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[NUKE9.13]

Hateful Retribution

Those Who Remember are beings of Hatred nearly as much as Evil. While they are amalgams of a dozen anguished souls rather than any single whole being, this has not in fact inhibited their capacity to gain new hatreds and grow ever angrier and more vicious. As One Who Remembers takes damage their binding magic begins to buckle under the strength of each new grudge and new pain, driving them to further acts of anger and rage culminating in a suicidal charge into the enemy ranks. Normally this would be a bad thing, if it wasn't for the fact that when the forces of Good finally manage to put down the skeletal berserker their bindings detonate, creating a violent explosion of Hate and Evil around the defeated One Who Remembers, a last laugh at their killers and spiteful strike on the world that made them feel such pain.

A reasonable extension of their existing nature, but one with powerful effects. The increased erraticism compensates to some extent, but I'd still call this a Hard revision.

Cultist Mercenaries

There are many parts of the world where plenty of opportunity exists for armed men to run around loose wreaking havoc, whether it be the pirate gangs reaving the north of Xyrania, the mobs fighting in the streets in the capital of that country, the raiders and treasure hunters roaming across the same country's South (really, Xyrania in general) and into the wastelands - and, as a bonus, quite likely the southern satrapy conquered by the phalanxes of Thpenos, should its rebellion pick up steam.

There also, if the talks among the inner circles of mages in Nar-Carok's cult are any indication, is likely to be rather a surplus of mortal manpower among the cult of Nar-Carok's manpower in the near future. Even now, the most promising sources of combatants seem to be in the depths of the Buried City rather than among the ranks of those in Nar-Carok's hopeful followers without magical talent. There is a coincidence of interest here.

Some of the more physically and martially talented of the Cultist Archers and Cultist Spears are pulled from the battlefield and redirected to the lands of mortal kingdoms that require a more subtle touch - instead of serving as front-line warriors, they are to act as mercenaries, raiders, recruits for pirate organizations, members of religious mob fighting, potential rebels, and in general try to get themselves positions within the armed groups around Xyrania and Thpenos. The more successful of them are instructed to attempt to use money to make to survive, improve their skills, and improve their equipment (since we can't exactly afford to equip them well) so they can live to get into higher positions and eventually begin to help us influence these armed groups and the battles they wage from inside.

While it does mean a change in nature, being a thug for hire is not especially difficult- though there may be questions that need to be answered or avoided in order to maintain secrecy. I would caution you to think carefully about sacrificing the unit size of cultist soldiers, but it would make this project less of a challenge. Normal, with the end result being a Common influence unit, size ~20.

Acidic Retribution

A more discriminate effect than Hateful, but also less powerful- on balance easier. Does lack the added erraticism, meaning this would also be Hard.

Those Who Recall

Those Who Remember are certainly deadly and fearsome in their own right, but not all of those intended to become Those Who Remember are content with the capacity to enact retribution that they have been gifted with. Instead, a small subset of Those Who Remember return with an even deeper hatred and thirst for vengeance than their kin and are known as Those Who Recall.

Those Who Recall are almost perfectly identical to Those Who Remember in the physical sense, but the magic holding them together is more heavily infused with their intrinsic anger. This has the result of a release of said magic if or when they are, say, struck down in combat.

Those Who Recall eschew all forms of equipment, instead using superior agility even over their Remembering brethren to push, jump, or otherwise force their way through enemy lines in a suicidal charge to take out as many of those Good fuckers as possible once they themselves are stricken down.

Smaller unit size and specialisation make this significantly easier than Hateful Retribution, even though the explosion would be more powerful. Easy, Uncommon, unit size ~10

Warding Arrows

The best way to avoid getting hit by arrow fire is to avoid missiles altogether. This can prove to be difficult in a pitched battle. In order to defeat enemy arrow fire we have enchanted a number of our own arrows to emit an approximately man-sized Novice Ward centered on the shaft behind the head of the arrow (where the enchantment itself is inscribed) while in flight. While certainly capable of disrupting enemies in a melee, their primary purpose is deflecting opposing arrow fire.

