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<blockquote data-quote="Salmakia" data-source="post: 9250120" data-attributes="member: 7038731"><p>It didn’t take long for Holam to start summoning me. I knew him well enough to recognize that watching me speak with the cleric via the scrying sensor I’d established would prove nearly irresistible. Maybe it was jealousy. Maybe curiosity. Or maybe it was the simple realization that the cleric could no longer hold any moral high ground. Whatever the reason, Holam drank me up like fine dwarvish ale.</p><p></p><p>At first he just wanted to learn spells, and these I imparted easily in exchange for a few minor tasks. Slipping a copy of The Demonicon into a corner of the mage academy. Intercepting a letter intended for a priest. Scribing a permanent <em>Teleportation Circle </em>in an abandoned warehouse. I think the minuteness of the activities allowed Holam to convince himself that no harm was coming from them.</p><p></p><p>And besides, the payoffs were huge. Under my tutelage he learned which extraplanar beings would be most advantageous to target with a <em>Gate </em>and what forms of payment they might accept. I opened my library to him, through which he learned common spells such as <em>Mind Blank, Telepathy, </em>and <em>Imprisonment</em> in addition to some that have fallen from mortal memory: <em>Inmortu Domini, Lifeward, </em>and <em>Everlasting Fealty</em>.</p><p></p><p>He learned the <em>Wish </em>spell that mortals are so enamored with, and finally came to understand its gross limitations. When dealing with devils you at least know that your adversary, while undoubtedly fickle and malicious, has a clear agenda that they are pursuing. I cannot say the same for the raw magic that these <em>Wishes </em>attempt to harness.</p><p></p><p>When Saribel and Rakt’re noticed Holam’s sudden increase in magical prowess, they wasted no time hopping on my wagon too. I taught them secrets of combat that our tacticians had developed for the Blood War. I gave them items from my extensive collection, knowing well that any such “gifts” were really only temporary loans. In exchange it was more small tasks that, individually, could be written off one’s conscious as harmless trifles.</p><p></p><p>The cleric must have known what we were doing. The other three tried to keep it a secret, but it couldn’t have been that hard to decipher the truth for a zealot such as him. Why didn't he try to stop us? Perhaps he was lost in his own ethical maze.</p><p></p><p>After only several months my three students became bored with the limitations of what I had taught them. And so we began a journey into the <strong><em>profane</em></strong>.</p><p></p><p>Pain is a powerful tool for unlocking potential. There are rituals involving one’s own pain and rituals that require the pain of others. There are rituals reliant upon physical pain, mental pain, emotional pain, and moral pain. Some rituals need only the prick of a finger, while others bring the participants to the brink of glorious extinction.</p><p></p><p>I taught them all of these, and more.</p><p></p><p>Undoubtedly they used their newfound power for Good. They fought back hordes of demons like the ones in the massacre I had shown them. They rooted out undead horrors. They prevented a would-be god of plagues from ascending.</p><p></p><p>Through it all they sought more and more power, and eventually became entirely indiscriminate in how they obtained it.</p><p></p><p><em>But surely</em>, you ask, <em>such power comes with a very steep price?</em></p><p></p><p>Ahhh, but see, the power exacts its own price. For my own fee, I asked only that they keep perfect records of each ritual they performed. I instructed them to keep the records secret.</p><p></p><p>And then I sat back and waited.</p><p></p><p>It took the orc cleric longer than I had expected to find the documentation of the rituals. I can only imagine this was because deep down he didn’t want to find them, but in the end it became too obvious to ignore. He couldn’t penetrate Holam’s magical wards, but Saribel and Rakt’re had hidden their manuscripts in mundane ways and the cleric was more than equal to that task.</p><p></p><p>I was watching him in my mirror when he read through the list of atrocities his companions had perpetrated, some in the name of his own temple. I almost shed a tear. It is always sad to witness the obliteration of hope.</p><p></p><p>I knew that timing was key now. A few seconds too early or too late could ruin all my machinations of the past three years.