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<blockquote data-quote="Salmakia" data-source="post: 9235821" data-attributes="member: 7038731"><p>Needless to say, the wizard summoned me. I adopted my hamatula form and appeared promptly within the diagram.</p><p></p><p>“Do you have more magical darkness for me to peer through?” I inquired. I’ve found that mortals cannot tell most devils apart, and so I asked the question to ensure they knew I was the same one they had summoned many months before. Indeed, they seemed suitably shocked by the revelation.</p><p></p><p>The cleric squinted at me, suspicious. “Why are you coming back to us again?”</p><p></p><p>I smiled benignly. “Let’s just say that I was <em>tempted </em>by your hospitality and fair temperament the last time we met.”</p><p></p><p>“Bulls**t,” spat the cleric. “You’re up to something. I know it.”</p><p></p><p>“You’re quite right,” I answered. “I am trying to tempt you toward Hell.”</p><p></p><p>“Send it back,” growled the cleric.</p><p></p><p>I raised a finger in protest. “I’ve laid claim to your case. No other devils will take it. And I don’t think you’ll find many other beings willing to aid you in retrieving the item you seek. You do still want the elf queen’s sword?”</p><p></p><p>“I’ll take my chances.” Typical cleric. Fortunately, his three companions persuaded him that the benefits incurred by me helping them far outweighed the tiny chance that I might actually tempt any of them toward Hell.</p><p></p><p>I didn’t bother to point out that three of them were already well on their way. Which three, you ask? Well, a devil must keep some secrets.</p><p></p><p>“What’s your price this time?” demanded the cleric. “More questions?”</p><p></p><p>“Hardly,” I scoffed. “I was thinking something a little more basic. Some time spent in Hell, perhaps?” They all began to clamor in protest but I cut them off. “Before you make your decision, know that you will be free to leave whenever you desire. No part of this deal traps you in my domain, and the instant you wish to return to the Material Plane you may do so. You can arrive and then leave one second later if you so desire. What do you say?”</p><p></p><p>“We’ll confer,” replied the wizard.</p><p></p><p>They stepped away a bit and whispered, and I pretended as though I couldn’t hear them. When they returned, the human, the tabaxi, and the goliath were all staring daggers at the orc.</p><p></p><p>“The three of us have agreed to your terms,” said the goliath.</p><p></p><p>“I refuse to spend even one second in Hell,” spat the cleric.</p><p></p><p>I shrugged. “Not a problem. In that case, the three of you can come back with me to Hell, and from the orc I will demand an honest answer to a second question. And, since you didn’t fully accept my initial deal, let’s tack on a rider. Shall we say, never again will any of you summon demons?”</p><p></p><p>This rider is quite common among Infernal dealings. The fewer mortals that summon demons, the more likely they are to summon us devils. And, besides, demons punching through to the Material Plane only makes the Blood War that much more complicated for our strategists, among whom I am preeminent.</p><p></p><p>Naturally, the cleric was quick to accept the ‘no demon’ rule, although the wizard did seem miffed at having his summoning freedom curtailed. I understood his pain. I really did.</p><p></p><p>Once we were all in agreement I pretended to ponder for a moment. “Shall we say trip to Hell first, then I’ll retrieve the sword, then the orc’s question?”</p><p></p><p>“Question first,” retorted the orc, “then sword, then Hell. For all we know going to Hell will drive the three of them insane.”</p><p></p><p>“It won’t,” I replied, “but here’s a counteroffer. I’ll retrieve the sword now so you know I can do it, but I won’t give it to you until your part of the deal is complete.”</p><p></p><p>“Fine,” growled the cleric. “Just get it over with.”</p><p></p><p>With a thought, I contacted the warlock I had located earlier. She had an obsession with planar travel, and had scribed over two dozen scrolls of <em>Plane Shift</em>. That would be important. I instructed her to go to Hell and return with the abishai – the same one I had <em>dominated </em>before – which she did in short order. Warlocks are such useful tools.