DM Journal - Session 14

Session 14 DM journal
Blowback from killing civilians.
 
Who we met:
Cossus Lucan – Turns out this ‘commoner’ was a noble’s son.
Lord Quintus Caetronius Lucan. Father of the dead boy.
Gallus Munius Vendemic – Spouse of Melancha Vendemic. Diplomatic Consul from Anjou. The pair of them provided more details on things the party had learned so far.
(place) Chausey Isles. Said to have cannibalistic dwarves. Hopefully a lead on a ‘Blood Marriage’.
(place) Blood Kingdom. A (Ravenloft/Curse of Strahd) vampire and undead ruled kingdom located close to Rome.
(place) The Empire of Ghouls AKA Ghoul Imperium. An underground realm ruled by undead.
Gods (see below). I am obviously stealing from other material but that is why they publish it.
- Side note: Masks for Gods. This is the notion that the gods are mysterious. Gods hide some of their true nature and are often worshiped be different names in different lands.
Darakhul – Monster. A kind of intelligent ghoul. Seems they have a whole underground kingdom. Can pass for human.
 
Collected loot:
-1,500 GP paid to the Lucan family to have Cossus raised.
 
XP. 9226 + 1000 = 10,226
14,000 needed for 6th
 
Date: 7 days have passed. It is morning on May 16th.
 
 
Marena
Red Goddess of Winter, Lust, Sickness, and Death, the Blood Maiden, the Winter Maiden, Patron of the Greater Duchy of Morgau
Divine Domains: Death, Justice, Lust
Domains: Charm, Darkness, Death, Law, Lust, Magic, Water
Subdomains: Ice, Loss, Murder, Undead
Alignment: Evil
Favored Weapon: Spear, whip
Marena is the dark face of human fears: all flesh fails, and unbridled lust and rampant plague can destroy any happy life. She is known and feared throughout the Southern Europe (and in the North as Mara), and her cults flourish in secret, especially in small villages when times are hard. In the great cities, her followers meet in cellars and sanctuaries within the poorer districts.
Her face is both beautiful and chilling, and those who see her and survive are invariably marked with white hair, wine-colored birthmarks, or haunted silver eyes. Her followers believe that her strict worship grants them power, and her orders in the Greater Duchy of Morgau include anchorites, flagellants, and orgiasts.
Worshippers
Marena is popular in the Blood Kingdom, and she serves as the patron goddess of whores, vampires, ghouls, and the Order of Ghost Knights. Indeed, she is worshipped openly, and the vampires are building new temples to her glory. She is followed with somewhat less fervor in Eastern Europe in her aspect as the Winter Maiden, and hidden sects of her adherents exist throughout the continent
Some kobolds worship her out of fear or awe, although most prefer the simple faiths of Volund or Baal.
Symbols and Books
Marena’s symbols include all red garments and skulls stained with ochre or rust. Her books are banned in most places as treatises of corruption and illness. The most infamous volumes include the Book of Holy Lust, the Song of Blood & Winter, and the Scarlet Commandments.
Shrines and Priests
The greatest public shrine to Marena is the great Aprostala temple, a site of pilgrimage and daily sacrifices. Worship of Marena is frequent and public; offerings are loud and messy. Every village of any size displays at least a small blood-stained altar stone, and her name is invoked at every birth, funeral, and battle. The religion is one of the few ways for living men and women to rise in status in the Blood Kingdom. Everywhere else, her worship is in secret.
Marena’s priesthood is the Red Sisterhood, responsible for justice, law, and punishment. The strict Red Sisters dole out punishments both harsh and public: floggings, quarterings, and brandings are all common, as are executions by beheading. The high priestess Lileshka of the Chalice rarely executes followers and visitors, but attempts to seduce pilgrims when the goddess demands it. Those who permit this are granted an audience to petition for whatever they wish. Those who refuse are given to the harsher priests for chastisement.
Despite (or because of) her proclivities, the high priestess retains the respect and good opinion of many of the elders of the realm. Her offerings are generous and yet she always demands favors in return. Most who underestimate her soon learn that her public congress with men and women does not mean she is weak or easily led; to the contrary, she chooses her conquests carefully.
Masks
Marena might be a mask of Hecate, Sarastra, or the Goat of the Woods; these are sometimes referred to as her “dark sisters.” In many ways, though, Vardesain is closer to the goddess than Hecate or Sarastra.
Other Faiths
Marena is on excellent terms with the priests of her husband Mavros, and with Boreas, who is widely regarded as their son (at least in the Northlands). Marena is on poor terms with most other gods. Boreas and the Goat of the Woods are her allies, and some believe she has a secret pact with Vardesain as well. Her enemies include Rava, Aten, Khors, Lada, Sif, Ninkash, and Wotan.
What Marena Demands
The stern goddess of lust and death demands her followers kill her foes (especially followers of Lada) and she requires rites of seduction, blood sacrifice, and flagellation. Although her worship is harsh and bitter, she is not unrelentingly cruel: she grants strength and magical power far more often than other gods, even to those who are not priestesses. Marena’s followers must make a pilgrimage to Morgau if they attain the age of 50.
 
