jdnd/sections/05-The Museum of Orethys - Escaping the Museum.md

Escaping the Museum

After exploring the bottom floors of the museum, the PCs will be ready to escape the Museum. The escape process is fairly linear. There’s a lot to do before the PCs can actually leave!

Meeting Diometron

Diometron is a rogue modron. Orethys’ interest in him is purely because rogue modrons are rare. Here is what the guidebook has to say about Diometron:

<WRITE BLURB ABOUT DIOMETRON>

Diometron became a rogue modron when his traveling party encountered a group of slaads. One slaad infected Diometron with slaad reproductive essence. Fortunately for Diometron, modrons are very resistant to elemental chaos. The slaad essence has not been able to take him over. But it’s still in there, trying.

When Diometron was infected, he asked his superiors what to do. They decided that he was too badly damaged to repair, so they instructed him to report for incineration. Diometron did not comply, instead, he fled and went into hiding. He was hiding in a garden shed when Orethys captured him. He now sleeps in the garden shed, but he explores the museum when he is awake.

When Diometron first went rogue, he was a duodrone. Contrary to popular belief, duodrones are not stupid: they just lack independence. If it were not for the slaad essence inside him driving him toward independence and free-thinking, he would have submitted to incineration.

It is well known that most rogue modrons become quadrones. You might wonder how this is possible. It is because modrons come from the factory with the hardware necessary to change their own configuration. When a modron is given a promotion, the modron automatically transforms into the correct shape for their new rank. Most people don’t realize it, but modrons are actually shape-changers: people don’t realize it because modrons only change their shape in response to promotion.

When a modron shape-changes, they always do so with an approved blueprint. Modrons come from the factory with four blueprints preinstalled: monodrone, duodrone, tridrone, and quadrone. To upgrade beyond that point, they must obtain a higher-level blueprint from their superior.

When a modron goes rogue, they already have everything they need to self-promote to quadrone. They cannot promote beyond that point, because they don’t have a blueprint for anything beyond quadrone.

A healthy modron would never, ever consider making up their own blueprint. The results would be utterly unpredictable, and modrons loathe unpredictability. But Diometron is modron corrupted by slaad essence. When he realized he was trapped on a floating island, he started wishing that his quadrone wings were not vestigial. The more he thought about it, the more it occurred to him that it would be a fairly simple modification to the blueprint to make the wings functional. He agonized over whether or not it would be lawful to invent one’s own blueprint. But in the end, he succumbed to temptation. Diometron can now fly around the exhibits.

Diometron is resistant to the stasis effect: unlike all the other museum denizens, he does not forget everything he sees. He explains this as follows: “My memory systems have multiple layers of redundancy to prevent data loss. The museum keeps trying to reset my memory, but my systems keep restoring my memory from backup. This has been going on for seventy years. I am confident that I will not experience data loss.” It is a side effect of the “axiomatic mind” power that all modrons possess.

Diometron knows that he is corrupted by chaos, and it terrifies him. He believes that he is not a force for good in the universe - he believes that he is likely to spread chaos, and that’s the worst thing a being can do. For this reason, he is very glad that he lives in the Museum of Orethys. He knows that everything the museum is in stasis, and therefore, it is not really possible to harm anyone in the museum. Diometron is afraid to interact with anyone who is not in stasis, because he is afraid that he will spread chaos and corruption to them. Periodically, Diometron will say that he “should have reported for incineration.” He has a severely damaged sense of self-esteem.

Diometron’s name is a name that he gave himself. It is a combination of the following words:

• Di, meaning two.

• Metric, meaning measurement systems.

• Tron, meaning a mechanism.

So he views himself as a mechanism with two different, incompatible value systems: one, his original modron value system, and two, the value system of the slaad inside him. He does not think these are separable: like it or not, he is part slaad now. So he must constantly struggle to balance his modron values with his slaad values. In reality, he is far, far more modron than slaad. Probably 90% modron, 10% slaad. He is not overtly chaotic at all. But the slaad influence does enable him to act with some independence from the modron collective.

Diometron is an intensely curious person. He has studied everything there is to study in the museum. He has read every book in Dame Kenere’s library multiple times, and he is proud of what he has learned. He will point out, whenever given the opportunity, that he is an “excellent swordsman,” an “excellent wizard,” an “excellent musician,” an “excellent bartender,” an “excellent weaver,” and everything else under the sun. He proclaims his skill in a matter-of-fact way, but he is quite proud. In reality, he’s good at several of those things, and he overestimates his ability at some of them.

