Challenging my high-lvl group (NPCs and monsters; my players shouldn't read this!)

[Ashy]

FREKA-DELIC! Consider it YOINKED! Thanks, Sialia!

 

[Kaodi]

*Bump*

*BUMP, BUMP*

Can't let a thread that has been at times a source of so much activety fall off the radar. We need a new challenge, or tidbit to argue, eh, PirateCat?

 

[Kid Charlemagne]

My parents visited those salt mines in Poland about seven or eight years ago, and I've used similar things - but I'd never seen a good source for images of the place! Thanks, Sialia, that really brings home just what the place actually looks like. Pretty impressive.

 

[Kid Charlemagne]

My parents visited those salt mines in Poland about seven or eight years ago, and I've used similar things - but I'd never seen a good source for images of the place! Thanks, Sialia, that really brings home just what the place actually looks like. Pretty impressive.

 

[Piratecat]

Those salt mine ideas are great. I've actually been to an underground salt mine/cathedral, in Zipaquira' Colombia. It was amazing.

So, here's something to discuss: Poor Agar. Engaged to a devil! I have some ideas why, but let me ask you: WHY would a devil want to marry an alienist/diviner/planewalker so badly that they arranged a marriage when he was just a toddler?

I'll be excited to hear your ideas.

 

[arwink]

Because one of Agar's ancestors created a gate between the far realms and the prime plane, one that could only be opened with the blood of his line that has been awakened through contact with creatures from the far realms. The portal can only be opened by one of the ancestors line, and only if said family member has had a certain amount of prior contact with the far realms (to provent the portal from being accidently opened and dooming the world). Agar needs to be willing to open it, so they can't just kill him and spill his blood on the portal.

Surely Agar didn't choose to follow this alienist thing all on his own, did he? All sorts of subtle manipulations and suggestions have been floating around his skull since childhood, pushing him into further contact with the realms (left to his own devices, he would have been a baker).

So -

The demon's in question serve a master who draws power from insanity, so setting up a permanent portal slowly increases the creep of insanity in the world.

*or*

The demons serve the elven wizard trapped in the far realms (mentioned in the Manual of the Planes entry). He wants out, and he doesn't really care who he has to hurt to do so.

This, of course, may be too planar-invasiony after the underground lair of the ghouls.

Perhaps Agar's son is meant to be boy-child that the evil fey were waiting for in the timeless fortress? A demon-born child that will take over the fairy realm and turn it into a tangled mess of madness (A new far realms, if you will).

 

[Kugar]

So, here's something to discuss: Poor Agar. Engaged to a demon! I have some ideas why, but let me ask you: WHY would a demon want to marry an alienist/diviner/planewalker so badly that they arranged a marriage when he was just a toddler?
I'll be excited to hear your ideas.

Are we sure he is engaged to a Demon? What if he was engaged to a devil? How about this -

Years ago Agar's parent's hometown was threatened by a semi-powerful demon, and Agar's parents struck a deal with an extraplanar creature to help (they actually thought/think it was a celestial, but it was a fiend) in exchange for their son's hand in marriage, or their eternal souls. They agreed and a demon/fiend conflict started.

Now at this point the village became blood-war turf and the major confrontation is coming. The fiends wanted a powerful offspring, but the demons pretty much put a stop to the consummation of the marriage by appearing to the Defenders.

Now after years of subtle conflict, the village stands in balance and what happens now could send it and all the souls contained therein to another plane. Marry and chose law over good and send it to the nine hells, not marry and condemn the parents soul couls send it to the Abyss. Of course the PCs might purposely send it to another plane first and then deal with the fiend that has the contract with Agar's parents.

Kugar

 

[WizarDru]

Those salt mine ideas are great. I've actually been to an underground salt mine/cathedral, in Zipaquira' Colombia. It was amazing.

So, here's something to discuss: Poor Agar. Engaged to a demon! I have some ideas why, but let me ask you: WHY would a demon want to marry an alienist/diviner/planewalker so badly that they arranged a marriage when he was just a toddler?

All mortals are toddlers, in the eyes of a being who has existed for millenia.

The better question is: what does the demon expect out of it? There are a few likely answers:

1. Prophecies put Agar as a lynch-pin in some greater event, and were compelling enough that the demon seeks to manipulate him to guide said event. For example: Fraz'Urb'luu, demon prince of deception, determines that toddler Agar will grow to be responsible for choosing of the new goddess of death following the fall of Imbrindarla (Note: I didn't say the prophecy had to be correct.) Hoping to encourage the event so that he can place agents to take advantage of the possible outcomes (and perhaps influence that event), he plays the deep game, and makes arrangements decades ahead of time.
2. Agar has little to do with the actual plot, but he's a pawn on the board of other players. What if this had nothing to do with Agar, but with Nolin, instead? What if we discover that Nolin's father has made certain pacts that eventually lead back down to poor Agar, completely ignorant of the actual events in motion? What if Agar's parents are the actual problem? "Well, son, we've been trying to find a way out of the contract for 20 years, now....we were just too embarassed to tell you. We tried to enlist some celestials, buy out the contract, anything. Honestly, we never thought it would actually come to this." Agar could just be a way to make someone else sweat or suffer...or worse, he could just be a bargaining chip in a higher-stakes game.

Something to consider is who the demon is that Agar's engaged to, and who's really behind everything. I'm guessing that he's probably engaged to a succubus or marilith, most likely the former. But who's pulling the strings higher up? More than likely, the demon is merely acting on orders from a higher, more evil power. A guess would be that the more powerful demon-prince is intent on making Agar do something he normally wouldn't do, or prevent Agar from participating in something that the demon-prince doesn't want to come to pass.

 

[Kugar]

or prevent Agar from participating in something that the demon-prince doesn't want to come to pass.

That's just nasy. Arrange a marriage decades ahead of time so the Defenders are tied up sorting out the mess while the demons do something nasty, or something nasty they would normally be involved in happens. One big almost unavoidable diversion!

PS WizarDru sorry for missing you this weekend but family issues came up at the last minute

 

[Piratecat]

Doh! Pit fiend yenta = engaged to a devil, NOT a demon. My error.

As far as the Defenders know, Agar's folks DON'T know that she's a fiend. They may be lying, though.