The priest: Convert him, eat him if that fails.
Fellshore: Send Kate back and change their orders to expanding the labyrinth and stockpiling resources.
Main Action: Cautiously Corrupt & Convert the common people of Nuulyd, creating some more Wordbearers to aid in this endeavour. (Not yet preaching outright heresy)
Perhaps perform a small witch hunt to encourage darker emotions.
Host a decadent feast to encourage greed and gluttony.
Servants: If given the opportunity, create more brutewolves and smokewraiths and have them terrorise the surrounding countryside.
Two weeks ago: You enter the temple where you are greeted by the last remaining priest. You order your minions to close the doors behind you, then drop your disguise. As the priest recoils in horror, you offer him the standard choice: Serve me or die.
The priest takes a minute to process this. He finally seems to muster up the courage to shout some words of defiance, but upon seeing you picking your teeth decides to reconsider. After a few more minutes of agonising, he pledges his loyalty to you. Later you will work on strengthening his loyalty through equal applications of fear and rewards, until the thought of betraying you is no longer at the forefront of his mind.
The present: You and your priests emerge from the temple to address the hastily assembled crowd: "Long have we meditated on the evils that have transpired", you explain, "And we have come to a conclusion: that we are as much to blame as the witches, for we have preached weakness and cowardice, and led you astray. No longer! The Old Way shall be left behind, and we shall henceforth preach to you the truth, unpleasant though it may be. To start with, let me say: for too long have we allowed the witches freedom to practice their evil ways. We see what has arisen from their heretical creed; evil beings who incite common folk to murder! We must end this threat to our livelihoods now, by bringing any witches and their supporters here, to be judged- and should they be judged guilty, executed in revenge for our slain brethren!"
The crowd seems briefly confused, but when your cultists, intermingled in the crowd, start to cheer, the rest of the crowd joins in, and soon a large mob descends upon the home of the town witch.
The witch's residence is a small cottage in the middle of a walled garden filled with herbs of every shape and colour, accessed via a small gate that is always open, for the witch has many customers. Today, however, the gate is locked and barred from within, and it takes the mob a few minutes to find a hammer and smash the gate off of its decaying hinges. Within, the garden has been all but stripped bare- many plants have been uprooted wholesale, others merely plucked bare of all their leaves. Concerned, the townsfolk approach the door to the cottage. It swings open at a touch, revealing a house similarly bereft of contents- the witch's books and potions gone, not even a hint of dust upon the shelves.
The witch is clearly gone. You command the mob to burn down the house, then march to the gate, where you demand the guards tell you when the witch left. The guards claim no knowledge of the witch leaving, nor does the ledger recording previous shifts show any sign of her passing. Frustrated, you return to the temple, where you announce a bounty upon the witch or anyone who may have supported her.
With your bonfire plans extinguished, you move on with the upgrading of your cultists. You select three of the most promising- the bored criminal amongst them- and have them carve the required runes into their skin. During a midnight ceremony, whilst the other cultists chant ominously in the background, you have the aspirants kneel before you.
The first absorbs your energy well, though not perfectly. He will require further tutoring in matters of mesmerism.
The second eagerly awaits her gifts, and you place your hand on her head and pour yourself into her. Almost immediately you feel things going wrong- her mind is too weak to absorb this much evil. You watch contemptuously as she keels over, a stupid grin still plastered across her face.
The third, the career criminal, is actually somewhat hesitant. Though he does not say anything, seeing 50% of previous aspirants die has shaken him somewhat- he likes being alive even more than he likes the idea of demonic power. Uncaring, you place your hand on his head and subject him to the process. At first it seems as if he might fare no better than the second, but you feel his mind fighting desperately to control the evil coursing within it, and eventually pulling through- barely, but barely is good enough. Though he will need some time to recover, he will arise from his sickbed as a fully fledged Wordbearer, his latent skills at manipulation enhanced greatly by his new abilities.
As promised, you and your puppet priests begin to preach a new interpretation of the faith. Whilst still preaching faith in the gods, you fill your sermons with occasional references to the gods' uncaring nature, forming pockets of doubt within the townsfolk. You also preach the righteousness of revenge, the need for strength, and the dangers of witches and their supporters- who, you remind them, could be living next door!
After a few days, the mayor arrives to speak with you. First she asks when the rest of the priests will return to their home villages. You respond that the heresy present in Nuulyd is more important. Yeah, about that, she says, why did you incite a mob against the town witch who, whatever about other witches being evil, has always supported the people of this town- as much as the temple has. If she wasn't evil, the why did she flee, you ask. Because you were going to murder her, the exasperated mayor replies. You calm her down with a brief burst of mesmerism, such that she will remember all her questions being answered to her satisfaction, then tell her the good news; that you are planning a feast to take people's minds off of the dark happenings of this past month. This seems to please her- festivals are much easier to deal with than witch-hunts. She graciously allows you to host your feast, and offers a small purse of the city's money to help fund it. Oh, no need, you reply, as we have some generous donors prepared to pay for everything.
