse and the gates of Niflheim are opened for all the petitioners to avenge their bitter afterlife. Until then, they sit in Hel’s feast halls, which contain miles and miles of banquet tables loaded with rotting food, and they are forced to watch on as poison from the rafters drip on to the food and spoil it. At any point, any one of the petitioners will be so overcome with a hunger that they’ll devour the food before retching and dying from the poison, only to wake up the next day at their assigned spot at the banquet hall. Hel watches all of this from her throne, ensuring that none escape their fate.
Pluton, Olympian’s Gloom
The final gloom of Hades holds the underworld and is a layer of half-dead olive trees, shriveled willows, and the realm of Hades, who may or may not have named the plane or was named after the layer. Of all the layers of Hades, this one is said to be the worst, those who journey here don’t want to be here, not like the petitioners have a choice, and many forget the reason they even came down here. Those that do come down here are often on a mission to rescue the lost soul of a friend or loved one, to save them from a life of dismay and gloom, for not only evil souls are sent to suffer the gray wastes. In actuality, any soul that isn’t claimed by a god is sent to Hades until someone can come along and claim it, though to do that you must pry it out of the tight grasp of Hades, the Greek god of the underworld.
While the Blood War rarely ventures to such depths, it does sometimes show up on these lands in small raids and skirmishes. It could be one of the sides are looking to ‘rescue’ the soul of a fallen mortal, though only in the extremely rare circumstances that that mortal proved themselves to be vital to the Blood War. Could be that they were a general of such high tactical mind that the Devils don’t want them wasting away when they could be put to better use as a pit fiend. Or maybe the Demons saw such glory in a fighter’s sword that the amount of chaos and death they caused was enough for a demon prince to send a delegation to re-capture the soul so that it might forevermore fight as a marilith or other demon.
Corpus
Probably one of the largest, if not the largest, settlement of people in all of Hades, Corpus is a city of the people. Literally. Every structure in town, every cobblestone in the street, every piece of furniture is made of bodies pressed together. This city is made by the people of its people, and they wouldn’t have it a different way. Everyone is still alive in the construction of this city and operates as a single organism for the betterment of all. When a mortal first journeys to this city, and wishes to be a long term resident, they must join the body for five years and become part of the city. So long as they become the body, they can then live in this city and enjoy all of its benefits.
Creatures here are shielded from the draining effects of the plane, they are protected by the body against the horrible beasts that hunt through the layer, and they have unity with others in their community. When a creature is first assigned, it is typically at a random location on the body of the city, it could be that they become part of the stomach, where food is disgested for the rest of Corpus, sizzling acid eating away anything dropped into it except for the bodies that line the pit. They are pressed so tightly against one another that no acid can leak out, they then pass nutrients to the rest of the body. Or a creature could become part of the veins of the body, meaning they are cobblestones or the heart which is responsible for handing out wealth and nutrients to the rest of the body. Those that serve may eventually get promoted to the Head where they can take part in the decisions of how the city operates and acts.
If there is an infection, or cancer, in the body, the press of bodies that make up a building will detach themselves from the body and begin hunting around the city to root out the infection. Once found, they cut it out and drop it in the stomach to dissolve it, run it out of town, or kill it.
For outsiders, this is a strange and horrifying city, though the prices are fair and the tavern is happy to have any guests come through. It is off-putting when you go to bed and see several people make up the construction of your bed, but they don’t mind if you lay down on them - that’s what they are there for.
Hades, the Underworld
Behind thick walls of gray marble is a realm stretching for countless miles. The only point of entry is through a beaten bronze gate that is dented and scarred over by heroes and creatures intent on entering and rescue the lost souls of those they loved. Some can get past the gates, most of the time with the help of the other greek gods who can guide them through the hundreds of miles of tunnels that stretch through the interior of Mount Olympus. The path through the mount bypass the walls completely and allow heroes to enter the Underworld, though they must first deal with Cerberus, a three-headed hound who some claim is made up of thousands of bodies that have been twisted into a mutilated form. If they can overcome the hound, using their sheer will power to overcome its strength, they can truly enter the realm and search for their loved ones. If the hound is killed, Hades can simply bring the beast back to life with a thought.
Planes of Chaos, 1995 TSR Inc.
