Mizzium Apparatus

Mizzium Apparatus

Mismage · Mision Apparatus · misium · Mizmage · Misium Apparatus · Mike's apparatus

Item

Status In-Aurelian-Custody First seen s17 Last seen s18 Type Wondrous item, rare (per 5e Guildmasters' Guide to Ravnica) Attunement Required Holder Aurelian patrol (confiscated from Mike's corpse, s18 L2287) Origin Arcanthys — the School of Whim & Wonder

The Mizzium Apparatus is Mike’s signature magical apparatus, originating from Arcanthys — the School of Whim & Wonder. It is the 5e Guildmasters’ Guide to Ravnica wondrous item that lets the attuned wielder cast any spell on their prepared list via an Arcana check, with a backfire risk on a failed roll that casts a different random spell of the same level instead ^[37], L1336-1348). At Mike’s current Arcana modifier the device “right now it’s impossible for me to fail at a level one spell” ^[5]. Demonstrated this session: Mending on Nessa’s sail, Detect Magic ritual on Hugo’s blood, Detect Thoughts on Hugo, Shield reactions, Phantasmal Force lava-cube on the Rimeclaw Skulker. Whisper-side transcript renders the name as “Mismage / Mision / misium / Mizmage / Misium Apparatus”; canonical spelling is Mizzium Apparatus per the published 5e source.

Overview

The Mizzium Apparatus is the canonical name for the wondrous item Mike’s player Brian has built his entire PC around. It is the 5e Guildmasters’ Guide to Ravnica wondrous item from Ravnica’s Izzet League — translated into Eldurae’s campaign canon as an Arcanthys-school device from the School of Whim & Wonder. The transcript renders the name variously as “Mismage / Mision / misium / Mizmage / Misium Apparatus” across ^[12]-L120; these are Whisper transcription artefacts. Canonical spelling: Mizzium Apparatus, per the published source.

Mechanics (as house-applied in s17)

• The attuned wielder can cast any spell on their prepared spell list via an Arcana check against a target DC scaled to the spell’s level.
• On a failed Arcana check, the apparatus still casts a spell but the cast goes wrong — it backfires and casts a different random spell from the same level instead, rolled on a backfire table ^[3].
• Mike’s spell list access is “wizard sorcerer warlock bard” ^[4], with “a handful of paladin and warlock spells I think that you can’t cast and ranger spells” excluded ^[7]. His own classes are cleric / druid / wizard ^[1]; the apparatus’s list is broader than any single class can prepare from.
• At Mike’s current Arcana modifier (high enough that “right now it’s impossible for me to fail at a level one spell”, ^[5], 1st-level casts are effectively auto-pass. Higher-level casts roll against a higher DC and could backfire.
• No backfire has occurred yet on-screen. Mike’s two notable Arcana checks in s17: a 29 on the Detect Thoughts cast on Hugo ^[13] and a successful check on the Phantasmal Force ^[14].

Demonstrated in session 17

Cantrips and spells cast via the Mizzium Apparatus this session:

• Light (cantrip) — on Mike’s own armour, as cover for arcane casting around the lay-Aurelian-devotee Nessa ^[15].
• Mending (cantrip) — on Nessa’s torn fishing-boat sail ^[16].
• Prestidigitation (cantrip) — Steven’s chin-rub flourish to clean clothes; Mike used the same to assist ^[17].
• Detect Magic (ritual, 1st level) — on Hugo’s blood and the two Biogloom vials ^[18] + L1468). The reading of Hugo’s blood produced the iron-restraints / dark-glass blood-vision ^[19].
• Detect Thoughts (1st level) — cast twice on Hugo ^[20], L1335). Pulled “I am the result of some form of experiment. And that I’m one of a few survivors” out of Hugo’s mind ^[21].
• Unseen Servant (1st level) — six in rotation rowing the skiff overnight ^[22].
• Shield (1st level, reaction) — twice in the s17 combat to negate ice-bolt and the post-Silvery-Barbs nat-20 bite ^[23], L1815).
• Enhance Ability (2nd level) — advantage on Mike’s perception for crafting-material scan ^[24].
• Phantasmal Force (2nd level, 2024 PHB edition: 2d8 psychic per turn) — the headline cast of the session. Built an illusory 10-foot cube of lava around the Rimeclaw Skulker; the Skulker failed two Int saves and is still trapped at session end ^[25], L1877-1881).
• Booming Blade (cantrip with Shillelagh carried over) — Round-2 melee strike on a flanking water wolf for 4 force ^[26].

