Faction Friday: The Eyetooth Cult

RPG Faction

The Eyetooth Cult can be used either as a friendly faction that sends the PCs out on a mission, or as a foe that the PCs must overcome. It is led by Bariam Incisor, an old human man who wears a black, hooded cloak and carries a gnarled staff. The cult bases itself in an abandoned crypt where a werewolf is interred.

As a friendly faction, the Eyetooth Cult is a small cult to Cala, a canine god. Their leader has set himself up in an abandoned crypt to a powerful werewolf, where he’s careful not to desecrate anything, and his followers meet here once a week to perform simple rituals.

Plot hook: An enemy group has stolen Bariam’s staff of dreaming, which is a symbol of his authority within the cult. He pays handsomely for its return. The enemy group wants it to invade the dreams of a foe.

As a foe faction, the Eyetooth Cult is a pack of gnolls led by a werewolf who controls them with a staff of domination. He has secreted the gnolls in an abandoned crypt to a powerful werewolf, who he wants to raise as an undead servant.

Plot hook: The cult has been raiding nearby settlements (even dominated gnolls need food). During a recent raid, the village’s healer saw the staff and realized its purpose, and the village elders will pay the PCs to bring back the staff, broken, as proof that Bariam’s power is no longer.

The Crypt of Callahan Room 1: Entrance Room 2 Room 3 Friendly: Two acolytes sit at a small, book-covered table in this small stone entrance chamber, studying their books. Foe: Two gnolls keep watch in this small stone entrance chamber.

This otherwise empty chamber contains three sarcophagi (one along each side wall and a large one at the end) and four gargoyles. Stepping on any of the floor tiles in a 10’x10′ square at the room’s entrance causes darts to fire at the triggering creature (1d8 damage; DC 12 Dexterity saving throw for half damage). A DC 15 Wisdom (Perception) check will identify the trap. Moving past the trap causes the gargoyles to animate if the intruders are unknown to them. The cult usually performs its rituals in this chamber. Three copper ritual bowls lay on top of the large sarcophagus.

Each sarcophagus is carved with the image of a half-man, half-wolf. Each contains the skeleton of a human; the main sarcophagus also contains a small gold ring.

Bariam spends much of his time in this chamber off the main crypt. It contains a simple bed, chair, and table, on top of which are stacks of books about lycanthropy. If attacked, this room will contain a force of cultists or gnolls guarding Bariam. A creature within 5 feet of Bariam can make a DC 15 Strength check to wrest the staff away from him and break it. Doing so ends his control of the gnolls, and they will attack anyone they please.

 

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