Warding Arrows are meant to fall within the Rare/Uncommon range, being given out in small number to multiple individuals as opposed to full quivers to just a couple folk scattered across the battlefield.

Enchantment of an existing spell is not incredibly challenging in principle, but this would be your first foray into enchantment. It would also require applying the enchantment to a rather small object- finicky work, which is not entirely mitigated by the rarity. The intended use would also be challenging to execute- requiring extra training for archers. Combined, this becomes a Very Hard revision.

Cultist Criers

Cultist Missionaries are...quite acceptable for the role of infiltrator and proselytiser. These mortals use their skill with words largely off the battlefield, but we may have discovered a place for them on the field as well.

Cultist Criers are unarmed and unarmored as always, and keep themselves from getting too close to points of contact in a battle line. Their job is to use their ways with words to shout and cry over the sounds of battle (which, with undead involved, means there's slightly less shouting from one side of the field (but hopefully more coming from the other)) and assault the morale and will of enemy entities capable of being affected by plain old words. Words that are admittedly amplified through the conversion ritual for Criers to be higher volume and lower pitch, a rumble that carries uncertainty along with it.

Criers are encouraged to say whatever they feel will impact their foes more - promises of what they will gain should they let Evil prevail, vivid descriptions of the ways in which the corpses of Nar-Carok's foes are "utilized", and detailing the lies their Angel is having them fight and die for, just as a few examples. 

A change of role- even if not intended to fight, some mental preparation is needed to stand on the battlefield, and battlefield oration is not the same as back-alley sermons. A modest mutation, not a great challenge, though a bit of extra work on an already low unit size. Hard, Uncommon, unit size ~25.


I may do a few more difficulty checks (in the next turn or two) for things that are radically different from prior proposals. And you can always ask me for an estimate, even if I won't answer in many cases.

[Man of Paper]

Dark Empathy
Dark Empathy is a self-targeting spell that allows the caster to feel the emotions of nearby mortals enough to identify their most prominent feelings while having the caster emanate a temporary aura of Dark Seduction.

----

Seductive Charm
A Seductive Charm is an amulet consisting of a fist-sized sphere of bronze hung around the neck on a thin iron chain and generally worn tucked beneath the robes or shirt. Seductive Charms are enchanted devices that permanently emit a very weak field of Dark Seduction. The wearer is protected from the effects of the enchantment, and as the side effects are also reduced, the mental impairment can be more equivalent to a light buzz if exposed for an extended duration than full-on mental incapacity.

----

Seduced Thralls

Sometimes you can convince people to join a cult. Sometimes you have to "convince" people to "join" your cult.

An iron collar built to clasp shut and lock around a human/prisoner's neck is enchanted to cast Dark Seduction on the wearer multiple times on a delay in order to twist their minds to favor Nar-Carok. The enchantment can be repowered by a caster without needing to unlock, replace, or otherwise remove the slave thrall collar. As time goes on these thralls lose significant mental capacity replaced by a fervor for Nar-Carok to a degree that becomes addictive. As a result, Seduced Thralls are extremely loyal to the casters that keep the collar empowered much like loyal dogs.

So that's how we use the mentally diminished thralls. Packs of Seduced Thralls are used both as meaty protection for our casters as well as fodder should they see the need to let them loose (and as subjects to draw blood from, should any creature or magic require the use of blood for some reason).

----

Those Who Rally

Of the armies of the dead we raise, a fair number of them still have within their skeletal grasp banners of the forces of the old worlds. These undead bannermen still lift their colors to the sky, the wrath of their brothers replaced with pride. Those Who Rally remember their duties well, and are used to help organize the movement of forces and facilitate rapid communication across a chaotic battlefield. Those Who Remember are also less likely to engage in reckless maneuvers when Those Who Rally are present.