The fact that Diometron brags a little is essential to the plot: Diometron must tell the players, “I am an excellent Wizard.” That way, it will occur to them that maybe he can cast sending.

Diometron is lonely. He talks to everyone in the museum, but of course, nobody can remember him, and that makes him feel disconnected. He does sometimes talk to the caretakers, but there’s a problem: the caretakers are obligated, by geas, to try to keep him in his exhibit. Whenever Diometron talks about what he has been doing, the caretakers are forced to respond, “you shouldn’t be doing that, you should be in your exhibit.” They never give him any encouragement, because they can’t. So it’s not much fun for diometron to talk to the caretakers, and the caretakers don’t enjoy stomping on Diometron’s spirit either. So they don’t talk that often.

Diometron has a strange verbal tic: he doesn’t use contractions. He always says “do not” instead of “don’t,” he always says “I will not” instead of “I won’t.” When he talks, he repeatedly tilts his head from side to side. He says, “I am an excellent speaker of your common tongue.”

Even when Diometron is saying something sad, like “I am corrupted by chaos, I should have been incinerated,” he speaks in a bright, cheery voice. His emotions are not expressed through tone of voice.

If the PCs look for Diometron, the guidebook will guide the PCs to the shed. Diometron may or may not be there (flip a coin.) If not, the PCs can wait around and Diometron will eventually show up. If the PCs ask the caretakers about Diometron, the caretakers will tell the PCs that this is the right way to find him - just wait at his shed.

The shed itself is utterly uninteresting: a completely mundane gardening shed. Diometron sleeps while standing in a corner. He sleeps in his own exhibit as a concession to the caretakers: they wanted him to stay in his exhibit, he wanted to explore the museum, so he compromised and agreed to sleep in his exhibit - at least that way, he’s there some of the time. The caretakers acknowledged that they had no power to force him, so they eventually just shrugged and accepted the deal.

When Diometron first sees the PCs, he is terrified (because he is afraid he’ll spread chaos), but he is also fascinated - these are the first new people he’s seen in decades. Then he notices something that is very important to him: He says, “I have sensors that can detect the presence of elemental chaos. The level of chaos in your bodies is elevated. You are corrupted by chaos. I am also corrupted by chaos.” Suddenly, he feels a strange kinship for the PCs. He is also less afraid of corrupting them, because they are already corrupted.

Of course, the chaos that Diometron detects is a side effect of using the Deck of Many Things. The deck is one of the most powerful chaos artifacts in the multiverse, and it leaches elemental chaos into everything it touches.

Diometron loves to talk. He is happy to explain anything that the PCs care to ask him.

If the PCs suggest that Diometron could escape the museum with them, Diometron will balk. Diometron is terrified of the idea of spreading his chaos outside the museum. If the PCs are persuasive enough, they may be able to move Diometron to warm up to the idea.

Diometron is relevant to the PCs for two reasons:

• He is a 6th level wizard who can cast sending.

• Other than the caretakers, he is the only NPC in the museum who can

  remember the PCs.

But aside from that, Diometron is designed to be a likeable NPC. He is friendly, he is cheerful, and he is enthusiastically helpful. Furthermore, he has some qualities that should tug at their heartstrings a little bit. It is intended that the PCs should relatively quickly develop a friendship for Diometron. This is important to the plot: later in the campaign, the PCs will be given the opportunity to dismantle the entire museum. If the PCs care about the NPCs in the museum, if they have emotional investment in their well-being, then freeing the NPCs from the museum will be a goal that feels important to them.

Sending a Distress Call

The PCs will want to contact a friend outside the museum, to ask for help escaping the museum. The most likely way to do that is to ask Diometron to cast sending.

If the PCs ask Diometron to cast sending, he points out there’s a catch: “In order to cast sending, I have to be familiar with the recipient. All my colleagues used to be modrons, but I cannot safely contact them, because they want to incinerate me. There is nobody outside the museum that I can contact, because I lack familiarity with everyone outside the museum.”

The PCs can work around this in several different ways:

• The PCs could try to tell Diometron about a friend outside the

  museum. For it to work, the PCs must do at least two or three of the following:

  • Use Disguise Self to make themselves look like the friend.

  • Make a good performance roll to act like the friend.

  • Use the Encode Thoughts cantrip to give Diometron a thought of

    the friend.

  • Ask Diometron to cast Detect Thoughts, then visualize the

    friend.

  • Use telepathy to communicate an impression of the friend.

  • Give a detailed, compelling verbal description of the friend.

  • There may be other ways.

