[DitV] Zarephath, A Town Too Proud For Its Name

[Robert Bohl]

So tomorrow night, I'm'a run my first session of Dogs in the Vineyard ever.  Here's the town I came up with, called Zarephath after a creepy little Christian community right in the heart of Middlesex County, NJ (which is the chest cavity of the steel wolverine that is New Jersey).

Town:  Zarephath, a border town that is majority Faithful, but has strong Faithless contingency.

Pride:  The Steward began beliving that he also had Stewardship over the Faithless.  NPC:  Steward Hamilton Boothe.

Injustice:  The Faithless get treated as 2nd-class citizens.  NPC:  Jake Meers, a starving widower and father of 3 who can't get a fair shake in finding land to work or a place to live.

Sin:  Disunity and Worldliness.  NPCs:  Brother Cuthbert Calhoon, a wealthy land baron who has taken Steward Boothe's sermons to heart, and has seen it as his purpose to be God to Meers's Job.  He's grown fat and indolent under the money he's making from the poor Faithless.  Sister Althea Towne, a childless widow who owns another large plot of land.  She is furious at Calhoon, both for his worldliness and the fact that his tactics are making it impossible for her to charge honest prices to the Faithless.

Demonic Attacks::  Violence by the Faithless, loss of crops, mutilated and misborn cattle.  NPCs:  Philip Svogeld and Tom Hand, Faithless desperados who are targeting the Faithful.  Sister Livinia Goode, the aunt and now guardian of 2 orphaned Faithful, a convert whose crops have been blighted.

False Doctine:  The King of Life demands death to the unbeliever.  This is the notion creeping into Hamilton's sermons.

Corrupt Worship:  Secret blood rites to the Father of Life.  Phineas Calhoon (eldest son of Cuthbert) and Malachi Miller have taken to multilating and sacrificing the cattle of Livinia Goode, the convert, and watering a symbolic Tree of Life on her land with the cattles' blood.  They also mean to begin murdering Faithless.

What do the people want?

* Steward Hamilton Boothe wants the Dogs' aid in converting the Faithless.
* Jake Meers wants relief from Cuthbert Callhoon's ravages.
* Brother Cuthbert Calhoon wants the Dogs to silence Sister Althea Towne's speaking out against him; he feels she's acting against the dictates of the Father of Life.
* Sister Althea Towne wants to be able to get back to right worship, and fairness, and wants Brother Cuthbert punished.
* Phillip Svogeld is an honest man driven to extremes who wants the Faithful to stop persecuting others.  He wants the Dogs to help him with this but will protect his own if he must.
* Tom Hand is desloate, empty, and driven, and wants someone to kill him--the Dogs will do just fine.
* Sister Livinia Goode wants the Dogs to stop the blight on her farm.
* Sherriff Bailey O'Toole wants the Dogs to reign in the Faithful; he knows what's coming.
* Brother Phineas Calhoon wants the Dogs to stay unaware; he senses subconsciously that what he's doing is wrong.
* Brother Mordecai Miller is a sociopath who wants Brother Cuthbert Calhoon to love him like a son--or more.

What do the demons want?

They want chaos and disorder.  They know that the Faithful are a power against their evil, and they want to hurt them as badly as they can.  They want the violence to continue to increase until the Territorial Authorities bring the army in to drive out the "weird religious freaks".  However, if the Dogs can stop everything from going that way, they want at least for the Faithful to be demoralized and resentful of the Dogs' taking the "enemy's" side against their own.

What would happen if the Dogs didn't come?

The violence would increase and become more and more bizzare and profane, then more and more open.  Eventually the TAs would come in and run the Faithful off for miles around and there would be significant tension between the government and the Faithful for some time.

[Judd]

Wow.

Rob, I dig it.

Just remember not to play this like a mystery and continue to turn up the heat as you go.

Rock.

[Robert Bohl]

Define what you mean by turning up the heat if you would?  (And thanks).

[Judd]

Define what you mean by turning up the heat if you would?  (And thanks).

Let them know what the conflict is in this town through whatever means you choose but don't wait, dont' play it like an old-school mystery.  One hint: if they pick up the dice and want to use it to roll like a Gather Info or Town Lore roll, give them the info and start to give them more information in general.

But heat is conflict, pure and simple.  Start burning down barns, have a non-faitful crucified to the false tree of life, have a mob of faithless marching down main stree, turn up the heat!

Does that make sense?

