Cult of the Goat's Head

The Cult of the Goat's Head, also known as the Order of the Goat's Head, was a religious order dedicated to the worship of Orcus, the demon prince of undeath, during the mid-to-late 14 century DR.

Organization
Members of the Cult wore goat-head headdresses in honor of their goat-headed deity, Orcus. Their symbol was a horned goat's head.

Prior to his destruction, the Cult was led by Zhengyi the Witch-King, and afterwards the powerful and malevolent Banak was the highest ranking priest.

Activities
The Cult was deeply entrenched in the cultures of evil humanoids and goblinoids of Vaasa.

In their heyday, clerics of the Goat's Head could summon legions of undead, but in the mid-to-late 14 century DR, their powers were greatly diminished.

Base of Operations
Prior to its destruction, Castle Perilous was the headquarters of Zhengyi and the Cult. Afterward, the Cult hid in the Black Holes of Sunderland.

Relationships
The Cult of the Goat's Head was surrounded by enemies. They fought and tried to undermine the peoples of Vaasa and Damara, and were opposed by King Gareth Dragonsbane. At the same time, they warred with worshippers of rivals to their lord Orcus, including followers of Kiaransalee and Eltab.

History
The Cult had long been active across Vaasa, but came to prominence in the, with the rise of Zhengyi the Witch-King, the Cult's leader in the mid–14 century DR. Members of the cult served as priests and trusted advisors in the Witch-King's armies, and aided in his conquests of Vaasa and Damara by raising a vast army of undead. In one notable battle, a single priest of the Goat's Head&mdash;rumored to have been High Priest Banak himself&mdash;defeated a Nar raiding party by single handedly raising enough undead to decimate the riders.

After the end of this Vaasan War in the, the Cult was involved with the bandit army of the Citadel of Assassins, whose leaders were likewise worshipers of Orcus.

In the, the Bloodstone Wars erupted, pitting Gareth Dragonsbane and Damara against Zhengyi and the Cult. This conflict ended when Gareth and his adventuring companions defeated Zhengyi at Castle Perilous, and then launching an attack against Orcus himself. The scout Celedon Kierney stole the Wand of Orcus, and with the aid of Bahamut, the artifact was destroyed. Bahamut then gifted the party with the Tree-Gem, a relic that acted as the seed for a mighty white tree in Bloodstone Pass that banished the power of Orcus and other forces of the Abyss from the Bloodstone Lands. With this in place, the clerics of the Goat's Head were left unable to commune with their demon lord. Their mighty artifacts crumbled to dust and they lost most their potent magical power, retaining only very limited and low-powered spells. Diminished, they fled to the Black Holes of Sunderland to hide and regroup.

Despite their weakened position, the Cult of the Goat's Head continued to serve as priests among the evil inhabitants of Vaasa. Their influence remained great, and they continued to recruit new cultists into their ranks despite Orcus's banishment. This meant that they remained a threat that Gareth Dragonsbane hoped to eliminate. However, unbeknownst to either Gareth or the Cult, the power of the Cult during Zhengyi's reign had caught the attention of Kiaransalee, who sent her drow followers from V'elddrinnsshar in the Underdark deep below Vaasa to attack the cultists and their followers within the Black Holes. Over the course of a decade, the drow did significantly greater damage to the cult than the surface-dwelling forces and bounty hunters of Gareth Dragonsbane. By the, the cult had been almost completely exterminated.

Appearances

 * Adventures
 * Bloodstone Pass &bull; The Mines of Bloodstone