A counterpart to the twelvegods is the thirteenth god, also know as the Nameless One, who is also called by some the Rat Child. We already have a Cultist of Naaghot Shaar (#1) so now it's time for Children of the Rat (we will also have a Follower of the Golden One in the future)
Children of the Rat live on the fringes of society and often mutilate themselves, as a sacrifice to their god as well as to make them impervious to pain. They inhabit the sewers and other dark places and can easily be found where you need them as adversary. At first they might be taken for a criminal gang but like all followers of the nameless one, their goal is to ultimately weaken the Churches of the Twelvegods. If the heroes connect the dots, they might be able to thwart the plans of this cell of the cult.
The cult leader is Baltram Gorbas, a seemingly middleaged Human from Gareth, who traveled to [insert town name] a couple of years ago to build a new cell to worship the Rat Child. He is actually much older than he looks as the nameless one grants him youthfulness if he sacrifices human souls to him
Most of the cell members are unknowing, though still personally loyal to Baltram. Some are suspecting and have some understanding the cell is not just a crime syndicate but has a deeper purpose. And only a select few are knowing, acolytes and even two blessed ones that just took their first level of ordination. Baltram selected these two for their competitive nature and plans to move on to another town, leaving the winner in charge.
Baltram has already sacrificed a number of body parts, laughter and his shadow and is now one of the higher followers of the Rat Child with a number of tricks up his sleeve that could make him a nice recurring enemy of the heroes.
Fitting with the rat theme he can summon swarms of rats or turn himself into his a rat swarm to escape.
In the confined spaces of the city's sewage system he is a very formidable fighter. With the Marwan Sahib fighting style he can impose penalties on his opponents in particularl against those who carry longer. Weapons. He didn't learn this style in Fasar but just developed his own version, geared towards using his sanctifies Basilisk-Tounge sacrificial Dagger. Even in open combat he can use (Improved) Circumvent to close the gap with opponents armed with longer weapons. His preference however is to ambush his opponents and use Deadly Thrust and Precise Thrust to deal massive Damage (2D6+17 plus extra levels of Fear and Pain)
Against a single unsuspecting Hero, Baltram can be very bad news. Against a group, if he doesn't have Henchmen available, he can trust his gods power. Nameless Frenzy can Turn a low spirited but tough hero into a mindless killing machine, with Pervasive Sphere Song of the One he can take out another hero, that might also join on his side, then swarms of rats would rush the other heroes.
Less experienced heroes should not encounter Baltram directly. Maybe they encounter a cell of cultists just after Baltram left for a new city and left one of his less experienced lieutenants in charge (have a lookout for the next two #NPCwednesdays )
As he has time on his hands, vengeance might come years later, when the heroes are more experienced to make for an exciting fight.
To not have your players become suspicious by the dagger and rat, here is a token version without:
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