So that's what happened to the last Hellknight expedition

Abadius 21, 4712, part 2

As the Coopers proceed in the small hallway, the floor collapses. Daryle jumps out of the way, but the remaining Coopers and their two Hellknight soldiers fall in the pit along with the floor rubble. Most of them are lightly injured by the fall and by the spikes at the bottom of the pit, but Gerald's fall lands him straight on four spikes, skewering him. They find themselves ten feet below the floor.

With Daryle on one side of the room and the remaining members of the party in the pit, the Mistress of Thorns teleports in a flash of purple lightning. Finding them in quite a predicament, she cackles and launches two attacks on the Coopers. Thorne is the first one to regain his wits, and he begins to negotiate a solution with the devil. She really wants the spire tokens, but the Coopers will not exchange them. After much discussion, the Mistress agrees to arm the Coopers, and provide them with valuable information on the level below in exchange for Roscoe's soul as well as the right to come to Fort Inevitable and provide advisory services to the Hellknight Commander and his Council. She provides the Coopers with rings of protection against heat, as well as weapons. She informs them that the level below is called the Magma Vault and is ruled by two dragons with very hostile intentions.

The Coopers thus continue down to the Magma Vault. Reaching the floor, they discover that this is a very active volcanic environment. There are marks of recent lava flows. Walking through the first room, they discover a scene of ancient carnage. Heavily armored bodies lie about the room, pierced by thousands of crystal shards. More than three dozen Hellknights perished here some time ago. The Coopers carefully search the bodies, and discover that the crystals are in fact crystaline creatures from the outer planes. Their equipment is rendered and useless. Roscoe analyzes the situation and determines that the Hellknights were ambushed and perished here.

The Coopers are suddenly startled when one of these crystaline creatures floats in the room, chased by a strange floating ball of flesh sporting one eye and several blades sticking out in all directions. Gerald recognizes the creature as being an augur kyton. The augur kyton attacks the crystaline creature and kills it before the Coopers react. Roscoe recognizes the armor worn by the augur kyton as being Hellknight in origin and he even spots the insigna of the Order of the Pike. Wearily, both parties manage to establish a level of trust as it becomes clear that Aoz, the augur kyton, was part of the Hellknight expedition. Unable to speak, Aoz nevertheless manages to communicate that he wants the Coopers to follow him.

As Aoz floats ahead, Roscoe and the rest of the party follow. They arrive in a room cut in half by a lava flow. A small earthen bridge joins the two sides of the room. Aoz floats easily across, but Roscoe is weary of the quality of the bridge. The Coopers examine it and guess that it probably will support the weight of one person at a time, but since none of them are experts they are wont to take the chance.

Gerald eventually decides to mend the bridge. At least, this will provide a modicum of strength to the structure. Carefully, the Coopers cross one at a time along with the remaining Hellknight soldiers, and despite a few scares they all manage to safely cross the obstacle. Aoz floats down a corridor, and leads the group straight to a dead end. There, they find the body of three more Hellknights as well as that of Chaid DiViri, who has been missing. She appears to have been partially fused to the edge of the wall. Darelle and Daryle work together to pry her off the wall, and eventually they manage to take her out of her armor. She has partially burned in it, but somehow her body has not deteriorated any further. Aoz appears upset, and through much effort he manages to communicate to Gerald that he wishes that her body be taken back to Fort Inevitable. In her gear Roscoe discovers her journal, in which she relates her intent to continue exploring this level of the Emerald Spire and continue downward.

Gerald carefully wraps the body and the Coopers are now faced with a decision. They can head back to Fort Inevitable by climbing back one level, but that puts them back in the clutches of the Mistress of Thorns. Or they can forge ahead and hope to locate the Spire on this level. Aoz indicates that dangers lay in the direction of the Spire, but he can take them close. However, he does not wish to do so. What will the Coopers do?