• The PCs could ask Diometron to contact Dame Kenere. Diometron has

  read all her books, and has seen her portrait many times. That is familiar enough.

• The PCs could ask Johann, the Dreaming Ghost, instead of asking

  Diometron. Johann can enter the dreams of people all over the multiverse, and Johann, being inside the PCs’ dream, can easily see who the PC is thinking of. The only catch is that Johann can only talk to people in their dreams. If the friend is somebody who pays attention to dreams (priests usually do, and so do mystics), great. If not, there is a chance they might ignore their dream.

Once the PCs figure all this out, they send the message. The actual content of the message isn’t that important. “We’re trapped in a big weird cavern, we can’t get out” is sufficient. It also isn’t especially important who they send the message to: we can just assume that whomever they contact will eventually pass the message on to the right person.

One person the PCs could try to contact is Green. If they try, Green says, “We’ve been trying to find somebody who can plane shift to where you are, with no luck. Now that you’re in verbal contact, maybe there’s new options. I’m going to talk to my diviner, just hold tight.” Green and his diviner end up passing the message on to the right person, and the rescue is underway.

One challenge here is that the players did very little roleplaying outside the museum, so they may not be able to think of anybody to send the distress call to. So during character creation, when you ask your players to create background stories, make sure they include at least one living friend in their background story. That way, they’ll have somebody to send to.

Regardless of the details of how they do it, the players will eventually get a message out.

When the players send their distress call, the message gets passed from person to person. As a DM, it will be on you to invent a chain by which the message ends up in Tymora’s ear. Maybe the PC sent a distress call to his wife, and the wife talked to her priest, and that priest talked to another priest, who happened to be a priest of Tymora. It doesn’t matter what the exact sequence of communication was, it’s only important that somehow, the PC’s distress call reaches Tymora.

Shortly after sending the distress call, the PCs get a sending from somebody they don’t know:

“Hi! I’m Joycie, I can probably get you out. I need you to try to find a teleportation circle. If you find one, use sending to send me the sigil sequence - that’s the series of arcane runes that surround the circle. As soon as I get that sigil sequence, I’ll be there. Also, give thanks to Tymora!”

The message is from Joycie, a powerful priestess of Tymora who can cast plane shift. She will be the one to eventually get the players out of the museum. So next, a brief digression, about why Tymora is getting involved.

What Tymora Wants

Tymora is very upset about the Deck. She feels like the god who created the deck is trying to steal the portfolios of Good Luck and Bad Luck. The PCs will soon meet some priestesses of Tymora, and the priestesses will be direct about Tymora’s problem. Here is how they will explain it:

Let me ask you something: Who do you think created the Deck? Most people would assume that it was Tymora and Beshaba. After all, the most powerful luck-dispensing magic item in the universe would surely have been created by the gods of luck, wouldn’t it? But as it turns out, Tymora and Beshaba didn’t create the deck. So who did?

We know it wasn’t created by a mortal, because it’s just way too powerful. Think about it: it’s been conjuring dozens of magic items, it’s granted tons of wishes. No magic item created by a mortal could do that. So it has to have been created by a god, and a powerful one at that. But which one? We don’t know.

But people are starting to say that there’s a “new” god of luck in town. People are saying, “If you want good luck, go to Tymora. But if you really need good luck desperately, go to the Deck of Many Things.” People are saying that whoever created the deck is a more powerful luck god than Tymora. She’s losing a lot of respect in the eyes of the population.

Funny thing is, Tymora’s a young goddess, only a few thousand years old, we think the deck is much older. Ancient records mention it a long, long time ago. Yet despite that, this hasn’t ever been a problem before.

In the past, the deck used to appear once every hundred years or so. It would turn somebody’s life upside down, and then it would vanish, not to be heard from again for another hundred years. It never stuck around longer than two or three days. People tried to put it into vaults, they tried to guard it, but nonetheless always disappeared after just a few days. By the time the news got out to the public that the deck had made an appearance, it was already gone. So the public never had a chance to actually see the deck, and there was always a lot of skepticism about whether it even existed at all or whether it was just a bedtime story. People used to hear about it, and then realize it was already gone, and they would forget about it just as quickly.

But this time, the Deck has been sticking around. Green’s been running his little draw-cards business for several months now. We have no idea why the deck isn’t vanishing this time, but it’s not. So this time, it’s really entered into the public imagination in a way that it never has before, and that’s what’s threatening to Tymora - public perceptions are essential to a goddess keeping her worshippers, and being perceived as “the second-best goddess of luck” would be deadly to her.

