Serlen was a mild-mannered monk of the Tall Abbey. Perhaps it was because he was so mild-mannered that he was chosen. After the autumn of the year 483, the monk Serlen was never seen again.
An hour’s walk from Tall Abbey there was a chapel in the woods. Within the chapel’s basement there was a narrow hallway which turned a corner just too late, and a room with a closet just too shallow. In the wall at the back of the closet was, if you knew to look closely, a single loose brick.
In the new year of 484, many monks started reporting a sense of uneasiness whenever they had to visit the chapel. Even on a bright morning with the sun shining directly through the stained glass windows the space felt dim and claustrophobic.
The High Priestess of Tall Abbey could often be seen standing in the corner that turned too late, leaning her head back against the wall, murmuring to herself with a look of anguish.
Throughout all of 484, 485, and 486, in the nearby village, the reports of curses, hauntings, and witches fell to nearly zero.
In the spring of 487, the High Priestess abruptly left Tall Abbey to join a different monastery.
The next week, the Abbot was found dead in the room beneath the chapel, suffocated by smoke. The too-shallow closet was wide open, and its back wall was missing a brick. The hole was too narrow to see much through, but it revealed a small, dark chamber.
The day after that, every resident of Tall Abbey was murdered.
Escaped Anchorite
You’re telepathically linked with a demon. It’s not really a warlock-patron situation - the real pact was made between your monastery and some high-ranking devil in the underworld. The demon is locked in a room in Hell like you were in the real world. They have no loyalty to Hell and in fact hold a pretty big grudge. They have no loyalty to you, either, they only helped you because they hold just as big of a grudge against your monastery.
Swap your Charisma with your lowest attribute - you spent years in isolation.
A: Hell’s insight, Cloister, Poltergeist
B: Evil Face, Hit Hard
C: Kindred Spirit
D: PSYCHOpomp
Hell’s insight: This is the pact made on your behalf, for which you were bound against your will. If another player asks you a question you don’t know the answer to, you can let the GM answer instead, with the worst possible truthful answer they can think of.
Cloister: You can hear voices and communicate clearly through walls. You can always tell people apart by their voice. If you press your ear against a wall you can tell how many people are in the space on the other side.
Poltergeist: Your demon has given you 1 MD with which you can cast Knock. It replenishes with a long rest. This is how you escaped.
Evil Face: You may use the demon’s Charisma instead of your own in ways that cause confusion, despair, or anger, or in ways that undermine authority. The demon’s Charisma is 1 higher than your highest attribute.
Hit Hard: Your unarmed strikes deal damage like a club. You can’t make them nonlethal.
Kindred Spirit: You’ve come to an understanding with your demon. You allow the demon to turn undead and smite fiends. This will certainly let them escape. (From their cell, not Hell in general, though they’re likely to be a menace down there.)
In return, you may spend four hours meditating to swap your Poltergeist ability’s spell with another spell from the demon’s spell list. In addition to Knock, it probably contains things like Protection from Good, Disguise, Fear, Brimstone Bolt, etc.
PSYCHOpomp: As long as you are in the real world and the demon is in the underworld, the two of you form a dread psychic conduit of souls. Your unarmed strikes now deal damage like a great hammer. Whenever you kill a creature with an unarmed strike, you replenish your MD if it was depleted.
