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<blockquote data-quote="Salmakia" data-source="post: 9241398" data-attributes="member: 7038731"><p>The cleric didn’t spend very long amongst the adoring crowd – something about humility I suppose – before he came and found me.</p><p></p><p>“I’d like to get my question over with now if it’s all the same to you,” he grumbled.</p><p></p><p>I cocked an eyebrow. “Why did I give Saribel a fair deal when she threw herself upon my mercy?”</p><p></p><p>“You want us to trust you,” the cleric replied. “So that we’ll fall deeper and deeper into your trap. You’re not as clever as you might think.”</p><p></p><p>“Interesting perspective,” I mused.</p><p></p><p>“For my part I hope never to require your services again.” He began stalking away.</p><p></p><p>“Do my inquiries trouble you so deeply?” I tossed the remark out flippantly, for I knew it would strike a deep and resonant note with him.</p><p></p><p>He glowered. “You have a way of trying to poke holes in my longstanding beliefs.”</p><p></p><p>“I would claim to simply reveal holes that were there all along.”</p><p></p><p>“Far better to bail the ship than succumb to the whirlpool,” retorted the orc.</p><p></p><p>“Is that what I am?”</p><p></p><p>The cleric chose to depart rather than continue the dialectic. I think perhaps he was afraid that he might lose.</p><p></p><p>The rest of my payments I squared away in short order. Both Holam and the goliath wished to receive their "gifts" in Hell, and so I transported them back to my domain. As an additional flourish, I ensured that Saribel’s parents were just barely within eyesight when I opened my fiery portal. Sometimes temptation is all in the timing.</p><p></p><p>To the goliath, I gave a hammer of my own design which I’ve bestowed many times previously. I’ve found it remarkably effective at giving that final nudge to those who really only want to smash things, but who are held back by social taboos or some miniscule modicum of self-restraint. I didn’t stay to watch her bouts in the arena (amateurs bore me to no end), but one of my aides reported that she held nothing back.</p><p></p><p>Holam wished to peruse my library once more, which I permitted, provided that he first accept my gift of a certain spell. This incantation I’ve dubbed <em>Hell’s Fury</em>. Perhaps a smidge dramatic, but many mortals have a weakness for grandeur and flourish. It is quite potent, although I feel no fear at passing it out like candy, for the fiery destruction it wreaks poses no threat to me or my fellow devils. The key to the spell is that it makes the caster more powerful when they personally snuff the life from their enemies. I’m sure by now you can see the path I’m laying. Holam was giddy with anticipation to test it.</p><p></p><p>Unfortunately, simply nudging mortals toward bloodshed is not enough to fast-track them into my eternal keeping. There are many “good” and “neutral” deities that support killing as much as the “evil” ones. Tempus, for instance, the god of war, or even Tyr, god of justice. The orc cleric who claims such hatred of fiends would probably condone my own destruction. Even perhaps my eternal torment.</p><p></p><p>See, we are not so different after all.</p><p></p><p>In order to move beyond Phase 1, I knew I had to take the initiative rather than waiting for my subjects to request my services. I had to make them an offer. And, fortunately, the perfect opportunity had fallen at my feet.</p><p></p><p>“Would you like me to teleport you back?” I asked once the four had reconvened. “I seem to recall you were working against a bit of a deadline. Something about an evil warlord and a secret mission?”</p><p></p><p>“Sure!” Holam agreed cheerfully enough. The goliath also seemed amenable. Even though the cleric had expended a significant portion of his magical resources healing her after her bouts in my arena, the afterglow of combat still hung about her.</p><p></p><p>Unsurprisingly, the cleric was less than enthused by the prospect. “What’s the price?” he asked.</p><p></p><p>I made a show of clapping my hands. “Very good,” I said. “Very good. Always a price when dealing with a devil. This one, though, should be easy. Teleporting within a single Plane of Existence comes easily to me. All I ask is that you humor me one quick side stop before I return you back where I found you.”