[Robert Bohl]

Proto NPCs:

* Stats: Acuity 3, Body 4, Heart 6, Will 5; Traits: 1d6, 2d6, 2d8, 1d10; Relationships: 1d4, 1d4
* Stats: Acuity 2, Body 4, Heart 5, Will 3; Traits: 2d4, 2d4, 1d6, 1d8; Relationships: 1d4, 1d4
* Stats: Acuity 3, Body 5, Heart 2, Will 4; Traits: 2d4, 1d6, 2d10, 2d10; Relationships: 1d8, 2d8
* Stats: Acuity 4, Body 6, Heart 5, Will 5; Traits: 2d4, 2d4, 1d8, 2d8 Relationships: 1d6, 1d10
* Stats: Acuity 5, Body 3, Heart 4, Will 4; Traits: 2d4, 1d4, 1d8, 2d8; Relationships: 2d10, 3d8
* Stats: Acuity 3, Body 2, Heart 5, Will 5; Traits: 2d4, 1d4, 1d4, 1d8; Relationships: 1d6, 2d8

Free dice:  1d8, 1d8, 2d8

[Robert Bohl]

Does that make sense?

Yes, it all does.  I certainly don't intend most of these to be mysteries, per se.  This is stuff that's so simmery that it's ready to overflow with very little attention.  I figure the Dogs' presence alone is enough to unearth a lot of this.  Most of the NPCs are going to seek them out on this stuff after all, and very few want what's happening to be hidden.  But I appreciate the advice, and will take it to heart.

I really like the idea of a telegram coming from Sherriff Bailey O'Toole requesting some Dogs' attention.  It'll be a great "woah" moment to start things off.  But I'll also see what they come up with for their PCs and jibe off that.

[Bastoche]

2 questions from a newbie: Is Malachi Mordecai? And what's a TA?

[Robert Bohl]

Yes, Mordecai.  My mistake.

The TA is the Territorial Authorities--the government.

[Bastoche]

Thanks!

[Robert Bohl]

By the way, in case anyone's interested in some of the thought processes and history behind this:

A coworker of mine used to be a journalist and said he was doing a story in Zarephath, when he witnessed the Christian kids bullying the non-Christians openly.  Plus the name Zarephath has always been creepy to me.  I looked it up and it's the name of a town where Elijah was hosted by a poor widow during a time of great famine, where she gave him more than she could afford to part with in food and stuff.  So I thought an inversion there might be nice (and also, "too proud for its name").

See, I'm always uncomfortable with Dogs in the Vineyard--and that's not really a complaint.  I'm a secular fundamentlist so some of the themes in this game get under my skin and, as a player and a GM, I feel the need to constantly show the dangers and pitfalls of the situation there.

The tensions between the Territorial Authority and the Faith is something I remember snatches of from history, a time when the Mormons and the US Government were in great conflict.  I seem to remember there being a story about an insurgency against what the Mormons felt were unfair practices and the Goverment felt was the LDS church flauting laws.  I don't know much else about that history though so if I've mischaracterized something, that's why.

[Robert Bohl]

Ok, so here's the result of the town in play.  First I'll do the PCs.  These stats will be at end of game.  If it changed, and I remember that it did, I'll put an asterisk:

Player:  Burt
Character:  Daniel North
Age:  14
Background:  Complicated History.  Burt was an orphan raised in an orphanage for the Faithful in Zarephath.  He took to judging people early, and often, and harshly.

STATS: Acuity: 4d6, Body: 3d6, Heart: 2d6, Will: 5d6

TRAITS:  Uncaring asshole: 2d6; My hand is guided by God: 2d6; Born a Dog, die a Dog: 2d6; Violence is the answer: 2d8; Untouchable by the corrupt: 1d10*

RELATIONSHIPS:  "Siblings" from the orphanage: 4d4, Sheriff Bailey O'Toole: 1d10, Mordecai's demon: 1d10*

BELONGINGS:  Coat (The sin of the 3: Greed--leather upper, sloth--black leather and cloth sleeves, wrath--back) 2d6; Long rifle: 1d8 + 1d4; Gun ("The Orphan Maker", passed down from orphan Dog to orphan Dog) 1d6 + 1d4; Horse: 1d6; Jar of consecrated earth: 1d6; Book of life: 1d6

Player:  Paula
Character:  Noam Boothe
Age: 16
Background:  Strong History.  Noam caused his daddy to stop drinking as a preteen and mom sent him away to the Dogs early because she was frightened by that.

