Enigma of Nyarlathotep

Wondrous item, relic

Worlds tremble before the power of the Great Old Ones. Their power is at best Deific, and at worse far greater. Thankfully, these beings have little cause to affect the sane universe, choosing to dwell in realms outside conception. But there is one among them who has taken a keen interest in the affairs of lesser creatures, the enigmatic and mischievous Nyarlathotep. This Great Old One walked the mortal worlds, reveling in its reality-shattering power. Through titanic effort Nyarlathotep was banished from the universe, a struggle that claimed the sanity of millions. In the wake of the battle, a most unusual device was discovered: a puzzle box covered in iconography of the Great Old Ones, whose purpose and power are complete mysteries. Many have tried to solve the puzzle box, and all have failed. Its maddening properties are intolerable to the sound of mind, and the Enigma of Nyarlathotep is impossible to quarantine, appearing in possession of random creatures throughout the planes.

The box is a 1-foot cube fashioned from purple metal that appears to undulate when exposed to dim light. Four of the box’s faces display eldritch iconography waxing maddening poetry about the power of the Great Old Ones. The fifth face is a mysterious puzzle in honor of the Great Old Ones. The sixth face is a combination dial for a number with six digits, with a poem written in Common inscribed above the tumblers.

While unattuned, the relic has the following properties.

• Dark Obsession. When you attempt to solve the puzzle box, you must hold the relic in your bare hands.
• Eldritch Communion. While holding the relic, you can communicate directly with any Great Old One you are aware of as though you were in its presence. Doing so does not guarantee the Great Old One will respond or interact with you in any way, and you perceive the Great Old One you are addressing as though it were within 5 feet of you. If your Wisdom score is 20 or less when you use this feature, you immediately suffer the relic’s bane.
• It Must Be Watched. If a sane creature does not hold the relic in person at least once per day, it mysteriously vanishes. It then appears in possession of another creature chosen by the Great Old Ones within 1d20 days.
• Language of Madness. If the puzzle box is in your possession, you can perfectly understand and communicate with creatures suffering from Epic madness. Attunement To become attuned to the relic you must solve the puzzles present on the fifth and sixth sides of the box. The puzzles and their solutions are detailed here.
• Fifth-Side Puzzle: Mindwarper. This side of the puzzle box has a 9-inch-by-9-inch grid carved into its surface, with select squares filled with strange eldritch symbols. Additionally, nine different eldritch symbols are detailed below the grid in a specific order, all of which are identical to at least some of the symbols already present in the grid. While holding the box, touching empty squares on the grid causes one of the nine symbols of your choice to appear in that square and remain there until changed or if you will them to disappear.
• Sixth-Side Puzzle: Measure of Power. This side of the puzzle box has six small disks which can be rotated independently of one another. On the tumblers are carved the numbers zero through nine, creating a combination lock. By aligning numbers on the disks, you are able to create a six-number sequence (one number from each disk), using any combination of the numbers from each disk. Additionally, this side of the box shows a single poem inscribed in Common.

While attuned, the relic has the following properties, in addition to its unattuned properties.

• • Invoke the Great Old Ones. While you hold the puzzle box, as an action you can entreat one of the nine Great Old Ones whose symbol appears on the puzzle box. When you do so, the Great Old One intervenes on your behalf, allowing you to instantly cast a mighty Epic spell according to which Great Old One you entreat. These spells are Deific effects, do not require any components or concentration to maintain their effects, are always cast “Bane” section). However, each level of Epic madness lost in this manner must then be gained by another creature in the area. You decided which creatures in the area gain these levels of Epic madness, and a single creature cannot gain more than six levels of Epic madness in this manner. Mindwarper Details. Each of the nine eldritch symbols is a sign corresponding to a Great Old One. They are presented in the Great Old Ones table in the order in which their symbols appear beneath the grid.

    If you are familiar with the math puzzle sudoku, this system is identical, but uses symbols instead of numbers. Each square on the grid can contain only a single symbol, and the grid is divided as tier 3 Epic spells, and cannot be countered, dispelled, or prevented by any known means. The spell save DC for these effects (when applicable) is always 35. Once you have used this feature twice within 8 hours, you immediately suffer the relic’s bane.

    – Nyarlathotep – crimson winds of havoc – Shub-Niggurath – transmogrification – Cthulhu – dreamscape – Yog-Sothoth – night terror – Hastur – infinity room – Tuzlscha – pyroclastic cannon – Chaugnar Faugn – soul harvest – Dagon – phenomenal cosmic power – Azathoth – sphere of ultimate destruction

Spreading Madness. When you work with the puzzle box for 1 hour, each creature of your choice in a 300-foot radius centered on you can choose to lose one or more levels of the Epic madness condition (see the relic’s