Now, as for me, as a priestess of Tymora, I actually don’t care who’s more powerful. I trust Tymora. She isn’t just a goddess of luck, she’s also a kind and caring goddess and I just think it’s best for the universe if she’s the goddess of luck, as opposed to some cold and amoral god who just likes randomness. So that’s why I’m sticking with Tymora to the end. But other people might not see it that way.

So now Tymora finds herself in the position where she has to defend her turf. She’s not an aggressive goddess at all, she doesn’t want to start a war. But she can’t let another god position himself as the most powerful god of luck. If you’re a god, protecting your portfolio is mandatory - if you don’t, you’ll fade out of existence.

So now Tymora wants to try to negotiate with this other god. That’s where you guys come in. Tymora can see lines of telepathic connection radiating out from you - she can see that you’re connected to some of the other people who drew cards from the deck. She also thinks you might be connected to the god who created the deck. She hopes she can trace those lines of force to find the other god. But to do that, she needs you to strengthen your telepathic connection to the god who made the Deck.

We also want to buy the Deck from Green. Tymora doesn’t want to take it by force, that wouldn’t be right. So she isn’t going to appear in her full glory in front of Green, that would be a show of force, and Green might interpret it as a threat. She doesn’t want to do that. So she wants to send a low-level ambassador instead. She thinks you guys would make great ambassadors, because you already know Green. We also think you can escort one of our priestesses to Green.

Of course, you won’t be able to remember this whole monologue. Just remember these bullet points:

• About the Conflict between Tymora and the God who made the Deck:

  • Tymora didn’t create the deck.

  • People are saying the deck’s creator is the “new” god of luck.

  • Tymora isn’t going to allow some other god to take over her job!

• About Tymora and the Deck:

  • Tymora is a young goddess. The deck is much, much older.

  • In the past, Tymora never had a conflict with the deck, because

    it never stuck around.

  • This time, the deck has been doing its thing for months and not

    disappearing.

• About Tymora and the Telepathic Channels:

  • Tymora can sense a “channel” connecting the PCs to the god who

    created the deck.

  • Tymora wants to track the channel to find that god, but the

    connection is too weak.

  • Tymora wants the PCs to strengthen that connection by

    interacting with the deck some more.

• About Tymora and Green:

  • Tymora wants to buy the deck from Green.

  • She thinks the PCs will make good negotiators, because they know

    Green.

Tymora’s desire to help the PCs is, to a degree, self-serving - she’s helping because she needs something in return. But Tymora is still a good goddess, and she isn’t going to do anything to hurt the PCs. She really is going to rescue them from being imprisoned in the Museum, and she’s not being unreasonable in asking for help with her problem.

The Teleportation Circle and the Medusa

Joycie needs the PCs to find a teleportation circle. There is only one teleportation circle in the museum, in the medusa exhibit. From the Guidebook:

The face of a Medusa is amazingly beautiful, in a strange and otherworldly way. Some people say it is a blessing from the gods, other say it was her beauty that led to her being cursed. Sadly, few ever get to see her face and tell the tale.

Fortunately, you can look at a Medusa in a mirror without getting petrified. The traditional approach is to shine your shield to a mirror-like finish, then walk up to her backward while looking at her in your shield. If the arrows in your back make you question the wisdom of the traditional approach, do not worry: your friend Orethys is here!

I built a hall of mirrors, and I teleported a Medusa into the back of it. You can enter the front. I have timed it: it takes her 16 minutes to get to the front of the mirror-labyrinth. That gives you about 14 minutes to enjoy her beauty and 2 minutes to flee the exhibit. Of course, I could have just given you a potion of protection against petrification, but where would be the fun in that? This is so much more entertaining.

By the way, some people say that if a Medusa sees her own reflection, she will be petrified. I can assure you that is not the case. The reflection of a Medusa is safe, for you and for her as well.

The sigil sequence for the teleportation circle is, in rune-script, “put medusa here.” Most PCs probably can’t read rune-script, but Diometron can: he learned it from a book in Dame Kenere’s library.

Creating this exhibit was a multi-step process. Here is how Orethys did it:

• Step 1. Build a hall of mirrors.

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• Step 2. Put a teleportation circle in the back of the hall.

• Step 3. Give the sigil sequence to a friend.

• Step 4. The friend teleports a medusa into the circle.

• Step 5. The instant the medusa arrives, Orethys captures the hall

  into the museum.

