Madness & Magma

Madness & Magma is the sixth quest zone, and the second half of Subterranean Odyssey, which is unlocked by defeating Sapphire King in Crystal Kismet. Defeat High Priest Tibur in Pontifex Insaniae on normal difficulty to unlock The Savage North.

"Your subterranean odyssey continues, in a place of molten rock and incinerated sanity."

Enemies[]

Encounters[]

Intro[]

1. The Head That Wears a Crown

Havoc in Hulcrak[]

Mad Minions[]

Deranged Disciples[]

Top[]

Playing With Fire[]

Note: Boots of Magma Walking are required to access:

Walkthrough[]

Madness & Magma

Interactive Map

Normal Encounters
Boss Encounters
Optional Boss Encounters
Final Boss

If do not have Magma Boots:

Fight Node 1.
Walk past Node 6.
Fight Syraxa at Node 7 to obtain a Madness Token.
Fight Node 16.
Fight Node 14
Fight through Nodes 11 and 12.
Fight Priestess Guilda at Node 13 for a second Madness Token
Fight the final boss, High Priest Tibur, at Node 18.

If have Magma Boots:

Fight Node 1
Walk past Node 6
Fight Syraxa at Node 7
Run towards Node 13 and fight Priestess Guilda
Fight High Priest Tibur at Node 18

You likely want to complete this zone once each on Normal and Hard, and 4 times on Nightmare to get a playset of Rune-Mistress Bortha.

(Old map)

Sidequest: Playing With Fire[]

First obtain the Boots of Magma Walking, using craft items from the mobs Thieving Imp and Goblin Peddler. Then walk into the magma and clear Nodes 19 and 20 to get two Magma Tokens. You can now fight the Magma Horror at Node 21. Note that nodes 19 and 20 have Magma Elemental.

You will need all 6 colors of Magma Ingot (dropped from the Magma Horror on Node 21) if you want to Craft the Magma Sword. Keep repeating Nodes 1, 19, 20 and 21 on Normal until you can Craft the Magma Sword.
(Sometimes other difficulty levels appear to drop different Magma Ingot colors.)

Note: You will need to repeat Nodes 7, 13 and 18 to be able to Reset the zone.

Notable Loot[]

Crafting[]

Common Craft: Broken Healing Potion (No Respite)
Boss Craft: Bottle of Volatile Magic (Cecil the Unstable)
Mob Craft: Ingredients for Boots of Magma Walking (Obtained from Thieving Imp and Goblin Peddler)
Special Craft: Magma Ingot (Magma Sword) (Obtained from Magma Horror)

Boss Card Rewards[]

Ravaged Aura (Syraxa)
Stonebound Priestess (Priestess Guilda)
Stonebound Warrior (Priestess Guilda and High Priest Tibur (and Syraxa?)
Rune-Mistress Bortha (High Priest Tibur, NM Only, 100% Chance?)
No Rest for the Wicked (Magma Horror, 100% Chance)

Transcript[]

Guilbert's Journal, Today (Or possibly tomorrow. It's hard to keep track of such matters. But I'm sure it's not yesterday. Not yet, anyway.)

I returned to Darkfriars. The school doesn't changed at all since the day I was expelled. There's still ivy on the grey stone, and a complete absence of blue owls (the school's crest is a lie!). I decided to get into the grounds by climbing over the cloister wall for old time's sake. That's how we used to break bounds as boys, when we wanted to visit the village tavern. The climb was harder than I remembered. And the hem of my robe snagged on something at the top, so I feel down onto the flagstones. Fortunately I landed on my head. The magical power and limericks I've filled it with over the past decades were able to cushion my wonderful brains. Some blood came out though, and I wasn't able to put it back in.

My swearing didn't go unnoticed. Mother was right... She was always right (at least until the 'incident'). Profanity leads to trouble. That's why she washed my mouth out with soap, and fire.

I heard footsteps, and a voice I recognized. Old Nosling, the porter! Still around even after all those years! His hair was grey when I was a boy! He'd come out of his lodge to investigate, with his big iron lantern in his hand. He wanted to know who I was (maybe I was hard to recognize with blood on my face?) and why I was trespassing. I told him I was GUilbert, and that I'd come in search of supreme power. This didn't seem to satisfy him. So I filled his troat with custard. Or was it treacle? I shall call it trustard, until i remember.

Nosling had a bunch of keys on his belt, along with his bludgeon. They made a merry jingling noise while he spulttered, and became silent when he did. Sympathetic keys. How nice. I knew that one of them would open the headmaster's private door. Stupid! How is a door private if someone else has the keys? So I changed the sign on the door before I smashed it to splinters with a walrus spell (there were lots of keys, and I wasn't going to stand out in the cold trying them all!)

The school was quiet. All the boys were home for the holidays, and the servants' quarters were on the other side of the building. No one heard me or the walrus. No one came to investigate. A shame... I had plenty of trustard for everyone!

