The Cathedral of Flesh and Bone

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In the farthest corners of these lands,

sculpted by their fervent hands,

fed to strength by their hate, ever knowing,

tumorous faiths lie in wait, always growing.

-Dustbelt children's rhyme

On a massive hill on the northern edge of the Blasted Lands looms a Cathedral of flesh and bone. It glistens red and white in the daylight. It breathes through a thousand mouths. Close enough, you can feel a massive heart beating deep below. The clerics have tended to it, fed it, grafting new flesh to its bulk. Letting it metastasize into glorious divinity. They will try to add you to it, by words or by force. They are very persuasive, and very generous. They wish to give you the greatest gift they know. Perhaps you can convince them that you are not worthy of that gift. If so, they may send you on a pilgrimage to prove your dedication. If you succeed, they may teach you their secrets of flesh-sculpting, blood-binding, mutation and osseomancy. Threaten the Cathedral and the Paladins will hunt you. They are powerful, tactically adept inhuman warriors with enhanced musculature and bone exoskeletons. They can push themselves beyond normal human limits. Their arms can transform into whatever weapons they need. 
     

Cathedral Clerics

d6 for HD, d10 for feature and spell known.

1 Blank bone mask, uses sign language, blind. Ossify.

2 Veins on the outside, wrapping like vines, questing like feelers. Bloodbind.

3 Hole in chest, beating heart suspended in vein web. Clotting.

4 Loops intestines around neck like scarf. Intestinal Lash.

5 Extra eyes in unexpected places. Supplant Eye.

6 Chest and ribs open outward, stores small holy relics inside. Mutation.

7 Skin shifts as muscles constantly rearrange themselves. Flesh Sculpting.

8 Incoherent but prophetic siamese twin. Roll d20 on cast. 1-10 Inversion, 11-20 Restore.

9 Constantly carving holy texts into skin. Lacerate.

10 Extra mouths on palms interrupt to shout prayers. Random roll on this table each cast.

Cathedral Paladin

d6 for HD, 1 attack at 2d6 damage, d8 for feature and enhancement.

1 Magnificent cape of own flayed skin. Is a prominent hero among its kind, has retinue.

2 Arms split down the middle. 2 extra attacks with disadvantage.

3 Single, massive, bloodshot eye in featureless bone plate face. Can always see transgressors.

4 Enhanced back-bent jumping legs. Can jump 30’ and no fall damage.

5 Accentuated sharpened ribcage. Can fire ribs as seeking missiles.

6 Bulky exoskeleton. First attack it recieves deals no damage and deals 1d6 to attacker.

7 Muscle fibers writhe around its arms. Can Smite Flesh, banishing disreputable tissue from the target and dealing Xd6 damage where X = its HD.

8 Six legs, like an insect. Can move at frightening speeds and climb walls/ceilings.

2d6 THE CATHEDRAL WANTS YOU TO:

First d6: 1-2 Smite 3-4 Protect 5-6 Find

1-2 SMITE 

1 An incursion of Plaguebearers. 

2 A traitor selling Cathedral secrets. 

3 An expansionist fungal overlord.    

4 A rampaging war automaton. 

5 A mischievous rogue wizard. 

6 An unstable outlaw warlord.  

3-4PROTECT 

1 A tiny Cathedral outpost colony.

2 A Cleric cleansing the Plague from the fleshlands.

3 A Funginaut courier bearing a crucial message. 

4 An expeditionary pilgrimage to the Scablands. 

5 A shipment of medicine heading for a major outpost.

6 A Cleric exorcising rogue spirits.                     

5-6 FIND            

1 A lost artifact from a distant age.

2 The stolen flesh and bones of a Saint.

3 A lost fungal Sporechild.

4 A squad of Paladins that has gone missing.

5 A unique mutation among local fauna.

6 A weakened sample of the Plague.

THE CATHEDRAL WILL REWARD YOU WITH:

1 Bone tablet with random Cathedral Rite spell (can be learned with difficult Int test).

            1 Lacerate

            2 Flesh Sculpting

            3 Supplant Eye

            4 Intestinal Lash

            5 Liquiform

            6 Ossify

2 The Cathedral will:

            1 Send a Paladin to follow and protect you for three days.

            2 Have a Paladin hunt down a target of your choice.

            3 Have a Cleric perform haruspexy scrying for you.

            4 Help your civilization research a flesh-based advancement.

            5 Have an Cleric join your civilization.

            6 Have a Paladin join your civilization.

3 Adaptable flesh and bone weapon:

            1 A cytoplasmic short sword that deals internal damage without puncturing skin.

            2 A dagger that can meld into and out of any part of wielder’s body.

            3 Wielder’s fingers can fuse together into a mace at will.

            4 Wielder can spit forth their rib bones like shortbow arrows, then re-ingest.

            5 Wielder can projectile vomit acidic bile gobbets.

            6 Wielder can pop their eye in and out at will and have it float around within 60 feet.

4 A cultivated stem cell blob that, when ingested,

            1 cures all diseases.