</p><p></p><p>“Now that the abishai is actually <strong><em>here </em></strong>and not summoned,” I explained, “it can pass through the antimagic and retrieve the sword.”</p><p></p><p>“The abishai’s been working for you all along,” intuited the rogue. I didn’t even bother to answer. Any devil would have known that the abishai was working for me from the instant it offered to hand over my summoning totem. Devils are not known for giving rivals free assistance, and in Hell, anyone who isn’t under your absolute control is a rival.</p><p></p><p>The abishai quickly retrieved the sword, and I released the warlock back to whatever trivial tasks had been engaging her. Our pact stated that I could not require her direct services again for five years, but in this one act she had more than repaid the measly amount of magical energy I had siphoned into her mind over the past decades.</p><p></p><p>“Now,” I smiled, “to Hell with all of you.”</p><p></p><p>Devils, as a rule, cannot travel between planes unless specifically called by a mortal. This is true of most beings not native to the Material Plane. I think it is for the best. Otherwise demons and angels and all sorts of foul horrors would rampage across mortal worlds with impunity, utterly destroying the Material Plane, and then there would be no more mortal souls and the Infernal economy would collapse. However, devils and angels are granted certain exceptions to this rule. In the case of angels, occasionally a worthy mortal will <em>pray hard enough </em>which is somehow enough to allow their gods to send a few angels through the breach even without the proper magical bridge. For powerful devils like myself it is far more logical. We can travel back and forth to Hell anytime we want if it’s part of a deal with a mortal. And three mortals just signed on for an exclusive trip.</p><p></p><p>The goliath, I sent to my gladiatorial arena. I had arranged for some easier fights, some combatants that would give her a challenge but would still fall to her hammer. Trust me, there is nothing quite like the thrill of a million devils screaming over your victory. I do hope it didn’t go to her head.</p><p></p><p>The human, I sent to my personal library, which is extensive even by Infernal standards. Most of the tomes would have been illegible to him, but he was skilled enough in magical arts to understand their implications even though he couldn’t harness the power they suggested.</p><p></p><p>The tabaxi, I sent to a torture chamber. There are places in Hell where the spirits of mortal evildoers are stabbed, burned, and lacerated repeatedly. One such evildoer had killed the tabaxi’s sister, and I thought she might like the chance to get some revenge.</p><p></p><p>What can I say? I am thorough in my research.</p><p></p><p>As for me, I remained within the bounds of the magical diagram while the cleric paced back and forth outside. I’m sure he expected his companions to depart and then return within seconds, but his type have always failed to understand just how <strong><em>tempting </em></strong>temptation can be.</p><p></p><p>“What have you done with them?” he demanded once five minutes had passed.</p><p></p><p>“Exactly what I said,” I answered.</p><p></p><p>“Then where are they?”</p><p></p><p>“They may return any time they wish.”</p><p></p><p>He glared at me, and I felt a little thrill run through my veins. So much righteousness, so ripe for the picking.</p><p></p><p>“Take me to them,” he demanded.</p><p></p><p>“I could do that,” I conceded, “but I would need some sort of payment in return.”</p><p></p><p>“Going to Hell was supposed to be the payment!” he exploded.</p><p></p><p>“Of the previous deal. Which you rejected. If you’re proposing a new deal I’ll require a new payment.”</p><p></p><p>“Such as what?”</p><p></p><p>“Your soul for all eternity would do nicely.” I gave him a toothy grin. Sometimes a classic response really gets the job done.</p><p></p><p>The cleric spat on the ground and continued pacing.</p><p></p><p>“Shall I ask you my question while we wait?” I inquired.</p><p></p><p>“Whatever,” he responded.</p><p></p><p>“Remember you’ll need to answer it honestly.”</p><p></p><p>“Just ask it already!”</p><p></p><p>I sighed. He’d have to learn to control his temper if he was ever going to make a proper devil. “All right then. Why do you think the gods continue to allow us devils to tempt mortals?”</p><p></p><p>He gave me a look, and I could see that I’d shocked him. “Allow?” he asked.