Session 01

The party found themselves stepping out onto the strange surface of Occipitus, the 507th layer of the Abyss. The floor of this layer was spongy, pock marked and a deep red colour. The whole layer was two or three hundred miles across and was ringed by impossibly tall mountains which stretched up into a fiery sky. In places on the surface of Occipitus there were large areas of rubble which glowed with a strange holy light. These were areas of Celestia which had fallen with the plane when it broke off from the Heavens, explained Kaurophon, their mysterious guide. In other places there were tangled forests of fibrous plants which would grasp and grab at you as you passed through them. In places large white rock fragments would poke up through the ground like ribs sticking out of the skin. Dotted all across the landscape were "ulcurs" - bubbling pockets of red gooey substance. Sometimes these ulcurs would burst throwing this red gooey liquid into the air. And always there was the Skull. The central mountain of Occipitus, which looked like a giant skull on its side and partially submerged, was visible from all places on the plane. Out of one eye socket constantly streamed a smoking torrent of plasma which rushed up to join the firey skies above. It was a spectacular and wonderous place. And, as they were about to discover, very dangerous.   Kaurophon took his barings and told the group it would take them about four days to trek across the landscape of this Abyssal Layer and reach the place known as the Cathedral of Feathers - an ancient celestial cathedral which had been on the part of Celestia that had broken off to form Occipitus. This cathedral, now ruined, was the location of the first part of the Test of the Smoking Eye. Setting off, the group headed along with the Skull to their right and ahead of them. They moved through the alien landscape carefully at first but slowly began to relax as the strange nature of the place became a little less overwhelming. After a while, ahead of them they saw a chasm through which they would have to pass. The sides of the chasm rose steeply to either side. They entered the valley and were about to pass by one of the larger ulcers they had seen when the ulcer exploded! Our of the ulcer lept a giant red frog-like humanoid which Camero instantly identified it as a blood slaad - a very dangerous creature of the Elemental Chaos. The slaad was an ancient and wily foe and the group struggled to hurt it. It seemed unbelievably fast and with thick hide which stopped most of their attacks. During the battle, both Braken and Morgan were badly slashed by the slaad's claws and as the beast was felled Camero warned that these creatures often implanted their embryos into the victims they clawed. Looking carefully at their wounds it became apparent that Braken had been infected by such an embryo. Camero told him that, unless he was very resilient, by the next day he would be going insane and within two days a slaad tadpole would erupt from his skull, killing him instantly. Things were looking grim for the cleric of St. Cuthbert. Kaurophon said that he knew a ritual which could be used to heal Braken but that he was not at all skilled in healing matters. In addition he said that performing this ritual badly would be just as likely to kill the cleric as to heal him. He said that he could try and teach Braken the ritual so that he could heal himself, as Braken was by far the most knowledgable on healing matters, but doing so would mean resting up here for the balance of the day. The group decided it had no choice so they found a safe looking place in the chasm they were currently located, and with their backs to a wall made camp. Braken and Kaurophon sat and poured over the ritual as the rest guarded. They spent a thankfully quiet "day" - there was no sun so it was hard to judge the passing of time on this plane - and Braken announced he had successfully learnt the ritual. Now he just had to perform it. He told the group that he could really do with their help in the ritual as this disease was particularly nasty. His friends held bandages, applied herbal mixtures and muttered a simple mantra as Braken perfomed the ritual. At the ritual's climax a small half-formed tadpole was expelled through the skin of Braken's neck! The cleric slumped to the floor, badly hurt, but the tadpole was out and quickly died at their feet. Braken was cured, but by now it was basically evening and the group needed to rest up for the night. Deciding this was as safe a place as any they stayed put and made their campsite ready for the night.   Within an hour of settling down for the night the group spotted a winged vrock demon flying down the chasm in which they were hiding. It spotted them and, assuming they were easy prey, it swooped to attack. Kaurophon got off a mesmerizing psychic attack and stunned the vrock and the group pounded on it for a while. It then came to, saw it was surrounded and let out a great screech. This screech had the effect of stunning all the group in return! But as the vrock was bloodied and battered and realised that the group was too dangerous to deal with, it used the chance to fly off into the firey sky.   The rest of that night passed uneventfully in the chasm and the next day the party headed onwards towards the Cathedral of Feathers. For three more days the travelled on across the plains of Occipitus without seeing any signs of life. This was a strange and unchanging landscape, desolate and harsh. They wound their way through the flat red plains, around the fibrous forests, between the ossaic bone fragments jutting up from the ground and avoiding the ulcers dotted all around. After nearly four days travelling, ahead they could see a huge pile of broken rubble, and perched precariously atop it at an alarming angle was a massive ruined cathedral. It showed signs of once being a beautiful ediface but was now ruined and fallen into disrepair. There were gaping holes in the roof and through the broken windows one could see masses of rubble and broken down furniture on the inside. A huge pair of double stone doors at the western end were the only obvious signs of entry to the place so the party approached cautiously. Harley checked the doors over for traps and it was clear it would take all four of the heroes of Magma Force to force them open, as they were so heavy. The four pulled and the stuck doors swung judderingly open to reveal the Narthex beyond.   