I can’t help myself when it comes to putting the deck of many things in front of my players. Now it’s back again, and it’s thrown my campaign on a very unexpected course.

A Detour in Dungeonland

One thing I’ve determined in my campaign is that every time for the past 25 years that the deck of many things has cropped up, it’s always been the same deck. That’s not to say it’s a unique artifact, but maybe it is. And after the last time the group drew from the deck, they wound up giving it away to the goddess of sin and vice as part of a bargain to recover the soul of the group member who had drawn the Void.

Why did the goddess of sin and vice want the deck of many things? That remains a mystery for now. But apparently she gave it to a monk and it cursed him with insanity, because the next time it showed up in my campaign was when a new group of adventurers found themselves trapped in Dungeonland. This wasn’t even part of some master plan on my end; Dungeonland is a 1st edition AD&D adventure that borrows from Lewis Carroll’s Wonderland. The Mad Hatter is a human monk with a bunch of magic hats and the deck of many things on his person.

That group, remarkably, managed to finish out the adventure without drawing from the deck. They gave it to the wizard Murlynd in exchange for a ride home. (Murlynd, for those unfamiliar with the adventure, is a powerful wizard with a penchant for westerns, complete with a pair of six-shooters and a ten-gallon hat.)

Thus the deck made it into Murlynd’s possession. So what did he decide to do with it?

Hide it Under a Rock

Well, I had no immediate plans to bring back the deck of many things, but another player in a different group rolled a nat 20 while searching for treasure in an empty room. When she argued I should give her something so she didn’t waste a 20, I decided that she found Murlynd’s secret cache where he had hidden the deck of many things.

While the previous group had avoided drawing from the deck, this party immediately broke it out. Two players drew from it. One drew Ruin and the Vizier, losing all nonmagical equipment (meaning they went cheeks-out for the rest of the dungeon) but gaining the ability to instantly know the answer to one dilemma in the future. The other drew the Rogue…and nothing seemed to happen.

The Tale of Mr. Jiggles

Elsewhere, the group had trapped a gelatinous cube that they hoped to somehow awaken so it could join them as a companion. I don’t know exactly why they decided it had to be this gelatinous cube, but my players really like pets.

After finally getting some new clothing, the player who drew the Vizier used the one prophetic answer to learn how the adventurers could awaken the gelatinous cube they had named “Mr. Jiggles.” The answer was that Mr. Jiggles had already been awakened…by the Rogue card, which causes one ally to turn against the person who drew it.

Scrambling to find a solution before the newly-awakened Mr. Jiggles killed their friend, the rest of the group searched for a sage who could provide some answers. They ran into Garyl Shadowslayer, a recurring NPC who has changed much over the years but has never lost his interest in obscure lore. Garyl suggested a possible solution: the legendary helm of opposite alignment, which can completely reverse one’s world view. (The helm doesn’t have stats in Pathfinder 2nd edition, so I’m tweaking it so it changes one’s edicts and anathema in a dramatic way. For Mr. Jiggles, his edict is to kill the PC who drew from the deck, so donning the helm would reverse that to being friends with the PC.)

A scholar with a keen interest in legends, Garyl had a lead on where the helm was. Since the group’s unique situation intrigued him, he even offered to accompany the group there. The one member that Mr. Jiggles wanted to kill ran ahead, leaving the slower-moving Mr. Jiggles to join the trek and seethe in rage at not being able to murder the adventurer of his choice.

Things Take a Turn

Kirrok, the PC who drew the Rogue, beat the group to the tomb where the helm was supposedly kept but found others already there searching for it. In a fit of prudence, he decided to hide near the entrance of the tomb and let the other group do the actual searching…and the setting off of traps. Unfortunately, that group of treasure hunters set off a trap which collapsed the tomb, burying the helm underneath tons of rubble.

Fortunately for Kirrok, the rest of the group arrived soon enough. Kirrok’s compatriots and the caligni treasure hunters who had accidentally collapsed the tomb all started sifting through the rubble. Kirrok himself kept his distance, and Mr. Jiggles helped look for the helm after Garyl told him that finding it would lure Kirrok close enough to attack.

The adventurers did find the helmet, but the caligni took it first and made their move.

Garyl Shadowslayer has changed a lot over the years, but one thing he has always consistently been is a bad guy who turned good. The caligni, for reasons of their own, had been spying on him and formulated a plan when they heard about the helm of opposite alignment. They planned to reverse that long-standing change, removing the guilt over his past sins and basically making him an evil overlord who could lead them. So once they got the helm, they slapped it on his head. Then several things happened at once.

First, Mr. Jiggles saw the helm and immediately tried to grab it for himself. This involved slightly swallowing Garyl as the magic took effect.

Second, one of the other PCs grabbed Garyl and yanked him out of the gelatinous cube, nearly ripping his head off.

Third, the helm dissolved inside Mr. Jiggles, and he suddenly no longer wanted to kill Kirrok. Instead, he now saw Kirrok as his best friend.

Unfortunately, the helm‘s magic had already started working on Garyl. With his last clear thought, he yelled to the PCs, “The deck! Give me the deck!”

The adventurers threw Garyl the deck of many things as he tried one desperate gamble to keep control of his mind. He resolved to draw two cards, but the first one was the Gem. He was a whole lot richer, but not free from the helm‘s influence.

Then he went calm. Transformed into everything he had spent centuries trying not to be, Garyl escaped with the caligni, potentially becoming the campaign’s new villain.

But there was still one card to play.

The Last Draw

The deck of many things doesn’t like it when you don’t draw your promised allotment of cards. In fact, it keeps count. Garyl had decided to draw two cards, but only drew one before leaving. So, an hour after he fled the field, the deck shuffled itself and a single card came out.

The Void.

At the very least, Garyl kept himself from becoming a villain by imprisoning his soul somewhere in the multiverse. But thanks to the chaos caused by the deck, the adventurers now have three separate needles in a haystack to uncover.

First, they need to find where Garyl disappeared to before his body fell comatose.

Second, they need to figure out where his soul is. Finding and retrieving that soul is probably a whole new adventure.

Third, they need to figure out how to reverse Garyl’s alignment change and make sure he doesn’t become their new archenemy.

Or maybe they just cut their losses, decide that the Void card solved the problem, and move on with their lives. Either way, I’m sure the deck of many things will continue to add much chaos and fun to my future games.