Devilish Motivations

[Ormazd]

Howdy, all.

My party likes to talk to NPCs, specifically those NPCs that are a bit on the questionable side. Thus, as they are about midway through Shelter, they have enjoyed chatting with Kazyk and dealt with him pretty easily regarding the case. In the process, one of the PCs made his own side deal with Kazyk, hoping to get some information that only a denizen of Hell would possess. Kazyk has given up some hints but nothing really useful as of yet. Next session, Jezska will enter the picture, and I fully expect my party to subdue and question her about who sent her, what she's after, etc. Again, my infernal pact warlock will have some specific questions for her, which I would like to have her answer, but ...

I'm having trouble coming up with what the devils WANT. Obviously, they will require some sort of deal or payment for information, so what do they want. I know they have been summoned by Ragesians for their current missions, but does anyone have any ideas about what further motivations they might have that can be intertwined with other story elements?

Examples I've sort of hatched so far:
1) Might the devils be upset with the Ragesians for presuming to summon them to do their dirty work and want to "get back" at the Ragesians?
2) Conversely, would the devils want to further the Ragesian plots and expect the PC in question to betray the rest of the party for information?
3) Is there some diabolical double-dealing later in the campaign that Kazyk and Jezska might be trying to exploit to improve their standing in the ranks of Hell?
4) Might they simply want the PC's soul?

Any ideas would be most appreciated.

O

 

[Primitive Screwhead]

Kashyk is my favorite NPC so far.. of course, he has the advantage of being able to be defeated over and over again

The way I played him, he was quite happy to do the Ragesian's bidding because of the inherent violence.... which was his original tie in to the Inquisitor Guthwulf. The mission to acquire the case is seen as the first faltering step of a truely evil person and he starts to consider whether other means of spreading violence is possible.

IMC, he runs into Devon the Barbaric Fighter and ends up in something of a blood feud with him due to a lucky critical hit in the first encounter. He is at the point where he is willing to twist the rules of his current bargain, but wants Devon dead.

At some point in the future, the PCs might be able to turn him into a force of violence on behalf of the 'good' side... but only if they can deal with the blood feud


So, in short.. he should be played kinda like the player of a PC... he can't really be killed while summoned, so failure by death is simply a short vacation away from the material plane. His goal, like many PCs, is gratuitous violence and destruction. Nothin so lofty as gathering souls... Bearded Devils are the front line shock troops of hell. But that means he wants to gain 'rank' in the army of hell. The best way to do that, as any PC knows, is to get XP and level up... preferably from defeating CR equivilent foes, to the point where he isn't summonable by these middling mortals and he can focus on the battles in his home realm.
If twisting the bargain with the Ragesian's can extend the warfare and extend his time in this 'dungeon', then he would be all for it.