</p><p></p><p>I contacted Holam (months before I had given him a device that allowed us to communicate across Planar barriers). While he was summoning me, I called one of my servants, established a telepathic bond between us, and instructed them to watch the orc cleric carefully in my mirror and provide continual updates.</p><p></p><p>Pulling myself across the rift, I announced proudly to Holam that I had a new ritual to impart. He practically drooled with excitement.</p><p></p><p><em>[the cleric has located you] </em>my servant murmured <em>[He has summoned a celestial and he is seven minutes away]</em></p><p></p><p>“We will want Saribel and Rakt’re for this,” I said. “Would you ask if they’d be willing to join?”</p><p></p><p>Holam issued a <em>sending</em>, and in short order I had <em>teleported </em>them to our location. Now I had only to set a proper scene.</p><p></p><p><em>[five minutes]</em></p><p></p><p>“This will require two others,” I said. <em>Others </em>was our euphemistic way of saying <em>the innocent people we would be mutilating for our own personal gain</em>.</p><p></p><p>“Not a problem,” said Holam. He <em>teleported</em> himself and his companions away, presumably to abduct some vagrants off the streets.</p><p></p><p>While they were gone, I wandered about the room drawing symbols across the walls. They were utterly meaningless, but looked suitably impressive. Holam had long since done away with containing me inside a protective diagram, and I had free rein over his chambers.</p><p></p><p><em>[three minutes]</em></p><p></p><p>They returned with two unconscious individuals. A dwarf and a human. I began instructing my students in all manner of particulars. I had to stall for three minutes, after all. But I made certain that none of my instructions would cause our <em>others </em>any pain. Unlike in our previous rituals, these <em>others </em>would be released unharmed.</p><p></p><p><em>[one minute]</em></p><p></p><p>“Perfect!” I proclaimed. The <em>others </em>had been bound and hung upside down from the ceiling. Pools of water were placed beneath each of them, and my students had dyed their hands green. I know of no ritual with such ridiculous requirements, but they would have believed whatever I told them by this point.</p><p></p><p>“Now,” I continued, “this ritual will require the four of us to enter a telepathic trance state together.”</p><p></p><p>They seemed unperturbed by the thought of being catatonic with a devil in the room. Truly some people deserve what’s coming to them.</p><p></p><p>I began chanting.</p><p></p><p><em>[30 seconds]</em></p><p></p><p>“Shouldn’t we seal the door or something?” asked Holam.</p><p></p><p><em>[15 seconds]</em></p><p></p><p>Curses. With a thought I closed and locked the door. “Done,” I said, and smiled as I felt Holam’s mind slip back into the easy trance state that I required.</p><p></p><p><em>[5 seconds]</em></p><p></p><p>I wreathed the four of us in harmless flames and steeled myself for what was to come.</p><p></p><p>The cleric broke down the door. Behind him was an angel of the highest order. I shielded my eyes against its brilliance and felt a tremor of awe pass through me.</p><p></p><p>The angel’s sword hewed into Holam. His mind struggled to break free of the trance, but I fought the pain and tightened down for the few seconds that were needed. The angel’s sword struck again and Holam’s head flew from his body.</p><p></p><p>The cleric smote everything in the room with a <em>Sunburst</em>. I had warded myself against just such an attack, and felt only a minor sear of pain. Saribel’s and Rakt’re’s flesh charred in the holy glow. Again, I fought with every bit of my strength to keep them incapacitated.</p><p></p><p>Have you ever entwined your mind with one that is burning and fighting you with all the force of a cornered dragon?</p><p></p><p>The angel’s sword struck twice more and two more heads fell to the ground.</p><p></p><p>The cleric attempted to <em>harm </em>me, and I admit that I felt some pain from that one.</p><p></p><p>The angel turned its gaze toward me, but with a gesture I banished it back to its Impenetrable Mountain. It didn’t even resist. I grieved a hundred lifetimes when it was gone.</p><p></p><p>I thought for a moment that the cleric was going to seriously try and fight me, but then he groaned and lowered his mace.</p><p></p><p>“I suppose you’ll just obliterate me if I try and strike you,” he said.</p><p></p><p>I gave a tight-lipped smile. “I’d spare a moment for immense disappointment first, if that helps.”</p><p></p><p>“Am I damned?” he asked, looking around at the bodies of his companions littering the floor. “I could resurrect them all easily enough…”</p><p></p><p>“No,” I replied. “You’re not damned. And I don’t know that they’d be so willingly pulled back into such limited forms.”