</p><p></p><p>The cleric asked a number of highly specific questions to ensure I wasn’t misleading them. “How long exactly will this side stop take?” “Will this side stop drive us mad?” “Will this side stop be dangerous?” I won’t bore you with his nitpicking. Ultimately, though, they decided that accepting my little favor was worth saving their single scroll of <em>Teleport</em>.</p><p></p><p>A word of advice: If a devil offers you an easy way out, take the long way around. Then again, that tip is coming from a devil, and why would you trust me?</p><p></p><p>The battlefield to which I took them was a gruesome sight. </p><p></p><p>The way the four of them had massacred the gnolls at Saribel's village was beautiful indeed, but this scene was operatic. Innocents screaming, their cries mingled with the snarls of the killers and the valiantly futile yells of warriors whose weapons were all but ineffective against the oncoming hoards.</p><p></p><p>And the spectacle! Fires spewed forth as the battle raged across the plains and up onto cragged cliffs. Mortals perished by the hundreds, and their blood became a tapestry of grief. Nothing compared to the Blood War, of course, but I imagine that for my visitors it was carnage on an unprecedented scale.</p><p></p><p>Holam vomited. Saribel averted her gaze. The goliath seemed almost eager, and I saw the hammer I had given her twitch with anticipation. But it was to the orc cleric that my gaze was riveted. He stood stoically, watching the bloodshed, like an honorable witness.</p><p></p><p>“What are they?” asked Saribel softly.</p><p></p><p>“Demons,” I spat. </p><p></p><p>I said I admired the spectacle of a massacre. I never claimed to have sided with the victors in either of the two I’d witnessed that day. </p><p></p><p>“What you mortals perhaps do not realize," I continued, "is that down in Hell we are fighting a war. And we are losing. This incursion is proof enough of that.”</p><p></p><p>“We have to help!” exclaimed the goliath, hefting my hammer.</p><p></p><p>Holam smiled, already thinking about the effect the spell I’d taught him would have on the battle below.</p><p></p><p>“No,” said the cleric.</p><p></p><p>Unsurprisingly, there were protests from the group. It seemed even Saribel was of a mind to fight the demons.</p><p></p><p>“We used too many resources fighting the gnolls. Then Rakt’re nearly killed herself in this <em>fiend’s </em>arena and I used half my remaining repertoire healing her. If we go down there we’ll die. That’s not why he’s brought us here.”</p><p></p><p>The cleric looked to me for confirmation, but I gave my best impassive stare.</p><p></p><p>“If we can’t help then let’s leave,” said Holam.</p><p></p><p>The cleric’s brow furrowed. “I imagine that your librarian friend will keep us here for the full ten minutes that we signed on for.”</p><p></p><p>“We can leave right now if you answer a question for me.” I stared unblinkingly at the cleric.</p><p></p><p>“Why is it always me with the questions?” he asked.</p><p></p><p>“Why don’t you agree to any other form of payment?” I countered.</p><p></p><p>Glancing around at his sickened companions, my quarry sighed. “Well then. A question can’t hurt.”</p><p></p><p>“It’s not the question you should be worried about,” I remarked. “It’s the honest answer you’ll give.”</p><p></p><p>“Just get it over with,” he growled.</p><p></p><p>I pointed down to the grisly scene. “Why do your gods do nothing?”</p><p></p><p><em>This next part I imagine in the form of a play. A Morality Play, if you will. Sinners do seem ever so fond of those. If you decide to stage it, please ensure that there are suitable screams and explosions in the background.</em></p><p></p><p>CLERIC: And here I thought you had something hard for me. It’s a well-known fact that extraplanar beings can’t directly interfere in the Material Plane unless directly entreated by mortals.</p><p></p><p>DEVIL: Don’t you think that those people dying by the hundreds are praying to their gods? Or are they not praying hard enough perhaps?</p><p></p><p>CLERIC: I answered your question.</p><p></p><p>DEVIL: I required an honest answer.</p><p></p><p>CLERIC: You said before that my understanding of truth counts as honesty, even if the answer isn’t fully correct.