The outside of the exhibit is a rectangular stone building - a sturdy bunker designed to keep the medusa contained. The inside of the building is a mirror maze. The building has about a dozen steel doors around the outside of it. Each steel door has a sturdy deadbolt that can only be operated from outside the maze. The medusa cannot get out unless the PCs open a door. One of the doors is marked, “use this door,” and another is marked, “do not use this door!”

The PCs might wonder why there are so many doors. Here’s why: Orethys didn’t know which path the medusa would take inside the maze. Rather than try to guess, he accounted for every possibility: he built entry doors all over the maze. Then, he waited until the medusa was in the museum, and he observed her. She always follows the exact same path, because she is in stasis. Because she always follows the exact same path, there is a door that she reaches first, a door she reaches second, and so forth, until the one door she reaches last. Orethys made a note of which door she reaches last, and marked it “use this door.”

There is also a door right by the teleportation circle where the medusa is initially standing. That door is marked, “do not use this door!”

There are several ways that the PCs can find out that the medusa exhibit contains a teleportation circle. One is to enter the medusa exhibit. As soon as you’re in the exhibit, the circle is quite visible, reflected in the mirrors.

Another way to find out is to look carefully at the pictures of the medusa exhibit on the wall in guest services. When the PCs are in guest services, if they do the museum in the usual order, then they aren’t specifically looking for a teleportation circle at that time. So of course they won’t consciously notice it.

Later, when the PCs learn they need a teleportation circle, let them make an easy insight roll. When they inevitably succeed, tell them “you’re sure you’ve seen some kind of magic circle in the museum… you’re just not 100% sure where.” Let them enjoy a little hunt. If they go back to guest services and check the pictures, they automatically spot it.

To get the sigil sequence of the teleportation circle, you will have to get the medusa out of the way. One way to get her out of the way is to kill her. That’s pretty hard for low-level characters. But it’s not actually necessary. Instead, you can have one party member enter the maze through the “safe” door. Then, the party member waits until the medusa is about halfway between the back and the front. The party member signals a friend, who enters the “unsafe” door, and memorizes the sigil sequence of the teleportation circle. Then both people get the heck out. They can then relay the sigil sequence to the rescue party, warning the rescue party that they will have to tangle with a medusa. The rescue party is high-level, they are not worried about a medusa.

If the PCs ask whether they can figure out the layout of the exhibit from the pictures in guest services, just say, “yes, easily,” and hand them the map of the medusa exhibit.

The PCs can safely study the door mechanism. It takes the medusa at least two minutes to reach any door other than the one she starts at. So the PCs have time to open a door, examine the mechanism, and close and lock the door before anything bad happens. There is not much to see: ordinary hinges, and an ordinary deadbolt, very sturdy. The door frame has a metal flange to make it impossible for the medusa to poke a thieves tool between the door jamb and the door. It is designed to be only openable from the outside.

When the PCs are inside the maze, they can easily see the medusa moving around in the mirrors. It’s impossible to tell where she is - the reflections of reflections are just too disorienting - but it’s easy to tell how close she is, because the largest reflection in the mirror will keep getting larger as she gets closer.

It is possible that a character might have some means of sensing the medusa other than sight. If so, that’s a nice victory for that character.

Some players may try to reason with the medusa. Bear in mind that the medusa was attacked by a wizard who teleported her into a mirror maze. Because she is in stasis, she thinks this just happened five minutes ago. She is and always will be both panicked and angry. But if you’re persuasive enough, it is possible.

The Priestesses Arrive

When the players get the sigil sequence from the teleportation circle, and send it to Joycie, Joycie immediate uses plane shift to come to the teleportation circle, and she brings her friend and coworker, Lada. If the medusa is in there, Joycie is more than tough enough to handle the medusa.

Joycie is a powerful lv 14 Cleric of Tymora, she works at Tymora’s primary temple in Brightwater. Her life is very busy: when a lower-level priest needs help with something particularly difficult, they often go to Joycie. This month, Joycie is on plane shift duty - she’s pretty much spending the whole month ferrying people around the multiverse. She will get the PCs out of the demiplane, but that’s as much help as she can offer. She’s an essential worker at the temple in Brightwater, and she can’t be spared for long.

Lada is only a lv 3 cleric, but she’s Tymora’s best theoretical fortunologist. She has a huge passion for research into how magical luck spells work. Another favorite topic of hers is the Deck of Many Things, though she’s never been able to research one except through dusty tomes. Tymora specifically asked Lada to spend time with the players: Tymora knows that Lada will investigate the Deck with great enthusiasm.