STATS: Acuity: 5d6, Body: 2d6, Heart: 5d6, Will: 3d6

TRAITS:  I see the Truth: 3d6, My bullets purify: 2d8, Scumbags fear me: 2d8, Evil get behind me: 2d10, This Dog is the Law: 1d10, Distrusts the Faithful: 1d4*, Fearless: 1d6*

RELATIONSHIPS:  Steward Hamilton Boothe: 1d4, Brother Daniel North (fellow Dog): 1d8, Sheriff Bailey O'Toole: 1d6*, Jake Meers: 1d8*, Cuthbert Calhoon's ghost: 2d6*

BELONGINGS:  Coat (inner lining contains pages from father's bible): 2d6; Father's nickle-plated, pearl-handled revolver: 1d8 + 1d4, Book of Life: 1d6, Horse: 1d6, Jar of consecrated earth: 1d6

Player:  Judd
Character:  Cuthbert Walker (nee Bert O'Toole)
Age:  19
Background:  Complicated History.  Grew up as son of Sheriff Bailey O'Toole and raised Catholic, converted after he delivered the dead body of a Dog (named Walker, whose name he adopted) back to Bridal Falls.

STATS: Acuity: 4d6, Body: 5d6, Heart: 4d6, Will: 4d6

TRAITS:  Law's in my blood: 2d6, Young gun: 1d10, Overcompensating convert: 1d10, Am I really a Dog?: 2d6, Too good-looking for his own good: 2d4, Conversion: 1d6*

RELATIONSHIPS:  Sheriff Bailey O'Toole: 1d8, Mom's ghost: 1d4, Zarephath's meeting house for the Faith: 1d8*, Converts to the Faith: 3d6*, Sister Althea Goode: 1d4*

BELONGINGS:  Coat (old, worn-out and feature the Tree of Life prominently): 2d6, Walker's old pistols: 1d8 + 1d4, Battered and worn copy of the Book of Life: 1d6, Jar of consecrated earth: 1d6, Horse: 1d6

[Robert Bohl]

Since we're getting into the meat of Actual Play here, I thought I'd mention that this was the most satisfying game of Dogs in the Vineyard I'd ever played in, and one of my favorite times GMing in 22 years of roleplaying games.  I want to deeply and sincerely thank everyone who was a part of this. 

Some of the synchronicities here were spooky.  Paula picked the last name of Boothe (she spelled it Booth but I changed it to fit my NPC) and when I told her that was the name I'd come up with for the Steward, she decided that he was her character's uncle on his father's side, and hated her character for ruining his father's (Steward Boothe's brother's) life (more on that in the accomplishment scene).  Other things like this kept happening:  Judd choosing Cuthbert for his PC's name (which was the name of the fatcat "villain" of the piece), me accidentally naming the Golden Boy NPC in Daniel's Accomplishment Phineas, which was the name of the "bad seed" son of aforementioned fatcat, and so on.  Instead of fix things, I left them as is.

Accomplishment scenes:

Daniel North:

I say:  "I want my character to have. . . ."

Burt said, ". . . rooted out corruption among the Dogs."

Daniel was pretty well known for judging people his entire life, and this continued into his training.  His setup was this:  He was sent back to the barracks to get something at a time when most people were out practicing and training.  He entered the barracks and found the most popular Dog trainee--a big strapping Apollonian young man--engaged in homosexual sex with his main flunky.  Daniel didn't hesitate for a moment.  He pulled his rifle and shot the headboard, then loudly denounced them and called them out as sinners.  Golden Boy starts off with a "how dare you?!" and Daniel is unmoved, so the Yes Man pulls his pistol and starts fanning the hammer, but the shots all go wide as Daniel continues to judge the pair.  He is outlined in bullet-holes and Golden Boy cracks and begins weeping as the Stewards and other trainees come in to see the tableaux.  Burt gains the "Untouchable by the Corrupt" trait at 1d6 which he increases throughout the game whenever he gets Experience Fallout.

Noam Boothe:

I say:  "I want my character to have. . . ."

Paula said . . . I forget exactly.  I think it was something like, ". . . gotten my father off the path of sin for good."

