Veeky Forums, I need some help on steering my party away from this insane path they've chosen...

Veeky Forums, I need some help on steering my party away from this insane path they've chosen. Faced with the choice of investigating the dangerous cult of abyssal-monster worshipping madmen who they know are close to turning all life into monstrous forms, or killing pic related, they have chosen the latter.

Some campaign background first.
> Running DnD 4th edition, am forever DM since my friends insist I put my degree to good use
> Also whole table is fond of randomly rolled people, towns, and even higher stuff like pantheons, with huge excel documents we all dump inspiration into
> this game is a standard enough party, CE tiefling barb, TN elf diplomancer, and fellow Veeky Forums bro who's playing a CG Fey Corgi bard/fighter that worships Petyr the War Beagle. Also an NPC priestess because they didn't have a healer.
> part of a Netherlands-ish trading empire, playing in the not!Mediterranean. Have been working with NPC priestess to investigate why our country isn't getting the amount of tariff on goods we should.
Without giving too much of the plot away (as I mentioned, there is at least one player I know for sure who browses Veeky Forums), they've discovered a cult of not!Atlanteans and who blatantly state they want humanity to 'evolve' into monstrous abyssal fish/slug/snake/whatever men.

The whole foxsquirrel problem started when they first arrived. Wanting to give them an easy first encounter, I had their ship flounder off a reef, so they had to swim to shore. This is where my randomly rolling system bit me in the arse.
I rolled their enemy would be a God's minon. Easy enough. God rolled was Chaotic Evil. Expecting a shark or something, I was kinda amazed to get "Rodent", with the characteristic "Cute" right after that. I asked the players if they wanted a reroll, they thought it was hilarious there was a chaotic neutral god that had cute rodents, and the elf player cracked a joke it was like a foxsquirrel, at which point the idea stuck.
Things quickly got out of hand.

So upon wading ashore, they're greeted with a small, reddish-brown and white furred foxsquirrel chowing down on a fish that's washed ashore. Laughing among themselves, they decided to pet it.

Since it was chaotic evil and basically a blood-crazed monster, I had it go apeshit crazy and try to rip it's way through their boots until they got bored of trying to capture it alive and just stomped on it's head. Thinking that would be the end of it, they headed up the beach towards the nearby town, looking for supplies to repair their ship and get to their real destination.

In town, they saw a few more of these little things around, and were surprised they were much more docile than the ones on the beach. While buying repairs from a merchant, he mentioned in passing they were just a pest around the islands, and that if they saw any it'd be a good idea to leave them alone, since I'd dug myself into a hole and wanted to move on from this mistake.
The barbarian, laughing, asks how something so tiny could harm him. Since I didn't have an idea at the time, I just blurted out the first thing on my mind.
> well if they catch you while you're asleep they might
When they got back to the ship, they insisted they scour the hold and actually managed to find a few that had slipped aboard, and demanded they be thrown overboard. Not being able to swim (for reasons that the ocean in this area is polluted with not!Atlantean magic which is anathema to the gods powers), the little foxsquirrels died like rats.
Fastfowards the campaign a bit, they haven't run into these things again except in towns, and they've made sure to check the inns are free of them. Cult has been discovered to be tampering with the shipping manifolds (a few laughs that something so innocuous brought the party here when they've seen blatant human sacrifice performed by these guys) Priestess has been interrogated under suspicion of being a cult member, and they've stopped for the night to do some camping.

This is where the madness begins. Greetexting to save space
> Party has set up camp for the night with their traveling caravan. All their goods are in a cart, and there are a few other merchants who are traveling together for safety from bandits.
> Corgi bro uses his nose to see if anything is nearby
> Discover that there's 3 dens of animals
> Roll to see what kind of animals
> All three are dens of these foxsquirrels
> Party is nervy, but agrees that one person on watch should be okay
> Don't tell the other NPCs about the foxsquirrels.

> night rolls on. Barbarian is on watch when he makes his first of many spot checks and detects a small foxsquirrel rooting among the bags
> barbarian smash with hammer
> these things are so small I have been ruling any damage is enough to kill them. A splatter of blood is all that's left to mark it's existence
> blood scent wafts. Crickets stop chirping.
> Hiss rises from the trees
> Barbarian spots bright green eyes and wonders if he fucked up
These little bastards had gotten upwards of 90 on every 1d100 roll I had to check the numbers coming out of their dens. There was a fucking horde out there, capable of 1d4 bite attacks a turn, and with their blood lust from their dead comrade, they were fucking pissed. The party saw three of their merchants go down before they grabbed the horses and legged it down the road at night.
Again, I thought it was nothing. They'd lost their caravan sure, but they recovered it the next day, and only really saw a few merchants get nommed. No big deal, right?
In the next village they saw a little girl playing with one of these foxsquirrels, and the Elf, who until now hated working with the barbarian, gladly teamed up in beating her head in, and throwing her down a well, before adding the foxsquirrel to the impromptu grave.

