Part II

Your party descends the stairs of the once great Cathedral. Kaurophon, unable to continue down the stairs (due to his 1/2 bloodlines) will meet you at the exit on the outside.

At the bottom of the stairs sits a desiccated mummy behind an Oak desk. The herbs still fragrent in the air. To either side of the desk is an Iron door. The party takes a couple of seconds to take in the surroundings when the mummy moves.

Bolgrim's undead trigger finger gets itchy.

The Mummy lifts both hands and speaks:

"Adimarchus, Most Potent Ruler of Occipitus, bids you welcome to the Test of the Smoking Eye. If you are here, then Occipitus lies fallow, without a strong hand to guide its development. Know then that you are a pretender to Adimarchus's throne. If you are worthy, step forward and undertake the Test of Judgment."

The Party Steps forward

One withered hand points towards the North door. "Behind that door lies Thathnak the bebilith"
Pointing to the opposing door, "Behind that door lies Halalia the avoral guardinal. Choose one door, slay the occupent behind it. Then pass through the door on the other side. I will meet you there."


It takes a bit of discussion and mutually the party opts for the north door. They approach and the door opens. upon entering the door closes and seals behind them.

The chamber contains a series of wooden platforms that form a network of bridges, seemingly connected by fine silken cords. A door is at the far end of the chamber. The ceiling is thirty feet above, and the floor, covered in spikes is thirty feet below.


To sum up this combat. A HUGE demonic spider weighing easily 500 pounds drops from the ceiling. Between its weight and some fire, huge chunks of the bridge network fall to the ground. Donner was a acrobat. Although being dropped to the floor below, he not only easily recovers from the blows, but also ascends back to the combat quickly. Taking less time than suspected, the creature eventually succumbs to the violent attacks by the party.

Exiting the room at the party walks down a long corridor and into a room decorated in Frescoes depicting a black-feathered angel in battle with hordes of demons and devils. Where the wall meets the ceiling is a sentence carved into the granite, repeated over and over again as it encircles the room, "Know who made you."

The room's only other feature is a tall stairway leading to a dais. On the dais is a lantern attached to a four foot pole by a short length of chain. A string of red sigils glows in midair, surrounding the dais at a ten-foot distance.

In a flash of light, the Mummy Lord appears and marches up the stairs, picks up the lantern and hands it to Churchkey. The Mummy then says:

"Heed the words of Adimarchus, you have passed the Test of Judgment. Attend to the wisdom of Adimarchus! Always deal with rivals first, and enemies second. This lanter shall guide you to the second test: The Test of Resolve."

There's a flash of light, and the mummy is gone.

The light of the lantern points toward the exit of the chamber. Here they meet up with a nervous Kaurophon. He is excited and happy to see you. He explains that the lantern is the guide that will always point the correct direction to travel. Many people can have a lantern. Once you complete the first test, you get a lantern. Thus, other competitors on Occipitus may exist. We must hurry.

The Lantern is placed in Bolgrims care. Strait and true, the beam of light directs the party on a long walk... a few days to be exact. At one point you stop to look out over a great plain stretching out below a low ridge. Along this plain are hundreds and hundreds of mounds. All of various size ranging from 5'x 5' to10' x 10'. None are more than 10' tall.

Kaurophon explains that this is called the Plain of Cysts. This is where a great battle was fought between demon and angle. The essence of the slain demons was absorbed back into the Abyss almost immediately, but that Occipitus still struggles to absorb the fallen celestials. Hence the cysts, each of which is the plain slowly absorbing and neutralizing the "infection" of the fallen celestials.

Some demons say that the more the cysts "digest" the celestial creatures the more "good" is infused into Occipitus making life more difficult for the demons.

Littered amongst the cysts are broken weapons, shields and the occasional bone litter the ground here and there. The beam of light shines strait into the midst of this maze of mounds.



The party descends and begins walking into the cysts. It doesn't take long before curiosity gets the better of the group and they begin exploring one of the cysts.

To the touch the cysts feel like they are made out of gelatin, soft and slightly quivering whenever disturbed. The membrane is tough though and takes a lot of work to break through and see what is inside.

At that the party is teleported back to the ridge. Well, all but two lonesome souls. A nervous 10 min goes by while those with the lantern quickly descend the ridge and make their way back to their two companions.

This sort of thing happens a few more times when they realize the lantern bearer must always be moving or all those within 20 feet of them return to the ridge. There is also a specific path in which to take to make their way through the ancient battlefield. Learning they begin to ignore all that is around them, take note but keep moving. A few move a head to investigate and some lag behind, but none more than 10 or so seconds.

The most important thing of note is that you see a group of four humans digging up the remains of one the cysts. Whats more intriguing is that they are all followers of Wee Jas and Pepper knows the name of one of grave robbers. Unable to stop and do much at this time this data is also filed away.

Eventually all the twisting and turns leads you to a large clearing with ruins that declare it to be magical of some kind. Gingerly stepping into the circle, you wait for about 3 seconds and then find yourself in a similar circle in the midst of a fibrous forest. Waiting for you is Mummy Lord, who begins to speak as soon as the Lantern bearer arrives.

"Heed the words of Adimarchus. You have passed the Test of Resolve. Attend to the wisdom of Adimarchus! Let neither riches nor weaponry, neither allies nor enemies, tempt you from your course. Instead, spread such distractions before your rivals. The lantern shall guide you to the final test: the Test of Sacrifice. your ascension to the throne draws nigh!"

Moving as quickly out of the fibrous forest as possible, your party makes its way to clear ground. It then becomes quite obvious that the lantern is pointing directly towards the giant skull in the middle of the plain.


