Contents
Introduction: Beginning of the End
Ranging from the planar metropolis of Sigil to the fringes of the Outlands, this Dungeons & Dragons adventure takes characters on a tour of remarkable realms, where they'll brush shoulders with immortals and discover a plot to forever change the multiverse.
The information in this book is for the Dungeon Master's eyes only. If you're planning to play the adventure with someone else as your DM, stop reading now. Before running this adventure, review Sigil and the Outlands, which provides overviews of this adventure's settings. This adventure assumes characters aren't familiar with Sigil or traveling the planes. Use the details herein and in Sigil and the Outlands to help characters tour the City of Doors, the Outlands, and beyond.
[image: Surreal wildernesses cover the Outlands, The realm at the hub of the Outer Planes]
Adventure Summary
This story focuses on the characters correcting a multiversal glitch affecting them and the whole of the Outlands. The adventure begins with the characters awaking in Sigil, untethered from their lives and memories due to this unprecedented error in reality.
During the adventure, the characters discover the city of Sigil and meet the arcanaloth information broker Shemeshka. In return for Shemeshka's aid in recovering their memories, the characters must track down a missing modron carrying dangerous information. This leads characters on a tour of the Outlands, with the additional goal of recording their impressions of the plane using a mimir—a magical, skull-shaped recording device (detailed in Sigil and the Outlands). During their travels, the characters reveal Shemeshka's role in their plight, recover their memories, and have the chance to stop a plot undermining the stability of the multiverse.
A Multiversal Glitch
Sometimes the multiverse doesn't work as it should. In this adventure, characters find themselves victims of an unprecedented multiversal mistake. They each led a remarkable life, died by suspicious means, and were reborn untethered from their true pasts. This makes each character a singularity of existential uncertainty—a being that the laws of the multiverse contort around as planar forces fail to identify their logical place in reality. This has the following effects on the characters:
- Causal Uncertainty. Characters have confusing memories of multiple possible or previous lives. These impressions are vague and conflicting.
- Physical Fluctuations. The multiverse isn't certain who the characters are or where they're supposed to be. Whenever a character dies, a probable incarnation of that character manifests nearby. Players will have the opportunity to customize and play these incarnations of their characters.
In part 3 of this adventure, characters learn about themselves, their true memories return, and their place in the multiverse solidifies, unlocking lost abilities and revealing the characters' actual nature. The "Glitch Characters" section provides details on creating and running characters affected by this multiversal glitch.
Adventure Structure
This adventure has three parts, as follows:
Part 1: Schemes in Sigil introduces characters to the city of Sigil and the multiversal glitch that has severed them from their previous lives. In their explorations of the City of Doors, they'll meet Shemeshka, Sigil's foremost information broker, who can surely discover details of their past lives.
Part 2: Into the Outlands sees the characters journeying to the Outlands at Shemeshka's request to recover a modron fugitive called R04M. As the characters explore the Outlands, they'll visit surreal locations, lay claim to a walking castle, learn how to find R04M using a damaged magic item called a mimir, and witness unnatural events plaguing the plane.
Part 3: Unity of Rings reveals Shemeshka's role in a planes-warping plot and sees the characters recover their memories and lost abilities. From there, the characters must save a group of lost modrons carrying information dangerous to the stability of the planes and ultimately decide whether to maintain the status quo of the multiverse or reshape it to their design.
Running the Adventure
To run the adventure, you need the fifth edition core rulebooks (Player's Handbook, Dungeon Master's Guide, and Monster Manual). In addition, you need the other two books included in this product: Sigil and the Outlands and Morte's Planar Parade.
When a creature's name appears in bold type, that's a visual cue pointing you to its stat block as a way of saying, "Hey, DM, you better get this creature's stat block ready. You're going to need it." Usually, you can find the stat block in the Monster Manual; if the stat block is in Morte's Planar Parade, the adventure's text tells you so.
