“Dare you enter the maze of curious mysticism!” The halls beyond the mummies, mirrors, and flames may only be entered through the maze. If anyone attempts to enter the maze from the top or the bottom, or by walking through walls, they will see dusty, moth-eaten mummies, and funhouse mirrors.
The entrances are filled with fog, of silver, gold, or bronze. Within the fog sound is muted and light reflects oddly. The halls are lit with paper lanterns that do not burn.
There are two one-way exits in the maze, at the end of the hall of mummies and in the hall of ghosts. These appear to be normal, open options but are only visible and can only be used in the direction of the arrow.
There is a 10% chance every ten minutes of the devil’s cat or god’s dove catching sight of them.
The Hall of Mummies
Men and women and children all agape, stolen from the cemeteries of a thousand lands. There are giant toads, chimpanzees, saurians, humans, elves, dwarves, and cavemen. No halflings or mananubi.
Player characters or their friends who die in or near the circus may end up here.
The City of Silver Mirrors
One makes you look old. You look just like your grandfather. Another garbs you in silken dresses, shimmering, a puppy beside you looking up with wide eyes and a shaggy smile. There is a mirror of you as a child.
You are standing at the ancient gates of a great city. Men and women on the other side beckon you through into the light.
The Forty-Two Flaming Truths of the Illustrated Family
The flaming truths are tattooed on the back of chained slaves and played back against the wall in film loops of about two minutes long. To read a flaming truth, a character must examine the image for several seconds. The truths alternate from wall to wall at ten foot intervals.
1. You will die.
2. Everyone you know will die.
3. Life means suffering.
4. You are not real.
5. Good and evil are illusions.
6. God is dead.
7. Truth is complex.
8. Truth is relative.
9. Faith without evidence is unreliable.
10. You deserve more.
11. Judge not, lest ye be judged.
12. There are no absolutes.
13. There is no eternity, only death.
14. Pain is the only true evil.
15. You are alone.
16. Every culture has its own morals.
17. You are a citizen of the cosmos.
18. Sadness is the only true sin.
19. Success belongs to the city.
20. It isn’t worth dying for.
21. Understanding cures all ills.
22. There is no tomorrow.
23. Happiness is now.
24. You can always deal with it tomorrow.
25. Change is overrated.
26. It’s not a question of faith, it’s just common sense.
27. One man’s freedom is another man’s chains.
28. You are the only god.
29. Every faith is a heresy to some man.
30. Good depends on your perspective.
31. Faith is fear.
32. The proper study of mankind is man.
33. It matters not what you believe, only that you believe it.
34. How would you like it if someone did that to you?
35. It isn’t your fault.
36. Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s.
37. Truth lies between.
38. Be reasonable.
39. Life should be fair.
40. War is peace.
41. Freedom is slavery.
42. Ignorance is strength.
Roll a d42 (d100, subtracting 50 from numbers 51 and above, and re-rolling 43-50) to choose a truth at random.
The Hall of Stones
The circus has a tablet, the tablet of faith. They keep it in a secret place, but have made a mold from it to make fake ones for display. The fake ones, of course, only display one tablet’s worth of text.
A tablet of Ragnarok. A tablet of Revelations. A tablet of the sinking of the islands. A tablet of the fall of the great tree. A tablet of the writhing of the serpent. A tablet of the flood. A tablet of the dragon razing the city. There are 31 tablets total.
“There are insects at the base of the tree, eating at the roots. The tree weakens; the wide branches fall in and worlds collapse upon each other; the tree collapses, and all worlds are one.”
The Hall of Karma
“Shake hands with both the Devil and God.”
Leading up to the Hall of Karma, beyond the tablets, are the ghosts of non-swarm people or intelligent creatures they’ve killed or wronged in the past. The ghosts have no physical presence unless the character rebukes them. Then the ghost will form into a real creature and attack. The cat and/or the dove will watch, if possible, so as to know who the characters have wronged and be able to use that in conversation later.
