A funny thing happened on our Shrine Pilgrimage

Pilgrimages are holy treks, for some a form of tourism to get out to see the world, others are more serious, dangerous and long. 

A minor Pilgrimage has a 2d4 days with an ordained stop each night.
A major Pilgrimage can take 2d4 months
(consider exploding dice on these rolls)

Generate a shrine as per the previous two blog posts on shrines for oaths. 
Each day and stop will also have a drama.

Some pilgrim bands are made of individuals who work together and are self-funded. Some groups may be taken care of by a leader and possibly an organisation or council. The more hierarchical ones centralise their money and spending. They buy in bulk and give chores to members and may even punish or fine members. Church groups might go on tour together or families.

Some are more of a mob and more likely to be clueless, lost and hungry. They might also rampage fan fan-attack foreigners they have never seen before, or some old people who might have food. A leader who provides food will have a devout and dangerous influence. Cultists may recruit from the most desperate pilgrims who just hope everything will turn around and be ok.

d12 Why is this guy on a pilgrimage?
1 Raising money for charity
2 See beyond home to experience the world
3 Pennance for some sin or crime
4 In return for healing from the church

5 Considering entering the clergy

6 To aid the soul of a departed person

7 Feels bad after traumatic warfare

8 Punishment for slight against the faith

9 Transporting a body

10 Transporting relics or scriptures

11 Earning good credit with the cosmic powers

12 Evil cultist (possibly just travelling or intending sabotage or crime)

d12 Pilgrim merch
1 Official pilgrim robes with hoods 4sp (second-hand pilgrim robes d3sp)
2 Official pilgrim skull cap 1sp doubles as a begging bowl

3 Silver holy symbol dedicated to a trail shrine 20gp
4 Wooden holy symbols carved by a  local folk artist 1sp
5 Prayer beads including wood 12cp clay 4sp ivory 10gp
6 Holy pamphlet 5gp or holy prayer book 30gp or illuminated book 300gp
7 Portable Idols, including wooden 10cp, clay 4sp, ivory 12gp, silver 30gp, gold 300gp
8 Church passport where you get stamps to show you went on the trail 4sp
9 Walking Stick (d4) 4sp club (d6) 10sp, pilgrim staff (d6) 1gp
10 Pilgrim Ration baskets, common 1cp/day, posh nosh 1sp/day 
11 Water 1cp per 6L or Beer 4cp per 1L bottle (2cp deposit) or wine 2sp per 1L bottle (2cp bottle return) Holy water 

12 Candles 1cp and clay lanterns 4sp tin lantern 20gp, Lamp Oil 1sp 

d12 Pilgrim Groups
1 Scrawny youths and children singing devoutly but hungry
2 Wretched poor with begging bowls
3 Flagellants on tour like a rock band, often drinking and recruiting local youths
4 Diseased or mutants ringing a bell, so people are warned to avoid them
5 Desperate villagers seek a blessing for a local problem

6 Poorer townsfolk, but some are former veterans

7 Clerical students seeking a life in the church

8 Crusaders  d4 1=need healing 2=traumatised vets 3= 4=make mischief all the way

9 Guards with merchant-class family pilgrims

10 Guards with a church official in a palanquin or a coach

11 Guards with an entourage of servants with a noble in a palanquin or a coach

12 Specialist order d4 1=Inquisitors 2=templars 3=hospitalars 4=excorcists

d12 Common pilgrim band feature
1 Musicians or a choir, some play bells or chant
2 Bring farm animals to bless them