Spells and equipment mentioned in the adventure are described in the Player's Handbook, while magic items are described in the Dungeon Master's Guide, unless the adventure's text directs you to Sigil and the Outlands.
Directions on the Planes
Surreal locations like Sigil and the Outlands don't exist on planets with clearly defined cardinal directions. Nevertheless, maps and descriptions throughout this adventure refer to north, south, east, and west for ease of use. See Sigil and the Outlands for details on navigating these settings.
Using the Poster Map
Sigil and the Outlands contains a fold-out, double-sided poster map intended to be shared with the players at certain points in the adventure. One side of the poster map depicts the city of Sigil, while the reverse side shows the Outlands. These maps and the landmarks they depict aren't to scale, as both Sigil and the Outlands are vast and ever-changing, making them beyond the scope of traditional cartographic methods. Nevertheless, the location of places relative to one another prove useful as characters navigate these surreal locales. The adventure tells you when to show these maps to your players.
Starting Characters
Characters start this adventure at 3rd level. Players can create new 3rd-level characters, as described in the next section. If the players wonder why characters start at this level and don't recall what came before, ascribe it to the multiversal glitch the characters are experiencing.
"I am a mimir, a magical device designed to provide information. If you have stolen me, please be aware that, even now, bounty hunters are coming to claim me for justice."
Character Creation
Characters of any origin are suited for this adventure. As the DM, you decide what character options are available to your players. Consider allowing players to choose from the character options in Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse when creating their characters. If you want to include characters who hail from Sigil, a gate-town, or other places where planar travel is common, consider using the character options in Sigil and the Outlands.
To create 3rd-level characters for this adventure, players should use the character-creation steps outlined in the Player's Handbook. In addition to more hit points, class features, and spells, each character has normal starting equipment plus 250 gp to spend on additional nonmagical gear. Each character also gains one uncommon magic item of the player's choice, subject to your approval.
Character Advancement
At the end of many of the adventure's chapters, each character receives enough experience points to advance 1 level, putting them at the level they should be for the next chapter. Much of part 2 can transpire in any order, with the characters advancing 3 levels, as detailed in chapter 4. At the conclusion of chapter 14, characters gain multiple levels at once. The Character Advancement table notes what level characters should be at the start of each chapter of the adventure. Characters who finish the adventure advance to 18th level.
Character Advancement
| Part | Chapter | Character Level |
|---|---|---|
| Part 1 | Chapter 1 | 3rd |
| Part 1 | Chapter 2 | 4th |
| Part 1 | Chapter 3 | 5th |
| Part 2 | Chapter 4 | 6th |
| Part 2 | Chapters 5–12 | 6th–9th |
| Part 2 | Chapter 13 | 9th |
| Part 3 | Chapter 14 | 10th |
| Part 3 | Chapter 15 | 17th |
Glitch Characters
Once players have created their characters, ask each player the following questions and have them record their answers:
What was the greatest decision or turning point in your character's life? If your character made a different decision, how might their life be different? How would they be different if they made choices based on others' expectations?
What is something your character wishes they could change about themselves? How would the best version of themselves be different?
What is your character's signature possession or physical trait? What makes you certain that your character would retain this no matter what could have happened in their life?
[image: Wizard, paladin, and druid incarnations of the same glitch character share a distinctive sunburst nexus feature]
Character Incarnations
In this adventure, each character has not just a single form, but three incarnations. These incarnations share the same level and advance at the same time, but they can otherwise be as different or similar as the player wishes. Incarnations might use completely different character options, they might have different physical forms, or they might simply have cosmetic differences. A player plays only one incarnation at a time, switching incarnations only when one dies.
It's up to you when players create their character's other incarnations. Consider the following options:
- Surprise Incarnations. If you want players to discover their characters' incarnations at the same time their characters do, have them create one character at the start of the adventure. During the adventure, the first time a character dies, invite all the players to create two variant versions of their character using the guidance in this section, then continue the adventure.
- Prepared Incarnations. If you want to create characters only once, have players create their first character and two variations before the adventure begins.