 
 
Vardesain
Ghoul-God of the Bottomless Maw, Lord of Unending Thirst, the Hunger God, the Unsated God, Devourer of Souls, Patron of the Darakhul
Divine Domains: Darkness, Death, Hunger, Life, Void
Domains: Animal, Destruction, Healing, Hunger, Protection, Strength
Subdomains: Ferocity, Fur, Purity, Rage, Resurrection
Alignment: Neutral
Favored Weapon: Hand axe
All creatures hunger, and without food, life ends. Vardesain took this primal need and built a faith ranging from simple gluttony to cannibal feasting. Indeed, food is seen as a sacrament that builds life, health, and righteous strength in the faithful, and the followers of the hunger god can be both great gourmands and the world’s least picky eaters. Sacrifices to the god are invariably edible— and sometimes still living.
The god’s best-known forms are those of scavengers and predators: white wolves, ghouls, and darakhul, but also undead of abnormal size. In any form, visions, depictions, and avatars of Vardesain are always feeding on something.
Worshippers
Vardesain’s followers are the hungry and the ambitious: power-hungry humans, monsters, and ghouls, vampires, darakhul, and the undead. They have no morals or standards, only instinct.
Symbols and Books
Vardesain’s holy beast is the purple worm, a creature that devours sacrifices to the god in his temples. When embroidered or painted on vestments, it is shown as a purple snake consuming its own tail or a pair of open jaws. The priests of Vardesain keep bats, serpents, and oozes as living incarnations of hunger.
Their holiest text is actually a series of cave paintings called “the Feast” rendered in the Shrine of Vardesain in Darakhan, the White City of the Ghoul Imperium.
The empire depends on the Feeding Laws, edicts written on scrolls of skin and carried by Vardesain's priests. To disobey the Feeding Laws is to invite divine punishment, though in practice they are frequently broken.
Shrines and Priests
The red and white Shrine of Vardesain is the best-known temple below ground. Many ancient monuments to his face as the Lord of Unending Thirst stand at oases in the Southlands.
The current high priest is Cimbrai (NE male darakhul cleric 12 [Vardesain]), one of the rare few whose hunger has been consumed by Vardesain as a blessing. He currently works to topple Anu-Akma’s church in the Ghoul Empire.
Masks
The Goat of the Woods, the Hunter, Hel, Fenris-Hati, and Mavros have all been suggested as possible masks of Vardesain. None are especially likely candidates; Chernobog and Charun are more associated with Vardesain’s underworld and control over the undead. A few think that the Hunger God is a mask of Veles, and the priests of Vardesain claim that their god devoured an older god named Mordiggian, whose name sometimes still appears in their liturgy.
Other Faiths
Chernobog, the Goat of the Woods, and the Hunter are allied with Vardesain, though loosely. Lada, Khors, and Perun all despise Vardesain as worthless and vile, and they seek to destroy his temples at every opportunity. The priesthoods of Vardesain and Anu-Akma are great rivals, but the two gods seem indifferent to this rivalry, leading some to suspect that Vardesain is indeed a mask of Anu- Akma’s darker side.
What Vardesain Demands
Flesh is weak, but your will is strong: show your strength. Hunt and kill what you eat when you can; scavenging is not dishonorable. Fast when you must find focus and purity, for your hunger will give you strength to see the way. Devour the hearts of your enemies.