Demon Prince Baiting

[Ry]

With epic-level PC resources, Commission a temple to the Demon Prince... built around combatting him if he were to show up at his unholy altar. Provide what's needed for him to arrive, but make efforts to prevent unwanted others (little demons).

Then desecrate (secrate?) that altar, really, really well. Find something he just couldn't stand, and do it with epic-level style (Public declarations of forgiviness? Lantern archons tracing celestial patterns throughout the temple? I guess it depends on the demon).

 

[Voadam]

Heh heh...

If *I* were playing the Evil type, and I was the next in line to fall into a coma, that "Wish Woman" would meet a very sudden, very painful end.

If my good but hard-bitten witch hunting mercenary eldritch knight's friend was going to lose his soul the next time wish woman granted a wish I'd try to give her a very sudden end too.

Hey, its what friends are for.

 

[Joker[ZW]]

The PCs in Spulchrave's Story Hour have a proplem which is a lot like yours.
It's long, but you could read it for inspirational value.

*innocent whistle*

 

[Kyrail]

Just a rant, so take no notice.

I never saw how PCs could ever kill demon princes, or Old Snarl, or anyone like that... because the only way for them to do it, is for the DM to NOT use the resources available to the NPC. A demon prince, even if you're level 25 has waaay to much resources available to it to ever get in direct combat with PCs... and if he did, it would be with the assistance of about 15 Balors. I know epic is serriously powerful, but still...

Unless hes more of a Demon magistrate or something like that.

These NPCs that have always been "untouchable" by everyone in the realms can suddenly be beaten by the PCs just because their level matches up with the NPCs CR. Dunno, always bothered me that the DM had to downplay their capabilities to win. But I guess killing Demon Princes is a lot more fun that some guy 10 levels lower than you with an army. Anyways, don't mind me, I guess if I was a PC I'd want to kill demon princes too, it is a game after all.

 

[velm]

well, I doubt you would want to go to Hell and deal with him by attacking him on his home plane, even epic lvl that would not be wise.
Summoning him would be tough, as you would need to know some certain info about him, them devils can be tricky lot and tend to keep such info to themselves.

Killing worshipers wont do any good, as it is a demon prince and, depending on who you talk to, they do or do not have followers. So, it could just be a cult that wont do any good, other than ridding the world of some evil.
Depending on where that devil sits in the grand scheme of the political playfield of hell poses to be a safe way of dealing with him.

Depending on the amount of research the DM will let you get away with, you might be able to find out which other devils are rivals of the one who has the soul of your NPC. You might be able to work out a deal with those guys and maybe weaken him enough to get her soul back.

Another option to do is maybe actually going to hell to free the soul. you might not necessarily have to fight the devil to free the soul. It depends on where the soul is kept, which layer of hell, and how hard it is to get there, you might be able to free her soul while the rival factions of devils attack him, thereby making a good distraction.

(I know I LOVE the outer planes, especially the NINE HELLS. There are some great resouces out there, FIRES OF DIS!!!!)

 

[Rackhir]

In an old dragon magazine they suggested telling him "Your mother was a red cross volunteer and gave cookies to paladin's children!" They figured that there was a 5% chance he'd be impressed with your courage and only maim you. Another option was to call SAC on that wierd artifact you found and request an airstrike. My favorite though was to go berzerk and start bitting him in the ankle (at least if you were a hobbit or a gnome).

In any case the traditional solution is to outsmart or trick the demon. You should look into trying to arrange something where she makes a wish. A helm of opposite alignment could prove useful as might a mirror of opposition (what ever that thing is that creates an opposite duplicate of the person gazing into the mirror).

It might be worth trying to secure the soul of your friend in some fashion. Though you would need to try and get some sort of ruling from your DM as to if using imprisonment or something similar on their soul would prevent the Demon Lord from claiming their soul. If they are an extraplanar that might make it easier.

If they are based on vengence demons from Buffy, rent the series and watch episodes that have them or just hit some buffy fansites. Should be good for at least a few ideas. Making a wish that she/he/it can't grant might work or it could just leave you screwed.

From your DM's description it sounds like you have a fair number of allies, check over what they can do. One of them might have something particularly useful or applicable in this situation.

Is there some reason by the way that you don't just wack the agent of the demon lord?