3 Wagon of supplies and donations

4 Accompanied by a 5th Lv priest and four acolytes

5 Accompanied by a knight

6 Carry a local petty relic in a reliquary to be blessed

7 Raising money for a holy crusade or inquisition

8 Elderly holy hermits of great wisdom teaching pilgrims

9 Drunks up for rampaging against anything they don't like on the way

10 Sworn conduct for pilgrimage d4 1=silent 2=flagellation 3=fasting 4=drunk

11 Criminal guild agents among pilgrims carrying secret messages or smuggling 

12 Evil cultists among them seek to corrupt and sabotage pilgrims

d12 Stops of minor pilgrimage
1 Urban cathedral

2 Urban temple

3 Urban shrine 

4 Rural village church

5 Rural monastery  

6 Rural village shrine

7 Wilderness Pilgrims' shelter

8 Wilderness pilgrims' shelter

9 Wilderness Pilgrims' Campsite

10 Wilderness ruined church

11 Wilderness cave

12 Wilderness shrine

d12 Indoor dramas by night
1 Someone stealing

2 Fire breaks out

3 Meet a potential follower or patron 

4 Locals need help with repairs

5 Hear a story or a rumour about a possible adventure

6 Meet a friendly priest 

7 Romantic encounter d4 1=scandalous 2=pleasant 3=demands marriage 4=supernatural

8 Leaders of the pilgrimage quarrel and possibly split

9 Someone offends local custom, starting an angry mob

10 Rival pilgrims boast about how holy and modest they are

12 Murder! d4 1=Shapeshifter 2=local beef 3=criminals 4=mad killer 5=cults 6=undead

12 Corrupt and heretical cultists 

d12 Wilderness camp dramas

1 Wolves or jackals howling

2 Animal or creature tries to steal something

3 Wild animal encounters

4 Other pilgrims or hermits hogging best camp

5 Food for d3 days has spoiled or been ruined by vermin

6 Forest monster d4 1=unatural hybrid 2=mutant 3=giant 4=elemental

7 Humanoids or wild folk drawn to the camp are considered kidnapped

8 Seductive nature spirit, or wild person, lures victims

9 Forest spirits, faerie, talking animals or wild folk curious about travellers

10 Were beasts sniffing around camp, looking for sleeping victims

11 Undead or spirits menace the camp by night

12 Weather turns horrible

d12 Rural pilgrimage encounter
1 Bandits with a prepared ambush

2 Sick people abandoned by the roadside

3 Another party of pilgrims d6 1=snooty 2=heretic cultists 3=sick 4=hungry 5=poor 6=war vets

4 Wolf packs or wild dogs stalk pilgrims

5 Slavers looking for easy targets

6 Tax collectors or other officials and guards sniffing for paperwork evaders

7 Cackling old person laughs or taunts or yells wild stuff

8 Commoner needs help on the roadside

9 Wild folk at the forest edge

10 Wild animals or farm herd 

11 Wild fruit to nuts or berries worth two meals

12 Dark Heretic Templar on horseback to bully pilgrims

Long pilgrimages will have greater significance.
The travels on the journey can help the various problems wherever they go.
Possibly, hero pilgrims can help change the places they visit. By helping kingdoms, the travellers are improving international travel and trade.

The pilgrimage will have dangers for months in the journey.
Often at the end there is a task to complete the quest.
Heroic pilgrims might become official saints. 

d12 Major Pilgrimage
1 See a wonderous sight from mythological events in the scriptures

2 See a wonderous vast temple complex, a wonder of the world

3 Go to a distant holy place now occupied by hostile peoples 

4 Go to famous heretic regions and provoke fights with the heretical doctrines and cults

5 Visit a kingdom imperilled by plague and cults that needs help

6 Visit a faraway kingdom where our faith has not yet reached, and establish a church

7 Protect commoner or noble pilgrims through a hostile land

8 Build a mission to help heal and convert people in a new land or for crusaders

9 Build a cathedral or other stone wonder to encourage the faithful in the region

10 Visit a faraway land to help a devout ruler battle their cultist enemies

11 Destroy a fearsome monster and take its hoard for the faith, then build a church

12 Visit the Crusader lands and build a fortification for the next holy slaughter

d12 Major pilgrimage perils
1 An evil wizard seeks cosmic evil to recognise them by killing pilgrims

