Wednesday, June 14, 2017

DCC Patron: Mycetes-Thrax

MYCETES-THRAX

Mycetes-Thrax, the Great Sleeping Growth, lurks beneath the soil. This titanic entity is a single fungus that stretches for hundreds of leagues under the earth and has grown sentient and wise with the eons. It rewards its servants with utterly alien but useful and fearsome powers. Its wisdom is great and it knows much forgotten lore.

 

INVOKE PATRON SPELL CHECK RESULTS

12-13    Mycetes-Thrax exhales in its slumber, and the air within 10' of the caster fills with spores like winter snow, while the ground is a 10' circle erupts with cilia like frost-covered grass, surrounded by a fairy-ring of inch-tall mushrooms.
 
For the next combat round, the caster and her allies can withdraw from combat without opening themselves up to free attacks, and anyone who flees the area this round will not be chased.


14-17    Communication spores. The air within 20' of the caster fills with a cloud of twinkling spores like a vision of distant stars.

For the next 2 exploration turns, every creature with at least animal intelligence present within the cloud gains the ability to speak Basidiomata, the racial language of Shroomen and other creatures aligned with Mycetes-Thrax. This has two effects: first, everyone present is now capable of speaking to and understanding everyone else; and second, every creature present halts combat for at least one round in order to talk and listen. The result of this conversation may be an end to hostilities, or if combat resumes, it may continue under altered circumstances.
 
Additionally, the caster must make a Will save versus the spell check result. If the save is successful, the caster permanently speaks and understands the Basidiomata language.


18-19    Mycetes-Thrax blinks awake for a moment, and the air within 30' of the caster fills with spores like mottled green fog, while the ground in a 30' circle erupts with foot-long tentacles like hungry leeches.

The spores cloud the air and obscure vision, providing cover for the caster and her allies for the next 3 combat rounds. (Attack rolls against a character with cover get -2.)
 
In addition, the caster's enemies must make Ref saves versus the spell check result of become entangled for 3 rounds by the tentacles wrapping around their legs. (Entangled creatures move at half their normal speed, and attack rolls against entangled creatures are at +1d.)

 
 20-23    Sleeping spores. The air within 40' of the caster fills with blinking spores like a cloud of fireflies.
 
The caster's enemies must make Fort saves versus the spell check result or fall into a supernatural slumber for 4 hours. During this time, they cannot be woken by normal means (except by being attacked), and only a reversed sleep spell or other counterspell can end this effect early. The sleeping creatures are helpless until they awake. Even if attacked, the creatures can only wake early by making a successful Fort save. (Attack rolls against helpless creatures are made at +1d.)

Additionally, the caster has a dream vision of Mycetes-Thrax. The caster sees the Great Sleeping Growth at rest in its realm beneath the earth. The caster immediately suffers one random patron taint, and must make a Will save versus the spell check result or suffer one more.


24-27    Mycetes-Thrax wakes and briefly glances at the caster. For 50' around the caster, the air fills with a sleet of stinging, sticking spores, and the ground erupts with human-height tentalces that grasp and grope like children lost in the dark.
 
The caster's enemies must make Fort saves versus the spell check result or be blinded by these toxic spores. Any creature that rolls a natural 1 on this save is blinded permanently. (Attack rolls against a blinded creature get +2. Attacks made by a blinded creature have a 50% chance to miss.)
 
In addition, for the next 5 combat rounds, the caster's enemies must make Ref saves or grappled by a tentacle, hoisted aloft, and crushed for 1d8 damage per round. A grappled creature cannot attack anything except the tentacle holding it. A grappled creature can escape by making an attack with a cutting weapon against AC 10 that deals at least 5 damage in a single round, or by using its action to make a DC 15 Strength check. A creature that escapes can still become grappled again during the next round if it fails its Ref save. (Attack rolls against helpless creatures are at +1d.)


