NASTY

BRUTISH
AND SHORT
Chaos. Chaos is the watchword of the crumbling world, murmured disdainfully by
the pallid bailiffs and sneering nobility. For the peasantry to step out of line, for
the sinful to go unpunished, for pity to be extended to the wretched- that would
invite chaos, and hasten the end that we all plummet towards together.

There is no means too harsh, no craze of conviction too deranged, when it comes
to staying chaos in its tracks. Torture is popular. It gives people something to
watch, and serfs watching a public flaying don’t get up to chaos. Executions, both
swift or slow, are also used in abundance. Anything to keep chaos at bay.

These are the final days. Some hope for a death sentence to avoid the horrors yet
to come.

Crime and Punishmork is an independent production by Ross_Hollander and is not affiliated with Ockult Örtmästare
Games or Stockholm Kartell. It is published under the MÖRK BORG Third Party License. MÖRK BORG is copyright
Ockult Örtmästare Games and Stockholm Kartell. Request for appeal denied.
 The SAINT HUNTERS
Do you want to know why there are so few ‘good people’ left in the world?
It’s because they’re being hunted to extinction.
Found guilty of the crime of nothing, the righteous are sentenced to grisly
martyrdom. Their deaths will atone for us. Spare us from HIS baleful decrees, if
enough of them are slaughtered.

The Saint Hunters as an order are headquartered in a cloister just beyond the shadow of the Great Cathedral of
the Two-Headed Basilisk, in Galgenbeck. Their purpose as an order is to hunt down the last worthy souls of the
Dying World, and then sacrifice them- the deaths of the worthy being salvation for all the rest, of course.

The head of the Saint Hunters is Miekcyn Zyruv. Obscenely vital: red-faced, boisterous. Laughs often, but takes
his work with the gravity of a professional. Wears the black cassock of a confessor, and a necklace of child-size
knucklebones, each inscribed minutely with a cross and a prayer of protection. He says they came from the only
urchin in Grift who had never stolen in his life, and that bearing them lets him detect thieves and cutpurses.
 Current Targets (1000s apiece)
1. Reports speak of an old cobbler somewhere in Galgenbeck who’s never lied in his life.
2. Information from the Western Kingdom says that there’s a saintly spinster who lives out
on the moors, who’s been supporting her moribund sister and her family for seven years.
3. Last seen entering the Palace of the Shadow King: the final true, chivalrous, gallant
knight-errant.
4. Travelers through Sarkash claim that a wise hermit has given provisions and directions
to those lost on the road, totally guilelessly.
5. A Griftish doctor supposedly provides discrete necessities for a pittance charge to the
local harlots.
6. Observed by grave-robbers in the Valley of the Unfortunate Undead: a Creton priest
seems to spend his time giving unction, rites and burial to corpses abandoned there.
7. A deacon in a crumbling church offers food, fire and refuge from the peril to the
wretched of Alliáns, at no cost.

HUNTER-WARRIOR
HP 8 ARMOR mail coat -d3 MORALE indoctrinated 9
BILLHOOK d6
ANOINTED they daub their armor with a mixture of oil and martyr’s blood. Easily scented
by dogs or other keen-nosed beasts. 1 in 6 chance that Unclean Powers don’t affect them.
● LIZARD HOUNDS (found accompanying some hunter-warriors; dogs fed on stillborn
Basilisk flesh scraped from the cliffs of Bergen Chrypt). HP 4 ARMOR – MORALE
well-trained 9 PARALYTIC BITE d3, test TOU DR14 every turn for the next minute
or lose your action to the numbness and stiffening.