</p><p></p><p>DEVIL: Indeed. And not even you could believe that sh*t about noninterference. Are you telling me those demons aren’t interfering? No wizard summoned them – they came through a rift. And if I were to end them all right now, would that not be interfering?</p><p></p><p>CLERIC: Then do it. End them all. Cure this needless suffering.</p><p></p><p>DEVIL: I have to be asked.</p><p></p><p>CLERIC: Let me guess. The order of the multiverse demands it.</p><p></p><p>DEVIL: Actually I just wanted to hear you beg.</p><p></p><p>CLERIC: Please. Please rid this Plane of those demons.</p><p></p><p>DEVIL: Will you give me your soul as payment?</p><p></p><p>CLERIC: What?!</p><p></p><p>DEVIL: You’re asking me to render a service and I’m seeking payment. Will you give me your soul?</p><p></p><p>CLERIC: That’s absurd!</p><p></p><p>DEVIL: Is it? I am a devil after all.</p><p></p><p>CLERIC: I won’t promise you my soul.</p><p></p><p>DEVIL: So you value yourself above the thousands who will perish here today.</p><p></p><p>CLERIC: No, that’s not what I—</p><p></p><p>DEVIL: Because you have a chance right now to save all of them.</p><p></p><p>CLERIC: <strong>So do you!</strong></p><p></p><p>DEVIL: Ah, but I never claimed the moral highground.</p><p></p><p>CLERIC: You can’t do it, can you? You don’t have the power.</p><p></p><p>DEVIL: Actually I do. And so do your gods. And yet they do nothing. They let their own be slaughtered.</p><p></p><p>CLERIC: You’re lying.</p><p></p><p>DEVIL: Devils never lie.</p><p></p><p>CLERIC: That’s absurd devils are <strong>known </strong>for lying.</p><p></p><p>DEVIL: Devils are known for tempting. Lies are only tempting until you realize they’re lies. The truth is far more dangerous.</p><p></p><p>CLERIC: And you claim to know the truth?</p><p></p><p>DEVIL: Why do your gods do nothing?</p><p></p><p>CLERIC: There must be some reason, some justification—</p><p></p><p>DEVIL: Why do your gods do nothing?</p><p></p><p>CLERIC: Perhaps they are rooting out evil or allowing there to be martyrs so that others will take up the cause.</p><p></p><p>DEVIL: Why do your gods do nothing?</p><p></p><p>CLERIC: They’re gods! How can I understand their rationale?</p><p></p><p>DEVIL: <strong>Why do your gods do nothing?</strong></p><p></p><p>CLERIC: <strong>I don’t know!</strong></p><p></p><p>***</p><p></p><p>From the comfort of my study I quickly found the four companions in my mirror. Back in their tavern rooms, preparing for their burglary mission that night. I had fulfilled my end of the bargain – I never said I would be returning with them.</p><p></p><p>I decided to allow the cleric some time to ponder the honest answer he'd given me. Not that I'd have much choice. He had no desire to speak with me any time soon. </p><p></p><p>But I am very old, and I do not mind a wait.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Salmakia, post: 9241398, member: 7038731"] The cleric didn’t spend very long amongst the adoring crowd – something about humility I suppose – before he came and found me. “I’d like to get my question over with now if it’s all the same to you,” he grumbled. I cocked an eyebrow. “Why did I give Saribel a fair deal when she threw herself upon my mercy?” “You want us to trust you,” the cleric replied. “So that we’ll fall deeper and deeper into your trap. You’re not as clever as you might think.” “Interesting perspective,” I mused. “For my part I hope never to require your services again.” He began stalking away. “Do my inquiries trouble you so deeply?” I tossed the remark out flippantly, for I knew it would strike a deep and resonant note with him. He glowered. “You have a way of trying to poke holes in my longstanding beliefs.” “I would claim to simply reveal holes that were there all along.” “Far better to bail the ship than succumb to the whirlpool,” retorted the orc. “Is that what I am?” The cleric chose to depart rather than continue the dialectic. I think perhaps he was afraid that he might lose. The rest of my payments I squared away in short order. Both Holam and the goliath wished to receive their "gifts" in Hell, and so I transported them back to my domain. As an additional flourish, I ensured that Saribel’s parents were just barely within eyesight when I opened my fiery portal. Sometimes temptation is all in the timing. To the goliath, I gave a hammer of my own design which I’ve bestowed many times