Questioning the Cultists

In our Felltower campaign on Sunday, the PCs took prisoners (!) and didn't make extreme threats to give up everything or die instantly (!!) or rob them of every single thing they owned (!!!) and were actually nice to them!!!!

That's almost a whole post's worth of news right there.

It happened mostly because one wounded one threw down his sword and asked for quarter, and Kaylee (despite Bloodlust, but because of Code of Honor (Soldier's)) accepted his surrender. The guard offered to tell them everything in return for his life. The PCs captured another, and then extended the deal to the other five unconcious foes they were able to take prisoner after the fight ended.

This is what they learned:

- these guys are general ruffians, down-on-their-luck types, and mercenaries. They hooked up with the Cone-Hatted Cultists (who call themselves the Black Brotherhood) for the pay, mostly, and lack of other options.

- they were paid pretty well - they had 150-ish in silver and gold coins in their pockets.

- they weren't particularly well-equippped - heavy leather armor, pot helms (DR 4 segmented plate), cheap broadswords, light crossbows (ST 12), and medium shields. They wore cult black-and-burgundy robes but didn't wear their hoods.

- their overall morale was low. They said there were nine "fanatic" guards elsewhere in the complex, but better equipped.

- there is another level to the complex below the one they were captured on. It's accessible from a spiral staircase behind a door.

- there are gnolls downstairs.

- the Brotherhood is conducting some kind of sacrifices to some being in strange religious rituals. They were forced to chant along with some of them but were basically excluded from all of the really important bits - they really had only superficial information and didn't know what they were chanting. Sacrifices tend to be stragglers on the road, people who wander too close to the valley, and captives taken from afar.

- some of the guards have gone missing, and the official story is that some deserted, and others were sent on special long-term missions. The guards didn't believe this because it only happened when it was a while between prisoners being taken.

- the Brotherhood here is led by wizards - anywhere from four to six or more of them, the count varied by guard. The honcho is female, but with a disturbing voice. They've never seen her without her hood, but her voice echos a lot. She has an accent much like "that guy" - one pointed at Lenjamin of Cornwood. A Cornish renegade?

- the guards have never armor like Desmond's magescale. Possible wrinkle - Desmond painted and decorated his magescale to be really "attractive" and "eye-catching," so it's about as subtle as Austin Powers's VW Beetle.

And that's it so far. None of the guards joined Ambassador Durinn in his morning prayers, but he encouraged them to find the Good God. Desmond decided to help, by scolding these youngsters for being foolish and young and not following the Good God and hanging around with the wrong crowd and now you see what happens!

And let this be a lesson to evil bad guys - don't leave your least-reliable but somewhat informed men as your first line of defense. Keep your least reliable troops for "rear area" and low-level duty, not as your first line of defense.

Sharp observers will note that the group that built (maybe built) the upper levels of Felltower was called the Black Brotherhood. The cone-hatted cultists seem to have a mix of male and female leaders, while the Brotherhood leadership seems to have been all male. It's not been made clear if this is the same brotherhood, or a group that apes the old Brotherhood and seeks the value of the name but is not the same. How they all tie into the Masters aka the Gith isn't clear either, but there is clearly a lot of copying going on. At least now, though, most of the players have realized these are distinct groups even if they have overlaps. Or are probably distinct groups. They're not one universal and allied lot.