3. Church of the Cudgel

Square, sturdy, stone—the best-built thing in Anshan. Its sermon is a wall.

Read-aloud (arriving from the square)

The church sits square on stone footings, corners true and stubborn against the mud. A blunt tower watches the lane; iron rings hold an old bellline of kettles and tin. Someone has swept the threshold, and someone else has left boot scrapes right through it. On a shelf by the door, a small horizon-disc waits for travelers’ fingers.

What this little church believes (and enforces)

• Tenets on the wall (carved inside the porch): honesty, practicality, reasonability; tireless effort to bring the hesitant into the fold; the word of the Cudgel is law. Folk here hear it weekly, or harder when they need it.
• Orders in miniature: Even a tiny parish mirrors the three orders—practical Billets, preaching Chapeaux, doctrinal Stars—as roles rather than headcount; Waldere must be all three on different days.
• Chain of command: The parish ultimately answers to Bishop Haufren, whose strict, influential stewardship defines Cuthbertine policy across the viscounty (aid is conditional; worthiness is weighed).
• Place in the wider mix: In a region thick with faiths (Old Faith in the fields, Trithereon in the free towns, and others), the Cudgel is the main pillar—and the most demanding.

The building & grounds (quick map notes)

• Porch & bellline: A timber beam with hanging kettles, tins, and shell-rattles—makes a constant clatter in wind. (A simple way to impose “continuous noise” for Mirewatch-adjacent scenes.)
• Nave: Stone benches, sanded floor, cudgel sigil above a plain altar; a lockbox for tithes and fines. Sermon board lists the week’s lesson and penances.
• Vestry: Ledger of vows, oil, incense; rattle-strings ready to be blessed.
• Cloister patch: A kitchen herb bed (thyme, pennywort), a wood rack, and a hand pump whose steady tick becomes its own prayer at night.

Waldere Elvery, Curate (cleric 3)

Waldere Elvery Curate, St. Cuthbert by 3orcs

• Demeanor: Tall, gaunt, sober in posture if not in practice; eyes red-rimmed, voice steady—until it isn’t. Radicalized by failure (the manor’s fall, the marsh’s creep), he drinks to stun the doubt between duties.
• Public face: Stern comfort and strict mercy—he’ll bind a wound and then bind a promise to do better.
• Private fracture: Bottle behind the vestry oils; prayers carefully written to avoid words that shake his hands.
• Signature act: Blessing rattle-strings to vex the Whispers (see below).
• Lines to use at the table:
• “Law is the floor; grace is the roof. I nail down the floor first.”
• “If you want a miracle, bring a witness and a reason.”
• How he sees you: Tools Providence sent; sinners until proven otherwise; salvation if you make this place safer.

Services, costs, and conditions (frontier parish)

• Bless a rattle-string (room-sized): 5 cp donation → imposes continuous noise for one room for 24 hours (nonmagical). If the party contributes labor (repairs, hauling wood), Waldere waives the coins.
• Sanctify a house space (Mirewatch chapel-rite): 2 sp in incense/oil + 1 hour rite → suppress Fen-Whispers within a 20-ft square for 10 days (as long as a bellline or dripline remains active).
• Healing & protection: Offered, but worthiness is weighed; he demands a vow, a tithe, or a task consistent with the Cudgel’s aims (order, repair, justice).
• Legal witness: Waldere will witness oaths (custody of Mirewatch, bridge bonds), but reminds you: title flows from Asbury/Viscounty, not from him.

How this parish fits the big machine

• Bishop Haufren’s shadow: Policy here takes its tone from Haufren—unyielding on doctrine, influential with the court; his clergy guard both souls and order. Expect aid tied to duty and sermons with teeth.
• With the Borderers: Billet-like joint work with the Mounted Borderers is common—patrol blessings, casualty ministrations, and testimony against raiders.
• In a plural land: Even as Trithereon and the Old Faith tug at the viscounty’s edges, the Cudgel remains the mainstay—especially after wars and scares.

Mechanics vs. the Fen-Whispers (plug-and-play)

• Rattle-String (blessed): While hung and rattling, counts as continuous noise in a 20-ft room. Whispers have disadvantage on attacks/Stealth there; their speed is reduced by 10 ft. (Nonmagical; 24 hours.)
• Bellline: A clattering line strung across an entry and kept moving by a drip or wind gives the same benefits as above while it clatters.
• Sanctify Space (parish rite): As above, suppresses Whispers for 10 days if a noise source is maintained. (If the wheel at Alston’s Mill turns, spaces within 60 ft of it count as continuous noise already.)

Hooks & table scenes

1. “Bring the Quiet to Heel” — Waldere asks for help re-stringing the bellline on the church eaves before a storm (mini skill scene on slick roof). Success: +1 standing with parish; failure: a nighttime Whisper sign in the nave.
2. “Oath on the Stone” — He’ll witness a Writ of Custody for Mirewatch if a Borderer signs as well; gather Roanik’s stamp first. (Cross-faction play.)
3. “Mercy with a Handle” — A raider was caught by Borderers; Waldere invokes Cuthbertine justice: repair the bridge under guard, then march escort. Your party can argue, harden, or soften the sentence (social challenge).
4. “Bottle under the Vestry” — If PCs notice Waldere slipping, they can cover for him at vespers (two PCs read; one leads a hymn success preserves parish morale and unlocks a once/week free sanctify.

If the party wins him back from the bottle

• Waldere stabilizes: sermons shorten, hammering starts at dawn, bench legs get planed. Parish gains a weekly Blessed Rattle-String for Mirewatch and a letter to Bishop Haufren endorsing the PCs’ custody petition (advantage on noble/legal checks that session).
• If they fail him, he hardens: aid requires heavier vows or fines; Borderers become the default shield; rumor says the Cudgel’s patience here is thinning.