[Knightwing64]

Yayyy, people love my spell. I did a good

[Twinwolf]

Hateful Retribution (0):
Cultist Mercenaries (0):
Acidic Retribution (0):
Those Who Recall (1): Twinwolf
Warding Arrows (0):
Cultist Criers (0):
Dark Empathy (1): Twinwolf
Seductive Charm (0):
Seduced Thralls (0):
Those Who Rally (0):

[Powder Miner]

Hateful Retribution (0):
Cultist Mercenaries (0):
Acidic Retribution (0):
Those Who Recall (2): Twinwolf, Powder Miner
Warding Arrows (0):
Cultist Criers (0):
Dark Empathy (2): Twinwolf, Powder Miner
Seductive Charm (0):
Seduced Thralls (0):
Those Who Rally (0):

[Rockeater]

Dark Empathy (Modified)
Dark Empathy is a spell targeting a consenting target (including caster) that allows the target to feel the emotions of nearby mortals enough to identify their most prominent feelings while having the target emanate a temporary aura of Dark Seduction.

Hateful Retribution (0):
Cultist Mercenaries (0):
Acidic Retribution (0):
Those Who Recall (3): Twinwolf, Powder Miner, Rockeater
Warding Arrows (0):
Cultist Criers (0):
Dark Empathy (2): Twinwolf, Powder Miner
Seductive Charm (0):
Seduced Thralls (0):
Those Who Rally (0):
Dark Empathy (Modified) (1): Rockeater

[chubby2man]

Hateful Retribution (0):
Cultist Mercenaries (0):
Acidic Retribution (0):
Those Who Recall (4): Twinwolf, Powder Miner, Rockeater, C2M
Warding Arrows (0):
Cultist Criers (0):
Dark Empathy (2): Twinwolf, Powder Miner
Seductive Charm (0):
Seduced Thralls (0):
Those Who Rally (0):
Dark Empathy (Modified) (1): Rockeater

[Man of Paper]

Hateful Retribution (0):
Cultist Mercenaries (0):
Acidic Retribution (0):
Those Who Recall (5): Twinwolf, Powder Miner, Rockeater, C2M, MoP
Warding Arrows (0):
Cultist Criers (0):
Dark Empathy (3): Twinwolf, Powder Miner, MoP
Seductive Charm (0):
Seduced Thralls (0):
Those Who Rally (0):
Dark Empathy (Modified) (1): Rockeater

[NUKE9.13]

Demon Team: Revision Phase T0
TURNTURNTURN

Those Who Recall

Those Who Remember are certainly deadly and fearsome in their own right, but not all of those intended to become Those Who Remember are content with the capacity to enact retribution that they have been gifted with. Instead, a small subset of Those Who Remember return with an even deeper hatred and thirst for vengeance than their kin and are known as Those Who Recall.

Those Who Recall are almost perfectly identical to Those Who Remember in the physical sense, but the magic holding them together is more heavily infused with their intrinsic anger. This has the result of a release of said magic if or when they are, say, struck down in combat.

Those Who Recall eschew all forms of equipment, instead using superior agility even over their Remembering brethren to push, jump, or otherwise force their way through enemy lines in a suicidal charge to take out as many of those Good fuckers as possible once they themselves are stricken down.

Those Who Recall: Easy: (2+1)+1=4: Below Average
Hatred so strong it almost rips the hater apart: nice. Hatred so strong it does rip the hater (and hated) apart: wonderful.

Those Who Recall are, if anything, too effective. Ideally, they will leap into the middle of an enemy formation, where the sheer presence of so many Good-aligned individuals and the impact of any counterattacks will drive their already boiling hatred to overflow, resulting in an explosion that can shred cultists in a 2 meter radius, and shower those beyond that in shards of bone and burning hatred.
The problem is that being struck by one too many missile attack will also cause their hatred to overflow, resulting in a premature explosion (potentially causing friendly fire). While friendly troops will be less affected thanks to their Evil alignment, the majority of damage will still apply. This leaves you with a conundrum- embed Recallers within regular Rememberers to disguise them, risking them exploding amidst their comrades, or keep them separate, risking the enemy prioritising their destruction before they reach their destination. Now, Those Who Recall are fairly agile, capable of dodging incoming attacks (which they will attempt to do in order to get closer to the enemy), so it's not like destroying them at range is easy, but it's still a downside.