</p><p></p><p>“I’m sure they could stop us if they tried,” I shrugged. “But they haven’t ever tried. Not once. Not in the whole history of the multiverse. Why do you think that is?”</p><p></p><p>He stopped pacing and began to think. I imagined him running through all the doctrine he’d been taught about devils, everything he knew about extraplanar beings, everything he’d been taught about the gods he worshipped.</p><p></p><p>Finally, he sighed. “The only answer I can think of is that it is to test us mortals. To see which of us are truly worthy to take the journey up the Impenetrable Mountain or into the Gardens of Arborea.”</p><p></p><p>“But?” I prompted.</p><p></p><p>“But that answer does not feel like the truth,” he admitted. “Does that mean my soul is forfeit?”</p><p></p><p>“Hardly,” I scoffed. “And, as I told your wizard friend last time we met, I'm willing to accept your limited understanding as a truthful answer.”</p><p></p><p>I saw in his eyes that he was longing to ask me what I considered to be the true answer, but he managed to hold himself in restraint.</p><p></p><p>Then, the goliath reappeared. She was bruised and bloody and looked an absolute mess. The orc’s ponderous face turned into one of hatred as he bared his teeth at me.</p><p></p><p>“You did this!” he screamed, and he was about to breach the protective diagram and strike me himself when the goliath started laughing.</p><p></p><p>“That was the best fight ever!” she howled. “I need to go back. Can I go back?”</p><p></p><p>I said nothing.</p><p></p><p>Then the tabaxi returned. Tears were streaming down her face.</p><p></p><p>“What did you do to them?” demanded the cleric.</p><p></p><p>“They <strong><em>experienced</em></strong>,” I responded. “Perhaps for the first time in their lives.”</p><p></p><p>“Where’s Holam?” he asked, using the wizard’s name in my presence for the first time.</p><p></p><p>“He may have become a little overzealous,” I admitted. “Shall I go poke him back in your direction? As a favor to you?”</p><p></p><p>“I don’t accept favors from fiends,” said the cleric.</p><p></p><p>“Then consider it an act of freewill on my part. One of you will have to dismiss me though, since Holam cast the spell and he is otherwise engaged.”</p><p></p><p>“In that case be gone with you,” the orc demanded. “I dismiss you, now and forever.”</p><p></p><p>Before I left I gestured to the abishai, who gracefully handed the elf queen’s sword over to the cleric. Then both of us pushed our way back across the breach and into Hell.</p><p></p><p>The wizard Holam, as I suspected, took quite a lot of convincing before he was willing to leave my library.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Salmakia, post: 9235821, member: 7038731"] Needless to say, the wizard summoned me. I adopted my hamatula form and appeared promptly within the diagram. “Do you have more magical darkness for me to peer through?” I inquired. I’ve found that mortals cannot tell most devils apart, and so I asked the question to ensure they knew I was the same one they had summoned many months before. Indeed, they seemed suitably shocked by the revelation. The cleric squinted at me, suspicious. “Why are you coming back to us again?” I smiled benignly. “Let’s just say that I was [I]tempted [/I]by your hospitality and fair temperament the last time we met.” “Bulls**t,” spat the cleric. “You’re up to something. I know it.” “You’re quite right,” I answered. “I am trying to tempt you toward Hell.” “Send it back,” growled the cleric. I raised a finger in protest. “I’ve laid claim to your case. No other devils will take it. And I don’t think you’ll find many other beings willing to aid you in retrieving the item you seek. You do still want the elf queen’s sword?” “I’ll take my chances.” Typical cleric. Fortunately, his three companions persuaded him that the benefits incurred by me helping them far outweighed the tiny chance that I might actually tempt any of them toward Hell. I didn’t bother to point out that three of them were already well on their way. Which three, you ask? Well, a devil must keep some secrets. “What’s your price this time?” demanded the cleric. “More questions?” “Hardly,” I scoffed. “I was thinking something a little more basic. Some time spent in Hell, perhaps?” They all began to clamor in protest but I cut them off. “Before you make