jdnd/sections/04-The Museum of Orethys - Magic Items in Guest Services.md

## Magic Items in Guest Services


Guest services contains four interesting magic items that the PCs can
take.

### Item: The Guidebook

The guidebook is a leather-bound magical volume. It is found on a
pedestal in guest services. It has several features:

-   One page for each exhibit. Every exhibit has a name, such as “The
    > Tavern of the South Gate.” Exhibits are sorted alphabetically by
    > name. The page has a blurb about the exhibit, just a paragraph or
    > two.

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-   An index of residents. If you know the name of an person, you can
    > find the name of the exhibit they’re associated with.

-   A Cover with a painting of a compass. The compass is initially
    > pointing due north.

-   The Cover shows the name of the exhibit you are closest to, along
    > with a danger rating. In guest services, the book says “Closest
    > Exhibit: Guest Services. Danger: None”

-   A bookmark, attached to a string, attached to the guidebook’s spine.
    > The back of the guidebook explains that if you put the bookmark
    > into the page for an exhibit, the compass on the cover will point
    > toward that exhibit.

The guidebook is very useful for finding an exhibit if you know the
exhibit name or a person’s name. Unfortunately, it’s not useful for
finding exhibits by content. If one of your players says, “I’m just
going to read all the exhibits until I find one that has a spellcaster
who knows *plane shift*,” say, “you read for a while, but the blurbs
aren’t giving the information you need.” Give them the blurb from *The
Radiant House* as an example. Point out that this exhibit definitely
contains a wizard, Dardannon, but the blurb tells you next to nothing
about him. There’s no information about whether he can cast *sending* or
*plane shift*. There’s no mention of what magic items he might have in
his house. It doesn’t even say what level of spellcaster he is. The
point is: trying to use the blurbs to search for specific things just
isn’t working.

The rule for the guidebook is: if you know a person’s name or an exhibit
name, the guidebook will help you locate the exhibit, and will also tell
you a bit about the exhibit. But if you don’t have a name, it can’t
help. Be upfront with the players about that simple rule.

The other thing the guidebook can do is tell you what exhibit you’re
standing on. This can be useful, for example, if you find an exhibit
that contains a building, and you aren’t sure whether it is wise to
enter or not.

### Item: The Stabilization Iron

When objects are taken from exhibits, they tend to stick around for
about an hour, and then they vanish - in some sense, returning to their
exhibit. They never vanish while you’re actively thinking about them or
using them - they vanish when your attention turns elsewhere. This is
the stasis effect in action.

The stabilization iron looks like a tiny branding iron. Used like a
branding iron, it will apply a stabilization glyph to any object taken
from an exhibit. This will cause the object to last several days,
instead of an hour. The stabilization iron can be found on a pedestal in
guest services.

Since both the guidebook and the iron are part of the guest services
exhibit, they will both vanish after about an hour unless they are
stabilized. This is advisable. To stabilize the stabilization iron
itself, you will need two stabilization irons, so that the two can apply
glyphs to each other. To get two irons, you have to take one from the
pedestal, leave the room, and come back. Let the PCs figure out this
little puzzle.

The iron can be used an unlimited number of times per day. It can
stabilize any object, animal, or person taken from an exhibit.

Using the iron to stabilize a *person* who is part of an exhibit will
have a surprising effect. NPCs in exhibits tend to forget new things
very quickly. That is particularly true when you show them other
islands: they have a mental block against thinking about other islands.
These limitations make it largely impossible to have a productive
conversation about the museum with an NPC. The stabilization glyph
eliminates both these limitations. A stabilized NPC can remember
everything you tell them for several days, and can observe and think
about other islands. They can even travel with the party (if they’re
able to climb ropes).

The PCs may try to stabilize themselves. If they do, the stabilization
glyph is indeed applied, but there is no effect.

### Item: The Capture Device

The *Capture Device* is used to create new exhibits in the museum. If
there were written instructions, which there aren’t, this is what they
would say:

> Leave the museum, taking the capture device with you. Then, look for
> an interesting person to add to the museum. Put the capture device in
> the building with the interesting person. Activate the device, which
> begins a countdown. Evacuate the building before the countdown
> expires. When the countdown finishes, the entire building will be
> captured as an exhibit.

The device is found in guest services, in a locked closet. It can also
be given to the PCs by the caretakers.

The Capture Device is a metal cylinder, about three inches in diameter,
and two inches tall. The cylinder has two halves, separated by a
hairline crack. It radiates magic strongly. The two halves can be
rotated relative to each other.

If you activate it by rotating it, it says, “Exhibit capture in five
minutes. Evacuate the building.” Then it starts a verbal countdown. At
the end of five minutes, it tries to collect an exhibit. If it fails, it
says one of the following error messages:

-   “Capture failed. Cannot capture inside the museum” - The device
    > simply doesn’t work inside the museum. You can’t capture what’s
    > already been captured.

-   “Capture failed. Powerful force resists capture” - The person being
    > captured gets to make a wisdom saving throw, DC15. If they make
    > the saving throw, then the capture fails. There are other
    > situations where a being or a place might be too powerful to
    > capture.

-   “Capture failed. Must be inside a structure” - The device is meant
    > to be placed inside a building or similar structure. It will
    > capture the whole building. It can also work inside a fenced-in
    > area. If it’s not inside a structure, the device doesn’t know what
    > area to capture.

-   “Capture failed. Exhibit does not contain an exotic person, animal,
    > or anomaly” - The exhibit must contain something worthy of the
    > Museum. This is up to the DM’s discretion.

-   “Capture failed. Exhibit may contain at most two people” - This
    > version of the device can only capture two people, maximum.

If one of these errors occurs, it will be spoken at the end of the
countdown, and again when somebody picks up the device. But if
everything goes right, there will be a “whoomp,” and the area will get
sucked into the Museum, along with its inhabitants. What is left behind
is typically a crater.

Of course, if you try to use this device inside the museum, you just
keep getting the message “cannot capture inside the museum.”

There is only one *Capture Device* - it is a rare object in the museum
that is *not* in stasis. When you take it from its pedestal, the
pedestal doesn’t refill. Unlike other things found in the museum, you
can take it out of the Museum. When it successfully captures a new
exhibit, the capture device goes to the Museum along with everything
else in the exhibit. Then, the caretakers will put it back on its
pedestal, and it will take several months to recharge.

After the party finally escapes from the museum, they will have the
capture device with them. If they activate the capture device and then
fail to evacuate the building, then in theory, some of the party members
could get pulled back into the museum. That would not be fun. Don’t
allow this to happen: just make up an excuse. There are several excuses
built-in to the device: it can’t capture more than two people (and the
party is probably more than two people), and it allows a saving throw
(at least one party member can probably succeed at the save). If those
excuses don’t work, make up a different excuse.

### Item: The Potion of Willpower

In guest services, there is a small chest designed to help you with the
harpy exhibit. The chest contains a monk robe and a “potion of
willpower.”

Orethys provides the potion as a means to resist the charms of the
Harpies. But the potion is actually a general-purpose potion that gives
a +5 on wisdom saving throws, for an hour or so. The PCs can
successfully use it for anything wisdom-save related.