The final room of the Hall of Karma is protected by two Butterfly Warriors, one as a man, the other as a woman, at the narrow end of the hall labeld “butterfly”. A white sphere above them pulses; if there is magic within four yards it will pulse a dull red.
2 Butterfly warriors: Level 7+1; Survival: 34, 34; Defense: 8; Organization: hive/task-oriented; Intelligence: average; Charisma: average; Movement: 20/12; Attacks: scimitar and sting at +7; Damage: d8+2, d10 or d12; special attacks: stasis; special defenses: immunity to sleep and telepathy, flicker; magic resistance: 2; size: medium.
The butterfly warriors will refuse entrance to any group that is armed, that is carrying something magical (as perceived by the sphere above them), that recognizes them, or that the swarm recognizes as dangerous.
Any group they do choose to allow entrance will need to answer a riddle. Here are some suggestions:
1. “The wealthy want it, the poor have it. It is greater than god, and worse than satan.” (nothing)
2. “I am born the son of a furrow, grown I’m the body of gods, and in my old age I’m the country physician.” (linen)
3. “A house: one enters it blind, one leaves it seeing.” (a school.)
4. “There are two sisters: one gives birth to the other and she, in turn, gives birth to the first.” (night and day)
5. “What is the room you leave without entering?” (womb)
6. “What is the room you enter without leaving?” (tomb)
7. “Where may you find roads without carts, forests without trees, cities without houses?” (a map)
8. “What crosses the river but doesn’t move?” (a bridge)
When under attack, the butterfly warriors will call for assistance. The remaining beetlepede spies will have to run the maze to get there. The first beetlepede or butterfly will arrive 2d10 rounds after the call; after that, on a 50% roll each round 1d3 of them will arrive until all have.
The Hall of Karma contains god, the devil, and the tablet of faith. God and the devil are both beetlepede spies. God and the devil will not assist the butterfly warriors except to provide the slo-time field that will give the butterfly warriors a +5 to either attack or defense and a magic resistance of 4 instead of 2 as long as the fight is in the 8 yard radius of god and the devil. Remember that butterfly warriors slowly take the shape of those they fight.
Both god and the devil can offer a scarab. They will discuss anything the characters wish if the characters reach this point. They will lie through their teeth or tell the truth as they see fit; their goal is to give the survivors a scarab and bring them into the swarm.
Remember that there is a magic resistance of 4 in this room due to the overlapping slo-time fields. They can add 5 to either their attack, defense, or an action, or some combination thereof. Their magic resistance drops to 3 if for some reason one of them is killed or leaves. Their slo-time field will then drop to four yards radius.
Unlike the butterfly warriors, god and the devil will not fight to the death; if they are losing they will try to leave with the tablet. Like the butterfly warriors, god and the devil will call for assistance as soon as any hostility develops.
The room smells of lotus and sulphur. The tablet of faith is in the form of a cuneiform-covered chessboard between god and the devil. The chessboard contains pieces that act like live humans, which god and the devil move. This is an illusion maintained by the devil, and will disappear if the devil dies or leaves.
God and the devil often send their cat and dove out to watch the circus. The devil’s cat will wander the camps outside the circus looking for dangerous individuals, and for potential marks for the circus.
The Mystical Maze: God
God is a fifth-level prophet of Enki. God is a man with a long flowing beard and lots of white hair. He bears a crooked staff.