I went straight to Headmaster Grimsly's study. I knew the way. I was caned there so many times that my buttocks felt a burst of pain the moment I stepped through the door. Then I realized it was the walrus, butting me from behind. I tried to dispel him, but it turned out that he wasn't a spell at all. Strange. Very strange...

But all the walruses in Walrusland couldn't spoil my moment!

The secret door to Grimsly's private collection was before me -- made to look like just another of the dark oak panels that covered the walls. A good disguise. But I saw through it even as a boy. Ah, memories... Like little metal spikes jammed into your brain. I remembered when I snuck down from the dormitory and pried it open. But I was caught. Caught and expelled. Also beaten. Injury to insult. Painful.

The headmaster had taken precautions since that time. There was a stone head mounted on the wall, embedded in the wood. Its eyes glowed green when I tried to open the hidden door. The edge of the door glowed as well, and was stuck fast. A riddler gargoyle... Well played, Grimsly! Well played!

The gargoyle asked me a riddle. I didn't know the answer. So I engaged it in conversation isntead. My words seem to confuse it, and in the end it fell to pieces. Just like when I talk to women...

The glow left the door. I pulled it open.

Behind it was a small room, its walls lined with books. Old books. Special books. Books for a scholar. And for a mage.

I knew the one I wanted. I had seen it when I was a boy, was reaching for it when the headmaster's hand fell on my shoulder and his cane on my derriere. A tome bound in gold, but worth more than that silly shiny metal. So much more...

I took it off the shelf and laid it on the desk. Then I went through its pages, searching for what I wanted. The last copy of the book I found was missing those pages... Torn from it by some wretched adventurer. I beat her to death with an enchanted wheel of cheese for disrespecting literature. But she'd already eaten them out of spite, to stop me taking them.

There was the information I needed... Writings about Kwizkazak, the greatest wand ever created. Soon it would be mine...

Then I sat down to write this accound in my journal. I'm not sure why. But the walrus said it would be a good idea.

-- Guildbert the Mad

--

"Is it me, or is it getting bloody hot in here?"

Hugh drags his sleeves across his brow, and succeeds in transferring some of the trickling sweat onto the garment. The rest is smeared across his skin -- leaving it with a sheen of glistening discomfort.

"We're nearing the magma lake," Rakshara replies.

Hugh greets this piece of information with a blank stare.

"Molten rock," she adds. "When it appears on the surface your people call it 'lava'."

"You may recall seeing the substance in the images we've shared of my realm," Brachus says.

"Oh! The stuff you threw that four-armed demon woman into?"

"Ah... One of my greatest triumphs."

Hugh's eyes glaze over, lost in a past which they never actually beheld. You're about to snap him out of it, and tell him that it's time to move on, when Tessa's expression catches your eye.

"They're still following us," she says.

You follow her glance. Down the corridor, a few dozen yards behind your companions, stands a small band of orocs -- their colorful crystals gleaming in the soft lichen-light.

As though youre stare were the reverse of a basilisk's, it seems to bring them to life. The moment they notice your scrutiny the orocs break out in a chorus of applause, cheers, cries of approcal, and a long, sharp trilling which you assume must be a form of ululation.

You can't help smiling at the spontaneous enthusiasm.

When your first came upon them, not far from where you left the butchered bodies of the Sapphire King and his minions, your hand went for your weapon. But Rakshara took hold of your arm, and asked you to wait. You couldn't follow the conversation she then held with them, for it was in their incomprehensible speech -- the hard, stony language which you doubt your human tongue would ever be able to master. But the expressions on their faces and the tones in which they cried out were enough. Especially when Rakshara took the king's head from her borrowed pack. They all but prostrated themselves before her.

Once that initial euphoria had subsided into a more moderate joy, several of the orocs broke away from the group and ran off down the passage or into the small tunnels which opened on either side of the main thoroughfare. Their goal was clear even before Rakshara offered an explanation. They were going to spread the word, to tell the tale of the Sapphire King's death.

You'd expected the remainder to eventually do likewise, to disappear down one or more of the branching subterranean routes. Instead they're still behind you, their footsteps heaving dogged yours all this way.

"They wish to be there at the finish," Rakshara explains, "and see the Sapphire King's head disappear into the magma."

"Your people need better hobbies," Hugh says.

But Tessa smiles.

"Good. They'll help spread your legend."

References[]

↑ Even though the first enemy in Deranged Disciples 4 looks like a Fanatical Mage, it has the same stats and number of types of cards as a Fanatical Stonebound Cleric. This has been reported to the game developers. --GameTommy 22:35, May 12, 2012 (UTC)

[1] Even though the first enemy in Deranged Disciples 4 looks like a Fanatical Mage, it has the same stats and number of types of cards as a Fanatical Stonebound Cleric. This has been reported to the game developers. --GameTommy 22:35, May 12, 2012 (UTC)

[1]