DRAG YOU TO HELL, or; Don't Eat the Food

Okay, so I did auguries and prayers. I did patron saints and heroes. Now it's time for Devils and Faeries.

Devils and Faeries are extradimensional alien creatures who are will to trade you something here and now for the chance to take your soul once you're done piloting a meat suit. The power or gifts they trade to you invariably come with a hidden cost and/or run dry before you're done needing them, and the more you call on them the easier it gets to do so - for a while.

These rules are intended to complement the entry about calling on gods for augury and divine intervention. Those require effort and spending on your part, and are limited in effect. Making a deal with a Duke of Hell or a Fey Lord is comparatively easy and rewarding. You just, y'know, have to go to hell afterwards.

Rather than keep saying "Demon or Faery" or whatever, I'm just going to refer to them collectively as Powers. You could probably use this to include gaining power from eldritch Elder Things and whatnot but I imagine that to be more the theological equivalent of sticking your finger in a light socket.

Also, these rules assume a game where you don't instantly die at 0 HP.

MAKING A DEAL

Step 1: Identify a Power and find out how to contact.

Step 2: Conduct the ritual, offer the sacrifice. If things go well, the Power will appear and offer you a gift. If things go really poorly they'll still show up but you're not going to enjoy it.

Step 3: Trade a sliver of your soul for the gift.

Step 1 - The Power and the Ritual

There are three components needed to summon a power: the Symbol, the Incantation, and the Sacrifice.  The Symbol must be drawn or etched on a surface - this is where the Power will appear. The Incantation is a ritual chant, song, howling, etc, that must be repeated while the sacrifice is made. Finally the Sacrifice must be made. Total up all the modifiers (given in the chart below) and roll a d20. If the roll is below the target, the ritual is successful and the Power appears. If a 20 is rolled, the Power still appears but they are bound by no ritual and will probably just drag your soul out of your body for fun.

Making a Deal Chart

Regular Sacrifice - Base target of 10

Rare Sacrifice - Base target of 15

Slivers Given - +1 each

Additional people conducting the chant - +1 each

Step 2 - The Bargain

Each Power has gifts they grant. The normal bargain is to trade Slivers of your soul for these gifts. You can always try to bargain for something else, but the Power will likely have more... exotic requests. Agree on the bargain, including specific terms for repayment. The gifts listed in the Power's entry are the most common things, but the list is not exhaustive.

Step 3 - The Price

If the price is one or more Slivers of your soul, payment is immediate. Mark them down on your sheet (or increase your running total). If the price was something, pay it now or arrange to pay it later under specific conditions.

PAYMENT COMES DUE

When you are reduced to zero hit points, or once per day while in the Power's home plane, roll a d20. If the result is under your current total Slivers given to that power a servant of their shows up to claim your soul. The servant's HD/CR/level is equal to the roll of the die. You ever die, then your soul is forefit and claimed immediately. You cannot be resurrected unless someone physically finds it and reclaims it (or makes another bargain to get it back). Some Powers only claim a soul for a given period, after which you can be resurrected.

If you have paid Slivers to more than one power, stack them when making the roll. So if you've paid 3 slivers to The White Prince, and 2 to the Fiachsidhe then upon being reduced to 0 HP if you roll a 1-3 a servant of The White Prince will appear, or a servant of the Fiachsidhe on a 4-5.

DESPERATE PLEAS

You can call out to a Power at any time for a gift. These gifts are usually much less potent than when making a sacrifice, but they can help in a pinch. The price is still the same, though.

When you make a desperate please, roll a d20. If you get over your total Slivers owed to that Power, the bargain is struck. You can increase the result rolled by up to +10 by offering a suitable sacrifice, in addition to the one or more Slivers spent as normal. Failure to follow through on the sacrifice generally has dire consequences.

THE WHITE PRINCE

King of Hell and All Demons, Wisest Teacher, the Sixth Pentarch

The White Prince is typically invoked through his greatest servant on the mortal plane, His Shadow. When he takes a soul, he binds it to the form of a familiar until they have tempted a wizard into the service of The White Prince.

Symbol: 19 white candles around a 19-pointed star drawn in red ink, red wax, or blood.

Incantation:

O Prince of Magic, hear us!

O Prince of Truths, hear us!

In the name of Your Merciful Shadow, I call to thee!

From the depth of this world of lies, I call to thee!

For the promise you made to all who live and die, I call to thee!

O Prince, who does not know of thy magic?

O Prince, who does not know of thy wisdom?

O Prince, open the door to the font of thy knowing

O Prince, let me bask in Your Divine Shadow

Holo dano dholo ka kaddk kluvd!

Holo dano dholo ka kaddk kluvd!

Holo dano dholo ka kaddk kluvd!

