Session 06
General Summary
Deciding they had to help Alek, Magma Force stepped one by one through the last mirror in the
Spellweaver Transportation Device and found themselves in a small dusty storeroom with an iron
door which was too heavy for Alek to shift by himself. The paladin was distraught and took a lot
of hard work to bring to his senses. Finally Morgan's appearance and the promise of escape
seemed to help. He said he had been trapped here for 6 days and could not get out. It appeared that
all traces of the Armanath Elixir had left him. He was no longer superhumanly strong but equally
the arrogance and recklessness which had plagued him was gone, replaced by a deep shame and
anger at his treatment. The group explained the angels were in fact hags and that he had been
tricked.
With all five of the party putting their shoulders to the iron door they were slowly able to force it
open. A rush of hot, dry sandy air hit them and they were blinded by sunlight! Yet when they had
stepped into the mirror it had been the middle of the night! As they moved out of the ancient vault
they realised they were coming out into a desert. Camero also spotted a little insubstantial eye
following the group and watching Alek. They were being scryed upon. Harley laucnhed his
shuriken at the eye but it passed harmlessly through. Alek rushed out into the sunlight, obviously
desperate for fresh air after his captivity and the rest of Magma Force followed.
Reaching the outside they found they were indeed in a huge desert. The ancient vault was built
into the side of a rocky outcrop and nearby were the signs of ruins - perhaps ancient spell weaver
ruins like Vaprak's Voice. There was also an oasis nearby. As Magma Force took in their
surrounds, wondering where they were, there was an audiable pop and suddenly a towering 20
foot tall hound headed demon appeared out of thin air in front of the group. Looks of shock
resounded around the group as Alakast, in Harley's hand, called out "Nabthatoron!". The Lord of
the Demonskar had come.
Before they could react, Nabthatoron grabbed Alek in his wicked pincers and flapped his great
wings, picking the paladin up and flying off with him across a small chasm a short distance away.
As the party headed to the paladin's aid, Nabthatoron waved his pincers and three small pops
heralded the arrival of three smaller demons to slow the party up. Camero managed to make it past
them to pepper Nabthatoron with magic but the Lord of the Demonskar all but shrugged his efforts
off as an annoyance as he made short work of ripping Alek Tervical limb from limb. The great
glabrezu demon looked down on the body of Alek and said, "Now nothing can stop my assult on
Redgorge!" and with an evil withering look at Camero he dissappeared with another quiet pop.
Camero looked up and saw three more small Evisro demons coming around the outcrop of rock
which the ancient vault was built into. Three more came around the other side too. The party were
being swarmed by demons!
Whilst the other three members of the party grouped up to take on the onrush of demons, Camero
teleported to the top of the ancient vault. There he unleashed his magic down on the demons
fighting his friends. Things looked grim and looked even worse when Camero noticed a cloaked
and hooded figure struggling up over the out crop of rock to where he was hiding. But this figure
called out that its name was Kaurophon and that it was here to help. It then proceeded to blast the
demons from arcane magic, lending his help to the party. Camero couldn't help but notice this new
commer wore a sign of a smoking eye on his cloak.
From here on the battle was fierce and dangerous but Kaurophon's help probably swayed things in
the party's favour. As each demon was slain Harley could feel Alakast throbbing in his hand,
sending tingles of happiness up his arm. As the final demon was brought low Alakast was clearly
satisifed and told Harley that although he was disappointed that Nabthatoron had escaped he was
very happy with his introduction to his new wielder.
Rushing to where Alek lay ripped apart, Morgan was amazed to find he appeared to still live.
Then a voice came from his mouth and Morgan recognised it as belonging not to his cousin but to
Nidrama, the angel. She told them that they could not afford to return to Cauldron right now and
that they must trust to the Sign of the Smoking Eye. With that Alek shuddered and was still. Given
Kaurophon's help and the sign he wore on his cloak, the group turned to him for some idea of
what was going on.
Asking Kaurophon what was going on the party were told that he had been sent here by the power
of the Smoking Eye to seek a group who could pass the Test of the Smoking Eye. This test was set
up by the previous ruler of Occipitus, Adimarchus, as a test to find the next ruler of the demiplane. Occipitus, the 507th layer of the Abyss, had been rulerless for 50 years and many demons
and others had tried to compete the Test but none had succeeded yet. The Test comprised three
separate tests. Passing the first one would reveal the location of the second and so on. Kaurophon
said that he knew the location of the first test on Occipitus. When asked what reason they had for
taking the Test, Kaurophon replied that the person who passed the Test would become ruler of
Occipitus and could them rip it away from the Abyss and perhaps even bring it back to Celestia,
which it used to be a part of.
When asked if he could take them home from here, Kaurophon said he could not do that directly
but could shift them back to this world from Occipitus but they would clearly have to go there
first. Right now, he said, they were in a place called the Great Desert, some 500 miles north of
Cauldron, a little south of a place called the Kingdom of Albion. So they were still on their own
world at present but had no way to get home. They explained about the goings on at home in
Cauldron and Kaurophon revealed that he knew who was behind the troubles.
He told them that the organization which was causing all the woes to Cauldron at the moment
were called the Cagewrights. He wasn't sure exactly what their plans were but he thought it was
something to do with a planar ritual. He confirmed that the Cagewrights were the ones who had
commisioned the Ebon Triad to make the Soulcages and that they were probably to be used in this
ritual they were preparing for. He also knew of Orbius and said that the beholder was a minion of
the Cagewrights. This information amazed and worried the group - they must indeed be a
powerful organization for a beholder to be a mere minion! Kaurophon could give them no more
information than this about the Cagewrights.
Armed with this information the group retreated back into the shelter of the ancient vault and
Camero used a Sending ritual to send word to High Priestess Jenya to the effect that Alek had
been under a curse and had resinded his challenge to Lord Terseon. They neglected to tell her he
was dead. She replied that was enough to get Lord Terseon to stop his invasion and that she would
see to it. The group hoped that without the armies of Cauldron on the doorstep of Redgorge
Nabthatoron's plans to raze the town would be broken. But they had no way to know and there
was nothing they could do now save rest up and prepare to travel to Occipitus to take the Test of
the Smoking Eye with Kaurophon's help.
The next day the group collected together and Kaurophon read a scroll which created a
shimmering gate. The group stepped through and found themselves in the Abyss...
Report Date
11 Apr 2024
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