Cult of the Mossborn

A circle of death-obsessed druids that follow the idea that the living are meant to die to feed the fauna and fungi that come after - and the sooner this happens, the better. The cult is led by evil druids based in the Mirelurk Swamp, and has used their manipulation and study of hormones and fungal spore proliferation to further addle the minds of those it wants under its thrall. It has expanded and is quite immersed into Lumberton's infrastructure, and has attempted infiltration into Guildenwheat in the past.

The Circle is led by Rot-tender Malris, a hag-druid with a predilection for using poisons, venoms, and necromancy. He is aided by swamp hags, and has been contacted by a dark force that whispers and emanates from deeper within Mirelurk, compelling Malris to expand his domain of rot and pestilence.

Objective
The Mossborn Cult's primary goal is to develop and then release a magical-biological agent capable of covertly seizing control of massive population centers, with the intent of turning that population into thralls that are more susceptible to commands given by particular individuals (specifically, the leaders of the Cult, as well as the Promised King).

The Cult has attempted a few trials to achieve this goal, with their most successful

The Mana-Cradle Project
The Mossborn expanded into Gildenwheat with the intent of improving their mana-cradle fungi, a fungus that quickly decomposes and absorbs dead organic material, converting it into raw mana that it then cradles. The goal was to make the mana-cradle able to quickly infect and grow within living organic tissue, greatly increasing the potential income of mana and making the fungus a veritable weapon to be used against large societal centers. The Mossborn were only beginning to make the spores able to take hold of organic tissue when properly exposed when they were largely driven out of Gildenwheat, and the base they were conducting their experiments - an expanded underground tunnel system beneath Warehouse 6 - was shut off, with some druids left inside. These were infected within a short time by the mana-cradles, just as designed; however, the imperfect design meant the druids were not immediately killed, and had to suffer for weeks before finally succumbing to the spores. The cradles then quickly reclaimed the organic material, decomposing most of the druids and propagating to cover the interior of the base.

Forgotten by the Mossborn and undiscovered by the Gildenwheat Guard, the lab was left undisturbed, allowing the mana-cradle to continue to develop on its own and fully take over the base. It has begun creeping towards the proper warehouse interior in search of new material to decompose, and has begun infecting the goods and crops that are being stored in Warehouse 6. Meanwhile, within the lab, the mana-cradles continued to react and evolve, compounding their collective mana until a collection of fungi, charged with mana, began to animate. The bodies of the cultists that were trapped have been decomposed down to bone, and covered in small fungal growths - but these growths have also grown within the skeletons, and could potentially be driven to movement, if given the signal by the animated myconids...

Cult Experiment Journal
"Praise Ula, we have erected the next in the Circle's web of influence: a space for our great vile work, right beneath the city's storage warehouses. We are to continue developing the Mana-Cradle so that it is able to infect and process not only dead matter, but living as well. The Rot-Tender's intent is obvious: with our success, we will have infected the kingdom's breadbasket, maximizing its spread throughout Meridia quicker than the Circle could have ever hoped. There are but ten of us here now, but we’ve been assured that when we have further improved the Cradle, more of our brothers and sisters will join us, and the Mossborn will have secured another city within its grasp. Praise the Grey Lady.”

”The city guard has made access to the lab difficult - Harrik has been establishing himself in the local ale houses they frequent on his off hours, and feels confident he will soon be able to buy their favor in looking the other way under the guise of simple drug laundering or some such nonsense. Ula willing, we will be undetected until then."

"It has been a week, and still we have not heard from Harrik. I grow more concerned by the day he has been discovered by those guard pigs...either for his lies, or - even worse - the truth. Meanwhile, work on the Mana-Cradle continues slowly. The fungus continues to take to dead material easily enough, but takes an extraordinarily longer amount of time on living tissues - and even then, rate of infection is slow. Useful for any covert and long-term exposure, perhaps, but our goal is rapid proliferation, within a matter of hours, days at the most...not the weeks it currently takes. The work will continue, even as we must increase our vigilance against detection; the Rot-Tender will not tolerate our failure."

"Time grows short. Lerissa returned last night with news of Harrik - he was indeed captured by the guard, and has apparently been broken by their agents; they are aware of our presence within the city, and seem to know to look among the storage facilities. I have ordered the active samples to be prepped for relocation back to Lumberton - if we cannot appease the Rot-Tender's wishes of infection of Gildenwheat with the Mana-Cradle, at least we can present what developments we've made here, and hope he sees it as a worthy investment. Lerissa and Voya are clearly spooked, wanting to leave immediately - I'd sooner give myself to the Cradles than return to Rot-Tender Malris empty-handed."

"Ula damn those neophytes! In their fright, Lerissa and Voya fled, trapping the rest of us inside - intentionally or not, I cannot say. Imprisoned here, and without a druid of sufficient skill, we cannot conjure a portal out. Either the guard discovers us, or we succumb to the Mana-Cradle's spores ourselves...I'm loathe to consider which I prefer more. The fungi will survive, I suppose, assuming we are not found - if we are, we are all sure to meet our end, whether by blade or flame. My only solace is that the Cradle has shown at least some adaptation - it still takes weeks, even in this enclosed space, but infection rates are improving, and the ratio of mana pulled from matter seems to have slightly increased in the last batch. I will care for them as long as I can...even if Ula alone ever knows how dedicated I was to continuing the Rot-Tender's vision."

"It has been about two weeks, by our estimation. We are dying. Food is gone. The spores have certainly done their work. Only Eljin and I are left - the rest succumbed, and were quickly taken by the Cradle. We'll join them soon enough - we are all practically Cradles ourselves. We cough and wheeze constantly, and it hurts to move. We're both sporting growths on our skin. If only we had been able to strengthen the infection...this agony of waiting is maddening. Vision is blurry, and have lost feeling in most extremities. Rot-Tender Malris, if ever you should read this, know that Acolyte Perena served you and the Rotborn Circle faithfully. May your vile work continue. Grey Lady, claim us soon. Make new life of our death.  - Acolyte Perena Jole"