            2 purifies mutations.

            3 causes a beneficial mutation.

            4 cures a physical malady or long term injury.

            5 heals all HP.

            6 increases a random stat by 1.

Can replace a roll on the table with curing a disease, purifying a mutation, healing fully, or curing a physical malady/long term injury.

INVOKATIONS OF THE CATHEDRAL

CLOTTING

Stimulates platelet growth and bonding, coagulating blood and creating scar tissue much faster than usual. Heals 1d8 damage from the target. If the caster takes a full uninterrupted minute, roll 1d8 with advantage. Creatures that recieve too many coagulant effects in a small amount of time may suffer strokes.

BLOODBIND

Duration: until save ends. Blood calls to blood. Strong blood binds weak blood to a stronger will. Target makes a save at the beginning of the spell. The target can no longer move as the blood in its body is bound in place. If the target has a similar anatomical structure to you, you may bind it to your own blood and force the creature move as you move, mimicking you.

LACERATE

This spell dissolves all scar tissue in the target’s body, opening all the wounds that it had suffered in the last few days. Does anywhere from 0 to 6d6 damage depending on how many battles the target has been in recently. Has the side effect of instantly curing strokes and other clot based ailments.

SUPPLANT EYE

Create an extra eye on target that you can see through. Or, you can hijack someone’s eye and use it as your own. In combat, gives enemy -2 to attack and you +2 to attack.

FLESH SCULPTING

Concentrate power into your hands that allows you to sculpt flesh and bone like clay. This lasts for one minute. You can spend a round to sculpt an ally’s flesh back together, healing them for 1d6. Your unarmed attacks also do an extra 1d6 damage as they sculpt your target’s flesh apart. You can spend the entire minute to sculpt a severed limb back onto its owner (or onto a different owner, if the target passes a CON test).

PURIFY

Duration: 3 rounds. This spell allows you to identify one type of foreign substance within the target’s body (1^st round), collect it in the target’s stomach (2^nd round), and induce them to vomit it out (3^rd round). Foreign substance can mean any substance that is not part of the target’s natural body processes and can include poison, alcohol, drugs, or medication. This does not include diseases.

INTESTINAL LASH

For a time, your intestines can lash out as an extra attack, inflicting 1d6 bludgeoning and 1d6 acid damage, or can try to grapple an enemy. They can also be used as a prehensile rope to climb or grasp things.

OSSIFY

Bone cultists of the Skeletal Ridges would use this as an Ascension ritual, believing that one day, in the dawn of a new age, the chrysalides would open, and beautiful, multifarious flesh forms would emerge. Less enlightened mystics learned the spell and now use it as a punishment, but who is to say that its original practitioners were wrong?

Caster concentrates on target for up to 3 rounds. Target makes a save at the beginning of the spell. At the end of the first round, target’s bones and cartilage fuse together, preventing them from moving. At the end of the second round, this new combined bone structure grows out of control, puncturing out of the skin and perforating internal organs, causing 5d6 damage.  At the end of the third round, the growths spread across the skin, entombing the target in a chrysalis of their own bone. This spell requires full concentration on the part of the caster and will cease if interrupted.

INVERSION

Turns someone inside out for 1d6 rounds. No save. No senses except touch (how unfortunate), excruciating pain if they touch anything, and all attacks against them are crits. At the end of spell duration, they revert back.

LIQUIFORM

All solid matter in target’s body gains the consistency of tar. The target’s AC becomes 5, its speed is halved, and it gains resistance to all physical damage. It may now pass through any size opening given enough time, and may crawl up walls and across ceilings. It cannot attack or use any abilities, except a grapple attack that engulfs the target. From there it can attempt to suffocate the victim, or crawl inside the victim’s orifices and kill it from the inside (more difficult, may incur damage).