On your journey towards the skull, what is most disturbing is that there is no life. No strange roaming herbivores, no demons... nothing.

About a half-a-mile from the skull, the flat Occipitus plain on which you have been traveling develops more frequent "ulcers". These 5-10 foot wide pools generate a caustic, bubbling red liquid- sometimes just a seepage, but other times what looks like a fountain. Most of these Ulcers range in depth from 1-5 feet deep.

As you travel closer to the skull, the ulcers become more and more frequent causing your travel to be severely slowed due to the tremendous amount of twisting and turning. When you look behind you and swooping towards you at an incredible speed is an Adult Black Dragon. Its shining scales drip acid and are so clean they send back misshapen mirrored images of yourself outlined in glossy black.

The party scatters and a gout of deadly acid covers member of your group. Bolts of magic fly toward the dragon, and then the magic users spring into action. It takes about 30 seconds for them to get positioned, but then suddenly some of the real damage dealers can fly, or walk on air. Although very difficult and people are gushing blood... the party is finally victorious and has successfully brought down a dragon! The head of the dragon is severed and saved for a taxidermist.

Then it is a "search for the lair of the beast". It doesn't take much time to find a place where the "soil" of Occipitus has been churned to build a berm and connecting a number of ulcers together. This large pool is very, very deep

For the luck of Connel taking acid resistance he is the elected devil to strip down and dive in the pool foul acid and search for treasure. And treasure he finds. He brings to the surface pockmarked and damaged chests and containers.

From here the party makes their way to base of the skull. As you get closer the ground slopes up to the base of the skull, the light from the Lantern of guidance shines directly upon a perfectly round ulcer pool. As you approach you see a figure that looks like a raven winged angel flat on its back. It struggles weakly against seeral iron spears that have pinned its wings to the ground, the lies still.

Kaurophon gasps, "Its Saureya! One of the original Celestia trapped on Occipitus. He was around during the creation of the Test."

You run to the side of this pitiful creature. His face and torso are heavily tattooed with demonic and evil ruins. Churchkey immediately lays on hands and with the help of the party they begin to slowly remove the 10' long iron spears pegging Saureya to the ground. As these spears are removed a small trickle of healing is put in to keep Saureya stable. Upon freeing this fallen angel, they immediately heal Saureya... but realize this is a mentally unstable creature.

However after much conversation you find out a lot about, Saureya, Occipitus and the Smoking Eye:

Do you Know Kaurophon? Yes, we met.... a year ago? At the Cathedral of Feathers. He was wondering why he couldn't enter the antechamber, much less get to one of the doors. So I told him Adimarchus wanted to keep anyone born of the Lower Planes from becoming the next ruler of Occipitus. Adimarchus was always hopeful that his successor would be another fallen angel or someone formally of the light.


Tell us about Adimarchus. Adimarchus was a fallen Celestial who led a demonic invasion of the Seven Mountaing Heavens of Celestia. The heavenlyy host repulsed Adimarchus's demonc army, but at great cost, for the the angels of Celestia were forced to cast the part of Celestia occupied by the demons into the Abyss, tearing apart the fabric of their own plain in the process. This massive chunk of planar matter came to rest on the 507th layer of the Abyss now known as Occipitus.

Adimarchus survived this event, and acted quickly to incorporate the wreckage of Celestia into Occipitus. In doing so, he became the ruler of the Abyssal layer, gaining almost limitless power there and becoming a demon prince in the process. Even in defeat, he knew success. For many years, Adimarchus ruled Occipitus, crafting from the ruins a great demonic empire and often leading wars against his most powerful demonic rival, Graz'zt.

Then 50 years ago Adimarchus disapeared on the eve of a great and pointless battle between his horde and that of Graz'zt. Some say that Graz'zt had him kidnapped and assassinated. Others say the battle was just a ruse for some other plan of Adimarchus's.

Who Did this to you? A group that wanted information and when I wouldn't speak they tortured me. I still told them nothing. I've had hundreds of years living under Asimarchus and his hoard to learn well, very well, how to resist torture. Thus they left me here to rot... until you rescued me that is.

What is the third test? [heavy sigh] This is always the question. I'm not telling- and before you start, I'll say only this. Knowing in advance what the test is won't help you prepare in any meaningful way. You could succeed. You could fail. You could turn your back on the whole idea. I'm not going to meddle in your fate. For telling you would destroy the test... a test that I helped to create.

Saureya surveys your group and a cracks of a smile... more of a crooked upturn of a lip that looks wildly unnatural on this poor sad creature. It is good to meet you.. now hurry before the group that put me in this mess (gesturing to the spears) beats you to the final test.


You turn and note a shadow at the bottom of the pool could be a trick of the light- or it could be a passageway under the caustic fluid.

After a brief, unpleasant swim in the ulceric fluid, you find fresh air and a tube-like tunnel. This round tunnel features a smoother, firmer "skin" than the surface of Occipitus. It descends at first then quickly changes course spiraling and rising clockwise. After walking several hundred feet in this 15' diameter tube you feel/hear being coming towards you. Bearing down on you is a Huge Firegiant and behind him is a Rakshasa.

The Giant blocks the tube and gives a devastating sword blow to Churchkey. Then the Rakshasa blast the party. With a surprising set of creative events Pepper grabs Donner and dimension doors him beside the Rakshasa and Connel summons the power of Khord and grows in size to be only a foot or so shorter than the Firegiant himself. Barrett reach attacks and these two opponents don't last much more than another 10-15 seconds.