Brother Damien Bernard Becomes an Abbot

CHAPTER LII

Of the Oratory of the Monastery

Let the oratory be what it is called, and let nothing else be done or stored there. When the Work of God is finished, let all go out with the deepest silence, and let reverence be shown to God; that a brother who perhaps desireth to pray especially by himself is not prevented by another's misconduct. But if perhaps another desireth to pray alone in private, let him enter with simplicity and pray, not with a loud voice, but with tears and fervor of heart. Therefore, let him who doth not say his prayers in this way, not be permitted to stay in the oratory after the Work of God is finished, as we said, that another may not be disturbed.

(Chapter 52 of the Rule of St. Benedict)
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Through his travels and adventures, Brother Damien Bernard has acquired a piece of land and an abbey. It is built in the Cistercian style. Brother Damien gave this monastery to the Holy Church, as is proper to his vow of poverty, which forbids the accumulation of wealth or goods beyond daily necessity. Damien's Father General reported this to the local Bishop, who in turn brought the matter to his own superiors.

The ecclesiarchy of the Holy Church has placed Brother Damien in charge of the abbey. Brother Damien is of sufficient level in game terms now to undertake such a task, so I have decided to "retire" him from Flailsnails games to pursue this as an NPC in my own games. (I would like to thank here all of the GMs and players that I have had the pleasure of gaming this character with).

As an abbot, Brother Damien Bernard is quite intent on making sure the Rule of the founder of his Order, St. Benedict, is adhered to devoutly. Of great importance to Brother Damien is the practice of praying the Daily Office of the Breviary and the celebration of daily mass.  He has called chapter 52 of the Rule to the attention of the Three Followers and Nodger as a solid foundation upon which to begin this new work of God. -|-

With four monks being the initial basis of the abbey of St. Benedict, Brother Damien begins his existence as an NPC abbot.

Clerical Conundrums - a FLAILSNAILS alternative for Clerics to the Carousing Table

 

Clerical Conundrums:
1. Called upon to preside over a funeral, you trip and knock over the casket, dumping the body in front of a horrified congregation. (1 or 2) Fall in the open grave during a funeral service. (3-6)
2. Recruited into a cell of heretics corrupting the church from within. You are clueless as to their real intentions.
3. Unintentional political allegory in sermon angers local law enforcement. 1-2 You are banished from town. 3-6 Fined 200GP for the crime of Subversion. Failure or (inability to pay fine) indicates d6 days in the pokey.
4. Bungle conversion mission, natives begin worshiping your version of Satan.
5. Drop lit ceremonial candles, torch church.
6. Inconvenient miracles, i.e. weeping blood (pick something campaign appropriate). People outside the faith are freaked out, but members may begin following you around as a messiah figure.
7. Tasked by your church to perform exorcism. 1-4 successful 5-6 unsuccessful, lose 2 points of Wisdom temporarily for d6 weeks and watch over your shoulder for that time!
8. Accidentally insult bride at a wedding ceremony you officiate at. Offerings drop at the church for a time because of the incident. You must tithe d6x100 GP to make up for it.
9. Donate a cursed coin to the church.
10. The spirit of doing good works and giving runs away with you. Lose 50% of all possessions and money you have.
11. You drink too deeply in the ceremonial wine and become drunk during service. Your superiors are not impressed. Lose all XP from the previous adventure.
12. In an effort to help the poor, you were mugged. Start the next adventure minus d3 HP.
13. You unintentionally anger your deity – wear sackcloth and ashes for d6 days to atone.
14. Townsfolk are enamored by a younger, populist clerics message – make a successful Charisma check or lose any popularity you have with the people of this town.
15. You accidentally lose a sacred relic – you superiors are very distraught. You are sent on a pilgrimage for d4 weeks as penance.
16. Talked out of any spare cash you have on you by a sob-story-telling swindler. You have a big heart, but need to work on that Wisdom a bit more ;)
17. Accused of heresy. Make a Wisdom check to avoid the sanction of your Church against you.
18. Rival religion is jealous of your good works. You gain an enemy.
19. Accused of embezzlement of Church funds. Roll a Charisma check to clear your name.
20. You wore yourself out doing good deeds for the less fortunate. -2 to all To Hit Rolls and Saving Throws for the first day of your next adventure.

