Temple of Waukeen laid low by Incubus

Life, Failure / Mishap

Pascal the incubus convinced a group of priests and adventurers to perform infernal rituals. Multiple deaths ensued.

The terrible chain of events began when a scrap of paper was found in a chest to the north, and as the language on it appeared to be infernal it was given to Nowhere, the warlock in the party.   Research revealed it to be the True Name of a fiend, and Nowhere - already learning from Granny Longtooth - resolved to summon this being and learn what he could, as the True Name of a fiend gives you absolute command over them.   And so Pascal was brought to Daring Heights via ritual summoning. Hidden away in Nowhere's room, the warlock interrogated the incubus on many matters, during which Pascal let slip that he was more than an ordinary incubus - he was also tasked with guarding the Hand and Eye of Vecna. When Nowhere probed further, he learned that the Eye had already been acquired by a group of evildoers somewhere in the world, and they were on their way to the Hand's location.   Pascal told him that as guardian he knew how to summon the Hand to him and thus keep it away from the others who with both would have godlike power. Ultimately, Nowhere managed to gather a group of adventurers together to conduct the rituals required, and as it needed to be done on holy ground Pascal was allowed to convince the Temple of Waukeen to allow them to happen in their basement.   There was a lot of suspicion around Pascal and his motivations from all sides, but Nowhere knew that he could not be disobeyed or lied to, so they pressed on.   The first ritual required the head of a leader, and a local maurauding gnoll tribe provided that easily enough. The second ritual required the bones of a child, and again the morgue enabled that after only moderate soul-searching.   The rituals themselves were dark and smoky affairs with priests of Waukeen intoning passages in Infernal which no one actually understood apart from Nowhere, who kept things to himself.   The final ritual, to summon the Hand and save the plane from a new evil god arising, required the sacrifice of someone good. This burden was shouldered by Sarah, a paladin of Waukeen. She stood in the circle and was consumed by fire as her fellow priests, exhausted and shaking, intoned the final words of Infernal.   Sarah was gone, the priests found their robes turned black and realised they had lost their connection to Waukeen. A severed hand sat in the centre of the circle, middle finger raised up and clearly a fresh human hand.   At this point Pascal leapt forward, kissed and dominated Nowhere, and called out the priests he had already dominated on his arrival.   Two things became clear immediately. Nowhere didn't have Pascal's True Name - he had the name of a long-dead demon Pascal had known and answered the summoning for in her place. Second, the rituals had all been shams - the priests had actually performed the rituals to convert themselves to the worship of Graz'zt.   A short and bloody fight ensued, ending with Pascal fleeing. The Temple of Waukeen now had no remaining priests officially and those left were desperate for repentance.   It took many months before the temple had even a fraction of the staff again, and it was this day that broke everyone's trust with Nowhere, though he too had been betrayed.