Noam was sent to the Dogs after he scared his Daddy out of drinking by holding a gun on him when Noam was only eight years old.  He took a liking to Daniel North, and formed a close attachment when they were both young.  As part of his initiation, the Stewards told him that there was something he had to deal with in his home town, at his father's saloon.  Noam arrives in town and discovers his father behind the bar and drinking, and also fondling one of the waitresses in front of dozens of drunk and roaring-with-laughter patrons.  Noam calls out his daddy in a loud voice, and at first only the people near him at the entrance notice.  But he continues, and when he gets Daddy's attention, he throws open his coat.  Inside are pages from his father's Book of Life, and the sight is like a physical blow to the father.  The light reflects in such a way as to appear to suffuse young Noam with blinding purity.  Daddy falls to his knees weeping and people begin to shuffle out of the saloon.  Noam forces his father to sell the establishment at a low rate and financially ruins him.  Paula picks up the Fearless trait for her character at 1d6.

Cuthbert Walker:

I say, "I want my character to have. . . ."

Judd says, ". . . converted my momma to the Faith before she died."

The Stewards bring the Cuthbert's sheriff father and tuberculosis-ridden to Bridal Falls for their son's test of initiation.  Cuthbert chooses not to see his father, and the Stewards prevent Bailey from entering the room with his wife and son.  Cuthbert begins to try to elevate his mother's soul, but it becomes clear that she thinks that this is a crazy cult, and she's deeply hurt that he left them and never came back.  Cuthbert seems to own the fact that his rapid departure deeply hurt her, and takes Fallout which reduces his relationship with his mother's eventual ghost from a 1d6 to a 1d4.  But standing in a shaft of sunlight, he opens the Book of Life, and she sees the light before she dies.  Judd takes the Conversion 1d6 trait for Cuthbert.

[Robert Bohl]

A note before I continue:  I screwed up in-game and gave the "innocent widow" character the name of Sister Althea.  This was supposed to be Sister Livinia Goode, and Althea was Sister Althea Towne, the "good" entrepreneur.  The "good" entrepreneur never came into the game, though, so it didn't matter.

The trio are put together by the Stewards on their first mission, because they all share strong ties with the border town of Zarephath.  Zarephath's Catholic sheriff and Territorial Authorities representative--Sheriff Bailey O'Toole--sent a telegram to Bridal Falls saying that there were serious problems with the Faithful in town, and he needed the Dogs' help.  Having a non-Faithful TA calling on the Dogs when the Steward had not is almost unheard of.

The journey to the far eastern border of the Territory takes two to three weeks, and it is midmorning when they see the large town on the horizon.  Zarephath sits in the base of a cut in the mountains and is surrounded on one side by forests, and on the other by open plains.  It survives mostly on logging the mountainous forests and grazing cattle on the plains.  About a half mile away, the Dogs see a pair of adolescent males on horseback.  When these boys see the Dogs coming, one of them peels off and races his horse toward the town while the other goes back to tending the herd.

Noam heads for the one who stayed behind, while Cuthbert and Daniel race after the runner.  The runner is Mordecai Miller, town little-shit bad-seed.  The kind of kid who'd get caught torturing small mammals.  While Mordecai "Rides Like the Wind" (2d10), it's a physical conflict which means d6 Fallout, and by the 2nd Raise, it's clear that he'll have to take Fallout to continue, so he gives up and the pair easily catch up to him.

Meanwhile, Noam comes upon Phineas Calhoon, a beautiful and strapping "Man's Man" (2d8) who was at first an unconscious--then an overt--reference to the Phineas that Daniel caught engaging in gay sex in his Accomplishment scene.  It's a red herring, though.  Phineas is disgusted with Mordecai as quickly becomes obvious, but is willing to use him in whatever way he can.  Noam feels something hinky about Phineas, and even though Phineas is "Conceited" (2d4) and "My dad runs this town" (1d8), Noam forces him to admit that his father asked him to keep a lookout for the Dogs coming.  He explains that some people get very scared when Dogs come to town.  It often means something pretty bad.

Back with Mordecai.  As soon as Cuthbert recognizes him, he decides there's no fucking around here.  He decides he wants to shoot Mordecai's horse in the head and pin him under it, then force him to admit why he ran.  Mordecai is a "Mean Bastard" (2d10) and tries to keep his dying horse running, but ultimately he falls and is trapped.  Noam and Phineas arrive as Mordecai confirms through pain-clenched teeth Phineas's story.  Daniel puts the flailing horse out of its misery, and Phineas mocks his "friend" as he pulls him out from under the horse and throws him on the back of his horse.  The Dogs order the boys to go back and tell the Steward to go to the Sheriff's office so they can have all the principals in one place.