2 Local cult wants to impress the supernatural master by killing pilgrims

3 Local evil cult or rival church sees pilgrims as a threat

4 Supernatural beings seek to tempt heroes with love and vice

5 Enemies cause trouble for relatives or friends while pilgrims are away

6 Rival pilgrims are highly competitive and possibly of a rival sect (or secret heretics)

7 Intelligent, paranoid monster or spirit sure pilgrims must fail and are a threat

8 Enemy cult sends out an agent to cause trouble for the party with fraudulent documents

9 Petty godling feels pilgrims have it too easy, so meddles in their journey
10 A heretical antihero and their band of maniacs have sworn to stop pilgrims

11 Local demon or devil assumes the guise of a noble mortal and stirs up trouble for pilgrims 
12 Cosmic beings wage bets over pilgrims and then meddle to win 

Major Pilgrimage Adventure
1 Pass through a strange kingdom with weird customs and possibly non-human

2 A shortcut is blocked by a dungeon or a dangerous monster

3 Come across a kingdom in civil war where the pilgrim's intervention will last

4 Kingdom of cruel cultists, but many are willing to listen to true faith

5 Region plagued by evil cults who act like bandits

6 A local religion has suddenly become hostile to your pilgrims and church growth

7 An influential merchant or noble has been stirring up trouble for the pilgrims' faith

8 A rival religion has sent inquisitors to hunt your pilgrims and accuse them of witchcraft

9 Discover that the monster coming for you all comes from a planar portal or a hell gate

10 Undead evil heroes raised from death to hunt pilgrims, sent by an evil god 

11 An evil outer planar being sends a lesser servitor to make trouble

12 A monster or planar being living in area was here to stop a certain pilgrimage and some have spent centuries preparing

d12 Rare pilgrim band feature
1 Includes a 5th Lv monk and 2d4 students
2 Includes a holy saint and retinue

3 Guarded by a squad of crusaders or templars

4 Includes a true relic in a reliquary with 5th Lv priest and four acolytes

5 Famous knight and servants are guardians

6 Carry the body of a saint to be buried at a shrine

7 Carry holy scriptures to the distant lands

8 Carry a holy idol found in ruins and being relocated

9 Some wear strange costumes, and possibly several share a monster costume

10 Mysterious non-human converts 

11 Secret divine changeling spirits or creatures among them
12 Famous witch or heretics in disguise to cause trouble

d10 Quick Funny Thing Types
1 Mission drama
2 Host drama
3 Strange customs

4 Obstacles

5 Hostile Cult

6 Famous Monsters

7 Sidequest

8 Lost Paths

9 Strange Paths

10 Miracle

d100 Funny things happened on the pilgrimage
01 Members of the mission quarrel
02 Mission splits into feeding factions
03 Several pilgrims were a bit slow and struggling
04 Pilgrim lost money or valuables
05 Vermin ruin travel rations 
06 Pilgrims fleeced with fake trinkets or gambling
07 bad food made everyone flatulent and sick
08 Drama-loving pilgrim looking for a mate 
09 Lazy bully pilgrim makes others do chores
10 Creepy cultist hides vice and depravities
11 Host household has diabolical cultist 
12 Host household has a murderous maniac
13 Householder tries to frame guests for murder or theft
14 Householder is a murderous shapeshifter 
15 Householder slanders the pilgrims with lies
16 Householder informs the inquisitors of the pilgrims
17 Householder questions visitors' credentials
18 Householder pest finds a pilgrim attractive
19 household up in arms about a missing person
20 Household up in arms about recent crime
21 Local festival with drinking and creepy costumes
22 Whicker idol of the old faith burnt during a party

23 Commoners exalt sacred carrots from Shankeye hill
24 Violent sporting event in progress with drink and gambling

25 Maypole dancing with a drinking mob and music

26 Locals perform a strange dance of the old ways

27 Locals make vegetal harvest figures and leave them watching the fields

28 Locals play pranks on strangers

29 Locals sacrifice an animal for a feast, wearing range costumes and chanting
30 Locals in a monster costume, escorted by clowns with sticks, demand coins
31 Road or bridge damaged and risky
32 Bandits lurk at a road crossing
33 Haunted road crossing
34 Highway gang menaces travellers
35 Local combat in the area between factions
36 Terrible weather
37 Road blocked by disaster
38 Vermin-infested area
39 Wolves or wild dogs infest the area 
40 Sinister fog