HUNTMASTER
HP 15 ARMOR blessing-etched plate -d6 MORALE resolute 11
HALBERD d8
VETERAN DR14 to attack or evade.
BLESSED 1 in 3 chance that Unclean Powers don’t affect them.
THAUMATURGE can attempt to use one of these powers on their turn (roll a d6; if the
number listed next to the power is met or exceeded, the power is invoked).
● WARD of FAITH [4] Gives a target +2 ARMOR for a round.
● BOLT from ON HIGH [5] Man-sized spike of glistening ice falls from the heavens with
meteoric force. DR8 to evade, due to the lag before it hits. 2d10.
● TRACE [3] One target extrudes a fine golden chain from the back of their neck for an hour,
one meter every two seconds. It vanishes after this time. It cannot be severed or detached.
● EXPURGATE [5] Removes all matter but the most mundane on one target’s person. Crosses
crumble, Scrolls turn to dust, talismans vanish, tattooed skin peels away.
 The
HEADSMAN'S GUILD

Justice is a resource. Justice is a non-renewable resource, a finite one. And it is one

of the resources that the world is running out of.
That’s why people have been having to make do with less of it. Or none at all.
Facsimiles, approximations, dilutions at best.
That is the job of the Headsman’s Guild.

A dispute over a few feet of gray, wearied farmland. A harsh word- a raised cudgel- and
now, what crown’s law is there to answer for blood-guilt? The masked judges of the
Headsman’s Guild roam the land in small packs, taking pay from bitter village elders to
dispose of the guilty. Nobody wants blood on their hands- but getting it on one’s coins is far
less objectionable.

Technically, the Headsman’s Guild do apportion ‘judgment’. This takes the form, usually, of
nodding sagely as the aggrieved one explains their cause, and declaring the verdict is death.
On rare occasions they do, in fact, proclaim innocence. Rarely. They don’t get paid to not
decapitate people. And since they give the aggrieved the sentence thought just, their
judgment is trusted- as the defendants are left scarcely able to argue conflict of interest.

The head of the Headsman’s Guild is the decapitated head of the former headsman Hunruf
Gurex. Hunruf executed a guiltless man, once. When the evidence was brought- moments
too late, blood hot on the blade of his ax -Hunruf did what any truly dedicated to justice
would do: he lopped off the head of the accuser, and then planted himself on the stump and
chopped his own head off.

His disembodied head- gnarled, but not rotten, simply withered and pale -hangs on the belt
of the huge, silent, sallow-skinned executioner Salpin. Salpin is bodyguard, vehicle, and
councilor to Hunruf; Hunruf values him over ten others of the Guild. Hunruf himself is
stern, soft-spoken, knowledgeable, and devoid of the smallest mote of pity, remorseless as
a shark, in his pursuit of death for the wrongdoer.

THE CHARGE
You stand accused of…
1. Murder of three serf farmers in the dominion of Lord Izodo of the Western Kingdom.
2. Mutiny against Captain Dlyti aboard the Heartless Slattern.
3. Kidnapping of six children from the hamlet Aufrith, on the outskirts of Schleswig.
4. Serving as informants and spies of Anthelia in Kergüs.
5. Nine reported counts of banditry on the roads in Sarkash.
6. Harboring idolaters in a village destroyed for the act by the inquisitors, in Tveland.
7. Defaming of an innocent woman, in the thorp of Xasi by Lake Onda.
THE SENTENCE IS DEATH.

EXECUTIONER
HP 10 ARMOR headsman’s robes – MORALE justice shall be done 10
GREATAXE d10; a crit always, instantly, decapitates.