Consequences.

What should happen because of what they have done?

Fudge rolls if it's getting too boring.

I wasn't aware of this because I hadn't been in the party only facebook chat, but they were under the impression these things were a sign of the end times, and if not part of the cult's crazy rituals (they weren't, which the party discovered later) they were an infestation that would spread into their country if not destroyed.
Since the murder of the little girl, they have done some evil fucking things
> found a secluded tribe that prays to the CE god as part of their tribal pantheon, because of his role as natural savagery of the wild. They treated the tribe kindly, listened to all their stories, and then came back the next day with a massive flotilla and killed every single person.
> threatened to burn down an inn that had a catflap that let these things in, because the proprietress liked them. They quietly murdered her the next morning.
> Found an exotic pets salesman who had a few of these in stock. The elf declared he must be planning on selling them to their home country, and the scourge must be stopped. Killed, burned the ENTIRE GUILD down, and even bribed a scribe to ensure that his business partners were implicated in the killing
and who can possibly forget
> bought as many goddamn snares, traps, and specially made artifacts that a) create a pit of seawater and b) drop the foxsquirrels in it whenever they see them
Remember how I mentioned the seawater was anathema to the gods? Well the party has asked me to describe these things dying slow, painful deaths by drowning. Even the Corgi player, who's ostensibly CG has gone along with this stuff. Since they're chaotic evil, he's got cassius belle to rid the world of them too.

It's what's happened next that's really broken me.

That's part of the problem. They're still working their way up the cultists ladder, but the way they're doing it is so left field, and involves this... genocide.
The worst part is the CE god can't interfere because of plot reasons.
After discovering the whole seawater thing, they also discovered the cultists's minions and creatures and whatnot cause extreme distress to any of the divine animals or priests of the gods. For the priestess, this manifests in having terrible visions and even seizures. For the foxsquirrels it means going batshit crazy.
Since then, they have kept a foxsquirrel in a cage, which they treat like a mine canary. This means that whenever they go anywhere suspicious, they watch it for signs of frothing at the mouth and attacking the bars of the cage
This is also the behavior it has when it smells blood, which led to the murder of an entire kitchen staff once. I hadn't the heart to tell them.
What's more, they've had eight of these foxsquirrels in just as many sessions. Rather than feeding it, they either throw it into seawater or smash it to a pulp. One time they threw it into a cockfighting ring and bet their spending money from their country on it, which ended up with a few thugs chasing them down.
I thought that might be the end of their random cruelty. I was wrong.
> Elf: Hey, these things can detect when someone is corrupted by the abyssal magic, right DM?
> Me: Well they're servants of their god and have a bond that lets his will flow through their species-
> Elf: So they'll target the corrupted people first?
> Me: ...Well yeah, that's what's been going on all game. Why?
> Elf: Because we're going to capture as many of these fucking monsters as we can, close [City that they're investigating]'s gates and flood the streets with them
They have over 200 of these things now. Next session they're going to unleash a tide of creatures that go savage when faced with corruption and blood into an unarmed town.
God save us.

The only good varmint is a dead varmint, user.

I don't know how heavily you've been hinting that the end times scheme is in the works and fast, but I'd hint harder.

Prepare to resign yourself to putting the unwitting party into cosmic horror while they're busy exterminating these things.

Maybe make the effects of the fishmenmonsters limited in scale at first and see if it draws them?

I'd let them in on the blood thing. Give them a chance to see the error of their plan, then watch them do it anyway.

Well up till now the PC's have been surprisingly competent, and managed to stop all the rituals before they get started. Mostly because their evil-detecting foxsquirrel is extremely useful for interrogation.
They're going to have to fight one of two bosses as it is, either they win and fight the cultist remnant or lose and fight the super monsters in a race to stop the ritual. I'm just concerned my party has outright stated in their facebook chat their first goal is killing these things.
Like, they know there's an evil cult, but in their messages back to their employer, they've glossed over the potential end of the world (mostly to avoid being replaced with an elite force that might provoke diplomatic incidents, I can't fault them on that) to instead insist they're taking care of the 'vermin'
They're not even hazardous to the ecosystems, they're just tiny bloodlust squirrels.