Sacrifice: Goat or sheep, a religious text, the blindfold of blind man

Rare sacrifice: A lamb, born with white wool and two heads

Typical Gift: A spell. Trades 1 Sliver per spell level. The new spell can be from any spell list, but must be of a level you would normally be able to cast.

A spell slot. You gain an additional spell slot. Costs 1 Sliver per level of the new slot. The slot can be one level higher than your current max, but this costs an additional 5 Slivers.

Rare Gift: Spellcasting ability. Choose a class. You can pick two 1st level spells that class has access to. You can cast these spells once per day, with the spellcasting ability of that class. You can only learn more by making further deals with The White Prince.

THE FIACHSIDHE

Mistress of the Wild Hunt, Immortal Hostess, Seneschal of the Green Court

The Fiachsidhe is a powerful Faery noble, said to ride across the realm of Faery on a bronze chariot pulled by eight enormous hounds. She leads the Wild Hunt on excursions into the mortal realms, and enforces the laws of hospitality in Faery. She binds mortals to the form of a hound, and keeps them to pull her chariot for 100 hundred years. Of course, the Feary understanding of linear time is... loose.

Symbol: Nine dog skulls, stacked in a pyramid and inscribed with the nine names of the moon.

Incantation: 

hairr suna feirr eddaldaiul du na

ai serr dha Fiachsidhe dha wairn hildas

ai serr dha Fiachsidhe dha hurdarr

ai serr dha Fiachsidhe dha ruilnas ull dsinfadr

ai serr dha Fiachsidhe du eain na

du daesh na

ai serr dha Fiachsidhe

Sacrifice: a fine feast, a bronze torc or trumpet, a stag heart freshly butchered

Rare Sacrifice: The heart of a man hunted and slain

Typical Gift: A point of Inspiration (or equivalent)

Roll one of your Hit Dice and increase your Max HP by the result. This cannot bring you above your maximum possible HP.

An Arrow of Slaying. The target type is of very narrow focus. If you know the True Name of the target, you get d3 instead of just 1.

Rare Gift: A Horn of the Hunt. You can sound this horn once per full moon to summon a 2d6 HD/CR/level servant of the Fiachsidhe. The servant will aid you for d4 hours and then return to Faery.

BATHIM, THE OPENER OF WAYS

Bathim is a duke of Hell, and knows the routes and ways between dimensions. He can speed travellers on their way, or mire armies for days. He appears as a muscular man with the tail and head of a snake, riding a roan horse. Souls he takes are bound to his horse's tail, to be dragged across the surface of one thousand roads.

Symbol:

Incantation:

Bathim, Bathim, open the way

Bathim, Bathim, show me the way

Bathim, Bathim, knower of doors

Bathim, Bathim, I call unto thee

Bathim, Bathim, show me the way!

Sacrifice: A soldier's foot, a horse, dust from another plane

Rare Sacrifice: The keystone of an interplanar doorway.

Typical Gift: Speeds your next journey to a known destination by d6 days (you will simply cover distance faster without seeming to)

Tells you the route to a named location

Opens a door, gate, or portal that no-one living has passed through

Rare Gift: Opens a stable gateway to another realm, OR, gives you access to a pocket dimension you could claim for your own.

BELHOR, THE MAKER OF CROWNS

Belhor is a powerful King of Hell, said to be second only to the White Prince himself. Belhor appears as stronger, more beautiful, more frightening version of the current monarch of whatever realm the summoner resides in, and is always crowned with fire. Belhor is said to have the power to raise the lowest commoner to the heights of power and nobility. Souls bound by Belhor are doomed to place ten thousand bricks upon the ever-growing walls of his infernal fortress.

Symbol:

Incantation:

Of all the Thrones and Princes, I exhort thee Belhor

Before all the Lords and Swords, I beseech thee Belhor

Belhor, maker of crowns

Belhor, breaker of kings

Belhor, who stands behind all thrones

Belhor, I call you!

Sacrifice: An eagle, the mane of a lion, the bones of a prince

Rare sacrifice: The head of a landed noble

Typical Gift: Tells you of a noble who will reward service with land and title, and the service they need.

Tells you of a noble who can be overthrown, and how it might be done.

Tells you of a title that lies vacant, and how it might be claimed.

Rare Gift: Belhor will tell you of a crown you can claim for your own, and how it might be won. The path will be hard, and there will be a condition you must meet lest Belhor reverse your destiny.

Saints and Heroes of Dunador, and their Cults

Okay, so Last Time In Dunador it was about auguries and sacrifices. This time it's patron saints and heroes.  The saints and shrines concept and rules come from here:

https://espharel.blogspot.com/2019/12/osr-shrines-and-patron-saints.html

https://espharel.blogspot.com/2020/01/osr-5-saints-and-shrines-for-your-game.html

For clarity, a "patron saint" is from the heliopapist religion and is, like, Saint Christopher or something. "Heroes" are the pagan equivalent, like worshiping Achilles or Asclepius. Functionally, they're the same thing. You could probably also go for a genius loci (protector spirit of a place), but that would probably necessitate staying in one place so I'm not going to do entries for any off the hop.

