A Visit to the Abyss

The Account of Marvin & Nomad & Mike & Mike & Mike,
as Related by the Participants and Compiled by Abrac Adabra.

We Go to Hell and Find Ourselves Divided

Into the Abyss; Marvin, Nomad, and Mike kiss The Sword. They pass through a Gate of Light & Pain and appear in an ancient dark room with a Very Large Creature before them. The Gate hiccups, Marvin & Nomad suddenly blink away.

Mike Marvin & Nomad
Day 158 The Gate hiccups, Marvin & Nomad suddenly blink away. Mike is left - abandoned. According to one account, moments later, another hiccup produces a second Mike. Another account claims that Mike digs deep and pulls out the Amoeba Spell, thus creating the second Mike. Either way, the duplicate Mike appears just in a nick of time, since right then an Evil Black-Dragon-Headed Six-Armed Monster Demon turns to the attack. (A first fleeting contact with Nomad, who is paralyzed.) A great battle rages, after which both Mikes fall, one into captivity, one to stone. Alas. In chains, Mike defies the Evil Demon. He incites the Demon to perilous heights of rage; the Demon, visibly upset, attacks Mike with a Staff. Mike, recognizing the innate goodness of the Staff, takes hold of it, wrests it from the Demon, driving the Villain off. Mike shrugs off the chains and chases after the Demon, who flees. Mike pursues it back to the planet Lothar, and discovers it dead, with Stitch next to it, stoned. A little rest and relaxation in the Top restores Mike to his Heroic normal fighting trim. Mike becomes acquainted with his Staff, also named Mike, and the two quickly become loyal and faithful friends. Day 158 The Gate hiccups, Marvin & Nomad suddenly blink away. They both appear in a place filled with a noxious light and white mist. Nomad is overcome by this poisonous gas. Marvin fights the dark lurking shapes moving. Marvin feigns unconsciousness. The adventures are surrounded by hellish creatures and carried off through long, dark, foul smelling corridors. They are stripped of all possessions and Nomad is placed in strange crypt-like niche and numbed. The same is about to happen to Marvin when he transforms into a humming bird and flies off. Nomad is physically incapacitated, he attempts mental contact with Kelekolio via com-link. He establishes it for only a few moments. Kelekolio is quite busy in battle. Nomad swears he hears Kelekolio's scene "in stereo." Very Strange. Marvin investigates and finds: a well-organized processing center for all new arrivals onto the Plane. Storage facilities for magic items and items of power, control rooms, living quarters, torture cells (that go on for miles). A system serving and promoting Pain, Power, Chaos and Evil (not necessarily in that order). He locates the place where their possessions are stored and a robe of one of the Servants. Marvin returns to Nomad and attempts a rescue disguised as a Servant. He finds other lifeforms entombed and being probed. Nomad is given a Collar of Devotion. Marvin locates Nomad and revives him. During an Episode of Prayer (where all who wear the Collar of Devotion give Pain the Master) Marvin grabs a cart and gets Nomad. They travel to a little used (new) section of this mountain and hold out for the "day". Here they discover a table made from a bluish stone that absorbs life-force and causes Pain. It seems that the power is channels through tubular lengths of this stone to another location. During the "night" Nomad contacts Kelekolio again (for a few minutes) and then communication is broken off because of "interference".
Day 159 (2.4 hours) All of a Lothar day is spent in the Top, speaking with the dead Demon, briefing Darla, healing, and the like. Mike discovers invisible sigils on one wall of the Top.

Day 159 At midnight Lothar time, 2:30 a.m. Abyss time, Mike reenters the Abyss. He valiantly follows a path over abysmal hill and dale, coming to the Sword Processing Centre. He boldly sneaks into the Centre, in the mistaken belief that his missing comrades are within. An evil Spectre and two lost levels later, our hero discovers the Demonic Treasure Vault, loots it, and beats an epic retreat, having discovered his error (through the second contact with Nomad, as he and Marvin wander through the Hammer Processing Centre). Upon his return to the Gate of Light & Pain, a third and final contact with Nomad leads to his and Marvin's reappearance (8 a.m. on Day 159). Items gained: Power Compass, 10 Powder Packs of De-Teleportation, TetraBomb, Necklace of Forceballs, 3 blocks of Incense of Meditation, a Scarab, and Mike the Staff of Mike.

Other things discovered: Servants of Astaroth -- humanoid priests, fighters, and assassins with skin of fire; Weapons of Pain -- The Sword, The Hammer; Collars of Pain; Computer Cards of Treasure Reclamation.

Day 159 Almost naked, the two attempt to regain their items. They roll, with cart, past the demon-guards without question (very lucky - 02). At the Vault door, they encounter difficulties, a Large Magically Locked Door, a recycling Glyph and a demon guard that investigates the noise. Marvin is a recipient of a Strength spell and gains the additional benefit of Crystalline Skin (for as long as the spell lasts). Once in they get their items plus a few goodies: Ring of Free Action, Rod of Alertness, Robe of Useful Items, Bag of Beans, Quarterstaff +2. They attempt to teleport (no error) off this plane. Nomad appears to have read the scroll correctly, they leave, they have the feeling of bouncing off the inside of a sphere and their destination is their starting spot. They attempt to assault the control booth of the Hammer Teleportation Center in this mountain. Walking on the rim above the arrival area, they enter. In the room are 2 Dretch, 2 Servants and an Alu-demon (absorbed at some controls). Marvin (in bird-form) "sets off" a gem in the handle of the Alu-demon's sword. The battle is quickly won and before reinforcements start blipping in Nomad examines the special controls of the Hammer of Pain ... He enters a world of a small house and he is a being in control of another being (female, humanoid) with access to all the facilities of this person. Nomad is a female humanoid who has just killed her mate after killing other people of her community. The body of her mate has just been teleported away, some of his blood remains staining a carpet. Her house is being assaulted by the rocks thrown from angry villagers. They want to kill her and a moment ago she wanted to kill them. She runs away but as she leaves the proximity of the Hammer, contact wains. She picks up the mighty weapon and climbs to the roof and into a tree. Scaling a small cliff, she write a note of explanation, attaches it to the Hammer. She throws the Weapon of Pain off the cliff in an attempt to break the evil thing. As the Hammer leaves her grip, contact is broken just as she faints ... Nomad is now the Hammer with senses radiating to the distance. He sees and senses creatures in the distance approaching him... Reinforcements begin to blip in, there is a pounding at the door of the control room. The door is forced open and the troops pour in. Troops blip in. Some are killed. And then a Big Guy enters the scene... ...and Nomad quickly dispatches him with an Arrow of Slaying (CE). They attempt to teleport... A teleportation scroll is read and the destination is back to where Kelekolio was. They arrive there safe. The day is over.

Other things discovered: Servants of Astaroth - humanoid priests, fighters and assassins with skin of fire. Weapons of Pain - The Sword, The Hammer... Packets of Magical Powder. Silver Dots thrown for an unknown reason, they apparently do nothing. "Death" is more difficult here.

We are Reunited and Things Go Better

Marvin, Nomad, and Kelekolio find Abrac, encounter the megamaster Demon Lord. Perhaps we blast the Demon-God with a psionic blast, which drives it suicidally insane. The Godling kills itself and Hell falls apart. [A LOT more elaboration is needed here!]


Site Map | 1 July 97

copyright © 2001 by Michael Moran Alterio, Michael Babriecki, Harry Ching, Stephen Martin, and Donald R. Parrish III (all rights reserved)