28-29    Hallucinatory spores. The air within 60' of the caster fills with a cloud of flashing spores like neon lights.
 
The caster's enemies must make Will saves versus the spell check result or spend one combat round making their most powerful or magical attack against another random enemy as they hallucinate the caster multiplying and becoming omnipresent.
 
In addition, the caster's enemies must also make a Fort save or take only one action every other round (until 6 rounds have passed), as they hallucinate the passage of time slowing and becoming dreamlike.
 
Additionally, the caster has a hallucinatory vision of Mycetes-Thrax. The caster may ask a single question, which Mycetes-Thrax answers truthfully. Although the answer comes slowly from the caster's perspective, only an instant of real time passes during the vision. The caster immediately suffers two random patron taints, and must make a Will save versus the spell check result or suffer two more.


30-31    Mycetes-Thrax comes fully awake and turns its full ire on the caster's foes before drifting back into its eternal slumber. A blizzard of purple spores like gale-blown confetti swirls in the air within 70' of the caster, while tiny white puff balls float up from the floor and pop like balloons, and 10' tentacles like limbless birch trees burst from the ground, whipping and dancing violently in a circle extending 70' from the caster in every direction.
 
The caster's enemies must make Fort saves versus the spell check result or begin to suffocate, losing 1d6 Stamina per round until they either die or make a successful save. Any creature that rolls a natural 1 on this save suffers permanent Stamina loss rather than temporary Stamina damage for that round.
 
In addition, 7 giant white puff balls drop from the ceiling and roll across the room, each crushing one random enemy for 2d8 damage and knocking it prone unless it makes a Ref save. Any creature that rolls a nature 1 on this save takes the maximum 16 damage. Each puff ball that strikes an enemy explodes when it reaches the far side of the room, creating a deafening boom, a violent wind, and another cloud of purple spores that cover and cling to the caster's enemies.
 
Every opponent who survives this experience must check Morale or run screaming for their lives, and the check is at -1 for each giant puff ball that exploded.


32+    Reproductive spores. Within 90' of the caster, spores rise from the ground billows of dust being kicked up from a forgotten floor.

All dead bodies within 90' of the caster arise as Shroomen and attack the caster's enemies. Everyone living creature that dies for the next 9 rounds arises as well. (Bodies arise as one Shrooman per HD of the original creature.)

In the next combat round after this spell is cast, the caster's enemies must make a Fort save versus the spell check result or transform into Shroomen themselves. (Again, those who transform become one Shrooman per original HD.)

Additionally, the caster immediately suffers three random patron taints, and must make a Will save versus the spell check result or suffer three more.
 
Once combat is over, the Shroomen remain in the area as an army under the caster's command. This army is ultimately loyal to Mycetes-Thrax, and is tasked with a specific quest to advance the Great Sleeping Growth's agenda. Like their patron, the Shroomen are patient and will tolerate delays and diversions as long as the caster appears to be pursuing the quest, but they will attack the caster and her allies if any of them act to subvert Mycetes-Thrax's interests.

  • Shrooman: Init -5; Atk slam +4 melee (4d4); AC 18; HD 2d8+6; MV 10'; Act 1/2d20; SP fungal cloud (starting in the second combat round: creatures within 20' are -2 to attack, damage, and saves; and creatures within 20' must make DC 14 Fort save or lose 1d4 Agility and 1d4 damage per round), half damage from bludgeoning weapons, infravision 100'; SV Fort +8, Ref -4, Will +4; AL N; Crit M/d6.



PATRON SPELLS: MYCETES-THRAX

Myctetes-Thrax grants three spells, as follows:

Level 1: Mouldering Touch
Level 2: Spores of the Basidirond
Level 3: Mycetes-Thrax's Fecund Fungi

1 comment:

  1. Mycelia are the mats of fungal material, the body of the organism

    Hyphae are the tentacles

    I love your rich language and ideas, here! Very evocative and heavy

    ReplyDelete