Greenfield
Adventurer
Our previous campaign, related in many of the Curse of Darkness tales found in this forum, ended with one PC in a precarious position. He had bartered half of his soul to a Chain Devil. An Angel had bargained for the other half, hoping to prompt a conflict. For reasons I need not go into, there had been a tenuous truce/alliance between Heaven and Hell (Lawful Good and Lawful Evil in a Law v Chaos campaign.)
The player has been unhappy with the lack of a resolution of this, and has questioned me about "What happened afterword". Now, this being a work of collective fiction, there is no "afterword". The story ended, and yet..
So we spoke tonight, as we have before, and I discussed a possible scenario. He was put in the position to direct one half of the encounter. What followed inspired this...
*******
Charantheus smiled to himself, a flash of wicked, pointed teeth in a hideous face. Though his smile was seldom more than a baring of teeth, this time it contained some actual mirth. He had a date with an Angel.
Adrianial she was called, though that was no more her name than "Charantheus" was his. His full name had 23 syllables, and could not be properly pronounced by anything with fewer than three tongues, and he suspected that she had taken similar precautions. But the fact that she had agreed to meet with him at all gave him that rarest of commodities in his Infernal home: Hope!
Raising his arms and exercising his will, the long iron chains that hung around him twisted on their hooks and released themselves, clanking, slithering and finally flying across the room to wrap themselves around him.
Then he wrapped his fiendishly hideous form in a fiendishly pleasant bit of glamor, and set out for the meeting.
***
Adrianial stood by the dock. The location was Sunset, where the Sun God Ra landed his chariot every night, and the souls of the fallen boarded the great golden barge for the voyage to their final judgment. It was an appropriate place for dealings such as these. She rattled her blade in its scabbard for the seventh time, to make sure it was loose and ready to be drawn quickly.
Beside her, equally nervous, stood Onyx, the Cat man, whose fate hung in the balance. She brought him because it was his soul that was at stake, and though she couldn't ask him to join in the fight she was sure would follow, neither had she forbidden it. His aid might well decide the outcome, which was how it should be.
Then he was there. Across the water, on the black sands of night, his eyes a bright electric blue, his appearance elegantly, devilishly handsome. He wore a long coat, cut to ride high in the front then taper sharply to the rear. A long slit had been tailored in in back, so his sinuous barbed tail could swing freely. The fabric was of dark blue, like the sky just after the sun has set, and it was embroidered with interlacing patterns of red and gold, with the hint of arcane symbols that were not quite formed.
She wrenched her eyes away from the coat, knowing it existed merely to distract, and looked her opponent in the eyes. He smiled, flashing perfectly white, even teeth from a handsome face the color of bloodstained leather. Doffing his hat, he bowed deeply to the lady, his smile never faltering.
"Have you come to deliver to me what is mine?", he asked politely, knowing full well that Onyx was still alive and in no hurry to pay his debt.
"You will not have him, Devil.", she replied firmly.
"Ah, but I will, for at least half of eternity.", Charantheus replied smoothly. "For he has bartered at least that much of his soul to me, for services rendered. Plus", he added after a small pause, "he owes me a service. And though he is loathe to serve me, if his life ends with that debt unpaid..." He let the rest trail off.
"Heaven also owns a part of him.", the Angel replied, resting her hand on her blade. "We bartered for the other half of his soul, which effectively cancels your claim."
The fiend's smile broadened even more. "Why would that cancel anything? He sold you something he may not own, which places your claim in question. Mine is rock solid."
"You tricked him, coerced him, caught him when he was vulnerable and then dangled your offer before him like a lifeline.", she all but snarled. "Your claim is written in water, nothing more!"
Charantheus frowned. "Are you certain we're talking about the same soul here? When we first met I was present only because I had been called. It was he who proposed a soul-trade, not I. And on every occasion after that, I arrived because he called on me for help. These trades, a piece at a time, were always made because he proposed them. I wasn't even there until he called, with a trade already in mind. Ask him if I lie, and hear the truth from his own lips."
She turned her stern, angelic gaze on the cat's black countenance and raised an eyebrow questioningly. To her disappointment, Onyx couldn't meet her eyes. It only made her angrier.
"So now that my claim's legitimacy is confirmed, all that seems to remain is the terms."
"Terms?", the angel replied, her hand again at her sword.
"Terms.", the fiend repeated firmly. "And relax. Unless one of us is an idiot we won't be doing any fighting here. There's a truce, arranged by powers far greater than either of us. Whoever breaks that truce will have more problems than any one soul is worth."
