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Symbol: A raven.

 

Background, Goals, and Dreams: Cold quiet halls draped in black velvets and shadows. Whispers echo from dark corners broken occasionally by the croaking of ravens from the rookery. Locked doors and plastic smiles greet guests at every junction. These are the typical Halls of the Shadow Sanctum within the House of Five. Nobody knows who it was or when it was that the Shadow Sanctum was founded. Nor do most people care to dig into the private past of the church of secrets and lies. Publicly the church has no headquarters and states that it requires none to operate smoothly. It is known within the church however that the Shadow Sanctum is run from Tellduras, the planar metropolis home of Ravis in the Shadow’s Den. The members of the Shadow Sanctum would like nothing more than to fuel their own greed and power, even betraying each other if they think they can get ahead from it. It is probably good that such an organization has no problems with feeding on itself, for if it were unified it would pose a dire threat to all mankind.

 

Enemies: Although the Bond of the Divine keeps divine casters at bay while inside the House of the Five. It does little to mask the hatred that the Shadow Sanctum feels for Glitanius and his servants in the Gates of Panacea. These two organizations usually work to undermine each other. The Shadow Sanctum has poor relations with most people, being well known as a place of lies and evil. However, the Shadow Sanctum not without friends, the Black Iron Company accepts contracts on a regular basis from the Shadow Sanctum, and considers them one of their best clients and allies.

 

Members: The church of Ravis cannot be too picky. Most decent folk steer clear of such a group. But, there are many ways one might get involved with such an openly evil god. In any society, there is greed, ambition, desire and curiosity. These are the types of people that come willingly to the Shadow Sanctum. Murderers, rapists, sadists, egomaniacs, the shunned or just plain wicked people do exist in most urban areas and become prime candidates for membership. Lastly, the forgotten, broken, weak willed and desperate that visit the House of Five are often lured into service by promises of power. These are the souls treasured most by the sweet talking servants of Ravis. New members are taken into the Halls, where they are ordained with profane oils and told to speak the Rites of Binding, which will bring them into Ravis’ grace. Once ordained into the Shadow Sanctum the member may gain affiliation. To willingly break your tie with this organization you must obtain an atonement spell from a cleric of another faith.

 

Holidays: Shades Dawn, Shades, Shades Eve: Beginning on the 3rd Oathday of Candlemoore with Shades Dawn and lasting through the 3rd Restingday of Candlemoore on Shades Eve. On the week of Shades the clergy of Ravis lock themselves away from civilization. They make sacrifices and oaths to the god of death. Sometimes these sacrifices are moral, material or even unwilling creatures. Little is known of this holiday outside the halls of the Shadow Sanctum by any other than the most wizened of sages. Curfews are sometimes put into effect during this week as people tend to go missing.

 

Type: Religious Branch of the House of Five

 

Affiliation Score Criteria: Those that openly seek membership within the Shadow Sanctum are usually criminals, outcasts or the lower scum of life. But from time to time a member is tricked into joining through pretty words or false promises. It is said some nobles offer praise to the God of Lies however they would never make their names publicly known. Good people are often weeded out by the organization, come the holiday of Shades.

 

Criterion: (One Time)

Affiliation Score Modifier

Character level

+1/2 character level

Evil alignment

+1

Cleric of Ravis or Maligner class

+1

Owns a sacrificial dagger, a special masterwork dagger worth at least 5,000 GP

+1

Has low light vision

+1

Has dark vision

+2

Has 5 ranks in the bluff skill

+1

Has 10 ranks in the bluff skill

+2

Has the poison use special ability

+2

Has 10 ranks in the linguistics skill

+4

Once served another deity as a cleric

+4

Alignment other than evil

-5

Easily recognizable

-10

 

 

Criterion: (Multiple Times)

Affiliation Score Modifier

Successfully poisons a living creature

+1

Uses unholy spells to damage good aligned creatures

+1, per encounter

Lies to help accomplish a task set forth by the church

+1

Converts a new member

+1

Converts a new member through lies or seduction

+2

Sacrifices a helpless good aligned creature ritualistically

+1/4 creatures HD

Sacrifices a helpless good outsider ritualistically

+1/2 creatures HD

Destroys a good aligned item, artifact or altar

+2

Successfully infiltrates another church

+6

Gets caught in a lie

-1

Fails to succeed at a mission set forth by the church

-2

Knowingly associates with members of another church outside of spying

-5

Gets caught while undercover in another church

-6

 

Titles, Benefits, and Duties: Each Hall of the Shadow Sanctum is more like an arena of spiders. Where a delicate yet sticky net has been spun, waiting for the right person to fall in. Rank is openly respected, but behind closed doors the servants of Ravis plot and scheme against each other as much as they do the rest of the world. Orders from superiors are to be obeyed, or you may be facing the tables on the week of Shades. Failure within the group is a sign of weakness, and it won’t take the Shadow Sanctum long to deal with its weakest link. Members of the Shadow Sanctum can feel the darkness of each other while in the Hall, and therefore establish rank based on this supernatural pull which they call the Pull of Darkness. The more one pleases the god of shadows, the more favor they earn. All servants of the Shadow Sanctum hope to serve well enough to be invited into the Shadow Court in Tellduras.

 

Affiliation Score

Title: Benefits and Duties

3 or lower

Faceless: No affiliation

4-10

Nameless: You may now spend a standard action to sense the Pull of Darkness on any individual within line of sight while within the Halls of the Shadow Sanctum. You take a -4 penalty on diplomacy checks when dealing with other members of the Shadow Sanctum. You may use any Hall’s rookery to send a message via raven to any other Hall of the Shadow Sanctum

11-15

Shaded: You gain a +2 bonus on all stealth checks when in low light or no illumination.

16-22

Shadow: Once per day as part of a move action you may move through any difficult terrain as though it were not difficult. While moving in this manner you gain the effect of a displacement spell. You may choose to move in this manner even if no difficult terrain is present, this is a supernatural ability.

23-29

Lie Weaver: Once per day as a full round action you can use suggestion as a spell like ability, the DC to resist this effect is 12 + your charisma modifier. You take a -1 penalty on all saving throws against spells with the good descriptor.

30 or Higher

Dark Lord: Your mouth secretes poison which you are immune to but others find highly toxic. As a move action you can apply this poison to a held weapon. The poison secreted from your mouth becomes inert if not used within 3 rounds.

Shadow Spittle

Type: Poison, injury; Save: Fortitude DC = 10 + ½ character level, Onset: 1 round, Frequency: 1/round for 3 rounds, Effect: 1d4 Strength damage, Cure: 1 save