</p><p></p><p>“What will happen to them?”</p><p></p><p>“They will have a choice,” I said. “They may enter the afterlife of their professed deity. Or they may come with me.”</p><p></p><p>“They’ll choose you,” sighed the cleric.</p><p></p><p>“Probably,” I admitted. “The kind of power they grasped under my tutelage is not often willingly surrendered.”</p><p></p><p>“Is that what happened to you?” he asked. “Is that how you ended up in Hell?”</p><p></p><p>“Hardly,” I scoffed. “I am not one so easily tempted. No, I chose my path because I saw a rare chance to actually do some good.”</p><p></p><p>“That’s unsettling coming from a devil.”</p><p></p><p>I stroked the barbed head of my hamatula form. “Once you grasp everything that’s at stake in this cosmos, and once you fully understand that the ends <strong>must always </strong>justify any means necessary, it actually becomes a startlingly simple choice. It was for me, at least.”</p><p></p><p>I watched him grapple with something internally, and I averted my eyes to give him privacy. I knew first-hand the agony he was experiencing. </p><p></p><p>I wished I could have told him it would get easier. But devils do not lie.</p><p></p><p>“You’re right,” he admitted.</p><p></p><p>I knew it was one of the hardest things he’d ever said.</p><p></p><p>He continued. “It is an easy choice." He looked me in the eye. "I will never go with you. I must believe that there is a better way.”</p><p></p><p>“So be it." I bowed my head in defeat. "It’s a pity though. You would have done us so much good. I remain on this Plane for several more minutes, and if you don’t mind I must take my leave, as opportunities like this are few for those such as myself and there are many demons to slaughter.”</p><p></p><p>I raised my hand to make the gesture that would transport me away from the cleric, but he caught my wrist.</p><p></p><p>“I had to be sure,” he murmured. “Of your sincerity. Your persistence with me is not just idle temptation?”</p><p></p><p>I shook my head.</p><p></p><p>"No," he mused. "I suppose if your goal was really just to take my soul, you would have pushed harder. You genuinely want me as a willing ally."</p><p></p><p>I said nothing, resisting the temptation even to grin.</p><p></p><p>“I’ll do it then,” he announced. “I’ll come with you. I have prayed and studied and travelled and witnessed these past months, and the only conclusion I can draw is that the gods have abandoned us. I must do what I can to combat the threats to my home. And if that means sacrificing my soul then so be it. My only regret is that I didn’t do it sooner, when I could have saved those hundreds in the massacre we witnessed.”</p><p></p><p>“You wish to join me?” I asked.</p><p></p><p>“No,” he spat. “But I will do it.”</p><p></p><p>“Are you sure?” I asked. “It will be painful.”</p><p></p><p>He smiled grimly. “I gave you my answer when you asked me your very first question three years ago. Remember? You asked me if enduring personal suffering was a justifiable cost when fighting egregious evil. My answer has not changed.”</p><p></p><p>I nodded. “Very good. There is much you will not understand at first. Infernal politics are, shall we say, a necessary evil. Just remember this: If you find yourself in the employment of one of my rivals, you still owe me five honest answers from the last time you summoned me.”</p><p></p><p>“Let’s get one thing clear,” the cleric snarled. “I don’t like you one bit.”</p><p></p><p>I laughed. “Oh you’ll fit right in.”</p><p></p><p>“Is that it then?” he asked. “I promise you my soul, just like that?”</p><p></p><p>“Not quite,” I admitted. And, with a gesture, I annihilated him. I would see him again soon, I was sure. Rarely have I found a mortal so similar to a devil in sincerity.</p><p></p><p>In my last few seconds on this Plane, I pace idly around the chamber, savoring the sensation of <strong>feeling </strong>once again. It’s different when you’re in material form, and I doubt I’ll be back for a long, long time.</p><p></p><p>I reminisce on my strategy, so perfectly executed down to the minutest detail. The moment he caught me by the wrist to stop me from teleporting away? Priceless. You know I don’t need to move my hands to teleport – I can do it with a thought. I’d spent a long while practicing that gesture, in preparation for just such a moment.</p><p></p><p>And then there are all the plans I’d made that never saw the light of the mortal sun. Preparations for eventualities that hadn’t come to pass. Mortals think they’re so clever when they “outsmart” us, forgetting that we’ve had centuries or more to hone our craft.