Spells That Are Fucking Metal: White Nights Of Murder

There's an excellent novella by Joe R. Lansdale called The Drive-In which chronicles the descent of a normal night at the movies into chaos, dementia and mass murder as the result of an ominous meteor attracting the attention of strange beings. What ensues is the formation of tribes, mass insanity, mutation, and lots and lots of murder. I highly recommend it, and the sequel isn't bad either. Avoid the third one, though. Anyway, I've always thought it was pretty cool and worthy of adaptation of some kind. When I found the title White Nights of Murder by one of my favorite bands, Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats, I knew I had an opportunity. So here it is, a mass-hysteria inducing chaos & murder spell that will change your campaign to a psychedelic slaughterfest for a couple of in-game nights.


It also bears mentioning that Uncle Acid has an excellent concept album based on giallo murderer films, which you should check out above. One of my favorite albums of 2015.

White Nights Of Murder

No./Area Affected:All within 1 mile/CL
Duration: Up to CLx2 nights. Save vs Magic to choose a number up to the die result, otherwise abide by the random roll.

Other worlds are not bound by the reason and order imposed on the earth by the collective unconscious of mankind and the other humanoid races. Existence is a meaningless, unbounded, continuous slog broken only by the thrill of violence and the finality of death. As the sun sets on these primal spheres, the sky fades into that of a micro-dimension where time has no meaning, memory dies with the dawn, and reason is abandoned for atavism and chaos.

White Nights of Murder alters the cycle of day and night in the affected area. Beginning at sunset, the sky gets progressively brighter until it becomes a flat, bright, chalky white. Under this starless dome it is impossible to sleep, reckon time, or perform any action requiring concentration. Subjects in the affected area lose their sanity each night this continues. Roll 1d12 each night to determine the percentage of the populace that are driven mad each night and remain so for the duration of the spell. While mad, they will commit at least one murder each night, regardless of their relationship to the victim, unless prevented by extreme measures. Victims are chosen from the unaffected, if possible. Bodies will be mangled and placed on display. PCs may make a save versus magic each night to resist the effects, otherwise they are also afflicted by irrepressible compulsion to kill. Each morning, all within the affected area (even those who resist the madness) completely forget the actions of the preceding white night and lose all memory of the victims, as if they never existed. The bodies appeared out of nowhere, as far as everyone can tell, and are those of strangers. They will be treated as everyday, unremarkable objects- until the effects of the spell ends, when a mass panic will occur. The deceased, however, are forever erased from memory, as if they were total strangers to all affected.

Miscast Table
1
As normal, but the soul of one of the victims is merged with the caster, filling one of their spell slots until the caster is able to exorcise them or put them to rest.
2
As normal, but the bodies of the deceased are carriers of a random disease which spreads like wildfire. Since no one is capable of acknowledging them, this effect is near impossible to stop unless the PCs take action on it.
3
Spell fails. The whitening of the sky affects the caster only, causing them to lose sleep for the duration of the spell. They suffer a -1 cumulative penalty each day to spellcasting and all ability checks.
4
Spell fails. All people within the affected area is transported to a white void for the duration of the spell, but without any resources such as food and water. During this time they suffer the effects of hunger and thirst normally but are incapable of death. All memories of this time remain after the spell ends.
5
Spell fails. The area is plunged into black, starless night for the duration of the spell.
6
Spell fails. The caster and companions are transported 3d4 days into the future in their present locations. Events progress normally in their absence.
7+
As standard Miscast Table result.

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