The Counterspell

It’s no secret that wizards tend to be morally dubious individuals. Sequestered up in their towers or in their dungeons, practicing profane spells on innocent test subjects, and learning secrets of the universe that would shatter the psyche of any sane person. There are few lengths to which the average wizard will not go in pursuit of magical power.

Despite all their apparent fearlessness in the face of cosmic forces, there is one fear that all wizards share. The one piece of occult knowledge the majority would rather ignore. It is the question that keeps them up at night. It evokes existential dread in every one of them, like staring up at the sun and knowing that one day it will explode and destroy everything you have ever known.

What if magic were to disappear?

Some wizards have spent their lives theorizing about this topic. Some have proposed the existence of anti-magic. After presenting their research to their peers, these wizards were promptly relieved of their positions and of their lives. 

The smart ones choose to forget this line of thinking altogether and busy themselves with the discovery of the next elixir of immortality or philosopher’s stone.

Yet in ancient libraries hidden deep in the dungeons below the earth there are books that speak of the Arcanophage, a spell that consumes all other spells. And somewhere else, even deeper down, is a dead wizard. The Counterspell is trapped inside his head.

If by some means you were able to get the Counterspell out and memorize it yourself, here’s how it would work:

1. After memorizing the Counterspell, any other spells inside your head will be wiped from your memory, one by one. Consumed by the Counterspell.

2. Any time you lose focus or are endangered by a magical threat, make a save. If you're unconscious you don't get a save. You will hear strange words drool out of your mouth and feel your fingers twist themselves into mystic signs out of your control. The Counterspell wants to be cast. It wants to be free, to eat, to grow.

3. If you let the spell take hold or fail the save, it escapes. It uses up all your magic power to get out. You expend all your magic dice, spell slots, MP, whatever. It’s all gone. Fuel.

4. The Counterspell is cast. A marble-sized black sphere appears in the air before you and expands based on how much magic you already fed it. It inverts the colors of all the things inside it. Anything magical that passes through the sphere loses its power and feeds the growth of the sphere. It will continue to grow until it consumes all magic.

Spells cast at the sphere will vanish like raindrops in an ocean. Magic swords will brittle. Wizards will be knocked unconscious as the spells are sucked out of their skulls. Dragons will flap desperately to keep their impossible bodies airborne and detonate as they try to make a flame. And the Counterspell will grow.

Your only hope is to find some way to stop it.

Here’s the spell written in GLOG terms:

Counterspell

R: n/a T: n/a D: permanent

While you have this spell memorized, all other spells are purged from your memory, consumed. To cast this spell you must invest all your remaining magic dice. Whenever you lose concentration or are endangered by magic, make a save. If you fail, the spell casts itself through you.

When cast, a marble-sized sphere of negative space appears before you, expanding to a [sum]+[dice] ft. radius over 10 seconds. Any magic that enters the sphere is consumed, causing the sphere to expand by 1d6 feet for every memorized spell, magic dice, magic item, and HD of magical creatures that passes through. A magic-user that passes through loses all their memorized spells and magic dice to the sphere. 

The sphere expands naturally at a rate of 1d6 feet per day. It will continue to eat and grow until it consumes all magic.

by Kev Walker