The interior of the Underworld is dotted with dying scrub brushes, petitioners are everywhere, some in a wraith-like form, others in larvae state, while others appear to be dry husks on the verge of being completely drained of all emotion. If that happens, their spiritual decays and they simply join the plane as part of it and can no longer be rescued.
A hero, or loved one, can attempt to rescue a mortal soul from this realm, but they must present their case before Hades and attempt to persuade him. His cold grasp on the souls is rarely every loosened, but his wife, Persephone, is known to be able to turn his heart. If a hero first approaches Persephone, bringing entertainment and light to her dour predicament in the gray wastes, they might stand a chance in rescuing the lost soul.
The Town At The Center
Planes of Chaos, 1995 TSR Inc.
The three layers of Hades are not simply stacked one on top of the other as there is a single point where all three touch each other. At this point is the Town at the Center that allows free movement, sort of, between all three layers. The Town is split into thirds with each third a different layer. There is a clear distinction between each layer, that it isn’t a visual signifier except in the case of the borders of Oinos. A traveler just can tell when they travel from one layer, or third of the city, to the next. Oinos is slightly different because it is so plague-ridden. Any who wish to travel from the Oinos part of the city must travel through a thick wall that separates it from the rest of the city and stay within a gray room for a week as quarantine. Once they finish their quarantine, only then are they allowed to journey out of that third of the city and see the rest of the place.
Traders, travelers, heroes, and more can be found in this city and the ruler, a tiefling known as Dandy Will oversees the entire city and its brutal and apathetic nature. Fiends, mortals, and petitioners alike serve in the militia and guard the castle at the center of this town where Dandy resides. Those that wish to speak to him must put in official notices with the castle, this typically takes a full week before Dandy will see a visitor, enough time for the gray gloom of this plane to begin settling in, of course, coins can expedite the process around here.
While this town is in the center of gloom, it seems to have some ability to resist the effects of the gloom, though most think that that is simply because of the number of fiends that reside here. Their natural ability to ignore apathy might help protect the city, and so no one is interested in getting rid of them anytime soon. Besides, the fiends of any sort are happy to take orders from Dandy Will as they are typically deserters from the Blood War and are just hoping to stay out of the way and avoid notice and retribution.
Factions & People
Gloombug
Any mortal creature that has become overtaken by the gloom of Hades is called a Gloombug. These poor unfortunates have felt their emotion drain out of them and are easy to tell due to the distant stare they give the world around them, even if they are no longer on the plane. Gloombugs could be anyone, from adventurers to shopkeepers to bandits trying to make a living out on the Outlands, if a creature visited Hades and fell into despair, it’s a mark that stains them for the rest of their life. Typically, these creatures are never able to save themselves from the plane, but rather they were rescued by someone else and dragged off the plane of despair.
If a creature spends enough time outside of Hades, they may regain their emotions but it’s a slow process and it is proportional to how long they lived on Hades. Some who were only there a week might find life return to them in just a few months, though they’ll always have the distant stare of a Gloombug for their thoughts can’t help but return to their experience on Hades.
Petitioners
Those who die and have no god to claim them are simply deposited in Hades, this typically only happens to those mortals who were selfish in life and uncaring about others. Just as they treated others with little thought, so does the plane that they are cursed to live their afterlife on. Emotion is sucked out, hope is extinguished, and any chance of rescue is non-existent. The petitioners are thought to appear in three different forms: Larvae, Hordlings, and the Night Hags.
Larvae
The most prevalent of the petitioners are the larvae, they were so malicious and selfish in life that they were rejected by the gods and had nowhere else to go. Not even Hel, Hades of the Underworld, or the other gods wanted anything to do with them and so they were instantly transformed into larvae. These strange slugs are defenseless and hideous, with the body of grubs and the head of whatever they were in life, they are meek and treated as the currency of the Lower Planes.
Night Hags scoop up these larvae, trading them with fiends from all over the planes. Some larvae as used as spell components, their souls ripped apart for a particularly nasty spell, might be used as food for a hungry demon, or may even be promoted to a demon or devil and replenish the lost ranks of either side. This is a good outcome for the larvae as it beats being stuck in the realm of dismay and hopeless emotion.
Planes of Chaos, 1995 TSR Inc.
