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A hobby for a demon-prince
- Thread starter Kodam
- Start date
Thanks, eris404 -- I've gone for the straight-nasty demons, and it never really does anything to scare my players. If he just tortures people all day, he's too easy to predict. Demons are supposed to be asolutely Chaotic Evil, and the chaotic aspect has always been important to me -- chaos means barbarian rages, which most people do well when playing demons, but it means the inspiration, inventiveness, and oftimes freedom of spirit of bards, too.
Imagine this: The PCs are skulking through the demon's lair, when they hear the sound of singing. It's a holy song, the hymn of a Lawful Good deity, and it's possibly the most beautiful thing they've ever heard. It has a passion, a fire that they've never heard in it before, and the voice swells in sheer joy of the unaccompanied music, each note perfect not because of the order, the accuracy, but because it's been jazzed up, given its own life -- because chaos has IMPROVED this orderly, holy song.
When the PCs reach the demon's room, they see that it was him singing. He has a paladin in chains before him, and there are tears rolling down the paladin's face. The demon says, "Now, answer me and answer me truly -- have you ever heard it sung as well as I just sang it?" And as the paladin struggles for an answer that salves his pride without breaking his vow of honesty, the demon chuckles and banishes him back to his native plane.
When the PCs charge in and demand to know his plan -- what horrid trick he plans to play, how this factors into his goal of metaversal domination -- the demon is incensed, even offended. He had honestly just wanted to perform for a difficult audience and see proof in their eyes that his performance had succeeded.
Sure, it might give that paladin doubts. It might make him forever resentful of that song. It MIGHT make him lie to himself about the song, telling himself that it wasn't that good, and that lie might start him on a path to falling from grace -- but that wasn't what the demon wanted. He just wanted to test his skill in front of a determined critic.
Imagine this: The PCs are skulking through the demon's lair, when they hear the sound of singing. It's a holy song, the hymn of a Lawful Good deity, and it's possibly the most beautiful thing they've ever heard. It has a passion, a fire that they've never heard in it before, and the voice swells in sheer joy of the unaccompanied music, each note perfect not because of the order, the accuracy, but because it's been jazzed up, given its own life -- because chaos has IMPROVED this orderly, holy song.
When the PCs reach the demon's room, they see that it was him singing. He has a paladin in chains before him, and there are tears rolling down the paladin's face. The demon says, "Now, answer me and answer me truly -- have you ever heard it sung as well as I just sang it?" And as the paladin struggles for an answer that salves his pride without breaking his vow of honesty, the demon chuckles and banishes him back to his native plane.
When the PCs charge in and demand to know his plan -- what horrid trick he plans to play, how this factors into his goal of metaversal domination -- the demon is incensed, even offended. He had honestly just wanted to perform for a difficult audience and see proof in their eyes that his performance had succeeded.
Sure, it might give that paladin doubts. It might make him forever resentful of that song. It MIGHT make him lie to himself about the song, telling himself that it wasn't that good, and that lie might start him on a path to falling from grace -- but that wasn't what the demon wanted. He just wanted to test his skill in front of a determined critic.
WAs it Moorcock or Zelazany that had a god/demon that would take the souls/spirits and place them into other object? Two come to mind, the skull of a very brilliant thinker was kept to provide conversation and the other was basicly the carpet and would tranmit pain to the soul when someone walked on it.
I known Moorcock had in the Elric books, human slaves that were altered to be musical instruments.
I known Moorcock had in the Elric books, human slaves that were altered to be musical instruments.
Jakathi
First Post
princes of hell and their hobbies hmmm
well if you're immortal and princes of hell are immortal, i'd guess you'd get alot of the been dere, dun that syndrome. so, i'd go for the widest variety of entertainment possible from the completely mundane to the horrendously evil. a famous star-trek episode comes to mind where Q puts them on trial for the crimes of humanity. Go for the gold, be creative.
Crochete a tapestry of the entire cosmos and sing a song of happiness followed by some gratiuitous angel torment.
well if you're immortal and princes of hell are immortal, i'd guess you'd get alot of the been dere, dun that syndrome. so, i'd go for the widest variety of entertainment possible from the completely mundane to the horrendously evil. a famous star-trek episode comes to mind where Q puts them on trial for the crimes of humanity. Go for the gold, be creative.
Crochete a tapestry of the entire cosmos and sing a song of happiness followed by some gratiuitous angel torment.
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