Session 03
General Summary
Magma Force found themselves at the entrance to a place that Kauophon called the Plain of Cysts.
He said that this was once a great battlefield between celestials and demons and that each cyst was
the body of a dead celestial or a good-aligned object which was slowly being absorbed back into
the fabric of Occipitus. The lantern of guidance shone directly into the plain so the party followed
Morgan as he lead them in.
Not far into the plain, the lantern directed the group to turn north and as they did a strange eightlegged lizard came around a corner towards them. Camero identified it as a basilisk and said it
could turn them to stone if they were not careful. Morgan planted the lantern in the floor and went
to engage the basilisk. The rest scattered outward, trying to avoid getting too close to the creature.
Suddenly those stood nearby the lantern, including the basilisk and the lantern itself, were
teleported back to the start of the Plain of Cysts. Those who were a little further away from the
lantern were left behind and had to run back to the fight. Soon the basilisk was felled and Morgan
managed to shake off the feeling of his skin slowly turning to stone.
The group chatted about what this meant and they realised that perhaps the Test of Resolve was all
about being resolved to keep followin the lantern regardless of any distractions. They headed back
into the Plain of Cysts, following the lantern light and after some time Camero noticed a pair of
clearly magical gloves just sitting there inside a cyst, unguarded. There was a brief discussion and
Morgan and the rest carried on along the path slowly whilst Camero detoured to check out the
cyst. He tried to plunge his hand in but found the cyst was quite solid, although he felt that a
sword or spear could pierce the cyst. But it was decided to leave the gloves alone and carry on the
path.
A long time later, the lantern having lead them on a winding path through the cyst field, Camero
noticed something of significance. In many of the cysts they passed by they say the bodies of
angelic creatures, slowly being consumed by the landscape. But in one they were about to pass
Camero was certain he saw the wings of the angel twitch. Taking a second look he was convinced!
Camero and Braken went to try and cut the angel out of his cyst whilst Morgan stopped on the
path, surrounded by his companions. Camero and Braken cut the angel from the cyst and suddenly
Braken was hit with a premonition that things were about to go bad. A scarab beetle came out of
the angel's mouth and skuttled into its ear. The angel stepped out of the cyst and suddenly the
lantern and all those nearby found themselves teleported back to the start of the plain again!
Braken and Camero had been left behind! Morgan, Harley and Kaurophon began to fight the
create which had revealed itself as a mass of scarab beetles surrounding the dead flesh of an angel.
Braken and Camero rushed across the plain, trying to reach the scene of the fight as the others
battled. Morgan called upon the powers of St. Cuthbert to weaken and daze the creature, which
Camero later identified as a lamia, but it was still able to send a wave of beetles which swarmed
over Morgan, hurting him badly. But Morgan's holy power was able to so completely restrict the
lamia's options that the group were able to hold them up till Braken and Camero arrived. Braken
helped keep Morgan standing, whilst Camero used spellfire to blow the lamia apart.
This time resovled that nothing would distract them from the path the group once more set off into
the Plain of Cysts and after a very long time wending and winding their way through the strange
lanscape they eventually came to a teleportation circle which the lantern light shone right into.
Morgan resolutely stepped into the circle and disappeared and the rest duly followed. They arrived
in a fibrous forest and there to greet them was another mummy proctor. It congratulated them on
passing the Test of Resolve and told them that the final test was the Test of Sacrifice. The lantern
pointed straight towards the Skull mountain in the centre of the plane. The group gathered up their
gear and set out.
Passing out of the fibrous forest the party saw a big open plain leading to the foot of the Skull.
They headed off and as they travelled the number of ulcers which were visible on the ground
increased. Many were simply oozing but some spurted fountains of red gunk into the air. The
party headed onwards and when they got to within about half a mile of the foot of the Skull, still
following the lantern light, they spotted the silouette of a soaring dragon in the sky. Unfortunately,
it spotted them about the same time and came swooping down to attack. Morgan moved to the
front and tried to convince the dragon that it would be best off leaving them alone. It ignored him
so Camero tried to send it to sleep with a spell. It shook that off and soared in, breathing acid all
over Camero as the others scattered. Morgan rushed in and challenged it with St. Cuthbert's might
and the fearsome dragon was dazed and weakened. Harley ran in to melee it, Camero continued to
blast it and Braken aided his companions with prayers. The dragon let out a billowing roar and
stunned Morgan which broke Morgan's power over the dragon. It rolled to its feet and started to
lay about the companions with acid breath and claw but the group all surrounded it and nearly
finished it off with spell and blade. Then as the dragon was nearly dead, it sprang majestically into
the air and was gone, flying off to the far side of the Skull where it descended towards the ground
once more.
The group bandaged themselves up and pressed on, following the lantern light. Soon it lead up to
a cyst at the foot of the Skull and seemed to point right into the cyst itself. Inside the cyst was a
dark opening - maybe a tunnel? Next to the cyst the party found an angelic creature who was
pinned to the ground with iron bolts and passed out, alive. Kaurophon recognised it as Saureya, an
angel he had met a year or so ago. Braken healed the angel and it came around so the group
questioned it. It turned out that Saureya had been one of the last angels still alive when Occipitus
had broken off from Celestia and fallen into the Abyss. Adimarchus had taken this angel and made
him his personal jester. The fallen angel, now Demon Prince, had tortured Saureya over many
hundreds of years. During this time Saueya had implanted in Adimarchus mind an idea to create
this Test of the Smoking Eye and had in fact been responsible for its creation. He knew all about
the Test but refused to tell the party more, other than the fact that a rakshasa and his fire giant
body guard had recently passed into the Skull to attempt the last test. They were the ones who had
nearly killed Saureya. The group asked many questions about the Test and about Saureya's past
but were unable to glean any great information from him. They did decide that after the fight with
the dragon they were in no fit state to take on a rakshasa and a fire giant so they looked around for
a place to camp with a view to entering the Skull and seeing what was what after a good
refreshing rest...
Report Date
11 Apr 2024
Related Plots