Deck of Many Things

Skud's **Deck of Many Things** was a magical deck of cards given to Skud Derringer in The Elite Forge. It was capable of doing a various assortment of magical, dangerous, and/or comedic things. The word "Bicycle" was written on the front. On the back of each card was the castle from the Solitaire game that came with Windows 3.0. Upon drawing the last card in Episode 426 (scroll down further for more detailed spoilers), the Deck fell into the possession of Toby Treacletart.

As of the end of Episode 426, there are currently 8 cards in the deck.

### **Drawn Cards**

Several of Skud's cards have been drawn at this point, and many of them are not featured in the official Deck of Many Things that one would find on, say, a Wizard's of the Coast website. The deck is, in fact, a mix of "real" cards, and made up cards *(yeah, I know that all of these cards are made up, but you know what I mean)*. Here are all of the cards that have been drawn thus far:

## **Recent Events**

As a reward for defeating Lucious Incendous in Bone Fire 42, The Tower of Grey was allowed entry into The Elite Forge, which housed a number of powerful and magical weapons. After Skud cashed his first badge in for the missing piece of The Orb, he used his second badge and waited expectantly. When nothing happened, he began rummaging around in the random junk pile for something useful. What he found was the deck.

He immediately pulled out one of the cards, which turned out to be the *Card of Flames*. As a result, a demon was summoned, who immediately, and enthusiastically swore a pledge to torment and destroy Skud Derringer. It then ran off.

Later, over a nice porridge dinner, the demon reared his ugly (or sexy) head once again when he attacked Skud, pulling him into a demi-plane for a prolonged battle. It's unclear the outcome of this fight, but Skud emerged from the demi-plane with a black eye, a handlebar mustache, and a pleased look on his face.

Over the next several episodes, some more cards were drawn, resulting in a series of wacky mis-adventures. They are mostly detailed above. Here are some of the things that Skud now has because of those cards:

* The ability to ask a question of the universe and receive a truthful, useful answer to it. This can be done any time within 1 year of drawing the card.
* Gengar, the Water Genasi Fighter.
* A keep somewhere out in The Westerlands. It's currently infested with monsters, however.
* The ability to move time backwards for:
	+ 1 person, 1 day,
	+ A room full of people, 1 hour,
	+ The entire world, 13 seconds, or
	+ The entire Multiverse, 3 seconds.

In addition, The Collector was given a magical weapon, half pike, half axe. Also, Lahni drew a card that gave her the services of a "random, powerful outsider", which has yet to contact her. As a trade for being able to draw a card, Lahni gave Skud one of her Magic Beans, which he somehow shuffled into the deck. Michael made a joke about it being flattened into the shape of a card, but Bachmann is adamant that it is still bean-shaped, so I don't goddam know.

When Skud was down to 5 cards in the deck (plus Lahni's Magic Bean), he drew another card (4 cards, now), which added 12 more cards to the deck! The next card he drew destroyed the bean, before it could be used.

Yada yada yada, more shenanigans happened, more cards were drawn. During the final battle against The BBEG, Skud drew a card that would have created a fully mature *Clone* of himself. However, the battle was complicated enough as it was, and so it was ret-conned that this card was never drawn.

Finally, after the battle was over, and everyone was celebrating over a massive feast, Skud began showing off his cards to random party-goers. "Unintentionally", he drew a card, which caused everyone nearby to run in fear. Skud, himself, was affected by the card, and decided to give up the deck. He handed it to his friend Toby Treacletart. And as the deck was changing hands, Skud accidentally drew another card.

The card he drew was "The Big One". The genasi immediately dissappeared, banished to an extra-dimensional plane. He was entombed in a sphere, which blocked him from being found via any *Divination* magic. All of his items and belonging, including the Deck itself, was left behind. And that was the end of Skud Derringer.

## **Trivia**

* This is a heavily modified Deck of Many Things
* ~~Probably does not have the *Moon* Card~~ Definitely has the *Moon* Card
* I believe there were 19 cards when Skud first acquired the Deck. This is based on Episode 419, where Lahni draws a card. Bachmann tells Nika to roll a d6, indicating that's how many cards were left. Before she does, 13 cards had been drawn (well, 12, but one was put back in, so it doesn't count). 13 + 6 = 19. Simple
	+ Similarly, as of Episode 420, there were 16 cards in the deck, plus 1 bean that may or may not have been in the shape of a card. After Lahni drew (and gave him the bean), there were 5 cards (plus bean). Then, Skud drew one (4 + bean), which added 12 cards. So 16 cards, and one magic bean. Super simple
* In Episode 406, Bachmann claims to have the *Skull* card, but describes the *Donjon* card, so I don't know which card he has. One of those two. Maybe both.
* So far, 3 characters have drawn cards from the Deck: Skud, The Collector (in Episode 417), and Lahni (Episode 419)
	+ This prompted Toby to implement a rule that no one but Skud was allowed to draw a card
* The most cards drawn in one episode is 4 cards, and it is, hilariously enough, Skud's final episode, Episode 426

## **Quotes**

* **"Guess I'll pull one of these out, and see what it does..."** ~ *Skud Derringer*[Ep 387]

* **"Well, it's the end of the campaign, so what the worst that could happen?"** ~ *Tim Lanning*[Ep 387]

* **"I'm starting to really regret not looking at these cards..."** ~ *Michael DiMauro, Dungeon Master*

* **"Giving Bachmann the Deck of Many Things was the worst choice [Michael has] ever made."** ~ *Tim Lanning*

## **Episodes**

* Episode 387 - The Elite Forge
* Episode 391 - One Spicy Porridge - *sort of*
* Episode 406 - Welcome to The Crossroads
* Episode 410 - Mech Mommy
* Episode 410 - Mech Mommy
* Episode 411 - A Wizard, a Clone, and a Simulacrum.
* Episode 413 - Big Lahni
* Episode 414 - Your Bones Are Mine
* Episode 415 - My Friend Melora
* Episode 416 - The Tragic Fate of Tidtowne
* Episode 416 - The Tragic Fate of Tidtowne
* Episode 417 - Maze 2: Hypermaze
* Episode 417 - Maze 2: Hypermaze
* Episode 419 - The Center of Lyktion
* Episode 419 - The Center of Lyktion
* Episode 420 - A Non-Euclidean Nightmare
* Episode 422 - The Final Battle Part 1
* Episode 423 - The Final Battle Part 2: 2 Trant 2 Furious
* Episode 426 - The Luck of the Draw