previously. I’ve found it remarkably effective at giving that final nudge to those who really only want to smash things, but who are held back by social taboos or some miniscule modicum of self-restraint. I didn’t stay to watch her bouts in the arena (amateurs bore me to no end), but one of my aides reported that she held nothing back. Holam wished to peruse my library once more, which I permitted, provided that he first accept my gift of a certain spell. This incantation I’ve dubbed [I]Hell’s Fury[/I]. Perhaps a smidge dramatic, but many mortals have a weakness for grandeur and flourish. It is quite potent, although I feel no fear at passing it out like candy, for the fiery destruction it wreaks poses no threat to me or my fellow devils. The key to the spell is that it makes the caster more powerful when they personally snuff the life from their enemies. I’m sure by now you can see the path I’m laying. Holam was giddy with anticipation to test it. Unfortunately, simply nudging mortals toward bloodshed is not enough to fast-track them into my eternal keeping. There are many “good” and “neutral” deities that support killing as much as the “evil” ones. Tempus, for instance, the god of war, or even Tyr, god of justice. The orc cleric who claims such hatred of fiends would probably condone my own destruction. Even perhaps my eternal torment. See, we are not so different after all. In order to move beyond Phase 1, I knew I had to take the initiative rather than waiting for my subjects to request my services. I had to make them an offer. And, fortunately, the perfect opportunity had fallen at my feet. “Would you like me to teleport you back?” I asked once the four had reconvened. “I seem to recall you were working against a bit of a deadline. Something about an evil warlord and a secret mission?” “Sure!” Holam agreed cheerfully enough. The goliath also seemed amenable. Even though the cleric had expended a significant portion of his magical resources healing her after her bouts in my arena, the afterglow of combat still hung about her. Unsurprisingly, the cleric was less than enthused by the prospect. “What’s the price?” he asked. I made a show of clapping my hands. “Very good,” I said. “Very good. Always a price when dealing with a devil. This one, though, should be easy. Teleporting within a single Plane of Existence comes easily to me. All I ask is that you humor me one quick side stop before I return you back where I found you.” The cleric asked a number of highly specific questions to ensure I wasn’t misleading them. “How long exactly will this side stop take?” “Will this side stop drive us mad?” “Will this side stop be dangerous?” I won’t bore you with his nitpicking. Ultimately, though, they decided that accepting my little favor was worth saving their single scroll of [I]Teleport[/I]. A word of advice: If a devil offers you an easy way out, take the long way around. Then again, that tip is coming from a devil, and why would you trust me? The battlefield to which I took them was a gruesome sight. The way the four of them had massacred the gnolls at Saribel's village was beautiful indeed, but this scene was operatic. Innocents screaming, their cries mingled with the snarls of the killers and the valiantly futile yells of warriors whose weapons were all but ineffective against the oncoming hoards. And the spectacle! Fires spewed forth as the battle raged across the plains and up onto cragged cliffs. Mortals perished by the hundreds, and their blood became a tapestry of grief. Nothing compared to the Blood War, of course, but I imagine that for my visitors it was carnage on an unprecedented scale. Holam vomited. Saribel averted her gaze. The goliath seemed almost eager, and I saw the hammer I had given her twitch with anticipation. But it was to the orc cleric that my gaze was riveted. He stood stoically, watching the bloodshed, like an honorable witness. “What are they?” asked Saribel softly. “Demons,” I spat. I said I admired the spectacle of a massacre. I never claimed to have sided with the victors in either of the two I’d witnessed that day. “What you mortals perhaps do not realize," I continued, "is that down in Hell we are fighting a war. And we are losing. This incursion is proof enough of that.” “We have to help!” exclaimed the goliath, hefting my hammer. Holam