So you're worried they're putting a lot more focus on this completely incidental little trash mob than they are on the bigger plot?

Basically yes. I'm also concerned about their methods.

Because it seems like they're off the character rails, right?

You officially have a group full of murderhobos. Here's what you do.

>have the cultists approach them and be like "OH WOW YOU FIGURED OUT THE TRUE EVIL- THESE SHITDICKS"
>Have the cultists claim that the chaotic evil foxsquirrels were actually the true harbinger of the end times, and by killing them en masse they're saving the world
>Have the cultists start offering them locations full of Foxsquirrels
>Slowly as the party progresses, have the places full of Foxsquirrels be places the cult needs to destroy
>Party destroys them for them because they're all retarded and don't pick up on context clues
>Cult wins
>Bask in their rage

I'd prefer to not give them a blatent TPK, if only because I've worked hard on this story. It's just I don't understand how something this small and for their level, harmless can capture their attention.
They've purged hundreds of these things just in their travels. They're not a threat in the slightest, hell if anything the help of a CE god would probably be appreciated by the Barbarian.
What compels a player to do this stuff?

You cannot truly see into the heart of a player. To search for answers is to ask why the scorpion stings the frog. It is in their nature. The call of the void is like a siren. They drop the baby. They throw their electronics out the window of a speeding vehicle. Give a player a string, and he will pull until the universe itself is unraveled.

>What compels a player to do this stuff?
Murderhoboism.
Players latch on to the damnedest things sometimes. You are just unfortunate enough to have had yours latch onto these little monsters.
Also, they are savage little rats that are everywhere in huge numbers, are blessed by a chaotic evil god, and go feral at the scent of blood.
A swarm of them scared them enough to cause them to flee, and murdered several merchant allies. When incidental NPCs upset player plans, players seek vengeance.
They also seem to be absurdly useful in the main quest. The canary in the coal mine factor alone is great for tracking down cultists.
Your problem seems to be their plan. They don't know (or just don't care) that they react the same way to cultists as they do to blood.
The resulting massacre in this city will likely be fairly epic.
They are going to come away from this with one of two opinions. One being, OMG, everyone in this town was a cultists/afflicted by the evil magic. The other being, well, we fucked up big time, especially if they see people they know aren't cultists or affected by the cultists being killed by the bloodmad little rodents. Or, if the monsters turn on them in their fury.
Either outcome could be quite entertaining.

The more interesting questions to ask are, do the cultists know about how these divine animals react to them, and if so, what can they do to disguise, defend against or subvert it?
And the other being, since you are dealing with cultists and rituals, likely creating supermonsters and whathaveyou through summoning, sacrifice and evil spells, what happens if you throw one of these little bastards into the middle of it?
What happens when your dark god power ends up in the hands of the bloodsquirrel and not the high priest?
Given how central they have become to your players' story, it might be more narratively satisfying to combine both them and the cultists for the climax.

Darn it. Guess I'll have to give them some diplomatic repercussions.
As for your other questions
> do the cultists know about how these divine animals react to them, and if so, what can they do to disguise, defend against or subvert it?
They know, but since it only affects those who are directly affected by the abyssal monsters, it's pretty safe for them. The run of your mill cultist, especially if they don't have any magic, won't ping on the divine creature filter
> what happens if you throw one of these little bastards into the middle of it?
I experimented with the idea of abyssal fosquirrels, but then considered what the players might do then. Possibly drain the not!Med in the hopes of ending this evil. They're crazy man. I guess it'd just kill the foxsquirrel since abyssal magic is anathema to normal magic
> What happens when your dark god power ends up in the hands of the bloodsquirrel and not the high priest?
Bloodsquirrel is a good name. If it got abyssal power I'm guessing that the CE god would either lose his link to it and it becomes a pawn of the bad guys, or the CE god, who has a connection with these guys, is drawn towards the abyssals (since they're like a giant celestial plughole) and avatar-forms in the foxsquirrel before being destroyed.

>

>Possibly drain the not!Med in the hopes of ending this evil.
I'm surprised they haven't been doing that already.
If they have glass bottles, or just clay jugs, they should be filling them with as much polluted water as they can to bombard buggers with at every turn.
If they are smart at all, this is going to be their plan for dealing with the aftermath of the city massacre they are about to pull. Flood the streets to get rid of the remaining rodents.
Otherwise, they are going to have a plague of them breeding in the ruined city.

Given the chaos the players are causing in their pursuit of the extermination of these creatures, I bet the chaotic god is amused.

