Cult of Baphomet
Patron: Baphomet, the Demon of the Hunt Status (latest): Two cells dismantled by the party (Toke Inn — sessions 001–002; Lodestone barn — sessions 005–006). Deep substrate beneath the Toke Inn remains active in 029–032. First Encounter: Session 001 (runes); Session 002 (live cultists)
Known Cells
The Toke Inn cell (sessions 001–002)
- Operating in the tunnels below the inn.
- Six cultists performing a werewolf-transformation ritual on Rhovan Tolk.
- Wiped: Ubys bluffed as Baphomet, Lessie cracked the floor with Earth Tremor, the rest pushed survivors into the pit.
The Lodestone barn cell (sessions 005–006)
- Barn at Lodestone converted into a temple of Baphomet — candles, ritual circle in powdered silver, alchemical supplies, lashings on the back wall.
- Held Sergeant Azros, Squire Eltiel, and an Amnizonian woman as prisoners in a trapdoor cell.
- Burned and fled: the party ARSON'd the barn during their escape; powdered silver in the ritual circle glowed green as it burned.
Deep substrate (sessions 029–031)
- The deeper portions of the tunnels under the Toke Inn hold ogres painting Baphometian glyphs on their helmets, a Primeval Tablet (the Psalms of the Beast Lord), and altars that long predate the cell wiped above.
Iconography & Practice
- "Joy of the hunt — how wonderful to bathe in the blood of prey." — translated runes, Toke Inn trapdoor.
- Powdered silver ritual circles.
- Bestial heads on the walls; braziers ringing the chamber.
- Sacrificial pits.
- Werewolf-transformation rituals — at least one cell, Rhovan Tolk as intended subject.
- Minotaur summoning rituals — at least one cell. The minotaur in session 003 was a former human (Tinrick) bound by a Baphomet curse for the duration of a task.
- Writings in Barozod (primordial demonic).
Open Threads
- The cult has multi-cell coordination — the Heiress of Orcus cell at the auction site previously belonged to the Cragmaw Clan and before that to Zariel cultists; Baphomet's cells are layered over the same regional substrate.
- The deeper tunnels predate the surface cell by — at minimum — many centuries.