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.

Witch Oracle - a strange and powerful NPC encounter

Just in time for Halloween:
The Witch Oracle

The Witch Oracle is a powerful sorceress. They are a rare, solitary type of witch, living in secluded places that others do not frequent. They may live in a hut in a dangerous swamp, in a hidden cave, at a ruined temple, a stormy mountain top or any other creepy, perilous and appropriate site. The point is that finding a Witch Oracle is not easy and the place where they live is fraught with enough natural dangers to dissuade the average person from approaching their lair.

A Game Master might want to include a Witch Oracle in the game when rare and vital information is needed to be acquired by a Player Character or a party of characters. Quests, recovery of valuable artifacts, knowledge of the weakness of a foe, the need to know the whereabouts of a lost loved one, etc. are all possible reasons for PCs to inquire of a Witch Oracle.

Witch Oracles are capable of foretelling future events, remotely seeing over great distances, casting curses and have secret knowledge that no one else possesses. For their information, there is always a price. Here are some possible ways of handling that:

1- The Game Master may have previously made it known that the Witch Oracle requires a specific rare item (such as a spell component that is dangerous and difficult to get – a Roc's egg, for instance)

2- The PCs may not know what it is that the Witch Oracle wants until they ask her for information, at which time, she will name her price – something that could lead the PCs into to a side-quest to get for her.

3- The Witch Oracle may demand to have sexual relations with the querent or the PC with the highest Charisma stat, if an entire party is seeking knowledge. Here is where one of the abilities of the Witch Oracle comes into play. The Witch Oracle is capable of making her appearance be that of any type of woman of any race. When the PCs first see her, she will appear as a woman of any form, with an apparent 18 Charisma. Any person seeing the Witch Oracle in this form must make a Saving Roll vs Charm or be enamored of her beauty. (“Surely the foolish people that warned the PCs of seeing the Oracle must be superstitious and mistaken!”)

Her true form is, however, extremely hideous; that of an old crone, with bugling eyes, warts, large nose or any other way in which the Game Master wants her to truly be – the point being that she is really a Charisma of 3 and extremely ugly to look upon. The crone will not reveal her true form until after the unnatural sexual union has occurred. There is a 20% chance of the Oracle becoming pregnant with a PCs child if they have relations with her. The pregnancy will last 3 months. The child born of this union will be a powerful child, mirroring both the abilities of its mother and those of the father. This could lead to some interesting adventures in the future. The child will always disdain its father and will seek somehow to make their life miserable, if not to end it! It only takes one year for the child to grow to maturity.

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Anyone that kills the Witch Oracle is always cursed. This is a good rumor to spread to the PCs beforehand as a warning, to make her seem even more terrifying. No matter how a Witch Oracle dies, even if decapitated or disintegrated, etc.immediately afterwards, an audible voice will curse the specific person(s) who caused her death.

Possible Curses:

1- The PC(s) are doomed to never complete their quest!

In this case, all rolls made by the PCs will be at a minus two [-2] until the quest or adventure is completed.

2- The PC(s) will be told that they will be haunted by the Witch Oracle for the rest of their days!

If this is the case, they will have nightmares every night, slowing healing and causing exhaustion in the character(s) until an Exorcism/Banishment is performed by a high-level Cleric, which is another possible quest.

3- The PC(s) will be cursed to rot until they reach the grave, where the Witch Oracle threatens to consume their soul!

The killer(s) will begin to be covered with oozing sores and begin to rot for 1 unrecoverable Hit Point per day. This can only be removed by a combination of Cure Disease & Dispel Curse(or Chaos) being used upon the sufferer(s).

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The Witch Oracle will not harm the PCs if they do as she bids and do not harm her in any way. The Oracle always has a familiar appropriate to her natural surroundings. This creature will fight to protect her to the death, if she is attacked.

An Oracle is always of equal or higher level to that of the most advanced PC and will have Magic Spells of that level (determined by the Game Master).

If treated well and her bidding is done, the Witch oracle can also give a Boon to the PC(s).
A Boon is a sort of “blessing”, such as plus one (+1) to all rolls involving a specific upcoming encounter, which will be foretold by the Witch Oracle. This is up to the Game Master's discretion and can be anything the GM wants it to be, in addition to any information gleaned from the Witch Oracle, as was originally purposed in seeing her.

A visit with a Witch Oracle should be handled as a major encounter in an adventure/quest, not merely as advanced rumor gathering or the like. A good Game Master will be able to use her to good effect in making any adventure or quest more interesting.

Waiting For Midnight

Fog filled the air, coming in off of the bay as a shadowed figure moved through the streets. This night was like many others in the city of Luindel and night was when Adelwulf did most of his business, if he could help it. Slipping down an alley, the rogue stopped and listened for several minutes to determine if he were followed or not. The moon above was as obscured by the fog as he was below. Sensing that all was clear, he made straight for the door of the Drunken Druid inn.

Once inside, the cool damp air turned to alcohol-scented, smoky damp air – but Adelwulf found it somewhat pleasant, because it was the familiar environment where he conducted his affairs. The table at the back of the room was empty, even though the rest were filled with carousers and loud chatter. he threw his cape upon the back of the chair and sat down. This was his reserved spot at one of several establishments around town. Here at the far corner of the Drunken Druid, Adelwulf could spy out the clientele for new-comers, fresh and ready to lose their purses in a card game... or he could sift the conversations for rumors that might lead to other prospects.

Just as these thoughts flashed through his mind, the serving wench, Marie, came with his usual: a snifter of aged brandy from the unusually well-stocked reserves of this otherwise seedy-looking place. She was certainly the best thing to be seen around here. Adelwulf rose, removed his hat and bowed to her as if she were a noblewoman. She giggled as he placed the coins in her hand and let his linger upon hers for a brief moment, smiling. As Marie left, she glanced back over her shoulder at the scoundrel, but he made sure not to be seen noticing. “Another night, like many other nights”, he thought, “yet something more than fog is in the air”.

Adelwulf Volker, supposed son of a lowly baron and master of the underground world of Luindel drank a sip of his brandy … and he waited; waited in this place that he could almost call his second home... waited for his midnight appointment to enter...