Both Joycie and Lada are genuinely good allies for the players to know. They are trustworthy and smart and will do their best to help in any situation. This is not just because Tymora assigned them this task, it’s also because they’re just plain good people.

Joycie is bubbly and friendly, she has a happy-go-lucky attitude. She assumes things are going to go great, and she’s usually right - after all, serving Lady Luck has its benefits. She likes to flirt with cute guys, but she’s not actually looking for a date, she’s just playing. She’s also quite busy, she can’t stick around long. Joycie appears human, but quite tall: 7 feet tall, and her forehead is prominent. She’s one-eighth hill giant.

Lada is very shy and awkward, but once she finally feels comfortable around you, she becomes quite warm. She is very passionate about her research. She thinks that magical luck is much more strange and powerful than it appears to be. She has devised dozens of experiments to test what magical luck spells are capable of doing. She knows exactly how they impact probability and statistics. Lada is a youngish halfling, with a mop of wild curly hair.

Joycie won’t stick around long, but Lada will. Lada’s serves several purposes: first, it’s important for the players to have friendly NPCs that they care about, so that they feel invested in the world and so that they feel like the world is worth protecting and saving. Second, Lada raises weird questions that the players can think about and even research during the course of the campaign. This will make the world more mysterious and interesting for them. Finally, Lada can be a channel through which the DM occasionally gives hints to the players.

In combat, let the players take turns controlling Lada. She strongly prefers to spend her combat actions healing, blessing, and buffing. She rarely deals damage directly. If the PCs try to push her around and tell her to get on the front lines, she refuses. If the PCs mistreat her in any significant way, she will leave the party, with Tymora’s blessing: Tymora won’t subject her priestesses to abuse, Tymora will find another way to research the deck. Lada is always one level lower than the rest of the PCs, and she is only ever in a support role.

When the two priestesses appear in the teleportation circle, they introduce themselves. Lada is quiet and withdrawn because of her shyness, but she’s secretly in awe of the PCs because they have had contact with the Deck. Joycie is her outgoing bubbly self.

Joycie presents the players with Tymora’s request: “I need to be honest. We are here to rescue you, but we’re not just here to rescue you - we were hoping for your help with something.” She gives the explanation in the previous chapter, What Tymora Wants.

The plot of the entire campaign revolves around the PCs joining into the service of Tymora. They must accept the job. If the PCs refuse, do whatever you have to do to convince them. The best way to do this is to make an impassioned but reasoned argument. For example, Joycie could say, “Tymora is a genuinely good goddess, and she needs help. If Tymora were to lose her position as the goddess of Luck, I can’t imagine what terrible echoes that would have for the universe. And don’t forget, she went out of her way to help you when you were in trouble. If you do agree, you’ll have the gratitude of our priesthood for the rest of your lives. Please, we really do need your help.”

A Failed Departure

When the PCs are ready to leave the Museum, Joycie instructs everyone to form a circle. She takes out a tuning fork for the Outlands, and casts plane shift. Joycie and Lada vanish, but the PCs are still in the museum. A few minutes later, the PCs get a sending from Joycie: “What happened? Are you still in the museum? I’m going to take a long rest, we’ll come try again in the morning.”

Here’s what went wrong: as explained in the Golden Goats blurb, it is physically impossible to remove a piece of an exhibit from the demiplane, even using plane shift. The PCs are part of an exhibit. They will have to buy their freedom in order to leave.

Two Divine Visitations

While waiting for the two priestesses to return, the PCs will receive visitations from two goddesses.

Selune

The PCs are sitting around doing not much, waiting for Joycie to return. Suddenly, the scene shifts: they are in a grassy field, surrounded by hills, at night. The moon is absolutely enormous in the sky, and everything is bathed in silvery moonlight. A female figure descends from the sky, wearing a long flowing dress. She settles on the grass in front of the PCs. It is Selune. She says:

Tymora is one of my best friends, and she is as trustworthy and kind as a goddess can be. But she is making a mistake. I encourage you to work with her, but just be aware: there will come a point in time when you have to tell her to stop what she’s doing.

Here is what I ask of you: keep your eyes open. Use your brains. If you see her do something that you think is going to cause harm, you must speak up. Tell her, or tell her priestesses. Do not be overawed by her divine presence. You speaking up at an appropriate moment may be all that stands between her and disaster.

The PCs can then talk to Selune. They will probably ask “What kind of mistake is she making? What do you know about this situation? Give us details.” Selune responds:

A long, long time ago, I made a promise to keep a secret. I am bound by that promise: I could not break it if I wanted to. Because of that promise, I cannot give you any more details than I already have. I am relying on you to figure out what it is that I cannot say. I have seen you in the museum: you are clever, and you are good at figuring things out. I trust that you will discover what you need to before it is too late.