your decision, know that you will be free to leave whenever you desire. No part of this deal traps you in my domain, and the instant you wish to return to the Material Plane you may do so. You can arrive and then leave one second later if you so desire. What do you say?” “We’ll confer,” replied the wizard. They stepped away a bit and whispered, and I pretended as though I couldn’t hear them. When they returned, the human, the tabaxi, and the goliath were all staring daggers at the orc. “The three of us have agreed to your terms,” said the goliath. “I refuse to spend even one second in Hell,” spat the cleric. I shrugged. “Not a problem. In that case, the three of you can come back with me to Hell, and from the orc I will demand an honest answer to a second question. And, since you didn’t fully accept my initial deal, let’s tack on a rider. Shall we say, never again will any of you summon demons?” This rider is quite common among Infernal dealings. The fewer mortals that summon demons, the more likely they are to summon us devils. And, besides, demons punching through to the Material Plane only makes the Blood War that much more complicated for our strategists, among whom I am preeminent. Naturally, the cleric was quick to accept the ‘no demon’ rule, although the wizard did seem miffed at having his summoning freedom curtailed. I understood his pain. I really did. Once we were all in agreement I pretended to ponder for a moment. “Shall we say trip to Hell first, then I’ll retrieve the sword, then the orc’s question?” “Question first,” retorted the orc, “then sword, then Hell. For all we know going to Hell will drive the three of them insane.” “It won’t,” I replied, “but here’s a counteroffer. I’ll retrieve the sword now so you know I can do it, but I won’t give it to you until your part of the deal is complete.” “Fine,” growled the cleric. “Just get it over with.” With a thought, I contacted the warlock I had located earlier. She had an obsession with planar travel, and had scribed over two dozen scrolls of [I]Plane Shift[/I]. That would be important. I instructed her to go to Hell and return with the abishai – the same one I had [I]dominated [/I]before – which she did in short order. Warlocks are such useful tools. “Now that the abishai is actually [B][I]here [/I][/B]and not summoned,” I explained, “it can pass through the antimagic and retrieve the sword.” “The abishai’s been working for you all along,” intuited the rogue. I didn’t even bother to answer. Any devil would have known that the abishai was working for me from the instant it offered to hand over my summoning totem. Devils are not known for giving rivals free assistance, and in Hell, anyone who isn’t under your absolute control is a rival. The abishai quickly retrieved the sword, and I released the warlock back to whatever trivial tasks had been engaging her. Our pact stated that I could not require her direct services again for five years, but in this one act she had more than repaid the measly amount of magical energy I had siphoned into her mind over the past decades. “Now,” I smiled, “to Hell with all of you.” Devils, as a rule, cannot travel between planes unless specifically called by a mortal. This is true of most beings not native to the Material Plane. I think it is for the best. Otherwise demons and angels and all sorts of foul horrors would rampage across mortal worlds with impunity, utterly destroying the Material Plane, and then there would be no more mortal souls and the Infernal economy would collapse. However, devils and angels are granted certain exceptions to this rule. In the case of angels, occasionally a worthy mortal will [I]pray hard enough [/I]which is somehow enough to allow their gods to send a few angels through the breach even without the proper magical bridge. For powerful devils like myself it is far more logical. We can travel back and forth to Hell anytime we want if it’s part of a deal with a mortal. And three mortals just signed on for an exclusive trip. The goliath, I sent to my gladiatorial arena. I had arranged for some easier fights, some combatants that would give her a challenge but would still fall to her hammer. Trust me, there is nothing quite like the thrill of a million devils screaming over your victory. I do hope it didn’t go to her head. The human, I sent to my personal library, which is extensive even by