Those Who Recall are an even more shocking variant of Those Who Remember, capable of causing major havoc in enemy formations. Due to the increased levels of Evil involved in their creation, and the fact that not every Rememberer is suitable for being made into a Recaller, they have a small unit size (~10), but are still Uncommon

Dark Empathy
Dark Empathy is a self-targeting spell that allows the caster to feel the emotions of nearby mortals enough to identify their most prominent feelings while having the caster emanate a temporary aura of Dark Seduction.

Dark Empathy: Hard: (1+4)-1=4: Below Average
A truly mystical skill that some mortals are said to possess- the ability to tell what other mortals are feeling just by looking at them. No, no, it's not mind reading- it's, like, the shape of their face, and something called 'body language'??

Dark Empathy can be thought of as backwards Dark Seduction, in that it enhances the emotional receptiveness of the caster rather than a target. It's not quite that simple, of course- it doesn't make the caster infatuated with those around them, and there are some safeguards necessary to prevent the caster from being overwhelmed. The seductive aura also complicates matters, but was resolved by reducing the strength and having the seduction affect the surrounding mortals by tracing their own emotional emanations backwards.
It all works. Just like Dark Seduction. And, uh, just like Dark Seduction, repeated use can cause brain damage. While not as severe, acolytes are still limited to using Dark Empathy for a few minutes a day- more than that, and they will start to permanently damage their brains.
The spell is still useful despite the danger, allowing missionary acolytes to respond better to those they interact with- to disengage when someone is becoming suspicious, to push harder when someone is on the cusp of being convinced, to avoid being tricked by lies and scams, etc.

Dark Empathy will further enhance infiltration efforts. It is also Common


A month has passed since your birth. We are almost ready to begin the war against Muu and her followers.
Scouts have been sent forth, finding the borders of Chegitha and the Western Protectorate all-but undefended, and have plotted a path through the Deserted Urbs and the Pestilent Marshes that our armies could follow without opposition. However, the Thpenian and Xyranian borders were far more secure- the Restless Satrapy naturally has a sizeable standing garrison, while the Xyranian army would be happy to have someone to fight to take their minds off of the religious conflict.
Missionaries have also been sent out. We found willing converts in the rebellious citizenry of the Restless Satrapy, while the peasantry in the Raiders' Roost are disillusioned by the fragmented faith and boundless greed of the adventurers. The few people we encountered in Chegitha, however, were highly suspicious of strangers, and defiantly proclaimed their loyalty to the regent, while the tribes in the Pestilent Marshes barely understood our language, and seemed surprisingly content given their living situation.

Rumours from the north indicate that the angelic forces are also on the move- the time of conflict is fast approaching. We had best be prepared.

It is now the Design Phase. You have two designs. After the coming Revision Phase will be the first Strategy Phase.

Spoiler: Equipment (click to show/hide)

Nar-Carok: The diabolical leader of your faction, a being of immense power. There is very little he cannot do. Needless to say, he is Unique


Mundane Units:
Cultist Spears: Being equipped with only a rusty dagger, a makeshift spear, and a wooden shield, combined with their lack of training, mean these are not elite warriors- they'd lose a one-on-one fight with a real soldier-, but they're cheap and plentiful. Like regular cultists, their dedication makes them more resilient mentally than civilians. Unit Size: ~50 Common

Cultist Archers: Cultists who have some experience with a bow are valuable assets in combat, harassing the enemy from a distance. They aren't sharpshooters, and their bows are designed for hunting, not piercing armour, but they're better than nothing. Like regular cultists, their dedication makes them more resilient mentally than civilians. Unit Size: ~25 Common

