Way of the Wicked pact question

[gordbond]

Help please. Two of my players are only level 4 and they have already broken the Pact of Thorns. I cant find anywhere that states the consequences for breaking the pact. Can anyone help me
The players all agreed that they wont kill anyone in Aldencross till AFTER 2 week mark but two players did. So is it like a Geas with no hit dice limitation.
I know that in the end they will break the pact but i have ideas on dealing with that then. I feel they should fear breaking the pact
Any advice would be greatly appreciated

[Kileanna]

I cannot recall anywhere saying anything directly, but extrapolating what is said many times on later books: send the Erinyes.
Tiadora has 9 Erinyes to her service and they should be who took care of anyone breaking the Pact of Thorns.
You have to make them understand that this is serious, so send as many Erinyes as you need to give them a good punishment. You might or might not make Tiadora be with them.
To this point, they are there not to negotiate or to make them apologize, they are there to punish.
You are the one who best knows your own group, so you have to decide if you are going to allow them to apologize and offer something to placate them, but I wouldn't be forgiving here. You have to make them clear that the pact is serious. Don't let them go without a VERY SERIOUS punishment.
The Erinyes aren't nice, they are warriors, they will probably just kill them and take their bodies, but if you don't want to go that far, make Tiadora take them still alive but defeated in her Tentacle cage t somewhere ugly and to torture them for a long time to teach them a lesson.

[Chuck Mount]

Or, maybe a a sound thrashing (take them to around zero hps. Some above and some below zero), take something important from each character with the threat that, next time, they won't be so nice. That way, you can keep moving with the campaign with minimal interruptions. Maybe they take them to Hell to beat them up and take their item or money and tell them, next one who violates the pact, gets to stay here.

[gordbond]

One of my players feels that he and two others shouldn't be punished because they were away at a different event and not at the table when this all happened. I can see his point and kind of agree but i also want to use it as a team building event. To unify them all and know that your a team and need to work together. I have give them all chances to shine as players/hero or villans

[Coidzor]

What was the purpose of getting them to swear on their pact with the Cardinal not to kill anyone in Aldencross before a certain time had passed?

There should be a good reason for that, and it should likely tie back to one of the lessons they were supposed to learn in the basement.

What was the reason for the killing? The circumstances that lead to it should also present some potential thematics for the punishment. Was it just carelessness that lead to them getting discovered by someone who then needed to be silenced? An untempered lust for bloodshed? Stupidity and forgetfulness?

If one of the characters is a mad dog killer who won't obey when it's important and jeopardizes the sacred mission to retake Talingarde for Asmodeus, then that character should probably just be put down and replaced with a character more suitable to the campaign who is more of a team player.

[JohnHawkins]

The punishment for breaking the pact is Hell's displeasure when you die. However if they cross the cardinal by screwing up his plans , he if he thinks they are still useful has TIadora and the Erinyes punish them . If he thinks they are now a liability he kills them.
Cardinal Thorne does not mess around and at this point he is vastly beyond the pc's.

It all depends on if what they did was
a)Stupid
b)Bad for the mission

If it was just one of those he punishes them , if both they are dead produce new characters. I never had a problem with my players not working as a team so I never had to work out in detail what to do to them

[Bob Bob Bob]

So the Pact doesn't really have immediate consequences. It's more of a "sell your soul to the devil" thing. The part of the pact that deals with the party basically just says don't screw the party ("deal with each other fairly and honorably") and split the loot. There's nothing really stopping them from going serial killer and even if they swore to not murder anyone breaking their word once doesn't really break the rules either. A pattern of lying to the party might but not a single incident.

Honestly? The consequence of the killing should be whatever worst case scenario the players dreamed up that led to them making everyone swear not to kill people. Heightened security, double shifts, checking faces at the door, cracking down on the drinking,

WotW book 1:

closing the basement access, the captain not taking his semi-weekly dalliance with the other captain's wife,

things like that.