</p><p></p><p>Shedding the hamatula form, I stare up at the sky, to the Impenetrable Mountain, to where I know you are watching, and let loose my most fearsome roar. </p><p></p><p>I breathe heavily through my nostrils, fighting to regain control over my temper. Righteous fury has never done me any good.</p><p></p><p>My duke will be happy with my work, so that’s something. I’ll probably get several dozen new castles added to my domain for such a victory.</p><p></p><p>But the war.</p><p></p><p>The thrice-cursed, never-ending, god-forsaken war.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Salmakia, post: 9250120, member: 7038731"] It didn’t take long for Holam to start summoning me. I knew him well enough to recognize that watching me speak with the cleric via the scrying sensor I’d established would prove nearly irresistible. Maybe it was jealousy. Maybe curiosity. Or maybe it was the simple realization that the cleric could no longer hold any moral high ground. Whatever the reason, Holam drank me up like fine dwarvish ale. At first he just wanted to learn spells, and these I imparted easily in exchange for a few minor tasks. Slipping a copy of The Demonicon into a corner of the mage academy. Intercepting a letter intended for a priest. Scribing a permanent [I]Teleportation Circle [/I]in an abandoned warehouse. I think the minuteness of the activities allowed Holam to convince himself that no harm was coming from them. And besides, the payoffs were huge. Under my tutelage he learned which extraplanar beings would be most advantageous to target with a [I]Gate [/I]and what forms of payment they might accept. I opened my library to him, through which he learned common spells such as [I]Mind Blank, Telepathy, [/I]and [I]Imprisonment[/I] in addition to some that have fallen from mortal memory: [I]Inmortu Domini, Lifeward, [/I]and [I]Everlasting Fealty[/I]. He learned the [I]Wish [/I]spell that mortals are so enamored with, and finally came to understand its gross limitations. When dealing with devils you at least know that your adversary, while undoubtedly fickle and malicious, has a clear agenda that they are pursuing. I cannot say the same for the raw magic that these [I]Wishes [/I]attempt to harness. When Saribel and Rakt’re noticed Holam’s sudden increase in magical prowess, they wasted no time hopping on my wagon too. I taught them secrets of combat that our tacticians had developed for the Blood War. I gave them items from my extensive collection, knowing well that any such “gifts” were really only temporary loans. In exchange it was more small tasks that, individually, could be written off one’s conscious as harmless trifles. The cleric must have known what we were doing. The other three tried to keep it a secret, but it couldn’t have been that hard to decipher the truth for a zealot such as him. Why didn't he try to stop us? Perhaps he was lost in his own ethical maze. After only several months my three students became bored with the limitations of what I had taught them. And so we began a journey into the [B][I]profane[/I][/B]. Pain is a powerful tool for unlocking potential. There are rituals involving one’s own pain and rituals that require the pain of others. There are rituals reliant upon physical pain, mental pain, emotional pain, and moral pain. Some rituals need only the prick of a finger, while others bring the participants to the brink of glorious extinction. I taught them all of these, and more. Undoubtedly they used their newfound power for Good. They fought back hordes of demons like the ones in the massacre I had shown them. They rooted out undead horrors. They prevented a would-be god of plagues from ascending. Through it all they sought more and more power, and eventually became entirely indiscriminate in how they obtained it. [I]But surely[/I], you ask, [I]such power comes with a very steep price?[/I] Ahhh, but see, the power exacts its own price. For my own fee, I asked only that they keep perfect records of each ritual they performed. I instructed them to keep the records secret. And then I sat back and waited. It took the orc cleric longer than I had expected to find the documentation of the rituals. I can only imagine this was because deep down he didn’t want to find them, but in the end it became too obvious to ignore. He couldn’t penetrate Holam’s magical wards, but Saribel and Rakt’re had hidden their manuscripts in mundane ways and the cleric was more than equal to that task. I was watching him in my mirror when he read through the list of atrocities his companions had perpetrated, some in