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Eldan
2015-10-19, 07:27 AM
After two moderately well-received works on some of the more unusual diseases of the outer planes that I came across in my many years of travelling, this third volume is focused on diseases that I encountered in our splendid bejewelled metropolis, Sigil itself. Though of course a Sensate in my heart, I have worked with many factions, lending my expertise to the Harmonium, the Bleak Cabal and on occasion even the Dustmen or the Mercykillers. Names have been omitted to protect the innocent where necessary.

(With apologies to China Miéville and Failbetter Games and Double Fine.)

Divinitory Psychosomatic Transmutation- The Bastard Prompt

This disease was unusual at first in that it was not originally apparent as anything unusual, or not in the way it normally is. I was first called into the Gatehouse by my old friend B.C., a factotum with some influence in charge of one of the patient wards. The patient I was asked to look at, a halfling gentleman by the name of Mr. N., had an unusual dermal growth, a structure resembling a thick plate or scale of fingernail-like material growing a good two feet along his spine. Not that unusual, of course, but he denied either any fiendish or draconic ancestry, nor any talent in transmutation and further claimed that the plate had grown overnight. Some light use of transmutation magic and some surgery cleared it right up, of course, but we could not identify the origin or vector.
I was called in the next day, under somewhat worrying circumstances: Mr. N. was present again, his disease fully restored to its previous state. More worrying still was that there had been three more cases of such unusual transmutations: an elven child was brought in with three tentacles growing out of her stomach, a pair of married goblins had become coinjoined at the hips in their sleep and a rather irrate lesser demon was insisting that all his favourite horns had vanished.
Observation confirmed that though the inflicted were easily restored to their original form, daily around antipeak (that is midnight for our readers on the prime), the diseases returned. We tried our best, transmuting the victims back daily, placing them inside magical circles and near sigils, bringing in priests for removal of curses and exorcism, as unlikely as that was in the case of a fiend.
It was only with pure luck that we made a breakthrough in the case. A worried orderly in a mental ward came to my friend B.C., telling him about a case they had been treating for about a week. It seemed to them that the young woman in question was a relatively straightforward case of mental trauma: an adventurer that had been rather forcefully retired when an aboleth, angry at an intrusion into it's home, had used its own powers of transformation to change the bones in all her limbs to a gelatinous, soft substance. Though restored, the woman still suffered regular panick attacks and nightmares and a peculiar case of hypochondria: she described symptoms that she clearly did not have such as, and this excited the orderly's interest, bone plates growing on her neck and tentacles growing on her stomach. Furthermore, she described all these symptoms several days before people with exactly those conditions were brought in.
Some research confirmed that the woman was indeed the vector and that, in her sleep, she subconsciously transmuted nearby victims into new and horrifying shapes. To prevent a further spread of the disease, she was placed in a high security isolation ward, which seemed to stop the symptoms, but not cure the disease. Last I asked, a cure had not been found, but those afflicted by the shapechanges have been safely cured.


The Bastard Prompt is a mental condition that afflicts psychic creatures that have recently had very traumatic experiences, most often involving either hideous monsters, such as the Obyrith, aberrations or creatures from the far realm, or those who have themselves been traumatically transmuted against their will.

While sleeping, the psychic mind of the afflicted will reach out and transmute the closest so far unafflicted creature, giving them a minor transmutation. A fortitude save, DC 15+the psychic's charisma modifer, prevents the transmutation on a victim. It also does not affect creatures of the shapeshifter subtype, jumping to the next closest creature instead. If any creature with psychic powers or the ability to cast any spells of the transmutation school is affected by such a transmutation, they must immediately make a will save of the same DC as well, or be affected by the disease themselves.

Choose one from the following table, or choose something of similar magnitute:

*Gain or lose a natural weapon
*Gain or lose darkvision, low-light vision or another enhanced sense
*Increase or decrease a physical abilit score by two points
*Gain a +2 bonus or penalty to climb, escape artist, hide, jump, listen, spot or tumble checks
*Gain or lose 1 point of natural armour

The transmutations are always very unpleasant to the afflicted creature and accompanied by purely cosmetic symptoms like colour changes, a clammy or slimy appearance, translucent skin or similar.

The creature is permanently afflicted by this transmutation, unless the diseased psychic is cured. The transmutation can be removed by remove disease, alter self, remove curse, break enchantment or a similar effect cast on the transmuted victim, but will return on all victims the next time the psychic sleeps.

Placing the diseased psychic under the effects of an antimagic field does not cure the disease, but stops it from afflicting anyone outside the field. The disease can be cured magically by Wish, Miracle or a similarly powerful effect, such as the direct intervention of a deity of healing or madness, or by making the afflicted psychic immune to fear. Generally, however, the disease is best cured by appropriate therapy for several weeks or months, a lot of quiet and isolation under a magical field to prevent symptoms.



Isolationist Terrakinesis

Discorporate Extremities

Defensive Orbital Ossification

Numismatic Emesis

Morbus Glottis