He paused, waiting for his words to soak in before he continued. "If you own half and I own half, how shall we divide his time? Like Hades and Persephone, should he spend winters in Hell and summers in Heaven? Or perhaps days with you and nights with me? I'd offer you the nights, but he offered the soul of his first born to save himself, so you probably don't want to spend many nights with him."
She flushed at the devil's implication then turned her gaze upon Onyx, struggling to control her expression.
Then Charantheus smiled. A smile of the kind that made those who knew him want to leave. Quickly.
"In the spirit of the truce, I propose a new deal, a simple wager. Any interest?"
"What sort of wager?", Adrianial asked warily. Chain Devil's were usually a brutal lot, not known for their guile, but this one was different.
"You're worried about your own soul? No, nothing like that. In fact, the exact opposite of that.", the devil chuckled. "It's simple. Here's the wager: I'll relinquish my claim, all of it, even the service he owes. And I'll swear not to tempt him, not to harm him, not to make any more deals even if he asks. By neither word nor deed, through neither agent nor agency will I interfere in his life in any way. I'll even warn the rest of Hell away from him. But you have to do the same. No claim, no aid, no guidance, even if he asks for it, not in person nor through any agent nor agency. We leave this mortal to resolve his own fate."
Adrianial waited for the rest, but there didn't seem to be any. "How is that a wager?"
"Ah, glad you asked. You see, I've probably spent less than fifteen minutes in this mortal's company, and I know that you've been with him for months, yet I'm willing to bet that I know him better than you do. I'm betting that before he draws his last breath, his own actions will decide his fate, and that it won't lead him to any great reward. You're betting that it will. If he falls to my side, he's mine. My claim is 100 percent of him, absolute and enforceable. If he climbs the heights, on the other hand, you can claim credit for his salvation, earned purely through your faith in him. Is it a wager?" The devil paused. "You do have faith in him, don't you?"
She looked at Onyx. "It's your soul, your fate. What say you?"
Onyx thought hard about this. Not about his own life. He knew himself. He might change he might not. But there was something else, something wrong. The way the devil had spoken reminded him far too much of the way he had spoken when making other deals, deals that had gone all wrong.
"When is it ever a good idea to accept a deal from a devil?", he asked his Guardian Angel.
"Never.", she agreed.
*******
The player finally got it right.
And though his character's fate hasn't changed in the slightest, he still owes half his soul to the devil, the player is more at peace with it.
The people at my table agree that I'm far too good at playing Lawful Evil.
The player has been unhappy with the lack of a resolution of this, and has questioned me about "What happened afterword". Now, this being a work of collective fiction, there is no "afterword". The story ended, and yet..
So we spoke tonight, as we have before, and I discussed a possible scenario. He was put in the position to direct one half of the encounter. What followed inspired this...
*******
Charantheus smiled to himself, a flash of wicked, pointed teeth in a hideous face. Though his smile was seldom more than a baring of teeth, this time it contained some actual mirth. He had a date with an Angel.
Adrianial she was called, though that was no more her name than "Charantheus" was his. His full name had 23 syllables, and could not be properly pronounced by anything with fewer than three tongues, and he suspected that she had taken similar precautions. But the fact that she had agreed to meet with him at all gave him that rarest of commodities in his Infernal home: Hope!
Raising his arms and exercising his will, the long iron chains that hung around him twisted on their hooks and released themselves, clanking, slithering and finally flying across the room to wrap themselves around him.
Then he wrapped his fiendishly hideous form in a fiendishly pleasant bit of glamor, and set out for the meeting.
***
Adrianial stood by the dock. The location was Sunset, where the Sun God Ra landed his chariot every night, and the souls of the fallen boarded the great golden barge for the voyage to their final judgment. It was an appropriate place for dealings such as these. She rattled her blade in its scabbard for the seventh time, to make sure it was loose and ready to be drawn quickly.
Beside her, equally nervous, stood Onyx, the Cat man, whose fate hung in the balance. She brought him because it was his soul that was at stake, and though she couldn't ask him to join in the fight she was sure would follow, neither had she forbidden it. His aid might well decide the outcome, which was how it should be.
Then he was there. Across the water, on the black sands of night, his eyes a bright electric blue, his appearance elegantly, devilishly handsome. He wore a long coat, cut to ride high in the front then taper sharply to the rear. A long slit had been tailored in in back, so his sinuous barbed tail could swing freely. The fabric was of dark blue, like the sky just after the sun has set, and it was embroidered with interlacing patterns of red and gold, with the hint of arcane symbols that were not quite formed.