Acolytes: Cultists who have begun their exploration of the magical arts, studying under their demonic patron. They can cast any Common spells (unless noted otherwise). Their physical strength leaves something to be desired, but their mental fortitude is even greater than regular cultists. Unit Size: ~25 Uncommon

Cultist Missionaries: Cultists with a modicum of charisma and subtlety, sent forth as emissaries of their eldritch master. Unarmed and untrained, they serve no role in combat. Unit Size: ~10 Common

Summoned/Mutated Units:
Those Who Remember: Skeletal warriors, driven to return to the battlefield by relentless hatred of all things Good. They wield two-handed weapons and sometimes wear decaying ancient armour. Suffused with burning hatred and animated by the amalgamation of warrior souls, they are remarkably skilled and agile, as well as being quite strong. They are more vulnerable to magical damage, and are lacking in self-preservation instinct. Unit Size: ~50 Uncommon
   Those Who Recall: An even more hateful variant, charging into combat unarmed, intending to leap into the middle of enemy formations where their overflowing hatred will cause them to self-destruct (explosively). May be set off prematurely by ranged damage. Unit Size: ~10 Uncommon


Spells/Rituals:
Magic Missile: Known by many names, the simple technique of blasting your opponent with raw Mana/Good/Evil is a tried and true method of making things go away. Efficacy increases with caster's mental might, and decreases with the target's. Common

Novice Ward: A very simple magic barrier that will reduce the impact of attacks both mundane and mystical. Won't last long, but can be useful in a pinch. Common

Dark Seduction: A simple spell that causes the target to have an improved opinion of the caster, ranging from undying devotion to a twinge of approval, depending on the strength of the caster and resistance of the target. Will also slowly taint the target's personality if used repeatedly, and cause brain damage. Common
   Dark Empathy: Sort of an inverted version that enhances the caster's emotional receptiveness, and giving them a weaker but aura-based Dark Seduction effect. Also causes brain damage, so use is limited to a few minutes a day. Common
 

Infiltration Techniques:
Proselytise: Cultists go forth and spread the Evil word, finding those sympathetic to their cause and slowly winning them over. Not the fastest way of gaining converts, but it keeps the cult growing. Common

Spoiler: Map (click to show/hide)

THPENOS (Influence)
Bountiful Quarries: 1/5 | 0/5
Gridlocked Polis: 0/5 | 0/5
Restless Satrapy: 0/5 | 1/5

CHEGITHA (Combat)
Sheltered Fjords: 8/8 | 0/8
Rolling Hills: 4/8 | 4/8
Deserted Urbs: 0/8 | 8/8

XYRANIA (Influence)
Pirate Haven: 1/5 | 0/5
Schism'd Capital: 0/5 | 0/5
Raiders' Roost: 0/5 | 1/5

WESTERN PROTECTORATE (Combat)
Windcarved Mesas: 8/8 | 0/8
Vast Steppe: 4/8 | 4/8
Pestilent Marshes: 0/8 | 8/8

[Man of Paper]

The Unearthed Mind (High Effort)

The denizens of the Buried City have been twisted into infinite incomprehensible forms of undeath, and the city itself was unable to escape this same fate.

In the deepest reaches of The Buried City lays a massive organic mass, pulsating and shivering in a long-forgotten chamber left unlit and untouched until recently. They say this city remembers, and this Unearthed Mind is clearly the source of that rumor. This huge brainlike entity feeds off of and emits powerful psychic and magical energies. The Unearthed Mind is not unlike a leech as it sucks latent arcane energies in the air into itself, but this feeding is largely contained by the chamber the Mind resides in.

