The Nether Reaches (Confines Inferiores, level L08) are the wild territory of the Ardis Vala Mega-Dungeon, “the wild west” of Ardis Vala. No faction controls them, nor wants to. To “seek the Nether Reaches” means to plunge into the unknown. Getting in is easy by teleporter; getting back out is hard.
| Type | Place (dungeon level) |
| Controlling faction | None |
| Central figure | Laocoon the Lord of Shadows |
| Spanish entry | Confines Inferiores |
Regions
| Region | Inhabitants / function |
|---|---|
| Entrance and Shadowed Halls | Laocoon the Lord of Shadows; Nicetas & Co., robbers |
| Temple of Bastet (a refugee deity) | Oubaste, high priestess; refugee priestesses from before the Schism between the Sortians and the Theosophists |
| Caves of Bliss | Bliss-flower pollen with psychotropic effects; Olaf the Bee-Whisperer |
| Forge of Zhorak | Zhorak, an undead dwarven spirit; Arkose Scoria, a doppelganger leader posing as a dwarf |
| Lost Temple of Besa (Archontean deity of pleasure and pain) | Vatapi, Ilvala and Tataka, rakshasas posing as wealthy rudishva survivors |
| Chaotic Feasters Hall | Direct access to Rimmaq-Isfet, a greater god entity |
| Singing Grotto | Eustachius the Cantor |
| Tomb of Phocion the Builder | — |
Other figures: Sir Discord, a Sun-Scarred Knight of the Knights of the Scar of the Sun, at large in the wild territory; Peabo and Muq, exiled lesser varumani.
Construction
- Heqeti: half a dozen ritual chambers.
- Rudishva: scattered technical chambers.
- Archontean: the rest (the majority).
Bliss pollen
The bliss-flower areas release a pollen that affects most of the level. Few resist it: whoever breathes it wanders aimlessly for hours, blissful and unaware of danger. It is the level’s great passive trap: groups split up, get lost and die.
Rimmaq-Isfet
The Hall of Chaotic Feasters is a direct portal to Rimmaq-Isfet. Poisoning it through this portal, with information gathered on other levels, weakens the dark consecration of the Ziggurat of Kauket.
Access
- Great Abyss: one mouth.
- Halls of Thoth: one ascent.
- Obsidian Gates: one ascent.
- Trolls’ Elevators: the Trolls’ Elevator; several.
- Court of the Thegn: a rope bridge and a rudishva teleport.
- Floor of the Great Abyss: presumably via the Chasm.