Soon wagonloads of wine start arriving in town, along with dozens of deer, a handful of boars, and innumerable other game. Cooks from all over town are conscripted to prepare the feast, as your cultists begin to decorate the town in festive colours. By the night before the event, the whole town is abuzz with excitement. Finally dawn breaks, and the feast begins. Massive tables are set up all over the square before the temple, and a nigh-endless stream of food emerges from temporary kitchens to cover them. Townsfolk delight in the free food set before them, the generous helpings of wine and beer, and the host of entertainers- musicians, dancers, a theatre performance, and many more. By midday the air is thick with the smell of grease and wine, and people are stuffed- yet the food keeps coming, and somehow they find room for a little more- pheasant pies, grilled fish, honey tarts- the food is endless in both variety and quantity. The entertainment continues, but takes on a more risque aspect, as the dancers misplace some of their clothes and the actors slip the occasional hilarious blasphemy into their lines.
At this point the mayor arrives at the temple, within which your cultists are enjoying their own private feast, even more opulent than the one outside, to speak with you. She glares at the gaudy banners strung throughout the sanctified space, the rich men enjoying the dancing of thoroughly under-dressed women under the watchful eyes of the gods, and demands to know what kind of feast you call this.
Relax, you
command her,
and join the festivities. She looks briefly confused, then agrees wholeheartedly and takes a seat. Great stress was built up within her, so it did not take much convincing to get her to unwind a little.
Come the evening, the voices of drunken revellers echoes throughout the town, singing bawdy songs with gusto. People lie unconscious on the ground, their bellies bulging, having knocked themselves out through overeating. Those still capable of standing find themselves drawn into dances of an animalistic nature, the music being reduced to a primal rhythm that goes from ears to feet without passing the brain. Within the temple, great guffaws are heard in response to the mayor's ranting, as she spills the beans on the embarrassing secrets of town officials, complains about the incompetence of her subordinates, and curses the stupidity of the average inhabitant.
Eventually the feast comes to an end, as those still conscious drag themselves and their loved ones home, leaving the wreckage of the celebrations to be cleaned up in the morning. You had hoped to end the evening with the burning of a witch, but alas, this gross display of greed and gluttony will have to suffice by itself. You feel confident that this one day has done more to corrupt the hearts of the townsfolk than a week of preaching, and filled the town with an aura of low-grade evil besides, even if it did cost your richer cultists an arm and a leg.
The next day, as you are preparing to make your way to the forest to make some more brutewolves, a procession arrives at the gates. The Duke-elect of the region and his entourage are here to investigate the rumours of evil witches, and priests being murdered. This could be troublesome- the Duke's entourage contains both a wizard and a high priest, in addition to a squad of knights. Though you might be able to overcome them in combat, it might be better to adopt a more subtle approach. You decide to
-Do nothing, other than disguise your efforts here. If anyone asks any questions, you will answer them in the most unassuming way possible.
-Go personally to speak with the Duke and explain to him what has happened, using mesmerism to convince him if necessary.
-Make some excuse to skip town for the duration of the visit- perhaps go to 'investigate' the shrine in the woods for 'more evidence of witchcraft'.
-Screw it, just kill them. You can deal with the fallout later.
Name: Nokluvgn
Age: 3.75 months
Physical might: 28 (+1: Low-grade background evil)
Mental might: 28 (+1: Low-grade background evil)
Followers:97 (74 villagers, 4 Wordbearers, 11 criminals, 7 rich men, 1 ex-priest)
Slaves: 12 (4 priests, 8 guards (armed))
Servants: 7 (4 Brutewolves, two Smokewraiths, one devil-horse)
Cults: The New Way (Fellshore): Low organization. 76 members in Fellshore (74 villagers, 2 Wordbearers)
Power level: 13
Of which: 6 spent gathering resources, 5 spent expanding the labyrinth
Resources: 3
Other: Kate arrives safely and relays your new orders to the cult. They begin melting down unnecessary metal in the village forge and cutting down trees in the surrounding forest, whilst digging new tunnels and improving the chambers of the labyrinth.
The New Way (Nuulyd): 21 members in Nuulyd.
Power level: 6
Of which: 3 spent preparing feast.
Resources: 0 (-20: hosting feast)(+6: More donations)
Other: As they cannot exchange resources freely (yet), the two branches of The New Way will temporarily be tracked separately
Fortresses: Fellshore: A small fishing village nestled between a small lake and a forest (with mountains not so far in the distance), now undermined with tunnels and chambers forming a twisted maze, lit with smoky torches, where the shadows form strange shapes in the corner of your eyes.
Small tunnel network: increases secrecy of local cult. Being upgraded (5/50)
Small (hidden) altar: A suitable place to sacrifice to you and praise your dark name.
Author
Topic: Demonhood 2 -Number of giant minions lost: between 0 and 3- (Read 143748 times)