Nonmagical beings are required to tend to the brain in order to improve its living conditions, as sources of magical energy - outside of Nar-Carok - find themselves rapidly drained of their energies until they are utterly destroyed. By increasing the concentration of energy the brain feeds on we can strengthen it enough to lash out with its own abilities beyond the chamber. Planned feedings and proper care allow us to direct The Unearthed Mind's psychic lashings, allowing us to cover a region in an unseen psychic phenomenon that impacts the minds of all vulnerable mind-having creatures in the area. Less extreme emotional imprints tend to have more widespread effects than intense emotional suggestions (like mild depression vs. suicidal thought)

[Think the weather control thing from mad arms race, but with feelings]

----

Mortuary Ants

Humans are not the only beings that have resided within The Buried City. Of all the life and unlife that manages to thrive within the city, few have prospered more than the ants. A single massive colony has woven a network of tunnels across the city in order to feed and breed as they require, and little has been able to stop them. With some effort their mandibles can chew through stone in order to let them breach the tombs which still contain some flesh their species desires. While they can feed as normal ants, the hunger they have for flesh (boosted by Nar-Carok's influence) causes them to constantly hunt for a source of meat. Once discovered, said source will be reduced to clean bones in very short order, and very painfully if it's unlucky enough to be able to feel.

In order to prevent them from...complicating matters, the Mortuary Ants have also been twisted a little further to avoid eating the flesh off of active (not necessarily alive) evil beings aligned with Nar-Carok.

----

The Gluttonous

The Gluttonous represent the lowest rung of an undead society: those who are permanently kept in a state just before death. The Gluttonous are mortals tainted by The Death of Suns and, being deemed unworthy of the gift of unlife, are instead cursed to an insatiable, withering hunger. This gnawing hunger breaks the mortals as their bodies weaken, resulting in The Gluttonous barely being able to shamble themselves forward. They desire food in the form of warm meat and death, and gladly seek both. The Gluttonous represent the current base of the cult's army, being extremely numerous and requiring incredibly low to no actual upkeep but are also a very imprecise and unintelligent tool.

----

Ratmen

Every human settlement, regardless of age or origin, has had to deal with rats. They're everpresent vermin, and so obviously they existed in some capacity within The Buried City. Ages of being left to their own devices after the destruction of the city let their numbers grow and expand beyond reason. The passive energies in The Buried City twisted and mutated the rats with each generation, rapidly evolving the pests into semi-intelligent creatures, and eventually sentient beings.

Ratmen are two to three foot tall bipedal rats. Their bodies are more slender than a typical rat's, and most of them have large patches where fur no longer grows in. These scavengers trust very few outsiders and are barely more than a collection of primitive clans, but this allowed Nar-Carok to appear before them as a god, and they were quickly convinced to mobilize themselves as one for the glory of Nar-Carok.

Ratmen are quite nimble in combat and tend to utilize small ratman-sized blades made for stabbing and slashing. Their armor is made from the most common local resource, with a human skull for a helmet and various ribs, fingers, and other smaller bones to make greaves, chestplates, and bracers.

Ratmen are meant to be a very numerous unit to act as the core of Nar-Carok's forces.

——

Devourer Moths

Devourer Moths are a special species of flying insect that resemble a purple moth with a thumb-sized body. These creatures feed off of decaying flesh and tend to congregate in large clouds. The moths suck their meals in through a proboscis and so need to liquefy their food. They manage this thanks to a fine powder that is produced on their wings. This powdery coating comes off when the moth flaps it’s wings aggressively (so that it doesn’t just leave a trail of unnecessary death everywhere it goes), and is highly acidic. This powder “burns” as it touches living matter that is not the moth itself and coating inorganic objects in the reactive material until someone unlucky comes along and touches it.

The powder causes flesh to slough off the body and break down into a putrid black puddle.

[Rockeater]

moving mass

The Buried city have more Evil in it then any single being that was buried with it, but this Evil is stuck in place, bounded by stone, we can use it, by taking fresh heads and placing them in the city depth, we can have them absorb the Evil and it's intention from the city, and then by placing them on a ground up corpse we can create a mass of flesh that swarms and attack Good aligned creation.

