humble minion
Legend
(... and awesome alliteration!)
So, this is the situation. The PCs have entered a black dragon's lair and are beating up on the dragon. Their motivation is pure greed - the know (thanks to a tenuous alliance with one of the dragon's rivals) that the dragon has a Ring of Wishes (1 wish remaining), and they want it (and any other treasure they can get their hands on). 3.5e game, if it matters - 14th level PCs.
It has been established that the dragon is not very powerful compared to the PCs and compared to rival dragons, so I decided that the dragon was entirely aware of this, and it had made him paranoid. So paranoid, that he's attracted the attention of a devil servant of Dispater, who seeks to bargain the dragon's soul away in exchange for security. What this means in game terms is that the dragon has some 'enhancements' and some allies (legion devils, an iron golem as well as the devilish tempter himself) for the PCs to deal with. But despite all this, the PCs are steamrolling him (I may have to rethink allowing the Master of Many Forms PC to pick his shapes from EVERY damn monster manual - curse whoever it was on the WotC character optimisation boards who made that guidebook that the player uses all the time...)
Anyway, it only makes sense that the dragon will attempt to use the wishing ring to avoid death. I'm planning to have the dragon wish out loud for something, only for the devil to hijack the wish before the ring can work, say "wish granted!" and do something that will a) make a mess of the PCs, and b) monkey's paw the dragon into the service of Dispater. The devil is a unique homebrewed critter - in its role as a tempter I have no problems allowing it to grant the wishes of others, just like an efreet or something.
Any suggestions? What does a desperate dragon wish for? It's only int 12, so I think it's reasonable that in the heat of the moment with only a handful of hp remaining he'd make a wish that a very intelligent tempter devil can subvert. And how do I have the devil subvert the wish so that a) the dragon is chained to Dispater's service, and b) I can make what looks so far like a walkover into a decent fight?
So, this is the situation. The PCs have entered a black dragon's lair and are beating up on the dragon. Their motivation is pure greed - the know (thanks to a tenuous alliance with one of the dragon's rivals) that the dragon has a Ring of Wishes (1 wish remaining), and they want it (and any other treasure they can get their hands on). 3.5e game, if it matters - 14th level PCs.
It has been established that the dragon is not very powerful compared to the PCs and compared to rival dragons, so I decided that the dragon was entirely aware of this, and it had made him paranoid. So paranoid, that he's attracted the attention of a devil servant of Dispater, who seeks to bargain the dragon's soul away in exchange for security. What this means in game terms is that the dragon has some 'enhancements' and some allies (legion devils, an iron golem as well as the devilish tempter himself) for the PCs to deal with. But despite all this, the PCs are steamrolling him (I may have to rethink allowing the Master of Many Forms PC to pick his shapes from EVERY damn monster manual - curse whoever it was on the WotC character optimisation boards who made that guidebook that the player uses all the time...)
Anyway, it only makes sense that the dragon will attempt to use the wishing ring to avoid death. I'm planning to have the dragon wish out loud for something, only for the devil to hijack the wish before the ring can work, say "wish granted!" and do something that will a) make a mess of the PCs, and b) monkey's paw the dragon into the service of Dispater. The devil is a unique homebrewed critter - in its role as a tempter I have no problems allowing it to grant the wishes of others, just like an efreet or something.
Any suggestions? What does a desperate dragon wish for? It's only int 12, so I think it's reasonable that in the heat of the moment with only a handful of hp remaining he'd make a wish that a very intelligent tempter devil can subvert. And how do I have the devil subvert the wish so that a) the dragon is chained to Dispater's service, and b) I can make what looks so far like a walkover into a decent fight?