I also realise that the cultists could be using the water as well, assuming they know its effects, against temples, shrines, priests and divine animals and spirits, just to weaken their power. A simple squirtgun with a hole in one end, a reservoir and hand pump is easy to construct, and would be deadly against the divine.
It could also serve as a defensive moat around any sanctum. A waterfall wall to keep the unwanted divine out.

>If it got abyssal power I'm guessing that the CE god would either lose his link to it and it becomes a pawn of the bad guys
It could always go completely rogue, controlled by neither party.
You find me a chaotic evil god that wouldn't delight in ruining the cultists plans while creating an uncontrolled horror, and I'll show you a lying neutral good god.

Of course, the other downside is if infusing abyssal magic into these creatures just kills them, and painfully, your players might see it as a weapon to be used against them.

You gonna make opossum pie out of that thing or what?

Just have an NPC druid who knows about the cult see the players doing this and go 'Haha oh wow, you know they frenzy at blood too not just abyssal cult shit'

Also I agree with this guy
>Given how central they have become to your players' story, it might be more narratively satisfying to combine both them and the cultists for the climax.

If you go 'Players you fucked up the bloodsquirrels were irrelevant and you are dumb, cult wins you die RIP' they will feel cheated. Sure, it's not your fault they got this stupid idea, but it's a game where they probably barely remember each other's character's names, let alone plot points.

Oh wow they really gone overboard with that. Poisoning the well with a corpse, that's "fuck your whole village and anybody who wants to build a village here in this century"

>Since the murder of the little girl, they have done some evil fucking things
You do have CE barbarian, a neutral who don't give a fuck and another chaotic who really should've given a fuck but apparently the squirrels got him too.

If the corgi participated or abetted all this shit, flip him over to CN at least, and fuck it let them be anti-PETA.

>Even the Corgi player, who's ostensibly CG has gone along with this stuff. Since they're chaotic evil, he's got cassius belle to rid the world of them too.
That gives him opportunity to burn down their nest and shit.
Not indiscriminately murder anybody who treats them like a pet rat.

>Since then, they have kept a foxsquirrel in a cage, which they treat like a mine canary.
That's cool and neat.

>This is also the behavior it has when it smells blood, which led to the murder of an entire kitchen staff once.
That's them going on Chaotic Stupid rampage again.

>They have over 200 of these things now. Next session they're going to unleash a tide of creatures that go savage when faced with corruption and blood into an unarmed town.
Again, creative thinking is good.

On the other hand, as easy as these things to kill as you say, they may not get very far in.

Let them roll an Int check to realise that they'll go into useless bloodrage after finding even ONE cultist.
If they decide to do it anyway, that's their decision.

The people in the unarmed town make a pact with the cult. Several of them burst through the gates on all sides in abyssal monster form, smashing the vermin before trying to escape into the wilderness.

A group of foxsquirrel hunters arrive. Originally pest control, accusations that so-called "exterminators" have been using foxsquirrels as an excuse to loot and pillage private property forced them to investigate. Now united as a union, they teach the party about the whole blood thing and tell them to cut it out-

-did they just flood a city with the damn pests?

>What compels a player to do this stuff?
Well on one hand you have a fairly stock D&D quest about evil cults and the end of the world and on the other you have an oddly compelling incidental detail that feels like it links to something far more interesting.

Yep. Out of the ordinary things catch players attention.

See the famous Noh story.

Also I'm totally gotta screencap this.

Beautiful

They got an idea into their head, and it stuck.

I say don't 'force' them back onto the rails. Instead, have the cult be using the little foxsquirrel monsters to spread corruption.
You've got the players actually caring about something. All you need to do it turn that something into something plot relevant.

that's fuckin great do that OP

What is this god the god of? I agree it's weird that this is his divine symbol on the earth, although fluffy rats that go crazy at the scent of blood sounds pretty metal if he's a god of pestilence or similar.

>a standard enough party, CE tiefling barb, TN elf diplomancer, and fellow Veeky Forums bro who's playing a CG Fey Corgi bard/fighter that worships Petyr the War Beagle.

Yeah, the only PC that is close to "standard" is the elf. You deserve your retarded train-wreck.

Just keep adding hints that the cult is the real danger. Put all the hints clearly on paper, and note whenever the players miss a hint.

Then eventually, just let the world end, and make it clear that THEY fucked up.

There done. Their own fault.

let them be the makers of their own demise
there is no way someone could get away with half of the shit they did, but if you all have fun playing like that by all means don't try to stop them

I approve of this