[Twinwolf]

Hitchhiker Imp

A small and ethereal creature that can implant itself in a target and see through their eyes. Capable of jumping between hosts through eye contact in order to get to higher positions, the goal of the Hitchhiker Imp is to get itself behind the eyes of someone influential and listen in on their conversations and actions, so that it might take this information back to our agents, both to act on directly and to make sure our agents are informed on the wider goings-on of their target locale. Generally, unable to move on it's own power - it needs to transport itself between the eyes of it's hosts.

[Man of Paper]

Spell: Explosive Fury

By training our casters to utilize the hate and anger so common amongst our underlings and weaving it with their arcane capabilities, they can create a small but powerful directional used explosive and fiery blast that emanates from their fingertips.

——

Idea here being it’s alright for our present casters in a pinch, but could prove to be a quite beneficial tool for any future combat casters or, perhaps, runic casting for land mines and the like

——

The Everpriests/Everpriest Acolytes

Not all priesthoods demand devotion of your entire life. Some require more. A sect of priests in one of the layers of the Buried City had passed away ages ago. These men and women of the priesthood would fast as their life approached its end, seal themselves in a chamber, and live their final moments isolated in their future tomb. The Predeceased were wrapped in silk ribbons resembling bandages and donned a fine robe tailored just for the occasion and decorated to denote their rank. The final adornment the priests received was a single wooden staff topped with a gemstone also identifying their rank.

The priests were left in the tomb until, well, we came across them. While there are a number of tanks among the priesthood we could attempt to draw from, the powerful energies still stored within the mummified remains of the more devoted will require further…tampering with. As it stands, the cult can only restore the mummies of Everpriest Acolytes to working order.

Everpriest Acolytes are significantly more powerful than their mortal equivalents, able to cast stronger spells and maintain concentration on casting for longer periods. They are also feel no pain and will continue the fight until they’ve taken too much damage to maintain a cohesive form (but are no more resistant to injury than a mortal at this level), however they are fairly slow and not agile in the slightest.

Everpriest Acolyte Robes are white with blue trim, and the crystals atop their staves are green glass.

——

The Gambler

The Gambler is an entity sworn into Nar-Carok’s service after he bested The Gambler in a best of three game of Cards. The Gambler is a living shadow identifiable by its long-tailed, high collared leather jacket and wide-brimmed hat that covers their face.

The Gambler approaches those traveling the roads alone and offers them a chance to play a game. If they agree, the traveler gets to ask for their deepest desire and will be granted it if the coin The Gambler produces lands on heads. If it is tails the traveler will be required to fulfill a favor at some point in the future.

The moment the traveler agrees to play they are compelled to see the game through even if they manage to notice the coin has two tails sides.

Once the traveler loses that favor is called upon immediately, their bodies incinerated and souls damned to fuel the cult.

To defeat The Gambler, a traveler must refuse to play (and therefore never actually set terms anyway). Upon refusing, The Gambler vanishes in a puff of black smoke, leaving behind a single double-tailed coin. Anyone in possession of these coins will find themselves slowly drawn toward Evil acts, including seeking out a cult to join.

——

An idea I had for a sort of folklorey demon thing. It’d be an influence thing that could potentially buff some magic (even if it’s just the influence stuff in the region deployed in), and also potentially improve our influence level. Plus we get to counterfeit coins in a cool demon way.



Votebox to keep momentum going. Not sold on acolytes entirely, since I’m waiting to refine it for soulstone magic once discussion is actually had on what people expect of it.

Ratmen: (1) MoP
Everpriest Acolytes (Mummy Snowball Edition): (1) MoP

[Rockeater]

Vampire Lord (1): Rockeater
Explosive Fury (1): Rockeater

[Taricus]

Ratmen: (2) MoP, Taricus
Everpriest Acolytes (Mummy Snowball Edition): (1) MoP
Vampire Lord (2): Rockeater, Taricus
Explosive Fury (1): Rockeater