the name of his own temple. I almost shed a tear. It is always sad to witness the obliteration of hope. I knew that timing was key now. A few seconds too early or too late could ruin all my machinations of the past three years. I contacted Holam (months before I had given him a device that allowed us to communicate across Planar barriers). While he was summoning me, I called one of my servants, established a telepathic bond between us, and instructed them to watch the orc cleric carefully in my mirror and provide continual updates. Pulling myself across the rift, I announced proudly to Holam that I had a new ritual to impart. He practically drooled with excitement. [I][the cleric has located you] [/I]my servant murmured [I][He has summoned a celestial and he is seven minutes away][/I] “We will want Saribel and Rakt’re for this,” I said. “Would you ask if they’d be willing to join?” Holam issued a [I]sending[/I], and in short order I had [I]teleported [/I]them to our location. Now I had only to set a proper scene. [I][five minutes][/I] “This will require two others,” I said. [I]Others [/I]was our euphemistic way of saying [I]the innocent people we would be mutilating for our own personal gain[/I]. “Not a problem,” said Holam. He [I]teleported[/I] himself and his companions away, presumably to abduct some vagrants off the streets. While they were gone, I wandered about the room drawing symbols across the walls. They were utterly meaningless, but looked suitably impressive. Holam had long since done away with containing me inside a protective diagram, and I had free rein over his chambers. [I][three minutes][/I] They returned with two unconscious individuals. A dwarf and a human. I began instructing my students in all manner of particulars. I had to stall for three minutes, after all. But I made certain that none of my instructions would cause our [I]others [/I]any pain. Unlike in our previous rituals, these [I]others [/I]would be released unharmed. [I][one minute][/I] “Perfect!” I proclaimed. The [I]others [/I]had been bound and hung upside down from the ceiling. Pools of water were placed beneath each of them, and my students had dyed their hands green. I know of no ritual with such ridiculous requirements, but they would have believed whatever I told them by this point. “Now,” I continued, “this ritual will require the four of us to enter a telepathic trance state together.” They seemed unperturbed by the thought of being catatonic with a devil in the room. Truly some people deserve what’s coming to them. I began chanting. [I][30 seconds][/I] “Shouldn’t we seal the door or something?” asked Holam. [I][15 seconds][/I] Curses. With a thought I closed and locked the door. “Done,” I said, and smiled as I felt Holam’s mind slip back into the easy trance state that I required. [I][5 seconds][/I] I wreathed the four of us in harmless flames and steeled myself for what was to come. The cleric broke down the door. Behind him was an angel of the highest order. I shielded my eyes against its brilliance and felt a tremor of awe pass through me. The angel’s sword hewed into Holam. His mind struggled to break free of the trance, but I fought the pain and tightened down for the few seconds that were needed. The angel’s sword struck again and Holam’s head flew from his body. The cleric smote everything in the room with a [I]Sunburst[/I]. I had warded myself against just such an attack, and felt only a minor sear of pain. Saribel’s and Rakt’re’s flesh charred in the holy glow. Again, I fought with every bit of my strength to keep them incapacitated. Have you ever entwined your mind with one that is burning and fighting you with all the force of a cornered dragon? The angel’s sword struck twice more and two more heads fell to the ground. The cleric attempted to [I]harm [/I]me, and I admit that I felt some pain from that one. The angel turned its gaze toward me, but with a gesture I banished it back to its Impenetrable Mountain. It didn’t even resist. I grieved a hundred lifetimes when it was gone. I thought for a moment that the cleric was going to seriously try and fight me, but then he groaned and lowered his mace. “I suppose you’ll just obliterate me if I try and strike you,” he said. I gave a tight-lipped smile. “I’d spare a moment for immense disappointment first, if that helps.” “Am I damned?” he asked, looking around at the bodies of his companions littering the floor. “I could resurrect them all easily enough…” “No,” I replied. “You’re not damned. And I don’t know that they’d be so willingly pulled back into such limited forms.” “What will happen to them?” “They will have a choice,” I said. “They