The Black Flame

Shortly after settling down to have a long rest, those on watch hear the low distant sounds of sceaming and wailing issuing forth from the walls around them. While a little unnerving, the watch continues, and on the second watch of Chul and Snake, the sounds get louder and louder as if getting nearer and nearer. As Chul and Snake intently watch the stairs, which seems to be the direction the sounds are coming from, Snake spots out of the corner of his eye a featureless human-shaped creature pulling itself up out of the earth and reaching for Chul. Miniature ghostly apparitions float over its body, the source of the screaming and wailing.

Snake attacks the creature, and cries out an alarm to wake the rest of the party. Salla, as he wakes up, has another one of the creatures attempting to slam its balled fists into him. The creature attacking Chul successfully connects and Chul staggers about as one of the ghostly apparitions floating about the faceless creature, flies into Chul. A white ghostly face imposes itself over Chul's as it screams and wails. Chul is able to recover, but the experience is hideous, leaving behind awful memories of death and pain from someone else.

The group fights these featureless creatures, slaying one and routing the second. As the group recovers from the battle, a chilling voice, with no discernible source, fills the room. The voice says little of sense, babbling about the "surprise" its pets had found.

It is decided to attempt to finish resting, which happens with no more interruptions, other then the constant and unnerving wailing that can still be heard. The group begins to prepare for what they believe will be a fight just up the stairs. During this time, they realize Kara'fen is gone.

Leading the charge is Salla, who runs up the stairs and into a 60' by 30' cave, in the middle a large black flame envelops a plate-clad black skeletal creature. Between the skeletal creature and the stairs is a moving pile of rocks in a roughly humanoid shape. Salla and Snake move in, with Snake leaping into melee with the skeletal creature (a silence spell cast on his person). When Morgan moves into the chamber, the rocks charge at him. The rest of the group piles into the cavern.

Two manticores appear from nowhere in the middle of the cave, and from smaller tunnels leading off the side of the larger chamber, several malformed (demonic in appearance) apes and boars charge out surrounding the group.

While the party whittles through the fodder, Kara'fen makes an appearance throwing a bolt of lightning that bounces through the party. Chul, suffering major burns from a shield of fire that wraps up Kara'fen, manages to stun him and then uses Alakast to take him down and pulp his head.

Meanwhile, Snake and the skeletal creature dance about, and once the creature gets out of the "bulls-eye spell", I mean the silence spell, it chants a foul curse and Snake disappears. Unfortunately, it cant stand up to Morgan hacking at it with his giant sword and is cut down.

After Salla puts on his thinking hat, the best he comes up with is that Snake was dismissed from Occipitus back to their "home" plane...somewhere.

At the other end of the chamber with the black flame they find another set of stairs leading up. These lead them to what can only be the eye socket of the giant white skull. A geyser of plasma spouts out the red burning material that makes up the sky of Occipitus. Nearby stands another wrapped corpse in decorative full plate. It welcomes the group to the final test, the Test of Sacrifice, and tells them they must sacrifice an ally to the geyser to become the new ruler of Occipitus.

Whom shall be sacrificed to claim the final prize?