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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jackdaw McGraw" data-source="post: 7937790" data-attributes="member: 7021534">Is attacking Orcus with the powers that he himself bestowed considered a breach of the contract? It seems shortsighted of the PC (and player) to assume they'd be able to use any of their granted powers to injure the granter - at least for more than the moment it would take Orcus to rescind the deal. For the character to have any leverage here there has to be a reason that Orcus would want to maintain the pact and agree to a (huge) amendment. It's Orcus: he can get souls from anywhere, he can make deals with hoards of greedy cultists until his soul coffers overrun, so why does he care about this family of scummy sorcerers (yes, sacrificing your first born for 10 generations is scummy) so much?Some ideas...Souls from an unbroken bloodline are required to complete some sort of great project. Perhaps they're points in a crown that are near completion, or stones in an gateway the will permanent bind Thanatos to the Prime Material Plane, or maybe each soul is made into a piece in a chess set, for a cosmic game he will play with Asmodeus. Whatever the reason, Orcus is close to completing the great project and can't have one arrogant scion ruin the entire thing. He can't rescind the deal without a contingency and he can't crush the PC, no matter how much he wants to, especially since the PC probably hasn't had two children yet (the first one to sacrifice, the second to carry on the line). Which brings me to the next idea.The nature of the sacrifice is a trick. It's not the first borns' souls that are collected (they get to go to innocent- baby plane Nirvana) but in fact the souls of the sacrificers. This serves as a way of insuring the some of the power Orcus granted is returned to him every generation (it's not a limitless resource after all) AND it's an appropriate punishment for the said sorcerer, insuring that the damnation sticks. The whole pact insures that the sorcerer's soul is delivered right to Orcus, and not lost in the bureaucracy of the Hells.What Orcus needs to do with the PC who challenges him is play the long con by acquiescing, agreeing to still provide powers to the family without the first born sacrifice. Give the PC the "win". The sacrifice is just the most convenient means to damnation, but Orcus has resources to encourage damnation other ways. Perhaps he gives the PC a powerful artifact or a new power as a token of his defeat.But Orcus also needs to have a way to capture the sorcerer's soul before it gets lost and becomes the torture dolly for some minor demon. For that he needs some sort of soul container the PC unknowingly keeps close...maybe an empty phylactery, or the artifact suggested above?Anyway, this is all brainstorming. Sounds like an interesting problem and a slightly annoying player :/</blockquote>

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