Prepared / known spells (named in the spellbook-trade scene)

At ^[27] Mike read off his 1st-level prepared spell list: “alarms, comprehend languages, feather fall, find familiar, identify, shield, tensor exploding disk [Tenser’s Floating Disk], and unseen servant.” Mike also referenced from his broader spellbook at ^[28]: “Bless, Dragon’s Breath, Hold Person, Invisibility, Levitate, Magic Weapon, Mirror Image, Rope Trick.”

Terry’s read of the build: “It’s the ultimate multi-class build. You have to go everything.” ^[29]. Mike’s own framing of the apparatus’s wide list-access at ^[29]: it makes 1st-level scrolls redundant for him, which is why Terry talked himself out of scribing the Silvery Barbs scroll he’d planned earlier in the session ^[30].

Source / origin

The apparatus is an Arcanthys-school device per the Pass-1-extraction note. Arcanthys is the campaign’s School of Whim & Wonder — the city of the Grand Conflux and the only place in Eldurae where arcane casters are not actively exterminated by Aurelia (per the DM’s s14 framing: “the only ones that can get away with using arcane magic near Aurelia are the people in Arcanthus”, ^[31]. The apparatus is therefore Aurelian-illegal contraband and one of the structural reasons Mike must keep his casting under cover-stories around Aurelian-aligned civilians ^[32].

Notable quotes

“you can cast any spell that’s on your spell list as long as you pass an arcana check” — Mike, ^[2]

“right now it’s impossible for me to fail at a level one spell” — Mike, ^[5]

“It’s the ultimate multi-class build. You have to go everything.” — Terry, ^[29]

Status as of session 17

Attuned to Mike. Active. No backfire on-screen yet. The Phantasmal Force lava-cube on the Skulker is still ticking psychic damage at session end.

Status as of session 18

In Aurelian custody. Mike is dead. Confiscated from Mike’s body by the Aurelian patrol after his execution at the Bright Gate intercept ^[11]. The apparatus has moved from a PC-held loadout item to an Aurelian state-held artefact; recovery is now a quest-class problem rather than an inventory question.

Visual settled this session

Mike fixed the apparatus’s on-character form for the first time in ^[8], prompted by Terry: “an amulet or something that fused itself into my chest. It kind of like I kind of like started to melt in there and started to grow tendrils, and I’ve got like magic veins kind of running through it.” The table immediately read the visual as Tony Stark’s arc reactor (“he’s just magical Iron Man he’s got the arc reactor in his chest”, ^[33]. This is the canonical visual going forward.

The fatal cast

Mike attempted a covert Message cantrip to the rest of the party during the Aurelian patrol conversation, using the apparatus to channel it because Message was not on his prepared cantrip list ^[34]. The DM ruled the apparatus-cast counts as a magic-item cast, which counts as arcane spellcasting, which the confessor detected, and initiative was called immediately ^[10], L2058). Mike was decapitated in two rounds of greatsword strikes ^[35], L2274). The apparatus’s “I can cast anything” advantage is therefore explicitly not a workaround for Aurelian arcane-detection. Spells on the wielder’s prepared list cast through the apparatus may still pass; cantrips and spells outside the prepared list will not.

Twelve invocations in s18 (catalogued in the items extract)

Across the session, Mike routed twelve distinct spells through the apparatus before the fatal Message: the Booming Blade carry-over and Command on the Brinemaw Wyrm, Mending on the skiff hull, Guidance, two 2nd-level Bless casts (catfish fight and the open-ocean swim), Prestidigitation, Create Bonfire, Unseen Servant rotations through the night, Goodberry on his last 1st-level slot, Find Familiar for Bobby the deer, and Caelumn’s Cure Wounds revive (cast by Caelumn, not the apparatus). No Arcana check was rolled and no mechanical backfire occurred this session. The catastrophic backfire was political, not mechanical.

