Plague-mort
Estimated Population: 20,000
The Town
Plague-Mort is an Outlander town that demonstrates a basic rule of the Abyss - the strongest bashers thrive and do as they see fit with the weak. In this case, though, the weak make up most of the town.
Plague-Mort's a bundle of shacks, kips, and ruins clustered about the walls of a shining, silver-steel keep. In the keep sits the Arch-Lector, who rules the city with an iron fist. Outside the keep is the rest of the burg, with temples, residences, and merchant districts left to fend for themselves. As a result, most of the town is gray, wrecked, and abandoned.
The Arch-Lector's keep, though, is a grand, ornate building. Its roof shines with metallic tiles, and its eaves are dotted with gargoyles, real and otherwise. Razorvine and bloodthorns cover the keep's walls to make sure that outsiders stay out.
The Gate
One wall of the ArchLector's keep is breached by three large archways. The center and rightmost archways lead into the keep, but the leftmost leads into someplace even worse. This archway is the Gate to the Abyss, and travelers who look through it will see the blasted landscape known as the Plain of Infinite Portals (the uppermost layer of the Abyss). The Plain is a desolate wasteland, empty except for two things: huge pits that are conduits to deeper layers, and iron fortresses that are outposts of powerful tanar'ri lords.
Like the rest of the keep, the gate's entwined with razorvine, so a berk's got to watch his step going through. On the other hand, the razorvine might be the best part of the trip.
The Populace
On the whole, the people of PlagueMort are here for the benefit of the Abyss. Some look for adventure in the Plain of Infinite Portals, some seek favors from the dark powers, and some just have temperaments that match this vile city. Wherever a body looks, though, he'll find treachery, oppression, and pain.
Most of the locals are humans and tieflings, along with such evil-aligned humanoids as orcs, gnolls, and ogres. But with the Abyss so close, a berk's just as likely to bump into one of the quasits or tanar'ri (mostly alufiends and cambions) who make Plague-Mort its home.
She may be a poxy doxy, but she's the only town for me.
The Hoi Polloi
The current Arch-Lector of PlagueMort is Byrri Yarmoril, a tiefling priest of some secret and destructive goddess. He pulls the strings of the town, but, in turn, has his strings pulled by the Abyss itself.
The Arch-Lector keeps the terror through his own personal militia, a gang of planar/human crossbreeds known as the Hounds. This pack of tieflings, alu-fiends, and cambions jumps at the master's command, and they'll even leave the city to chase down sods who've offended him.
Local Sites
Beyond the ArchLector's grand keep, Plague-Mort is a rotting, gray city of dirty stone and collapsing timbers. However, there are a few places a traveler might want to look into (or away from).
One popular spot for many locals is an abandoned temple, not far from the keep. The chant says it was once used to worship the neutral deity Oghma. But some bone-boxes flap about a second, darker temple hidden beneath its ravaged altar.
Plague-Mort's also known as the Tradegate of the evil gate-towns, offering goods for jink or for trade. Cutters who come to town for this game have plenty of inns and taverns to choose from, including such wellknown watering holes as the Eye of the Dragon, the Bell and Whistle, and the Golden Griffon. 'Course, that last place is also a favorite hang-out for the Hounds, and it should be skipped by any berk with a strong attachment to his life.
Current Chant
Ask any bubber in the street the goal of the Arch-Lector, and chances are good that he'll know (if he's not passed out, that is). There's nothing dark about it - Yarmoril hopes to pitch Plague-Mort into the Abyss, a move that'd bring rioting and death to most of the residents. If he doesn't deliver the town, he'll earn himself a spot in the dead-book. Needless to say, Yarmoril is highly motivated to send the burg to its final resting place.