The Narthex was, as they had imagined, a once beautiful place now ruined. There were torn and faded tapestries hanging from all the walls, there were broken chairs and tables smashed about the place. Rubble from the collapsed roof lay in places around the entrance. Inside the party immediately saw and heard four giant spiders. Camero identified them as blade spiders, although smaller than the usual horse sized creatures of this type. They were just as deadly however. The spiders skuttled into action, swarming over the floors and walls to attack. The group singled out one and all moved to take it out. Then, once it was down, they picked another and concentrated all their fire on it. This tactic was very efficient and soon all four spiders were defeated. During the combat a strange effect occured. Every so often for a few seconds at a time the whole cathedral seemed to somehow change: The place was bathed in holy light. All the rubble was gone and the furniture repaired and in place. Those looking out through the now perfect windows could see verdant alpine medows and a golden sun, rather than the rubble strewn, red tinted landscape of Occipitus. Inside there was a holy aura and the whole place was filled with soft downy feathers drifting through the air. It was as though for a short time the place had shifted back into Celestia. This effect occurred for short bursts throughout their travels in the cathedral and Kaurophon explained that this effect was why the place got the name the Cathedral of Feathers.   Searching through the rubble in the Narthex the group found a silver statue of an angel and a large sapphire. The Narthex had a further pair of iron doors which lead into the main Sanctuary. The group lined up and opened them revealing a huge chapel with an arched ceiling some sixty feet overhead. Large piles of fallen ceiling and broken pews dotted the space but there was a clear area down the centre of the chapel. At the far end could be seen a makeshift statue of the Demon Prince, Orcus, where perhaps an altar might have once stood. And indeed as the party moved forward carefully the cathedral shifted once more into its celestial place and there was a gorgeous marble altar to be seen at the end of the chapel in place of the evil statue. As the party moved forward to the middle of the main hall they spotted a firey glow off to their left and ahead of them and a huge snakelike creature slithered out into view. This creature was wreathed in flames and many of the group recognised it as a salamander. And from the crown upon it's head, not just any salamander but a noble at that - one of the more powerful salamanders. At this stage from behind the party emerged an angelic creature. She wielded a sword and warned the party to watch out for the salamander as it was very dangerous. The salamander uttered a word of power and Morgan found himself engulfed in a flaming cage. He could not move and was burning! He called upon St. Cuthbert to aid his companions and then concentrated all his power on breaking the cage. Camero, who was paying attention to the angel when this happened, noticed that she barely supressed an evil smile as Morgan was encased in flames. He warned his friends and then summoned an ice storm on top of the firey salamander which hurt and slowed it down greatly. This storm also blocked the centre of the chapel, stopping the salamander from reaching the group. The "angel" moved in and tried to kiss Braken on the cheek. He let her but then felt her trying to subvert his will with her kiss and he fought this off. That was enough for Harley who tumbled in, smashed the angel on the back of her head, knocking her out. He then stabbed he through the heart as she lay there and Morgan, now free of the firey cage, finished her off. As the angel was killed, she reverted to her true form - that of a succubus devil - a dangerous deceiver whose plans had been scuppered by an alert Camero. The firey salamander had been all but neutralised by Camero's ice spells as it could not reach the group easily and the party whittled it down from range. Soon they got into melee with it where it was much more effective but by this stage the fight was all but over and the party finished it off easily enough. They searched the bodies, finding some treasures and then decided as it was basically night time and because they wanted to be fresh for the first part of the Test, they would rest the night in the cathedral. They made camp and had an uneventful and restful night.   The next day they got up and prepared to descend a flight of stairs hidden behind the statue of Orcus which Kaurophon said led to the first part of the Test of the Smoking Eye. He said that he was unable to descend the steps so the party would be on their own from here. They asked him a few more questions and then descended into the darkness. Down stairs they came into a room lit by magical torches. The room had one desk, behind which sat an ancient looking mummy. The mummy stood as they entered and bid them welcome on behalf of Ardimarchus, last ruler of Occipitus. It told them the first test was the Test of Judgement. There were two doors from this room. Behind the north door, it said, was a demon. Behind the south door was an angel. To pass the Test of Judgement all they had to do was to choose a door, go through, kill the occupant and then proceed through the door on the far side of the room they had just entered. The group then spent some time trying to decide what to do. Was this a trick? Was the demon good and the angel evil? Would Adimarchus want them to kill an angel or a demon? Unable to decide they opened each door and looked in. To the south was a lit room with an angel trapped inside a protective circle of some description. A door lay beyond. To the north was a huge room with strange latices of wooden bridges crossing a thirty foot drop to spikes. Inside this room was a giant, evil looking tree creature which began to move towards them angrily when they opened the door. Alakast tingled in Harley's hand as he spotted this creature which Camero identified as a Horrid Timber, a demonic tree thing. This room also had a door on the far side. The group dropped back into the central room where the mummy was and pondered their options once more. The mummy had sat back down and seemed uninterested in any further questions they might have for him. So, Magma Force were in the dungeons below a Celestial cathedral now fallen into the Abyss, trying to decide if they could trust the word of an undead mummy who had told them that to pass the test set by a fallen angel, who was now a demon lord, they had to choose if they should kill a demon or an angel. Not a situation they were likely to find themselves in on a regular basis! What would they decide to do...?