When creating different character incarnations, players should review their answers to the questions from the previous section and consider how different choices might have led their character down different paths.
"Sometimes infinity gets it wrong."
Nexus Feature
Nexus features are distinguishing objects or traits shared among a character's incarnations. They are icons of a character's personality or signature tokens. Nexus features help others recognize a character no matter which incarnation is being played. Have players determine a nexus feature by creating their own or rolling on the Nexus Features table.
Nexus Features
| d4 | Nexus Feature |
|---|---|
| 1 | A notable scar or birthmark |
| 2 | A distinctive symbol or piece of clothing |
| 3 | A signature weapon or piece of armor |
| 4 | A particular type of makeup or hairstyle |
When Incarnations Die
When a character dies, the multiversal glitch restores one of that character's incarnations of the player's choice to life soon after. This incarnation must be different from the one who just died, but each incarnation doesn't need to be played before a particular incarnation reappears.
Work the incarnation's return into the adventure, following the guidance in the "Running Glitch Characters" section. Let players discover that dead characters return in new incarnations during play rather than revealing this outright. When an incarnation appears, they are attuned to any magic items the dead character was attuned to when they died.
A dead character's body doesn't vanish when another incarnation manifests. Glitch characters can be affected by spells such as raise dead and resurrection until their next incarnation appears. Spells that permanently alter characters, such as reincarnate, continue to affect an incarnation even after they die and return.
Running Glitch Characters
Use the guidance in this section when portraying the glitch that affects characters in this adventure.
Incarnations Returning
After dying, glitch characters return as one of their other incarnations—even if those incarnations have died before. Once a player chooses which incarnation to play, have that incarnation reappear several minutes after the character's death as is convenient. Planar forces cause incarnations to appear in unlikely places, like in empty rooms, around bends in the road, or inside wardrobes. Let other characters happen across the incarnation rather than having incarnations rejoin the party on their own. Incarnations have no memory of how they came to be wherever they're found. If a character dies during combat, their next incarnation shouldn't appear until after the combat encounter ends.
Threatening the Unkillable
When a glitch character dies, they return as another incarnation. Let characters enjoy their unique situation. If a character wants to sabotage a massive machine by throwing their body into its gears or embrace similarly wild schemes, let them do so.
Combat encounters remain challenging, as incarnations don't return until after an encounter ends. If all characters die during an encounter, it's up to you how to proceed. Incarnations of all the characters might reappear far from where they were defeated—perhaps in the last settlement they visited. This might occur minutes, days, or even years after the characters' defeat. They're then free to reattempt challenges, though the threats have likely recovered.
Returned but not Reinvigorated
Use your discretion to determine whether incarnations return with all their expendable character features—like spells or uses of traits. If having an incarnation return with their full suite of options would make the adventure less exciting, don't have the incarnation reappear until after the group finishes a long rest, or have the incarnation reappear with their class features expended. It's fine for death to be an annoyance, even for those who defy it.
New Characters
If a player wants to play a new character, you can have glitch characters leave the party or die permanently for mysterious reasons—a glitch is, by definition, unreliable. New characters introduced experience the same multiversal glitch.
Alternatively, events during the adventure might reveal unexpected insights about a character's past. At your discretion, a character might change their incarnations, effectively becoming a new character. Work to tie such changes into meaningful character developments or adventure milestones. Characters shouldn't be able to manifest new incarnations customized to overcome specific challenges.
Ending the Glitch
In chapter 14, the glitch ends, and each player chooses which incarnation is their character's true self. From this point forward, party members function as normal characters—albeit powerful ones.
Starting the Adventure
The adventure begins when the characters awake in the Mortuary in Sigil, a morbid fortress that disposes of the city's dead. The characters have their equipment, but they aren't familiar with their surroundings, how they got there, or Sigil itself. Moreover, the characters' memories of their pasts are unreliable. They know the gist of their traits, but other details about them—including their names—are vague. Learning how the characters lost their memories is revealed in the course of the adventure.