God: (Autumnal Swarm: 5. Prophet: 5; Survival: 31+22=53; Move: 11; Attack: staff at +5+2=+7 or spirit; Damage: d6+1; Defense: +2; Special defense: slo-time 8 yards, Magic Resistance: 4)
God’s bug form (Autumnal Swarm: 5; Survival: 31; Move: 16; Attack: mandible at +5; Damage: d8; Defense: +5; Special Defense: slo-time 8 yards; Magic Resistance: 4)
God can call the spirits of death, fire, order, prophet, water, and weather. He has 19 calling points, and normally the following spirits and likely spirit manifestations:
| 1 fifth-level spirit of death | deadly injury, spiritual hold, stillness, infestation, foul air, darkness, nauseate |
| 1 fourth-level spirit of fire | pillar of flame, fire of the forge |
| 1 fourth-level spirit of death | spiritual hold, stillness, infestation, foul air, darkness, nauseate |
| 1 fourth-level spirit of death | spiritual hold, stillness, infestation, foul air, darkness, nauseate |
| 1 second-level spirit of order | command, protection from morality |
God has the specialties Familiar, Familiar’s Eyes, and Familiar Puppet. He can see through his dove’s eyes, and even control the familiar and manifest spirits through it. His familiar is a dove. It has 17 survival, intelligence 6, wisdom 4, and charisma 4.
God has charisma 15, wisdom 18, intelligence 12, strength 12, endurance 11, and agility 10.
God can also appear as Odin, the one-eyed man with a floppy hat, Ptah, or Gilgamesh.
The Mystical Maze: The Devil
The devil is a sixth-level sorceror. The devil is a woman balancing a knife on her fingers, and wearing little more than a sardonic smile. Flames wreathe her scantily-clad body.
Devil: (Autumnal Swarm: 5. Sorceror: 6; Survival: 29+19=48; Move: 11; Attack: wavy dagger at +5+2=+7 or spell; Damage: d4+1; Defense: +2; Special defense: slo-time 8 yards, Magic Resistance: 4)
Devil’s bug form (Autumnal Swarm: 5; Survival: 29; Move: 16; Attack: mandible at +5; Damage: d8; Defense: +5; Special Defense: slo-time 8 yards; Magic Resistance: 4)
The devil has 23 spell slots, and a spellbook in her carriage with the spells:
| first level | aura of confidence/desperation, fan of flame, fool’s magic, inscription, light/darkness, mage bolt, sense magical aura, understand/confuse languages |
| second level | crawl, dreams, fan of frost, illusory self, minor phantasm, sleep, sulfuric spray |
| third level | aura of innocence/guilt, dream omen, fire blast, group suggestion, open, silence |
| fourth level | invisibility, personal alteration, riddleshield, sulfuric burst |
| fifth level | aura of nobility/depravity, illusory transport, lasting suggestion, magic door |
| sixth level | cold flame, dreamwalk, wraithshape |
She normally memorizes magic door (all other doors of the maze are within 60 yards), sulfuric burst, invisibility, silence, sulfuric spray, minor phantasm, mage bolt, and fan of flame. The devil’s magic is subject to their magic resistance.
| Spell | range | form. | ingredients | duration | casting | reaction | effects |
| Magic Door | 6 feet | wgi | silver dust | 6 rounds | 1 round | none | connects two doors in 60 yds |
| Sulfuric Burst | 120 yards | wgi | aspic sulfur bead | instant | 4 | evasion | 2d4/3 rounds or d8 once |
| Invisibility | touch | wgi | glass dust | 6 hours | 1 round | fortitude | invisible |
| Silence | 18 yards | wgi | sea sponge | 30 minutes | 4 | none | silence |
| Sulfuric Spray | self | wg | 1 round | 1 | none | 6 points in 2 yards/120 deg. | |
| Minor Phantasm | 100 yards | wgi | colored chalk | concentration | 1 | active perception | 15 yard radius |
| Fan of Frost | self | wgi | water | 1 round | 2 | none | 6 points in 2 yards/120 deg. |
| Fan of Flame | self | wgi | spark/flame | 1 round | 1 | none | 6 points in 1 yard/120 deg. |
The devil has the specialties Familiar, Familiar’s Eyes, and Familiar Puppet. She can see through her familiar’s eyes, and even control the familiar and cast spells through it. His familiar is a cat. It has 12 survival, intelligence 6, wisdom 4, and charisma 6.
The devil has intelligence 15, charisma 15, agility 14, strength 11, wisdom 11, and endurance 9.
The devil can also appear as Loki, as Eshu, or as Ishtar.
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