You can dedicate yourself to a saint or hero without becoming a full member of their cult, and you can freely change which saint or hero you're dedicated to (though your fellow adherents might be a bit miffed, especially if you were a regular donor to the shrine). You can become a proper member of the cult, though that is a somewhat more involved process.

Also I should clarify that herein I'm using cult in the old sense, a set of practices related to the worship of a specific divinity, rather than the modern pejorative sense. Don't worry, Dunador still has its fair share of that kind of cult, too.

To recap the rules:

If you dedicate yourself to a patron saint or hero by worshiping and sacrificing at their shrine, and live by their strictures, you gain access to a floating spell you can cast 1/day. Multiple party members can share in the dedication, but you only gain one casting of the spell. These spells are always 1st level (or equivalent). If the spellcasting modifier is needed, it is equal to the number of PCs in the party present who are dedicated to the shrine.

You can increase the number of times a spell can be cast in a day by making additional sacrifices at the shrine. These sacrifices cost 25gp * your level * each additional spell level gained (max of 4). The bonus spell levels last for one day. You can combine bonus spell levels to cast the spell at a higher level.

Shrine of Saint Spurius

Patron saint of healers, barbers, sheep-shearing, lost children, and florists.

Shrine: A statue of a lamb-headed man carrying a shepherd's crook and decorated with flowers

Cult: Saint Spurius is especially popular in rural areas where healers are rare, or in urban areas where healing and medicine are expensive. Particularly devout followers wear a sprig of local flower in their hair at all times.

Spell: Cure Wounds

Strictures of Saint Spurius: 

You must always give aid to children and the young.

Trust not the untrimmed and unkempt.

Carry flowers with you as you would carry the Saint.

A Favourite Prayer to Saint Spurius:

Gentle Spurius, guide our path to health as you would guide a child to its mother. Grant us your blessing, that we might forever bloom in your light.

Shrine of Saint Killhart

Patron saint of hounds, infants, heroic sacrifice, the falsely accused. She's a dog.

Shrine: A grave mound surrounded sheep or cattle bones.

Cult: New or expectant parents, rangers and soldiers, hound-keepers, convicts. The faithful wear a dried paw, usually from a beloved pet, or pawprint tattoo.

Spell: Heroism

Strictures of Saint Killhart

Defend the defenceless

Do your duty, even if it leads to your end

Take joy in the chase

A Favourite Prayer to Saint Killhart:

Faithful Killhart, guardian of souls, your humble servant calls to you. Grant me courage so I may do what is needed of me. I beg this of you as your faithful child, o eternal guardian. Empower me with your divine warmth.

Shrine of Hildegard the Fox

Hildegard was a minor queen who lived in the chaotic time between the fall of the old Empire and the founding of Dunador. Her realm was small, and poor, but she was cunning and staved off all conquerors with cunning and guile until she won a promise that her realm would never be invaded while her family ruled. After her death, her son married into the founding house of Dunador and united the two kingdoms. Hildegard is revered as a trickster, a hero for the underdog and overlooked.

Shrine: A menhir, hung with carved masks of many faces.

Cult: Hildegard is worshiped by thieves, actors, the poor and oppressed, and those facing impossible challenges. The cult of Hildegard dis often discouraged or even suppressed for its association with criminals and rebels. Each local cult has its own signs of recognition it shares only with the trusted.

Spell: Marble Madness: Your pockets are full of marbles, and will refill every round.

Strictures of Theobald: 

Where wolves fear, foxes dare

The boot that steps on a neck is a foot planted in the grave

Violence stains, cleverness lasts

A Favourite Prayer to Theobald:

We are not now that strength which in old days

Moved earth and heaven; that which we are, we are;

One equal temper of heroic hearts,

Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will

To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield

Shrine of Notos

The south-wind that blows from the desert. When he is gentle, he scatters the flowers and pollinates the fruit trees. When he is angry, he brings lashing winds of sand from the heart of the desert to destroy crops. Notos dates from the Old Empire, and continues to be venerated throughout southern Dunador.

Shrine: A log or tree, hung with bits of wood and stone with long hole bored through them to sing when the south-wind blows.

Cult: Farmers, traders, bee-keepers, explorers, guides. Whenever going indoors or underground, the faithful always bow to the south to ask Notos to welcome them back when they return.

Spell: Gust of Wind

Strictures of Notos:

Go gently when you can, harshly when you must.

Go where you will. Let nothing stop you, not even the mountain.

Be formless, shapeless, without a centre to attack.

A Favourite Prayer to Notos:

Rather than prayers spoken aloud, worshipers of Notos call on him by rattling windchimes and using bullroarers.