It’s Midgard Monday! Each week, we visit a corner of the wide world of Midgard. Look for standalone content you can drop into your campaign—whether it’s in Midgard or your own homebrew. Find new inspiration each Midgard Monday!

Since priests first raised temples and shrines, the devout have traveled to pay their reverence. Pilgrims cross rivers and mountains, brave war zones and bandit attacks to see relics, hear the word of seers, and feel the touch of the divine, demonstrating their piety through sacrifice and journey.

Midgard is no different than our own world in this regard. So take up your walking staff and begin down the trail as we look at pilgrims, pilgrimages, and holy sites in Midgard.

The Labyrinth is the world between worlds. It can connect Midgard to your campaign!
It’s live right now and HOT!

Forbidden Faith

(Look it up ion the Midgard Map tool!)

As the Great Mage Wars burned the scar of the Wasted West into the face of Midgard, the god Bacchana urged her most pious and powerful followers to greater and more devastating acts of violence. Worship of the goddess of wealth, night, influence, magic, and fertility dominated the magocracies, and found a strong following in the Septime cities as the elven mask of Baccholon, even after the elves left for the Summerlands.

Bacchana became obsessed with the Great Old Ones drawn from beyond the Void. She demanded sacrifices of flesh torn from them for her to divinely assimilate. She rewarded those who sought mental communion with the towering horrors, serving as conduits between the creatures’ inscrutable psyches and the goddess, giving her slivers of insight.

With each mind shattered by those unspeakable connections, Bacchana encouraged the terrible violence of the Mage Wars. Cities melted beneath storms of amethyst lightning that flayed and disjointed innocents too unfortunate or unwilling to flee before opposing archmagi.

The many orders and followers of Mavros, Khors, Hecate, Lada, Aten, even Sarastra, turned on the goddess. Her temples and sacred groves were sacked, burned, and desecrated, although her enemies would say they were “purified” of her otherworldly lust. Councils, rulers, and communities forbade her worship, even the mention of her name. Soon followers called Bacchana by the epithet evoking her avatar’s satyr-like form, clad in a cloak of stars, the Black Goat of the Woods. This oppression meant the grand temple-grove of Baccholon in Valera saw the trees stripped and sold for lumber, the marble blocks and cladding peeled away and repurposed, the catacombs filled with barrels of trash.

What Remains

Fortunately for those who kept their faith in the Goat of the Woods, the campaign against her and her religious centers was not swift. The Speakers for the Goat, her high priests, had time to hide relics; conceal copies of the goddess’ sacred word, the Viridian Codex; and fashion concealed temple-groves in secluded caverns, reinforced and enchanted.

Many of these survive, hidden in the magocracies’ ruined cities. Finding one is the first of three pilgrimage-quests the Goat’s worshippers undertake. The other two include a dangerous journey to find the Mother’s Grove in the Ghostlight Forest, and a circuit of as many of the Dread Walkers as a petitioner can manage.

Who goes on such fraught, forbidden pilgrimages? Family cults bound by ancient bargains kept secret for generations, arcanists and priests hungering for the power the Goat of the Woods promises, and those oppressed or desperate, seeking an advocate or patron who offers heady fulfillment of bloody vengeful dreams with no questions asked, just demands of devotion.

Path the First: The Blessed Work

The most common pilgrimage for a secret follower of Bacchana is a quest to discover the lost temples and relics concealed in an area by generations of previous faithful. Called “the blessed work,” this task may reach a petitioner by dream, fragmentary texts or letters, or at the urging of a wandering Speaker, fellow believer, or herald like a selang.

These projects of discovery separate the casual from the devout and familiarize members with the dark, secret places in their community. It is difficult to discount the sense of accomplishment gained by someone who believes they found what dozens of powerful organizations sought to hide.

Path the Second: The Shaded Path

Those who desire more take up “The Shaded Path,” attempting to find the Mother’s Grove in the Ghostlight Forest. This daunting journey requires a danger-filled crossing of the seas or the Western Wastes. Petitioners are encouraged to gain an old religious token of Bacchana, a medallion made before the Mage Wars known as the touch of the goat. Possessing one of these satyr-faced medals often means the difference between being safely received by fervent dust goblins and becoming their next meal. If a pilgrim manages to discover this last original sacred space, the goddess often rewards them with a vision and direction to complete the final pilgrimage.

Path the Third: The Lover’s Stroll

This ultimate pilgrimage is most often given to believers at the Mother’s Grove, but some receive it sooner. She commands them to seek out as many Dread Walkers as possible and bring back bodily fragments to sacrifice at her altars. These pilgrims often infiltrate followers of Mavros who depart from Salzbach and choose the Goblin Road, although they call this “the Lovers’ Stroll,” referring to the Goat’s obsession with the Great Old Ones.

This can be an extremely dangerous trip. Those who succeed discover inspirational passages with magical potency or dreams which lead them to hidden treasures demonstrating the Goat’s pleasure. These fragments of the Viridian Codex often provide spell-like abilities. And while these seem to have potency only for the gifted follower, the text regularly matches other extant copies of parts from the original, complete Viridian Codex, suggesting that the god is capable of reconstructing its nearly exterminated work through its followers.

Gifts of Devotion

Devotees of the Goat of the Woods seek out the following items to strengthen their flocks.

FRAGMENTS OF THE VIRIDIAN CODEX

Wondrous Item, Very Rare (Requires Attunement)                  30,000 gp

Inscribed on a piece of vellum or other hide and kept in a small, cylindrical amulet, these fragments of writing grant you one of the following powers:

• Use of a 1st–3rd-circle spell with the Void descriptor 3/day as an action

• Use of a 4th or 5th-circle spell with the Void descriptor 1/day as an action

• Use of a Divination school spell 2/day as an action

The spell available can’t be changed after this item is discovered.

TOUCH OF THE GOAT

Wondrous Item, Uncommon                   750 gp

This scorched medal bears the visage of a horned man on one side and some form of fertility on the other. When worn, you can speak Void Speech, have advantage on saves against Void taint, and have advantage on attempts to seduce others using the Persuasion or Deception skills. The medal vibrates gently when you are within 5 feet of someone bearing another touch of the goat medallion.

Story Seeds

A larger arc utilizing the Goat’s flock as primary antagonists can be found in the first chapter of Demon Cults & Secret Societies. For less involved adventures, consider the following:

The Fool’s Guide

A false knight of Mavros organized a group of young, over-exuberant followers of the war god, and plans on subverting a pilgrimage to the Seat of Mavros along the Fool’s Road. They intend to “accidentally” drag them near the many Walkers along the way to collect the necessary bits to complete the Lovers’ Stroll. The family of one scion hires the characters to escort their kinfolk as secret members of the party, and ensure their safety.

It Belongs in a Museum

In one of the Septime cities, Barsalla, Maillon, or Bourgund, a rich patron seeks the adventurers to help explore nearby ruins, claiming they are the lost vaults of a rich family who left in the Retreat or was destroyed during the Great Mage Wars. Truly, the expedition leader has brought them there for the lost relics of the Goat. The party must face a savage cancrine avatar, kept trapped in the partially collapsed catacombs and hungry for live sacrifices.

---

Want an easy way to make challenging monstrous encounters?
Check out the Kobold Press encounter builder!

---