Infernal standards. Most of the tomes would have been illegible to him, but he was skilled enough in magical arts to understand their implications even though he couldn’t harness the power they suggested. The tabaxi, I sent to a torture chamber. There are places in Hell where the spirits of mortal evildoers are stabbed, burned, and lacerated repeatedly. One such evildoer had killed the tabaxi’s sister, and I thought she might like the chance to get some revenge. What can I say? I am thorough in my research. As for me, I remained within the bounds of the magical diagram while the cleric paced back and forth outside. I’m sure he expected his companions to depart and then return within seconds, but his type have always failed to understand just how [B][I]tempting [/I][/B]temptation can be. “What have you done with them?” he demanded once five minutes had passed. “Exactly what I said,” I answered. “Then where are they?” “They may return any time they wish.” He glared at me, and I felt a little thrill run through my veins. So much righteousness, so ripe for the picking. “Take me to them,” he demanded. “I could do that,” I conceded, “but I would need some sort of payment in return.” “Going to Hell was supposed to be the payment!” he exploded. “Of the previous deal. Which you rejected. If you’re proposing a new deal I’ll require a new payment.” “Such as what?” “Your soul for all eternity would do nicely.” I gave him a toothy grin. Sometimes a classic response really gets the job done. The cleric spat on the ground and continued pacing. “Shall I ask you my question while we wait?” I inquired. “Whatever,” he responded. “Remember you’ll need to answer it honestly.” “Just ask it already!” I sighed. He’d have to learn to control his temper if he was ever going to make a proper devil. “All right then. Why do you think the gods continue to allow us devils to tempt mortals?” He gave me a look, and I could see that I’d shocked him. “Allow?” he asked. “I’m sure they could stop us if they tried,” I shrugged. “But they haven’t ever tried. Not once. Not in the whole history of the multiverse. Why do you think that is?” He stopped pacing and began to think. I imagined him running through all the doctrine he’d been taught about devils, everything he knew about extraplanar beings, everything he’d been taught about the gods he worshipped. Finally, he sighed. “The only answer I can think of is that it is to test us mortals. To see which of us are truly worthy to take the journey up the Impenetrable Mountain or into the Gardens of Arborea.” “But?” I prompted. “But that answer does not feel like the truth,” he admitted. “Does that mean my soul is forfeit?” “Hardly,” I scoffed. “And, as I told your wizard friend last time we met, I'm willing to accept your limited understanding as a truthful answer.” I saw in his eyes that he was longing to ask me what I considered to be the true answer, but he managed to hold himself in restraint. Then, the goliath reappeared. She was bruised and bloody and looked an absolute mess. The orc’s ponderous face turned into one of hatred as he bared his teeth at me. “You did this!” he screamed, and he was about to breach the protective diagram and strike me himself when the goliath started laughing. “That was the best fight ever!” she howled. “I need to go back. Can I go back?” I said nothing. Then the tabaxi returned. Tears were streaming down her face. “What did you do to them?” demanded the cleric. “They [B][I]experienced[/I][/B],” I responded. “Perhaps for the first time in their lives.” “Where’s Holam?” he asked, using the wizard’s name in my presence for the first time. “He may have become a little overzealous,” I admitted. “Shall I go poke him back in your direction? As a favor to you?” “I don’t accept favors from fiends,” said the cleric. “Then consider it an act of freewill on my part. One of you will have to dismiss me though, since Holam cast the spell and he is otherwise engaged.” “In that case be gone with you,” the orc demanded. “I dismiss you, now and forever.” Before I left I gestured to the abishai, who gracefully handed the elf queen’s sword over to the cleric. Then both of us pushed our way back across the breach and into Hell. The wizard Holam, as I suspected, took quite a lot of convincing before he was willing to leave my library. [/QUOTE]
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