CONCLUSION
Avatar of Cas
CHAPTER 1
NEW DEMIGOD: CAS
Demigod (Neutral Evil) Also known as the Lord of Spite, the Red Grudge, and He Who Balances the Scales, Cas is the demigod of vengeance and of spite without end. He is the moose-headed god who nurses rage and fosters frustration. The scattered priesthood of Cas maintains that beneath the veneer of civilized folk lies the accumulated fire of all the injustices he or she has ever suffered, just waiting to be released; that all secretly worship Cas, even if only in their deepest, truest subconscious. Legend maintains that Cas was once a mortal man (a farmer, if such tales are to be believed), and that he lived in quiet peace with his friends and neighbors for many years. Then some unfortunate happenstance caused a rift with his fellows in the community—one that eventually claimed the lives of Cas’s entire family. Due to social politics, the offenders were never properly punished. In his rage, Cas appealed to the higher power in whom he had always believed. But when that higher power denied his appeal for justice, legend says that the sheer power of Cas’s rage and will was enough for him to exalt himself, by means of some cosmic force, to divine godhood. After slaking his thirst for vengeance on the town that wronged him, Cas transformed into the freakish deity of spite he is today. Portfolio: Spite, vengeance. Symbol: A rack of blood-tipped antlers. Domains: Destruction, Pain, Spite, Strength. The Pain domain appears in Book of Vile Darkness; the Spite domain is new and is detailed on page 126. Cleric Training: The Lord of Spite is perhaps unique in the way that he gathers his flock. Although many cults devoted to his worship do exist, Cas prefers to come to those who seem to call out to him with their private thoughts and
repressed urges. The soundless laments of those who seek vengeance for wrongdoing are as clamorous gongs to the ears of He Who Balances the Scales, and he is drawn to them even more than he is to those who already revere him and revel in his purpose. Quests: Cas cares most for the repayment of dark debts. He will go to great lengths to ensure that his followers do their utmost to fulfi ll that end. When they do conjoin, his followers form cabals devoted to a single, specific end. Once that end is completed, they often disband until the next time their hunger for revenge is aroused. The Lord of Spite expects a would-be suppliant to complete a quest of her own before being indoctrinated fully into his congregation. Such quests always revolve around the subject pursuing some unfinished business for which she harbors great rage. Prayers: Prayers to Cas are almost always spoken only after the supplicant has worked herself into near-hysteria with the pain and frustration of unrighted wrongs. It is understood that the Lord of Spite wishes to hear the pain in a worshiper’s voice: The greater the anguish, the more inclined he will be to reward the prayer in some way. Temples: Shrines to Cas are usually deeply personal affairs, and many individual worshipers don’t maintain a specific place in which to pray. As a deity of secrecy and hidden pain, Cas actually prefers that most of his worshipers keep him nowhere but bottled up inside their own souls, where he is free to stoke the embers of their rage and discontent. When an actual temple to Cas does get built, it is usually in a quiet, unassuming location, far from the prying and judgmental eyes of others. Cas’s temples tend to be small and secret places of primal instinct and emotion, light on pomp or decoration and heavy on the accumulated energy of men and women with rage to spare. Rites: The rites that Cas’s worshipers perform are not somber or complex rituals. They are Bacchanalian affairs, primal and pure—the congregants working one another into a state of frenzy, screaming out orgiastic diatribes in the demigod’s name. The idea behind the rites of Cas’s congregation is not catharsis but preparation for upcoming work to be done in the demigod’s name. The church of Cas teaches that true catharsis comes only in righting a festering wrong. Herald and Allies: The herald of Cas is a Huge devourer (Monster Manual, page 58) with 36 Hit Dice and a number of special abilities befitting its status. The foul thing makes off with the trapped soul of whomever it was sent to destroy or receive as an offering to Cas. If the devourer has a name, no one has ever learned it. It is simply (and effectively) known only as “the herald of Cas.” Cas is known to prefer working directly with those who revere him and seek his aid and strength. On rare occasions, he also works with evil outsiders of all types. Favored Weapon: Heavy mace.
DREAD ENCOUNTERS
If the PCs search Jonah’s study, they find a collection of books worth roughly 300 gp and a masterwork set of quills and inkwells worth roughly 80 gp. In addition, they find a few scattered coins totaling 27 gp inside the desk’s storage compartments. If the PCs read through his papers, they can find a reference on one of the property deeds that mentions the barn’s former owner as being one Anderton Rollings. A successful DC 18 Knowledge (local) check or a successful DC 21 Knowledge (history) check enables a PC to recall something about a man named Anderton Rollings, a local farmer, being linked with some dark god in the time after his disappearance from Eastbrook about ten years ago. The PCs should gain experience appropriate to an EL 5 encounter if they succeed in dissipating Jonah’s essence. Each PC should also receive a bonus XP award of up to 100 XP, depending on how they handle both the townsfolk and the scribe’s ghost. Unless they leave Eastbrook immediately, however, the story won’t end there. Jonah Parsons will return in 2d4 days, just as eager as ever to renew his hunt for his own flesh and blood. If the PCs agreed to hear him out, and believes that his baby daughter might indeed be some demon-spawn, then this encounter is but the fi rst act in a much longer story. How it plays out is up to the DM—and, of course, the players.
CR 25
Male demigod NE Large outsider (avatar) Init +11 Senses tremorsense 60 ft. Listen +26, Spot +31 Languages Abyssal, Common, Druidic, Infernal, Sylvan telepathy 100 ft.
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