The Dogs decide that Noam--who doesn't know the Sheriff--will go to the Sheriff and see what he knows.  The Sheriff's son and Daniel (who kind of hero-worships the Sheriff) will go to the meeting house of the Faith, since they expect the Steward won't deign to follow orders given by Phineas, even if he claims to be acting as a proxy for the Dogs.

The Dogs pass the first farm on the way into town, and there is Sister Althea and her orphaned nephews watching eagerly.  The boys are terribly excited that the Dogs have arrived, Cuthbert sends them off to get apples for their horses while the Dogs talk to their adoptive mother.  She thinks they're there to fix the blighting of her crops.  She explains that her crops have been all withered and that her cattle have been mutilated.  The Dogs are very troubled by this and she offers to have them back later for apple pie, to which they heartily agree.  They decide there's definitely a problem here they have to look into.

[Robert Bohl]

As the Dogs come into town they see quite a bit of poverty.  They know the starving and desolate-looking people are not of the Faith, because they're dressed relatively immodestly.  In particular they notice a hollow-eyed man and his children clinging frightfully to him.

Cuthbert and Daniel break off from Noam and head toward the meeting house.  There they find the Steward getting ready to head to the Sheriff's office.  The Dogs go back into his house with him instead and begin interrogating him about what's happened in town.  They get the sense that something's wrong, but they're not getting anything that useful out of the Steward, so Cuthbert rings the meeting house bell to call all those of the Faith.

Noam enters the Sheriff's office and begins interrogating.  The Sheriff seems like a reasonable man, and he explains that violence against the faithless by the Faithful has been on a sudden and precipitous rise.  He tried to talk to Steward Hamilton about it, but the man refused to believe that his people were responsible.  O'Toole is afraid that if something isn't done soon, the Territorial Authorities will send the army in to push the Faithful out, and it could result in a conflict if not a war.  He doesn't want that.  He's gotten along very well with the Faith.  Well, mostly.  Noam is--throughout the story--suspicious and demanding of Bailey, and he manages to uncover that Bailey is resentful of the Faith for stealing away his son, and for making the last few months of his wife's life ones of distance and pain between them.  This really bothers Noam, but ultimately he sees that O'Toole only wants the best both for those of the Faith, and those not.  During their conversation, they hear the bell tolling.

During Cuthbert's interrogation of the Steward, he learned that the Steward supposed that Althea must be fornicating or committing some other sin, though he was forced to admit that he should have called the Dogs in himself to deal with the blight to the crop since he couldn't get the truth out of Althea.  He also mentioned that the Sheriff had been complaining about violence against the Faithless, but he didn't put any stock in it.  After the meeting house fills, Cuthbert begins railing against the town for the Dogs having been called by the TAs.  Something's wrong, though.  The town isn't reacting with quite the fear and respect he was expecting.  Moreover, they actually chuckle a few times.  Daniel notes who does this--and it's mostly the young men.  After the meeting breaks up, Cuthbert manages to push through Steward Hamilton's "Arrogance" (2d4), the fact that he feels "I know God's will" (2d8), his Relationship with the Meeting House (2d10) and the enormous and beautiful Book of Life (2d8) that the town's Free Dice gave him, as well as the so-far-uncovered Demonic Influence (1d10) to get an admission from the Steward.  The stakes are that the Steward reveals and accepts that he's personally responsible for part of what's going on here. 

Cuthbert finally makes the man see the light by whacking him in the mouth with his tattered old Book of Life.  The man loses a front tooth and bleeds onto the pages that he's used to prop up his sinful Pride.  It turns out that the Steward interpreted passages that encouraged conversion to mean that he had Stewardship over the faithless.  As a result, the young men of the town were beginning to get the idea that the faithless who refused to convert should be pressured more forcefully into it.  The Steward is broken, and filled with grief for his false teachings.

While Noam and O'Toole are arguing about the legitimacy of Bailey's anger at the Faith, one of the deputies brings in the battered and bleeding body of one of the Faith.  It seems like the townsfolk are starting to repay the Faithful in kind.  He's been shot.  He may survive.  Bailey O'Toole explains that the pressure has gone from the occasional fistfight to some real mistreatment.  Cuthbert Calhoon is of the Faith, but is also a land baron.  He's been charging outrageous prices for rent and mortgage to those not of the Faith who he has material power over, unless they convert.  The poor that throng the streets are those faithless who refused to convert. 