So here’s the backstory that you can’t tell to your players: when the universe was young, Omta planted the seeds of randomness, knowing full well that the creator of the universe would not be happy about what Omta had done. After planting that seed, Omta fled and hid, hoping that nobody saw what he did. However, somebody did see: Selune. Selune tracked Omta back to his hiding place, and asked: “what did you do, and why?” After hearing Omta’s explanation, Selune decided it was for the best: the universe really would be better with some randomness. She promised to Omta that she would not reveal what he had done. She promised that she would let his existence and his hiding place remain a secret. Selune has kept his secret for millenia.

So now, Omta is still in hiding, and now Tymora is trying to track down Omta to his hiding place, in order to challenge him for the portfolio of Luck. Selune thinks this is a mistake: she thinks there is no real conflict between Omta and Tymora, and she thinks a war between them would be a disaster. She approached Tymora and advised Tymora to leave the Deck alone. However, because of her promise to Omta, she couldn’t give any further explanation to Tymora. Tymora trusts Selune, but she’s not willing to simply do what Selune tells her to do with no explanation. Tymora, exasperated at Selune’s unwillingness to explain her reasoning, told Selune that she will persist until somebody gives her a clear, logical reason why she shouldn’t.

When the PCs speak to Selune, let her be soft-spoken and very warm. She doesn’t stick around long. She gives her warning, answers a question or two, then says goodbye. The scene shifts back to the museum.

Beshaba

Beshaba’s visitation comes immediately after Selune’s, and it deliberately mocks Selune’s visitation. Once again, the scene shifts, and the players are in “the same” field, surrounded by “the same” rolling hills. But this time, the ground they’re sitting on is sharp obsidian shards, and the sky is filled with roiling black clouds, with shafts of red light breaking through. This is what Beshaba’s home plane in the Abyss looks like. Again, a female figure descends from the sky, wearing the same long flowing dress. Beshaba sits on the ground in the same pose as Selune. She says,

“Am I not more beautiful than Selune?”

Let the PCs hem and haw awkwardly for a minute, then have Beshaba give her speech:

Tymora is my sister, and as arrogant as a goddess can be. I am here to tell you that she is making a mistake. She is trying to find the god who made the deck, so that she can challenge him for the portfolio of luck. This will inevitably lead to war between gods.

When two gods war, usually, both gods survive. But that’s not true for the mortals involved. Very likely, thousands of priests and innocents will die in a war between gods. And if one of the gods does die, that will cause untold upheavals in the multiverse, with thousands more innocents dying.

Of course, I’m not really being altruistic here. I just don’t want to get dragged into a war between gods. I figure if this other god attacks Tymora, he’s going to attack me too. I don’t know how powerful this other god is, or what he can do to me. That’s not a risk I want to take. I prefer to let sleeping dogs lie.

So here’s what I want from you: pretend to work for Tymora. But when the time comes for her to actually obtain the deck, I want you to undermine her. For example, if she asks you to negotiate for the deck, negotiate badly. If she looks like she’s going to take the deck by force, talk her out of it. Do what you have to do to stop her.

This is 100% lies.

Beshaba’s rationale, “preventing war,” is obviously out-of-character. Beshaba would love it if some other god were to fight Tymora. She would love it if thousands of innocents were to die in a war between gods. She would relish all that. She’s also not really afraid of being attacked by this other god.

The reason for the lying is that Beshaba has a plan. Gods are most powerful in their own realm. Beshaba intends to use the Deck to lure Tymora into her realm, where Beshaba is at her most powerful, and where Tymora is at her least powerful, so that Beshaba can kill Tymora. To do that, she needs to make sure that Tymora doesn’t get the deck first. That’s Beshaba’s goal: get the Deck before Tymora does, so she can use it as bait. All those reasonable-sounding explanations are just lies designed to sell the PCs on the whole endeavor.

The PCs may ask, “If you want to stop us from getting the Deck, why not just give us tons of bad luck?” Beshaba responds matter-of-factly:

Certainly, I could throw annoying obstacles in your way. I could also just kill you. But that wouldn’t stop Tymora. She would just find other people to carry out her mission. You’re much more valuable to me alive: you have Tymora’s ear, and you can convince her of things.

Again, Beshaba only answers questions for a minute, and then she ends the visitation.