smiled, already thinking about the effect the spell I’d taught him would have on the battle below. “No,” said the cleric. Unsurprisingly, there were protests from the group. It seemed even Saribel was of a mind to fight the demons. “We used too many resources fighting the gnolls. Then Rakt’re nearly killed herself in this [I]fiend’s [/I]arena and I used half my remaining repertoire healing her. If we go down there we’ll die. That’s not why he’s brought us here.” The cleric looked to me for confirmation, but I gave my best impassive stare. “If we can’t help then let’s leave,” said Holam. The cleric’s brow furrowed. “I imagine that your librarian friend will keep us here for the full ten minutes that we signed on for.” “We can leave right now if you answer a question for me.” I stared unblinkingly at the cleric. “Why is it always me with the questions?” he asked. “Why don’t you agree to any other form of payment?” I countered. Glancing around at his sickened companions, my quarry sighed. “Well then. A question can’t hurt.” “It’s not the question you should be worried about,” I remarked. “It’s the honest answer you’ll give.” “Just get it over with,” he growled. I pointed down to the grisly scene. “Why do your gods do nothing?” [I]This next part I imagine in the form of a play. A Morality Play, if you will. Sinners do seem ever so fond of those. If you decide to stage it, please ensure that there are suitable screams and explosions in the background.[/I] CLERIC: And here I thought you had something hard for me. It’s a well-known fact that extraplanar beings can’t directly interfere in the Material Plane unless directly entreated by mortals. DEVIL: Don’t you think that those people dying by the hundreds are praying to their gods? Or are they not praying hard enough perhaps? CLERIC: I answered your question. DEVIL: I required an honest answer. CLERIC: You said before that my understanding of truth counts as honesty, even if the answer isn’t fully correct. DEVIL: Indeed. And not even you could believe that sh*t about noninterference. Are you telling me those demons aren’t interfering? No wizard summoned them – they came through a rift. And if I were to end them all right now, would that not be interfering? CLERIC: Then do it. End them all. Cure this needless suffering. DEVIL: I have to be asked. CLERIC: Let me guess. The order of the multiverse demands it. DEVIL: Actually I just wanted to hear you beg. CLERIC: Please. Please rid this Plane of those demons. DEVIL: Will you give me your soul as payment? CLERIC: What?! DEVIL: You’re asking me to render a service and I’m seeking payment. Will you give me your soul? CLERIC: That’s absurd! DEVIL: Is it? I am a devil after all. CLERIC: I won’t promise you my soul. DEVIL: So you value yourself above the thousands who will perish here today. CLERIC: No, that’s not what I— DEVIL: Because you have a chance right now to save all of them. CLERIC: [B]So do you![/B] DEVIL: Ah, but I never claimed the moral highground. CLERIC: You can’t do it, can you? You don’t have the power. DEVIL: Actually I do. And so do your gods. And yet they do nothing. They let their own be slaughtered. CLERIC: You’re lying. DEVIL: Devils never lie. CLERIC: That’s absurd devils are [B]known [/B]for lying. DEVIL: Devils are known for tempting. Lies are only tempting until you realize they’re lies. The truth is far more dangerous. CLERIC: And you claim to know the truth? DEVIL: Why do your gods do nothing? CLERIC: There must be some reason, some justification— DEVIL: Why do your gods do nothing? CLERIC: Perhaps they are rooting out evil or allowing there to be martyrs so that others will take up the cause. DEVIL: Why do your gods do nothing? CLERIC: They’re gods! How can I understand their rationale? DEVIL: [B]Why do your gods do nothing?[/B] CLERIC: [B]I don’t know![/B] *** From the comfort of my study I quickly found the four companions in my mirror. Back in their tavern rooms, preparing for their burglary mission that night. I had fulfilled my end of the bargain – I never said I would be returning with them. I decided to allow the cleric some time to ponder the honest answer he'd given me. Not that I'd have much choice. He had no desire to speak with me any time soon. But I am very old, and I do not mind a wait. [/QUOTE]
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