41 Witch sends her sons to menace pilgrims

42 High-status cult hires assassins for pilgrims

43 Evil templars hunting pilgrims in area

44 Witch hunter or inquisitor searching pilgrims

45 Berserker bullies turn up for drinks

46 Cannibals think a pilgrim looks exotic & delicious

47 Cultists try and menace pilgrims with spells without being caught

48 Cultists try and frame pilgrims

49 Someone swore to an evil power and in return must sabotage pilgrims

50 Witch seduces pilgrims and humiliates them
51 Famous horned demon changeling loves to eat pilgrims
52 Famous werewolf swore to devour pilgrims' hearts
53 Local vampire preys on passing pilgrims and hates the church
54 Chaos champion bandit leads a violent gang of mutants
55 Evil templar cult leader has a secret base in the area 
56 Demonic changeling likes to seduce and eat pilgrims
57 Notorious snake folk wizard is paranoid about increasing pilgrims
58 Slaver captain who preys on pilgrims and might try and infiltrate them
59 Robber knight leads a band from a secret cave and robs pilgrims
60 Orc raider boss thinks pilgrims are easy pickings 
61 Sunken church has an intact bell or idol
62 Ruined temple occupied by evil cult
63 Locals ask the holy to exorcise a haunted house
64 Other pilgrims need help, as several were kidnapped for ransom
65 See a haunted ruin shunned by locals
66 Dungeon monsters attack, and a dead raider leaves a dungeon map
67 Evil dragon, wizard or other threat bothering the local region
68 Local tells a tale of a lost treasure in a local dungeon
69 Bandits have a valuable item, and a rich reward from local nobles is on offer for it
70 Monsters took an innocent or a pilgrim 

71 Find the trail to a monster lair

72 Lost off course d3 days

73 Find the trail to an ancient ruined complex

74 Trail to an abandoned, creepy village

75 Secret village of chaos cultist farmer clan

76 Trail to a secret camp or homes of non-humans

77 Find the robbers' cave headquarters of the local bandits

78 Find an aquatic cave grotto with treasure guarded by a spirit

79 Find a trail to an ancient graveyard

80 Find a grove to a satyr and/or dryad dancing place
81 Find a secret faerie trail with otherworldly sylvan beings are encountered
82 Find a haunted road where ancient battles left scores of dead
83 Find a strange carnival camp
84 Find a path in the fog to a mysterious haunted manor house
85 Find a path where the spirits of murdered pilgrims warn travellers to go back; if bodies or spirits are put to rest, the haunting stops 
86 Find a primal path trail with prehistoric plants and vegetation, and ancient spirits, some ancient humanoids hide here from time
87 Find a strange cave in a temporal labyrinth
88 Find a path back in time centuries where the old religion was dominant, and fewer people
89 Find a secret path to a changeling village
90 Find a path to Black Stump Village, a trap to send people to hell
91 Find a path where evil spirits test pilgrims
92 Find a path to possibly recover a lost relic, might get visions or dreams or see some sign, enhanced hypereal and strange omens invite pilgrims to try
93 Vision of a saint or servitor of a deity 
94 See a favourable star or constellation - blessed for 24 hours
95 Given a vision of an alternative path from the map
96 Several large animals fall to their deaths against rocks and are worth days of food and valuable hides, perhaps find a fresh dead beast like a whale on the beach or a pig stuck in a hole
97 Find wonderous berry bushes or fruit trees worth a d3 meals
98 The kindly merchant gives pilgrims some wine and food, to commemorate a family member killed on a pilgrim trail
99 A Famous priest or even a saint meets you on the road and will offer some divination 
100 Angel comes and heals everyone with holy breast milk and lights, all exhaustion gone, no need to eat for a day