The Arrival of Castle Green

After the two visitations, the PCs have to wait the night. In the middle of the night, they’re awakened by the caretakers Keira and Qurak, who say, “Castle Green is arriving. Want to come see it?” If the PCs ask “How do you know it’s coming,” they say, “the guidebook alerted us!” The guidebook used to say:

Exhibit will be located inside Castle Green. The arrival of Castle Green has been delayed.

But now it says:

Exhibit will be located inside Castle Green. Castle Green will be arriving soon.

The PCs may be hesitant to visit their own exhibit, for fear of getting trapped in their exhibit. Obviously, the PCs do not want to spend eternity in a diorama. So Keira and Qurak might have to convince the PCs. They make the following arguments:

• We can’t actually imprison you in your diorama. We have no power to

  do that. That’s why Diometron wanders the museum.

• You don’t actually have to go inside. You can stand on the next

  island over, and just look. You could send in Diometron to investigate for you, if you want.

If the PCs aren’t interested even after Keira encourages them, don’t force them. It’s not essential.

If the PCs do travel to the appropriate location, they find a clearing in the cavern where the new floating island is going to be. The clearing is filled with thin white mist. Keira explains that’s what it looks like when an exhibit is arriving.

After staring at the appropriate spot for 15 minutes or so, the top half of Castle Green appears, including everything from about waist level on up. The top half of the castle has been sliced off of the bottom half, and the bottom half was left behind. The main tower is completely unattached to anything. The chunks of Castle Green sink a few feet, then start bobbing in space: this is now the first “floating island” without any island. The pieces of Castle Green are hovering in space, levitated by the same force that keeps the floating islands floating. There are no people in the debris.

When Keira sees this happen, she just sighs and says, “Great. Well, that’s a shitshow.” Qurak says, “Screw this, I’m getting lunch.”

If the players check, there’s very little in the wreckage. There is nobody in there. Everything of value has been taken. The big room where the PCs drew cards from the deck is there, hovering at a crooked angle, with the desk flopped over on its side, and the desk accessories scattered around the room. The Deck is not present.

This event is here purely to make the players wonder what the heck is going on at Castle Green.

If the players look at the guidebook under “The Deck of Many Things,” the text now says: “Exhibit is Out of Order.”

The Final Departure

Joycie and Lada return to the museum, via the teleportation circle. They ask the PCs why the plane shift failed. Eventually, the group will ask Keira and Qurak about it. Keira explains: “You’re part of an exhibit. You’re the property of the museum. You can’t take any part of an exhibit out of the museum, even with plane shift. It’s just impossible.”

But then Qurak, who has been mostly silent for the entire time the PCs have been in the museum, steps forward. He says, “It’s not entirely impossible. We can grant permission.” He explains the following bullet points:

• Qurak has the power to set the PCs free, by saying some “magic

  words.”

• However, Keira and Qurak are compelled, by geas, to do what’s in the

  best interests of the museum. Orethys would not approve of giving away an exhibit, no matter how bad the exhibit. Orethys never gave anything away. So the geas prevents Qurak from releasing the PCs.

• Qurak has an idea for a workaround: he could trade the PCs exhibit

  for a better exhibit. That would be in the best interests of the museum, and therefore, would be allowed under the geas.

• The actual procedure would be this: Qurak sets the PCs free, and the

  PCs agree to capture a new, better exhibit within a month or so, using the capture device.

• There’s a catch: if the PCs fail to follow through and capture an

  exhibit, the geas punishes Qurak by torturing him. Actually, geas will eventually kill him, but since he’s in the museum, he can’t die, so it will just keep torturing him forever.

• Qurak is willing to accept this risk, in exchange for a promise: the

  PCs will try to dismantle the museum, and set Qurak and Keira free. Qurak will take this risk because he is desperate for freedom.

If the PCs object on the grounds that they can’t morally put another person in the museum, Qurak makes these arguments:

• You could capture somebody who’s a danger to others, somebody who

  genuinely deserves to be in a prison.

• It doesn’t necessarily have to be an exhibit with a person in it. It

  could just be an interesting place or object.

• If you’re serious about dismantling the museum, putting somebody

  into the museum is just a temporary situation.

If the players agree, and accept the capture device, Qurak gives them a tutorial on using the capture device. Then, he says the magic incantation: “By the will of Orethys, you are free to go.”

Now the PCs can leave the museum, using plane shift. They cannot bring any exhibit NPCs (including Diometron) with them, because other NPCs have not been granted permission to leave the museum. When the PCs are ready, Joycie plane shifts, and the PCs materialize in the market square of St. Parnas, with Joycie and Lada.