<< PLANESCAPE >> How do you defeat the Lady of Pain?
Shemeska
Adventurer
Nice ideas there Hardhead, and one of the few (the only) I've seen that might actually do something. I wouldn't say it'd be the desired effect, just that it would have an effect. The Last Word we know can slay deities instantly, however we don't know the upper boundary of its power, or other things about it.
For instance, does the target deity have to be manifested physically to get nailed with it? The Lady doesn't have to appear to maze or flay anything for certain, so would you even have the chance to use it? Would The Lady be hurt by it? Would She laugh at your use of it? Would She do nothing and then reply in the same language? All open questions that don't have concrete answers, but thats half the fun of working with them.
And on a second point, it's been interesting to see 'The Serpent' change from its earliest mention in the Vecna modules where it was never in reference to an actual being, it was just Vecna's way of personifying magic as more than just a benign force.
Eventually other authors altered that till The Serpent became (in Die Vecna Die) an actual being of sorts that used Vecna for its own purposes, etc.
And The Lady of Pain versus the Tarasque. After all, noone knows just what, if anything, was ever kept locked away behind the rusted iron bars of The Gatehouse in Sigil. My own interpretation was that it may have been The Mother of Serpents kept locked away there at some point in the dim forgotten past, but of course there's nothing to prove that.
But that fight would go something like this, if She allowed the beast to enter Sigil in the first place.
Round 1: The Lady goes first and Her shadow transfixes the Tarasque. The Tarasque shudders as it erupts into a boiling cloud of blood and screams.
Round 2-20: More blood and more tortured screaming, gradually fading away
Round 21: The shadow vanishes, the blood settles to the street like a fine rain and reveals nothing but a large smear where the Tarasque once stood
Actually come to think of it, thats how alot of encounters with The Lady would end...
For instance, does the target deity have to be manifested physically to get nailed with it? The Lady doesn't have to appear to maze or flay anything for certain, so would you even have the chance to use it? Would The Lady be hurt by it? Would She laugh at your use of it? Would She do nothing and then reply in the same language? All open questions that don't have concrete answers, but thats half the fun of working with them.
And on a second point, it's been interesting to see 'The Serpent' change from its earliest mention in the Vecna modules where it was never in reference to an actual being, it was just Vecna's way of personifying magic as more than just a benign force.
Eventually other authors altered that till The Serpent became (in Die Vecna Die) an actual being of sorts that used Vecna for its own purposes, etc.
And The Lady of Pain versus the Tarasque. After all, noone knows just what, if anything, was ever kept locked away behind the rusted iron bars of The Gatehouse in Sigil. My own interpretation was that it may have been The Mother of Serpents kept locked away there at some point in the dim forgotten past, but of course there's nothing to prove that.
But that fight would go something like this, if She allowed the beast to enter Sigil in the first place.
Round 1: The Lady goes first and Her shadow transfixes the Tarasque. The Tarasque shudders as it erupts into a boiling cloud of blood and screams.
Round 2-20: More blood and more tortured screaming, gradually fading away
Round 21: The shadow vanishes, the blood settles to the street like a fine rain and reveals nothing but a large smear where the Tarasque once stood
Actually come to think of it, thats how alot of encounters with The Lady would end...
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The Goblin King
First Post
FireLance said:Better still, sic Batman on her.
Or better yet Van Helsing.
Personally, I think of The Lady as a manifestation of Sigil. She might not have started that way but it seems to be true now. You can not defeat her without distroying the city. However, there may be a way to placate her/it. Or maby reach an agreement where your armies would be allowed free passage. I don't know. Perhaps if you knew how she got to be The Lady it would be some clue.
Trickstergod
First Post
Just because something is a Plot Device doesn't mean it can't be done away with.
In Planescape, if there were ever a bigger or more grand Plot Device, it would be the destruction of the Lady of Pain. It's the equivalent of the apocalypse for other settings, not a, but the epic, world-shattering event.
All that matters is that it's done feasibly, though. There needs to be a strong reason why it hasn't already happened.
And stats still shouldn't exist for the Lady of Pain; give her an Achilles Heel, her kryptonite, but under no circumstances should combat be a viable option. Ultimately, belief, in some way or another, should be at the heart of things.
Which is really what Planescape is about, anyway. The setting is about the impossible. About the very essence of the universe and reality.
Anyone who thinks something can't happen in Planescape, that there are certain things that are absolutely impossible to do, has missed the point.
In Planescape, if there were ever a bigger or more grand Plot Device, it would be the destruction of the Lady of Pain. It's the equivalent of the apocalypse for other settings, not a, but the epic, world-shattering event.
All that matters is that it's done feasibly, though. There needs to be a strong reason why it hasn't already happened.
And stats still shouldn't exist for the Lady of Pain; give her an Achilles Heel, her kryptonite, but under no circumstances should combat be a viable option. Ultimately, belief, in some way or another, should be at the heart of things.
Which is really what Planescape is about, anyway. The setting is about the impossible. About the very essence of the universe and reality.
Anyone who thinks something can't happen in Planescape, that there are certain things that are absolutely impossible to do, has missed the point.
Pants
First Post
The Last Word.
If the lowly undead Orcus can use it to kill true dieties then it has a good chance of either 1) killing the Lady, 2) Destroying Sigil, or (at the very least) 3) Discovering a weakness of some sort.
Or, there's another way to screw the Lady. Trick her into killing Primus (somehow, I didn't say it would be easy).
If the lowly undead Orcus can use it to kill true dieties then it has a good chance of either 1) killing the Lady, 2) Destroying Sigil, or (at the very least) 3) Discovering a weakness of some sort.
Or, there's another way to screw the Lady. Trick her into killing Primus (somehow, I didn't say it would be easy).
taotad
Explorer
If you don't like the Lady, then just go ahead and flay her. Nobody's going to stop you.
It's just that many of us like her, and wants her around. She's a constant presence in the multiverse that's kinda handy to have around.
For me, writing up stats on her would be like statting up Ravenlofts Horror theme.
It's just that many of us like her, and wants her around. She's a constant presence in the multiverse that's kinda handy to have around.
For me, writing up stats on her would be like statting up Ravenlofts Horror theme.
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