LAWBRINGER
Not the standard headtakers of the Guild. Ironclad nemeses reserved for those who
dare to not only resist but slay Guild executioners when the sentence is passed
down. When a lawbringer is set on you, it is what could be referred to as personal.
HP 12 ARMOR black hauberk and chain mask -d4 MORALE finality –
EXECUTIONER’S PANOPLY roll d3:
1. GREATAXE d10; a crit always, instantly, decapitates.
2. WARHAMMER d8, crushing force ignores armor but not shields.
3. GLAIVE d8, sweeping arcs can hit any two people within sneezing range of
each other.
 Pain.
1. The griddle cells in the palace of Fathmu, the destination of most who dare to rise against the mad
king, which mostly means those whose shows of obeisance are the slightest mote lacking in
fanaticism. The accused are placed in a square room, measuring five meters by five, the floor a single
plate of iron. Beneath this cell is a space into which prisoners of lighter sentences shovel coals. The
floor grows hotter every minute. To Fathmu’s chagrin, dehydration from rising heat inside the room
usually kills before the victim has time to play ‘the floor is a red-hot metal sheet’ for long.
2. The cold pits in the frigid royal gaol under the spires of Kergüs, a byword for death to those who
displease Anthelia. Very simple, very effective: a well. The water within is, of course, snowmelt from
the glacial peaks. Nobody spends very long swimming in the cold pits, because after a scant couple of
minutes, they’ve stopped swimming.
3. The mausoleum lies in the heart of the Palace of the Shadow King, where heirs of houses who lose
their secret battles of whispered politicking in the pitch dark of the Palace often end up. The
immurement inside a stone sarcophagus is often superfluous, given that they cast a death-mask of
molten silver on the face of the living condemned before they’re interred.
4. Withering is frontier justice in the plains of the Western Kingdom, beyond the lawman's convenient
reach- or within it, but enacted by those spurning the king's law for their own. Corpse moss, so called
because it turns people into them, is smeared poultice-like into wounds cut open on the victim. The
soft tissues crumble and die; the victim rots alive. Should the authorities ever ask, the symptoms are
blamed on innocent infection.
5. The plinth is the fate of those who draw the ire of the Basilisk within the shadow of the Great Cathedral.
The towers of Galgenbeck are lined about with plinths. Exactly one cubit square in area, cold,
featureless marble. The accused is hoisted up there by a pulley, and abandoned, without drink, shelter
or food. Eventually- either by starvation, weariness, clumsiness or simply a strong wind- they fall from
grace. The streets below feature helpful signs warning to look out for falling sinners.
6. Sea-burial is reserved for those who oppose Sigfum, suicide-king of Grift. All who dare to spread an
illicit word of hope, one contraband shred of optimism, on his isle, run the risk of falling victim to it.
The bone-white sand on the Griftish shore is dug into, and the guilty one buried up to their neck,
before it’s patted back down around them. This burial is carried out at the lowest tide, so the sand will
be newly damp and more secure. It also gives the victim abundant time to think on their crimes while
they wait for the waves to roll in.
Dogging your tracks. Sniffing you out by the reek of sin that you carry. The Black Dog, or BARGHEST,
feeds exclusively on the guilt-sweetened flesh of those who have evaded justice for one misdeed or another.

I. It will only track you if you have committed a crime (it has no sense of morality, only legality) and
never been sentenced for it.
II. It cannot enter any formal place of justice- courtrooms, prisons, or execution yards. It can enter any
lawyers’ premises or ad-hoc establishments such as ‘hanging groves’.
III. It cannot lose your trail, but if it identifies another person who has committed the same crime as you
and derived more benefit from it, it will pursue them instead of you. (This could be more status from
an assassination, more money from a robbery, etc.)
IV. It pursues you at a speed one-third faster than you can walk, and sleeps during the day. (If the day is
stormy, it continues moving.)
V. If you kill a barghest, wearing its teeth on a necklace will shield you from other barghests. (This is
common knowledge. Fake barghest-tooth necklaces abound in these sin-ridden days.) If you do not
take such an amulet from it, another barghest will begin its pursuit of you in d6 days.