Hordlings
Twisted and deformed, they are thought to be the mortals that could resist the negativity of this plane and still maintain a flicker of hope in them upon death. If that’s true, it means that thousands of mortals were able to resist the draining influence of Hades. From one perspective, it might mean that the plane isn’t as dismal as many assume, and find, it to be. On the other hand, it might mean that billions of souls have passed through Hades, which is a more unsettling thought. If billions of souls are evil, what hope does anyone have of living on the Upper Planes? Will evil ultimately take over the multiverse?
Millions of these twisted creatures roam the layers of Hades the same way that manes and lemures roam the layers of the Abyss and the Nine Hells respectively. These creatures are mindless in their destruction and seek only to destroy mortals out of anger and self-loathing of themselves.
Night Hags
Planes of Chaos, 1995 TSR Inc.
Many discount the idea that Night Hags are petitioners simply for the idea that it would give hope to the larvae trying to overcome their situation. If larvae had hope, then that means that Hades isn’t as soul-draining as it is. On the other hand, Hades follows the Rule-of-Three closely and so it makes sense that there are three levels of petitioners here, and also the Night Hags can turn other creatures into larvae. For creatures to have such control over larvae, they must have a connection to such foul beasts. Then again, there is no hope on Hades and it’s better to just devote your life to something else and hope a god claims your soul and keeps you out of the gray wastes.
The Night Hags are the most powerful of the petitioners, if they are indeed petitioners, and can be found trading larvae to the devils and demons for money, power, and influence. They have little care for such pitiful creatures, often riding their nightmares across fields of larvae, crushing and torturing the creatures that were once alive. They can transform those that cross them into larvae and delight in doing so. Some believe that night hags are the petitioners of hags from the Material Plane, while others think they are just creatures created from the gloom itself.
Yugoloths
The most powerful influence on the plane, they were created within this plane, similarly to how devils and demons are crafted by their respective planes. While most of the yugoloths have decided to leave and make their new home on Gehenna, which makes some sense for if they were to die on Hades, they’d be dead permanently. Dying on Gehenna simply allows them to return to life on Hades and carry on with their foul plans and deeds.
While the yugoloths were created from this plane, they are not the first. Instead the first were the creatures known as Baernaloths who the yugoloths try to emulate to the best of their ability. The Baernaloths are thought to be the first creatures to be formed during the time of creation and that they are the true rulers of the multiverse, that their power encompasses everything and everywhere, though no one can find them now. Relics of their power, and creatures of their making, like the yugoloths, still reside and are the only evidence of their time on the planes. Some believe, mostly the yugoloths, that the Baernaloths are the forces of the gloom, hiding in its thick mists and will only reveal themselves when the end of the multiverse is at hand.
Encounters
Central Traitor - The Devils are furious. One of their own sold out their latest battleplan that was going to win the Blood War and now they are searching for this devil to enact their vengeance. They are hiring adventurers to scour the planes and find this creature and bring it back to Baator where the devil can be taught a lesson. Rumors are that the devil is hiding out in The Town at the Center.
Dustmen’s Debt - The faction in Sigil known as the Dustmen are looking for a very rare strain of disease that can only be found in Hades. The pay is good and all you have to do is find someone on Oinos and bring them back to Sigil for studying.
The Plight of Innocence - Kherion Malliburn has hired out the party. He can’t make it to Death of Innocence this week and needs them to bring a bolt of bright and colorful fabric to the city to keep back the dismay of Hades and keep the citizens from giving up and merging into the plane. Every week he goes, without fail, to bring hope and joy to that city, but a horrible event is keeping him from his task. The party must go and save the city or it may be lost to dismay. If they can bring enough joy and emotion to the city, maybe it can survive, or against the very odds themselves, escape the gloom of Hades and relocate to a new plane, preferably a happier plane.
Planes of Chaos, 1995 TSR Inc.
With Friends Like These - A loved one’s soul has been sentenced to the Underworld. To save them an afterlife of unyielding and emotionless dismay, you must journey past Cerebus and bargain with Hades for their soul.
Resources & Further Reading
Manual of the Planes (1st edition)
For more information on Hades in 1st edition.
Planes of Conflict (2nd edition)
For more information on creatures, locations, and inhabitants of Hades.
Manual of the Planes (3rd edition)
For more information on Hades and the Siege Malicious in 3rd edition.
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