Fleshing out Occipitus

[rokeca]

‘Test of the Smoking Eye’ is a mixed bag for me. The module has such potential, with a very unique and atmospheric setting and a story that foreshadows events to come, but the execution of the idea falls flat, and the module feels two-dimensional.

What I find missing a sense of who the movers and shakers are on Occiptius – what the politics are on the Abyssal layer. Since the departure of Adimarchus, I would think there must be factions vying for control, rival demon and slaad armies protecting their turf, or challengers for the throne who have set up advance camps.

As I prepare for this module, I can see my adventuring group would spend half the module – possibly entire sessions - facing random encounters if I was to play by the book. I’m thinking of replacing the random encounters with fixed ones that tell a narrative as the players travel, exposing the PCs to the politics, mystery and backstory of Occipitus.

Has anyone done something interesting with Occipitus, or 'fleshed out' the layer any further?

[The Soulforged]

Personally, I like it as it stands. The book says the denizis of the lower planes tend to avoid the area, and I like the desolate feel of the place. It give the feel of the place being very very taboo, which I like.

[ultrazen]

Ditto what The Soulforged said.

There's a chunk of Celestia there, and demons don't like it much, and they can't really control it well either. Perhaps their abilities 'blink' kind of like the cathedral in some places, or there are a few other quirks that can sometimes leave them more vulnerable or less powerful. At any rate, any notable demons who tried to establish themselves there had unusual things happen to them or met unfortunate ends, so the denizens of the lower planes consider it cursed (even for a demon) and mostly leave it alone. At most I'd have a band or two of fiendish goblins or a pack of hell hounds or something like that running around after fiendish buffalo and smacking each other around occasionally. Only the low rungs on the ladder go there; no one else wants it.

It's a desolate, empty, and oppressive place; it's bleak and hopeless. Emphasize this with the Saureya character. Perhaps there is a constant moaning or rumbling from the skies that begins to wear people down after they've been there for a few days (make DC 10 Fort or Will save or nonpaladins are at -2 for all rolls that day). There is no wind on Occipitus, but perhaps there are still dust storms of a sort - very thin, windless clouds of dust that on close examination are revealed to be tiny bone fragments.

I find the lack of politics and factions on Occipitus extremely interesting because it reinforced the difference between this layer of the abyss and others. If you want to have a little narrative, consider tossing in a few things that Kaurophon can explain if he is with the group: "Oh those? The nearest translation in your tongue is 'ulcers.' Best not get too close. They're highly acidic. I think the last would-be ruler of this place, a rather nasty marilith, was swallowed by an unusually large ulcer that suddenly opened up beneath her. Those goblins might be the last of her forces. They probably don't have any way to plane shift so they're stuck here." Or, "Those are probably just bones left over from the battle that formed this place. I'm kind of surprised no one has tried to animate them yet."

Otherwise just speed up the session by describing a few bits or rubble that seem to have some sort of celestial quality to them or maybe a boneyard or two with celestial and abyssal remains intermixed. This is all the party sees of note over several days of journeying, and roll for random encounters only a few times. If you want to have a significant number of factions vying for control of the place, you need to figure out why no one has completed the Test yet; it really isn't that hard since you don't have to actually go through all parts except for the last one. The cursed nature of the place keeps many demons away, so that is a neat way of explaining why there have been few attempts.

[James Jacobs]

rokeca wrote:

What I find missing a sense of who the movers and shakers are on Occiptius – what the politics are on the Abyssal layer. Since the departure of Adimarchus, I would think there must be factions vying for control, rival demon and slaad armies protecting their turf, or challengers for the throne who have set up advance camps.

At the time of the adventure, Occipitus isn't really a good choice for demons; it's "Tainted" with goodness, a facet that doesn't sit well with demons. Additionally, it's a particularly small layer of the Abyss. The movers and shakers of the Lower Planes have their eyes on bigger prizes. Think of Occipitus as a poisoned swampland that takes up a quarter acre along the northern edge of a huge city. You can't really build anything there, but at the same time it's too small to bother draining and reclaiming since there's barely enough room for any buildings on it anyway.

[rokeca]

Thanks for the thoughtful and insightful response to my question. I would agree that these interpretations are far more in keeping with the author’s intent, and make complete sense from a ‘why hasn’t someone passed this test yet’ perspective. James – I like the way you have framed the description Occipitus. Ultrazen – your ideas are very strong for use in my upcoming games.

This is similar to my initial take on Occipitus after reading the module. But what threw me for a curve while starting prep on ‘Smoking Eye’ was the random encounter table. For example, it should take my players between 5 and 7 days of travel to reach the Cathedral of Feathers from their arrival point. On average, that’s between 9 and 13 random encounters if used as directed.

Now certainly, as DM I can titrate that (9 to 13 random encounters don’t do much to advance the plot), but it challenged my initial take on Occipitus and got me thinking that maybe there is something else going on here. From the wandering encounter table, the place seamed to be reasonably populated with demons (about 45% of those encounters would be with demons).

When I delved into the background material, I found information that could support this perspective – Adimarchus is said to have ‘crafted from the ruins a great demonic empire’, and that Graz’zt ‘conspired with Adimarchus’ treacherous minions to overthrow his rival.’ This got me thinking – what would the remains of this empire be? And would any of these treacherous minions have remained to feud and fight over throne of Occipitus (or did they all flee after Adimarchus’ departure)?

I guess this begs the question – what was Occipitus was like under Adimarchus rule, and how it has changed in the 50 years since he left? What were the structures, cities and monuments of his empire? What has happened to these, or the remains from the great battle between Adimarchus’ and Graz’zt’s armies? Has it become food to fuel the creation of the ossaic forests, or absorbed by the ‘flesh’ of the layer? Did the cysts and ossaic forests exist during his rule, or are they a symptom of Occipitus’ current rulerless nature?

[zoroaster100]

The text of the adventure indicates the cysts and ossaic forests are remnants of celestial structures and beings, as the Abyssal layer finds it difficult to "digest" these. The demons from the original battle against the celestial army, and the demons from the battle between Adimarchus and Graz'zt would have been reabsorbed back into the Abyss within a few days per the text.
I envision that during Adimarchus's reign, the Cathedral of Feathers, celestial ruins, cysts and ulcers were much as they are today, as they are not truly integrated into the layer and cannot therefore be changed by the layer's ruler (at least not easily or quickly). However, I imagine that in places now occupied by nothing by waste, there stood fortresses and guard towers shaped out of the Abyssal matter by the will of Adimarchus, which dissolved back into nothing after a few weeks of Adimarchus being gone from the layer. Most of his demonic followers would have baled out, leaving only those who lack the power for planar travel or who are here only because they are wanted dead by other demons and use this place as a hideout.

[walter mcwilliams]

My players will conclude the test tomorrow night. I was a little weary of running it because I wasnt sure how my players would like an extra planar adventure. They love it! I have stressed how much like the human body occipitus is. Skin like ground, rib-bone forests, hairy forests, cystic skin growths, caustic blood cells in the air. They love it, are discusted by it etc. When they swam into the skull, everyone of them was grossed out by the flem like goo. The fighter and the monk both begged the arcane casters to use presdidigitation to clean them it was great.

I used Kaupharon as there guide. He told them the history of each geographical area as they traveled through it, offered a little spell help (nothing greater than second level) and kept pushing the PC's. They really trust him now. Ooooh how they will hate him by Wed.

I used a couple of fixed random encounters to give the PC's a feel for the uniquness of the place. They loved the thunder beast heard (what DM can resist 4000lb six legged hippos?)

Anyways this was a lot of fun to run. Test two really screwed with them and they loved it.