(This table was inspired by Jeff Rients' Carousing Table and input by: Jeremy Deram, John Johnson, Tim Knight, Michael Moscrip, Jeffrey Osthoff and Robert Parker)

A free PDF of this table can be downloaded here:
//docs.google.com/open?id=0B_hxdwpr8o2oZWY0MWE3NmMtZWVlNy00MjVlLWJmOTQtODk2MGMxODRmMTVm

For the original Carousing in Wessex Table please go here:
http://jrients.blogspot.com/2011/09/carousing-in-wessex.html

For Evan Elkins Magical Mishaps Table for Magic Users please see: http://inplacesdeep.blogspot.com/2012/01/crowdsourcing-magical-mishaps.html

Nightwick Abbey Session #3 Character Play Report

There are many dead in the world. Some lie quietly in the grave. Some are the living-dead lost souls that walk among us... lost and in need of the Church... and some have come back prematurely from the grave and Hell; the undead.”

- Brother Damian Bernard in his homily: The Dead Are Among Us

On the feast day of St. Crispin, I joined the efforts to rid the ruins Nightwick Abbey of the foul pestilence that has infected that once holy and sacred place. The company was made up of another cleric of the order (Brother Kolvun), myself and some companions that made me question the wisdom of the superiors that sent me to this task.There was a strange person named Blixa, who was an unseemly yet resourceful sort, who showed great ingenuity in laying traps for our foes. They had a canine compatriot that spoke! I know the Lord has used an ass to speak to his wayward servants, but I have never seen such a thing before... nor a talking, intelligent pig, who also accompanied us.

Upon reaching the almost totally destroyed walls of the abbey, we saw that the two north and south towers also lay in near ruin. To the west were the crypts and graveyard surrounding the abbey enclosure. We decided to descend the stairs to the catacombs that lay beneath the north tower.

It was not long before we ran across the bodies of those my companions called “berserkers” - no doubt some of the godless heathen barbarians that have plagued civilized lands for some time now. The bodies wore armor and face masks made of human skin. I would have felt revulsion if I was not so shocked at their cruel barbarity! Going yet deeper into the catacombs, we found passages that led to the what had been the shrines and tombs of the sainted dead. The funerary art work customarily placed on the walls of these has been worn from time. Many were also desecrated by blood and vulgarities painted over them in human gore and blood. I rinsed away the filth from as many as I could with holy water, but as I had little with me, I could not rectify all of what the cultists of the devil had done.

The third encounter with the undead in my short service to the church occurred upon the stairway leading down into the catacombs. The party was assailed by zombies. All of the party fought valiantly, but we had much distress in defeating these corruptions. My fellow brother was badly hurt, but I was able to assist him and he returned with us to finally destroy the undead creatures. The intelligent animals were very effective and even if I am unsure of their nature, I still thank the Holy One for their aid in this  pursuit.

We were able to liberate offering boxes of silver that were in one of the shrines. I have received no orders regarding recovered property of the Church, but if I survive, the share that I have from our explorations I will return to the abbot of my own monastic order. We plan on temporarily exiting the catacombs and returning with better provisions to continue this most righteous labor. God-willing, I will be able to soon report in person to both my Father Confessor and the Abbot of all that transpires at the ruins of Nightwick Abbey.

I shall end this report for now and I pray that I am granted valor and success in the name of all that is holy.

-|-

(This play report was written for Evan Elkins' Nightwick Abbey G+ session #3
for more info on Nightwick Abbey please see: http://inplacesdeep.blogspot.com/search/label/Nightwick%20Abbey )