It was once written in the Lost Scrolls of Masius that a great evil once plagued the land in the most foulest of manners. It preyed on those that were of the lower breeds of society. The people that were seen as not worth the trouble of associating with nor warranting a second glance. The poor unfortunates were knonw as Halflings. A usually happy, innocent breed of people, Ryniki infiltrated their innocent demeanor to corrupt the very soul of those unfortunates.

There is little known of his powers and his current location, but there remains many a children’s tale of his workings in the Ages of Old. Though he preyed on the halfling race, the other races felt his sting of bitter deceit. An innocent child playing in the woods nearby a farm may have seemed no threat, but many a time it was a halfling in disguise waiting for the perfect moment to strike.

No one is sure of the motivations behind Ryniki, but the Lost Scrolls of Masius speak of an ancient myth that involved Ryniki and a small child. Loosely translated, before becoming an evil god, Ryniki was considered the Halfling god of Mischief. He went about his days taunting people, but causing no real harm. There came a day just as any other day, that brought Ryniki’s attention to a little girl playing in a field on the outskirts of a small farming town. As he watched her play and frolic, a most disturbing act befell. A man on horseback raced by, and all at once, scooped her small frail form into his arms. Ryniki was a bit distraught and continued to watch the scene unfold. The halfling god saw the man sell the small child to a mining company in the south and was paid two gold coins for his trouble. Ryniki was dumbfounded. The sight of stolen innocence eventually drove him mad, and he took it upon himself to slay all non-innocent beings. A task fit for a mad god, he lost his old followers and believed to have gained new ones that remain hidden to this day.

Ryniki was very clever at picking his victims. Little is know about his followers at the present time, except that they wear a small tattoo of a miniature dagger in their left palm. Devotees to the god of Disguise are usually left alone to cause pain, until Ryniki calls upon their services.

Priests and followers of Ryniki

Priests of Ryniki are often naturally malicious and mostly insane men whose minds have been further tainted by the god's cursed touch. They receive the disguise proficiency as a bonus, and add +1 to it per level gained, in addition to any points that are put toward it during normal character progression. The method by which Ryniki maintains his following is as yet unknown, due to the fact that no one has gained that knowledge from any of his priests. As a command, every preist that is captured or their identity known, must immediately terminate their life. This is usually done with a straight cut across their throat by the priest’s own hand.

All rogue non-weapon proficiencies acquired by a priest of Ryniki have a –2 bonus to their roll checks. This is only for the priests of Ryniki, not the faithfull followers.

There are no holy days in the worship of Ryniki. There is no known leader of the priesthood at the time of this writing. No ceremonies that are known. The only need that is placed upon his followers is to provide a victim once a month, if they fail to do this, a member of the priesthood seeks them out and murders them with a dagger placed through the skull. Many victims have turned up around the docks of the Harbor District in Ravens Bluff.

To date, there are no know factions of Ryniki worshipers in the Realms. As they are very mistrusting and sneaky, it is unlikely that one will even be known to anyone other than a member. It was once rumored by a drunken bard, named Nosuis of Skullport, that a small following of priests have been seen gathering around the lower docks of Ravens Bluff (in the Harbor District) on the Eve of Bloodshed (Ryniki’s rise to power during the Time of troubles). But no one has confirmed the hearsay or seen Nosuis after his drunken tale in the "Dancing Lion", a tavern outside of Eversult. The authorities of Ravens Bluff failed to follow the lead as it wasn’t from the proper channels.