may enter the afterlife of their professed deity. Or they may come with me.” “They’ll choose you,” sighed the cleric. “Probably,” I admitted. “The kind of power they grasped under my tutelage is not often willingly surrendered.” “Is that what happened to you?” he asked. “Is that how you ended up in Hell?” “Hardly,” I scoffed. “I am not one so easily tempted. No, I chose my path because I saw a rare chance to actually do some good.” “That’s unsettling coming from a devil.” I stroked the barbed head of my hamatula form. “Once you grasp everything that’s at stake in this cosmos, and once you fully understand that the ends [B]must always [/B]justify any means necessary, it actually becomes a startlingly simple choice. It was for me, at least.” I watched him grapple with something internally, and I averted my eyes to give him privacy. I knew first-hand the agony he was experiencing. I wished I could have told him it would get easier. But devils do not lie. “You’re right,” he admitted. I knew it was one of the hardest things he’d ever said. He continued. “It is an easy choice." He looked me in the eye. "I will never go with you. I must believe that there is a better way.” “So be it." I bowed my head in defeat. "It’s a pity though. You would have done us so much good. I remain on this Plane for several more minutes, and if you don’t mind I must take my leave, as opportunities like this are few for those such as myself and there are many demons to slaughter.” I raised my hand to make the gesture that would transport me away from the cleric, but he caught my wrist. “I had to be sure,” he murmured. “Of your sincerity. Your persistence with me is not just idle temptation?” I shook my head. "No," he mused. "I suppose if your goal was really just to take my soul, you would have pushed harder. You genuinely want me as a willing ally." I said nothing, resisting the temptation even to grin. “I’ll do it then,” he announced. “I’ll come with you. I have prayed and studied and travelled and witnessed these past months, and the only conclusion I can draw is that the gods have abandoned us. I must do what I can to combat the threats to my home. And if that means sacrificing my soul then so be it. My only regret is that I didn’t do it sooner, when I could have saved those hundreds in the massacre we witnessed.” “You wish to join me?” I asked. “No,” he spat. “But I will do it.” “Are you sure?” I asked. “It will be painful.” He smiled grimly. “I gave you my answer when you asked me your very first question three years ago. Remember? You asked me if enduring personal suffering was a justifiable cost when fighting egregious evil. My answer has not changed.” I nodded. “Very good. There is much you will not understand at first. Infernal politics are, shall we say, a necessary evil. Just remember this: If you find yourself in the employment of one of my rivals, you still owe me five honest answers from the last time you summoned me.” “Let’s get one thing clear,” the cleric snarled. “I don’t like you one bit.” I laughed. “Oh you’ll fit right in.” “Is that it then?” he asked. “I promise you my soul, just like that?” “Not quite,” I admitted. And, with a gesture, I annihilated him. I would see him again soon, I was sure. Rarely have I found a mortal so similar to a devil in sincerity. In my last few seconds on this Plane, I pace idly around the chamber, savoring the sensation of [B]feeling [/B]once again. It’s different when you’re in material form, and I doubt I’ll be back for a long, long time. I reminisce on my strategy, so perfectly executed down to the minutest detail. The moment he caught me by the wrist to stop me from teleporting away? Priceless. You know I don’t need to move my hands to teleport – I can do it with a thought. I’d spent a long while practicing that gesture, in preparation for just such a moment. And then there are all the plans I’d made that never saw the light of the mortal sun. Preparations for eventualities that hadn’t come to pass. Mortals think they’re so clever when they “outsmart” us, forgetting that we’ve had centuries or more to hone our craft. Shedding the hamatula form, I stare up at the sky, to the Impenetrable Mountain, to where I know you are watching, and let loose my most fearsome roar. I breathe heavily through my nostrils, fighting to regain control over my temper. Righteous fury has never done me any good. My duke will be happy with my work, so that’s something. I’ll probably get several dozen new castles added to my domain for such a victory. But the war. The thrice-cursed, never-ending, god-forsaken war. [/QUOTE]
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