Wishcraft is powerful magic, and being dependent on the whim of your GM, exceptionally dangerous. I haven’t had too many opportunities to play with the stuff…until recently. Story time, kids!

So there they were on level 7 of Monte Cook’s Dragon’s Delve. I was running them through this ridiculously large level ‘o demons, and they had finally found the stairs down to level 8. What they did not realize was that the mysterious Will save I’d asked for meant that the party alchemist was now possessed by an incubus. Things took their usual course from there: mind control, betrayal, yadda yadda, and the four-man party was down to three.

Under cover of stink bomb the not-alchemist darted towards a chamber containing a glabrezu, a powerful demon specializing in temptation (read: malicious wishcraft). The party followed after, coming face to face with this monstrous thing that said, “Kill your companions and I will grant you your heart’s desire.” There weren’t any takers, and so the battle commenced. The cavalier went down for the count, the demon’s true seeing defeated the magus’s usual invisibility shenanigans, and after a single round the party was already getting desperate. That’s when the alchemist pleaded within the confines of his own mind, saying that he’d make a wish after all. The incubus released his control, and this poor bastard shouts, “I wish for my friends to be alive and unharmed!”

“Granted!” said the delighted galbrezu. And everyone but the alchemist was turned to stone. The incubus released the lone survivor then, leaving him to suffer the consequences of his actions. That’s not the worst of it though.

With a bit of ant haul and bull’s strength, this poor alchemist managed to drag the comparatively light gnomish cavalier out of the Delve and back to town. There he found everyone he considered a friend had also turned to stone. A few mean spirited NPCs and the followers of particularly dickish local church were unaffected, but over 95% of the village had turned into sculpture garden.

They wound up getting out of that mess with the aid of an holy sword, a few masterwork kazoos, and something called Bard-Stock, but that’s a tale for another time.

How about you guys? Any good stories of wishes gone bad?

 

ARE YOU AN IMPATIENT GAMER? If so, you should check out the “Henchman” reward level over on The Handbook of Heroes Patreon. For just one buck a month, you can get each and every Handbook of Heroes comic a day earlier than the rest of your party members. That’s bragging rights right there!