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.