Cults

[Style]

How about this, the contact is a fence who either has sympathies with the cult or is just a known pervayer of weird goods. On the object itself my thought is to have it as some bizarre Pictish idol of a hybrid cat/woman carved from a strange green stone, Also there is a secret compartment inside the idol that holds some mystical and "holy" scriptures written on aged and crumbling scrolls in one of the forgotten tongues(either acheronian, demonic or even one of the pre-cataclysmic ones).

As it turns out, the only player who can make next session is the guy playing the cultist. **grumble** Rather than cancel the session, I'm thinking I will run a solo adventure for him, using what Krushnak is saying as the basis, but with a twist. When he, along with his high priest, arrive at the meeting place with the "purveyer of weird goods", the seller will already be negotiating the sale to another priest of Mata'Cima! The priests will argue over who should get the relic, but ultimately they are both the same rank, and neither is willing to budge. They will decide to enact the "Trials of Genesis" to determine who is most worthy, a test normally used to determine who is allowed to breed (part of their eugenics). Each priest will enter a champion in the Trial, one of which will be the PC.

This is what the player wrote for his religion:

Other practices include a form of eugenics valuing intelligence, strength, and beauty.
...
Traits that are desirable among the Mata’Cima cult are: Dark hair color, Copper or non-fair skin tones, Little body hair on females, A lot of body hair among males, Strength but not always large size, Strength of Will, Conviction, and Charisma, Intelligence, they teach their women to read and sing and some secrets as well so they can be better teachers and trainers for the young but no longer teach the women martial skills for that is what the men teach the young, they value Stealth and some treacherous nature and actually prefer to kill enemies from behind or once in positions of submission.

Here's what I'm thinking. The trial will start off with the two champions stripping down to ceremonial leapard skin loin clothes. They will then be closely evaluated for beauty, body hair, skin tone. Each priest will claim that clearly his champion is superior in these areas. With no neutral party to judge, this gets no where.

Next they test strength. I'm thinking I will borrow the test of stones from Conan the Invincible. One champion will pick up a boulder/keg of ale/whatever and carry it as far as he can. In order to win, the other will then have to carry it back past the starting point of the first champion.

Next will be agility. I'm thinking this will be done like the game of shooting a basketball known as horse: one champion will start with a feat of agility, walking on their hands, tumbling over obstacles, etc. The other will then have to replicate the maneuver. If successful, then they try a feat of agility that the other must replicate. This goes on until some one can not replicate the feat. For mechanics, I plan on simply using dex checks, with increasing target numbers as the feats become more difficult.

Next they will test intelligence. I'm thinking a riddling contest. Always fun. I've already told the player to show up with riddles in hand.

The final test will be a duel: armed combat. It goes until one side surrenders or is killed.

So what do you think about the trial? Good stuff? Recommendations for other or better tests? Off hand, I'm not thinking of any good trials for Strength of Will, Conviction, Charisma, or stealth.

Hmm, do snakes rely on hearing? For stealth, I could see having the champions sneak past a blinded snake. The catch would be they have small bells tied all over their body.

By the way, I'm also open to suggestions for a better name than the "Trial of Genesis." (Crude humor is always appreciated. )

 

[Style]

Ran the Trial of Genesis last night, and it was really fun. We really got into the test of agility, trying to one up each other. The riddling contest was short but fun. For those riddle junkies on the site, here's the specific riddles:

I asked:

Worn by he who wears the knight.
Thrown for play; but if in plight,
Turns up lame the one you mount.
Miss the stake, still close will count.

Answer (highlight it to view):

He answered Horseshoe.

If you have one, you can not share it.
If you share it, you do not have one.

Answer:

The answer is secret. I answered Solitude, and he gave it to me.

This house holds rooms, one score and six,
That shelter a vast mob.
It lets lions lie down with the lambs,
Yet makes both shun the slob.

None now will nestle with nicks and nates,
While reams room near the rear.
Though you and I have separate rooms
Both our bottles brim with beer.

The king and queen can never mate
(Though hands and hearts hobnob)
Because their rooms are separate
If this jail does its job.

What house is this that rules thus
Forcing faith to fend with fear?
The answer to this riddle lies
With dead and dying here.


Answer:

He gave up, and I told him the answer is Dictionary. A great riddle, in my opinion, although perhaps not so great of a choice for the Hyborian age.

I didn't do anything for a test of stealth during the actual contest, and that ended up being for the best, as you shall see. We got to what was supposed to be the final test, the battle of arms, where the contestants battled unarmored but armed, till surrender or death. The player's character lost, and was nearly killed. When he awoke after the contest, in a room with just him and his priest, the priest said to him "You lost the test or arms, and they took the relic; but now it's time for the most important test, the Trial of Stealth. Stealth is the most important trait of a cat, for it is what they rely on to hunt. With out it, their prey would run and hide, and the cat would go hungry. To complete the Trial of Genesis, you must perform this last test of stealth, and bring back the relic. If you can "acquire" the relic from them, you will have won the test of stealth, and proven yourself to be worthy of the artifact. Now go get it!"

Of course, the priest just wants the relic for himself, and he is simply justifying the theft, but it sounds good, right?

The player successfully stole the relic, and then found the secrect compartment with the scrolls inside.

Now I have to figure out how to not derail the Slaver's Caravan module that I'm in the middle of next session. After all, the other priest is going to accuse the PC and his priest of stealing it.

For simplicity, and the sake of keeping the module going, I may have the NPC priest frame some one, including planting the relic on them, as he's now extracted what he wanted from it anyway, the scrolls. In hindsight, I should have had the PC just steal the scrolls, and eliminate the need to frame some one, but hind sight is 20/20.

 

[Voltumna]

what is the source of the Mata'Cima cult? Never heard of it.

 

[Style]

what is the source of the Mata'Cima cult? Never heard of it.

As mentioned earlier, the player and I created it. It was about 80-85% his, with some guidance here and there by me.