She wrenched her eyes away from the coat, knowing it existed merely to distract, and looked her opponent in the eyes. He smiled, flashing perfectly white, even teeth from a handsome face the color of bloodstained leather. Doffing his hat, he bowed deeply to the lady, his smile never faltering.
"Have you come to deliver to me what is mine?", he asked politely, knowing full well that Onyx was still alive and in no hurry to pay his debt.
"You will not have him, Devil.", she replied firmly.
"Ah, but I will, for at least half of eternity.", Charantheus replied smoothly. "For he has bartered at least that much of his soul to me, for services rendered. Plus", he added after a small pause, "he owes me a service. And though he is loathe to serve me, if his life ends with that debt unpaid..." He let the rest trail off.
"Heaven also owns a part of him.", the Angel replied, resting her hand on her blade. "We bartered for the other half of his soul, which effectively cancels your claim."
The fiend's smile broadened even more. "Why would that cancel anything? He sold you something he may not own, which places your claim in question. Mine is rock solid."
"You tricked him, coerced him, caught him when he was vulnerable and then dangled your offer before him like a lifeline.", she all but snarled. "Your claim is written in water, nothing more!"
Charantheus frowned. "Are you certain we're talking about the same soul here? When we first met I was present only because I had been called. It was he who proposed a soul-trade, not I. And on every occasion after that, I arrived because he called on me for help. These trades, a piece at a time, were always made because he proposed them. I wasn't even there until he called, with a trade already in mind. Ask him if I lie, and hear the truth from his own lips."
She turned her stern, angelic gaze on the cat's black countenance and raised an eyebrow questioningly. To her disappointment, Onyx couldn't meet her eyes. It only made her angrier.
"So now that my claim's legitimacy is confirmed, all that seems to remain is the terms."
"Terms?", the angel replied, her hand again at her sword.
"Terms.", the fiend repeated firmly. "And relax. Unless one of us is an idiot we won't be doing any fighting here. There's a truce, arranged by powers far greater than either of us. Whoever breaks that truce will have more problems than any one soul is worth."
He paused, waiting for his words to soak in before he continued. "If you own half and I own half, how shall we divide his time? Like Hades and Persephone, should he spend winters in Hell and summers in Heaven? Or perhaps days with you and nights with me? I'd offer you the nights, but he offered the soul of his first born to save himself, so you probably don't want to spend many nights with him."
She flushed at the devil's implication then turned her gaze upon Onyx, struggling to control her expression.
Then Charantheus smiled. A smile of the kind that made those who knew him want to leave. Quickly.
"In the spirit of the truce, I propose a new deal, a simple wager. Any interest?"
"What sort of wager?", Adrianial asked warily. Chain Devil's were usually a brutal lot, not known for their guile, but this one was different.
"You're worried about your own soul? No, nothing like that. In fact, the exact opposite of that.", the devil chuckled. "It's simple. Here's the wager: I'll relinquish my claim, all of it, even the service he owes. And I'll swear not to tempt him, not to harm him, not to make any more deals even if he asks. By neither word nor deed, through neither agent nor agency will I interfere in his life in any way. I'll even warn the rest of Hell away from him. But you have to do the same. No claim, no aid, no guidance, even if he asks for it, not in person nor through any agent nor agency. We leave this mortal to resolve his own fate."
Adrianial waited for the rest, but there didn't seem to be any. "How is that a wager?"
"Ah, glad you asked. You see, I've probably spent less than fifteen minutes in this mortal's company, and I know that you've been with him for months, yet I'm willing to bet that I know him better than you do. I'm betting that before he draws his last breath, his own actions will decide his fate, and that it won't lead him to any great reward. You're betting that it will. If he falls to my side, he's mine. My claim is 100 percent of him, absolute and enforceable. If he climbs the heights, on the other hand, you can claim credit for his salvation, earned purely through your faith in him. Is it a wager?" The devil paused. "You do have faith in him, don't you?"
She looked at Onyx. "It's your soul, your fate. What say you?"
Onyx thought hard about this. Not about his own life. He knew himself. He might change he might not. But there was something else, something wrong. The way the devil had spoken reminded him far too much of the way he had spoken when making other deals, deals that had gone all wrong.
"When is it ever a good idea to accept a deal from a devil?", he asked his Guardian Angel.
"Never.", she agreed.
*******
The player finally got it right.
And though his character's fate hasn't changed in the slightest, he still owes half his soul to the devil, the player is more at peace with it.
The people at my table agree that I'm far too good at playing Lawful Evil.
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