BARGHEST
HP 12 ARMOR shaggy, -1 MORALE relentless, –
BITE d8, test STR DR12 or its jaws clamp down; you can’t run from it for the next
round, unless the guilty one is nearer, in which case it will attack them instead.
FELL BREATH defend with TOU, not AGI; blocked out if you wear a mask stuffed
with theriac. Otherwise, d6 damage to all within spitting range, ignoring armor.
● VICIOUS DR14 to hit or evade.
● UNHOLY its teeth crack and loosen if you can get it to swallow the host.
You can gather these up and form an amulet of them to ward it off.
 D20-C311-M4735
Former felonious bedfellows who might be able to lend a hand.
1. Skimizs, conspiring. Can get you an appointment with petty politicians.
2. Eoul, escaping a penitentiary. Can find out where any prisoner whose
location is not top-secret is being imprisoned.
3. Ulckyac, rigging sports. Can sell you d3 fast horses for 80s apiece.
4. Sylnaf, abuse of alchemical explosives. Can sell you bombs (d10) for 10s apiece.
5. Kandyil, impostor. Can disguise you passably as one non-royal figure.
6. Schiwicze, receiving bribes. Can issue you nebulous credentials for one free
service (lodging, a ferry, etc).
7. B’dtuk, arson. Can set one building or field on fire. For 100s it’ll look like
an accident.
8. Moyg, loitering. Can’t do squat.
9. Raqa Xubai, reporting false intelligence. Can alert the authorities to one
fabricated but plausible crime of your choosing.
10. Idiak, promoting prostitution. Can tell you the vices of d3 prominent local
figures.
11. Zuek, blasphemy. Will accept one curse (Arcane Catastrophe) to be smote by
instead of it befalling you for 50s.
12. Lhanz, perjury. For 20s, will swear to have witnessed anything you say.
13. Srobodz, impersonating a constable. Can pretend to be a local functionary,
will fool any civilian for about an hour.
14. Bhudbil, murder. Will discreetly dispose of a body for a jug of liquor.
15. Mophurg, desecrating graves. Will indiscreetly make a public, gory spectacle
of a body for the fun of it.
16. Mikhed, menacing and intimidation.Will stand over your shoulder and
glower for 10s/hr, -2DR on PRE checks related to terrifying.
17. Bruygei, counterfeiting. Can make 10 fake coins for 5 real ones.
18. Xhemeh, disrupting a religious service. Can be a loud, vulgar distraction for
as long as it takes the constables to be called.
19. Fnod, larceny. Will fence stolen goods for a 10% cut of their selling price.
20. Sri-ki, mistaken identity. Wants nothing to do with you.
 ORDEAL
There is a certain faith, still held, in judgment divine. From whom, some might ask? Will HE really
take time to preside over the ritual trial of a mortal only supposedly guilty of a crime of flesh, and
already damned by the crime of spirit? Best not to question. Ritual is ritual for a reason, and that
reason is usually ‘it’s always been done this way’.

Your name can be cleared by the rite of…

TAURINE ORDEAL.
To triumph in a bullfight.
The task is usually not, in fact, to kill the bull, but to snatch a writ declaring the innocence of the one who retrieves it, which is tied to
its horns, while it charges and gores. This is most popular if only for its entertainment value.

OPHIDIAN ORDEAL.
To walk through a trench full of snakes.
Uncommon, because do you know how hard it is to fill an entire trench with snakes? Sometimes shortcuts are taken, such as the
trench being filled knee-deep with mud, and there only supposedly being snakes in there, to heighten the walker’s terror. After all,
turning back constitutes failure by forfeit.

INCENDIARY ORDEAL.
To escape a house set on fire.
Usually not an actual house, but a purpose-built shack for the ordeal. To ‘even the odds’ such that there is a definite chance of failure,
the victim might be tied to a chair, blindfolded, or have a large metal ball chained to their leg.

SYLVAN ORDEAL.
To enter a perilous forest and remain there for a given time.
In Tveland it’s always Sarkash; in other lands, whichever local copse will serve is chosen. This leads to the sylvan ordeal being much
more dangerous in Tveland than elsewhere. The usual amount of time is a night, dusk to dawn, but the record sentence is a month.

NAUTICAL ORDEAL.
To sail out to sea and return after a given spell.
Often chosen in the Western Kingdom, with a default duration of fifteen days. If a storm whips up when the accused would be set
adrift, Creton thought is divided between those who consider this a sign of definite guilt, or a sign of definite innocence.

LABYRINTHIAN ORDEAL.
To navigate a complex maze.
There are three Labyrinths of Ordeal, one in the Cathedral in Galgenbeck, one in Alliáns, and one in Grift, all expertly made and laden
with deadly traps for the accused wanderer. In remote regions, a nearby barrow or a hastily-dug net of trenches, with a few hunting
traps or pitfalls, might be used. A time limit is set before the accused begins.

PEREGRINE ORDEAL
To undertake a harrowing journey.
The accused must come back with some evidence- popular tokens include a kerchief of Anthelia, black stone of Bergen Chrypt, the
staring-eye ivy that grows at Graven-Tosk, or a nail from the walls of the Great Cathedral.