Noam leaves the Sheriff and heads for the meeting house, where he meets Jake Meers, the father they saw earlier.  Noam now knows the story behind it and Paula declares the stakes of the conflict:  She wants Noam to convince Jake Meers that he can go to the Steward's home and receive charity without the expectation of being proselytized.  Noam attacks the demon of doubt and hopelessness within Jake with the Laying on of Hands and in the end, the spirit is broken and Jake decides that even though he's heard this story a thousand times before, there's something about Noam that convinces him it's for real.

[Robert Bohl]

Judd does what the game says, and uses information he's heard at the table to make the story work better.  Brother Cuthbert Walker says to Brother Daniel, "You know who we have to talk to, don't you?  We have to talk to Cuthbert Calhoon."  Daniel agrees.  But first, pie.

Noam rejoins his companions and they all go to Althea's house.  Althea's done more than just make pie.  She's extended her resources to their utmost, and made a sumptuous meal for the men.  The Dogs fill in Althea and the boys are really excited by the story, hooting with joy when they hear how the Dog smacked Steward Boothe in the mouth with the Book of Life.  They also discover that Althea's is the only farm which has been blighted.  They ask Althea to take the boys to bed so the Dogs can talk, and she does so.  While they discuss their strategy--which is to focus on Cuthbert Calhoon's usury and viciousness--they hear a pained scream from out back.

It's Phineas and his flunky Mordecai.  They're butchering Althea's cattle and then pouring the blood on the roots of a tree in the middle of her field.  Daniel doesn't hesitate--he starts firing at Mordecai, who was holding the blood.  Burt's goal is for Daniel to kill Mordecai.  Judd and Paula decide they want to break Cuthbert, get him to realize the twisted things he's been doing, so they can use him against his father.

Mordecai is firing wildly, but unlike the earlier conflict, he's hitting.  Daniel is being riddled with bullets, but calmly takes careful aim with his rifle and blows the left hinge of Mordecai's jaw off with his first shot, then plugs him between the eyes with the second.  While the firefight is going on, Cuthbert Walker and Noam work together to grind Phineas's cocksurity away.  During the conflict, they discover that Phineas believes that "Converts ain't really of the Faith" (2d4), but his Relationship with "My town" (1d10) isn't enough for him to stand against the will of the Dogs united.  He, too, is broken.

However, as the adrenaline wears off, Daniel slumps and blood is spurting out of him.  Noam drops to his knees before his dying friend and Lays on Hands, trying to heal the wound with the power of Faith.  The miracle is achieved.  And well that it is, since it requires the power of the Three in Authority to drive the demon from the tree that Phineas and Mordecai have invited in.  They manage to do so, however, and the tree they've saved is a perfect replica of the Tree of Life.  Despite the darkness of the night, they can see the health returning to the field almost immediately.

Things cannot be allowed to simmer.  The Dogs take Phineas to the center of town and get him down on his knees.  A gun is placed to the back of his head, and it is declared that if Cuthbert Calhoon does not come to answer to the Dogs by midnight (which he has more than enough time to do), his son will be the first to suffer for his crimes.  Those who leave to deliver the message return in plenty of time to watch along with the rest of the town as the Dogs execute Phineas.

As if the shot opened a door for the Great Man, Cuthbert Calhoon arrives just in time to see his son die.  Of course, the Dogs suss out what the crowd cannot:  Calhoon is waiting for the Dogs to execute his son.  In Calhoon's mind, this will garner him sympathy:  The Dogs have taken the side of the faithless over the Faith.  This is the tack he tries to take in his argument with them.  He "Believes he is right" (1d6), regards this as "My town" (1d10), is "Arrogant" (2d6) and reminds the crowd "I own your homes" (2d8).  The players set up the stakes that if they win, Cuthbert Calhoon will admit he's abandoned the Faith.  If this happens, the Dogs don't have to kill him, and the Territorial Authorities can take him for other crimes he's been guilty of.  They are successful in grinding him down, and the effect on the town is almost as immediate as the effect of cleansing the tree was on the fields.

Epilogue:

On his way out of town, Cuthbert Walker stops in to see Sister Althea again.  The crop is growing very nicely.  He shyly says that he'd like to come and see her again, sometime.  The "old maid" of thirty years is bemused by the young man's nervousness, but is delighted by the prospect of this attention's future blossoming.