Confiscation

After Mike dropped on Round 2, the patrol “eyed the very obvious magical artifact that he used to cast the spell and removed it from the body” ^[11]. They also took Mike’s spellbook ^[36]. Hugo dug a roadside grave by hand axe and the patrol continued on with a friendly parting “good day”. The apparatus is now state-held Aurelian custody.

Open thread

Where the apparatus ends up in Aurelian custody is unknown. Aurelian arcane-research evidence, destruction, weaponised use, or pure trophy are all open routes. Logged at Open Threads.

See also

• Mike
• Arcanthys
• Phantasmal Force
• Detect Magic
• Detect Thoughts
• Brian

References

1. ^ Session 17, line 37 — Brian's intro — "I am playing a what race? Valdekin. Valdekin, Cleric, Druid, Wizard." (the multiclass framing supports the Mizzium spell-list breadth).
2. ^ Session 17, line 45 — Core mechanic — "you can cast any spell that's on your spell list as long as you pass an arcana check".
3. ^ Session 17, line 48-50 — Backfire mechanic — on a failed Arcana check, the apparatus still casts but a different random spell from the same level.
4. ^ Session 17, line 96 — Spell list access: wizard sorcerer warlock bard.
5. ^ Session 17, line 514 — "right now it's impossible for me to fail at a level one spell" — Mike's 1st-level cast is reliable.
6. ^ Session 17, line 1336-1348 — Mid-session ruling — Detect Thoughts is on Mike's prepared list; Arcana check 29 passes, no backfire.
7. ^ Session 17, line 1350 — Mike notes: 'There's a handful of paladin and warlock spells I think that you can't cast and ranger spells'.
8. ^ Session 18, line 338 — Mike fixes the visual: an amulet fused into his chest, magic veins running through his torso (Iron Man arc reactor analogy).
9. ^ Session 18, line 2039 — DM ruling: cantrips off the prepared list cast via the apparatus count as magic-item casting, which counts as arcane spellcasting for Aurelian detection.
10. ^ Session 18, line 2047 — Confirmation of the ruling: 'You need to set up your spell list if you want to use that as a cleric spell.' Apparatus-routed Message cantrip is what triggers the confessor.
11. ^ Session 18, line 2287 — Aurelian patrol removes the apparatus from Mike's body after execution: 'Iron, the very obvious magical artifact that he used to cast the spell and removes it from the body'.
12. ^ Session 17, line 39 — Inline citation.
13. ^ Session 17, line 1339 — Inline citation.
14. ^ Session 17, line 1697-1707 — Inline citation.
15. ^ Session 17, line 918 — Inline citation.
16. ^ Session 17, line 912 — Inline citation.
17. ^ Session 17, line 443-454 — Inline citation.
18. ^ Session 17, line 932 — Inline citation.
19. ^ Session 17, line 1483 — Inline citation.
20. ^ Session 17, line 1325 — Inline citation.
21. ^ Session 17, line 1431 — Inline citation.
22. ^ Session 17, line 842-846 — Inline citation.
23. ^ Session 17, line 1609 — Inline citation.
24. ^ Session 17, line 537 — Inline citation.
25. ^ Session 17, line 1697-1711 — Inline citation.
26. ^ Session 17, line 1908-1917 — Inline citation.
27. ^ Session 17, line 321 — Inline citation.
28. ^ Session 17, line 1679-1689 — Inline citation.
29. ^ Session 17, line 1349 — Inline citation.
30. ^ Session 17, line 499-512 — Inline citation.
31. ^ Session 14, line 1616 — Inline citation.
32. ^ Session 17, line 917 — Inline citation.
33. ^ Session 18, line 341 — Inline citation.
34. ^ Session 18, line 2020-2039 — Inline citation.
35. ^ Session 18, line 2094 — Inline citation.
36. ^ Session 18, line 2437 — Inline citation.
37. ^ Session 17, line 37-50 — Inline citation.