ooc: Geez Louise! I leave for a little while, and you guys bloody RP! Wow. Okay, I'm working like crazy for a little while, I'll post when I can.
[sblock=Mal Only] [sblock=Hey, I said Mal only!] [sblock=When I say Mal only I mean only him] [sblock=that means stop looking!] [sblock=Okay?] [sblock=Alight, I think we lost them, Mal] [sblock=no, seriously, this next bit is a HUGE spoiler. Don't do it. You'll have more fun if you don't know. Mal, let's do this!]Here's the Top Secret stuff we needed to talk about that I have been delayed in doing.
1) The cornugon doesn't care for money. It demands specifically 100 human souls, or one of your current party members' souls. This is entirely reasonable, considering the amount of danger you'd be putting it in, not only from the foes on the Astral Plane but also your own party members: Xanfire and Thadeius especially. Considering you can just purchase 100+ slaves by teleporting to a big city, this really isn't a big issue other than the money to buy the slaves. Agreeing to it is assumed in your bargain. It and other outsiders won't go for anything less, considering the circumstances: the Broken Eagles and the current Planar upset are too well known.
I'm going to assume that the deal went through with the above as its price.
It's also left on the Material Plane with no particular orders surrounding doing anything else beyond protecting you.
2) Contacting Azathoth: Okay, here's the really juicy bit: you really had to pick the worst conceivable deity of them all to contact(!!! why Azathoth, of all the other bloody Golarion evil deities?!!!!!), and I'll tell you why right now. Azathoth is one of the Great Old Ones, and merely attempting to contact him is enough to risk basically just insanity. As you contact him, you can feel an evil influence EXACTLY like that of the foes you're facing, EXACTLY like the power of the Prophet back in your own nation when he kicked your butt.
Your Arcana skill is enough that you recognize what's going on with these foes. You and Thaddeius and Xanfire, and anyone else on the plane, are being affected by an epic-level spell created by the Old Ones to wipe out memory of them. While you could remember, say, Azathoth from your studies (and as a powerful wizard I'll let that slide), none of you would be able to put two and two together on the fact that they're the Old Ones from Osirion's history, or the rest of the info on them. You couldn't even remember the Necronomicon, which is a fairly famous book.
All this is revealed to you in a split second. During this moment, your contact with Azathoth allows it contact with your mind. You've just jumped into the hands of the big bad. The worst big bad, I might add.
Now, as a merciful DM I offer you two options here: a chance to save yourself. You get a Will saving throw, aided only by the protections you'd placed upon yourself AT THE TIME OF CASTING CONTACT OTHER PLANE.
If you fail, Malacarus is taken over by the Old Ones and you help me take out the entire party AND destroy Golarion. The bright side is, you the player chose an Evil character, and you and I get to team up on how we kick their butts. And don't tell me you aren't feeling Mal's displeasure at the attitudes of the other characters. There was a chance you'd have wanted to do this anyway, amirite? We're going to go medieval planning out how to take them down, you and me, hardcore.
Though not in a way that's unfair or not fun. I'll be roleplaying your side, not tailoring encounters to cheat and kill them. Still, it should be massively fun.
If you succeed in your saving throw, you're driven partially insane. You will act as normal, but will have NO MEMORY of what I've just told you. At a time of my choosing you will act physically AS I DIRECT MAL, with your body casting spells but your mind and personality free (ie: you can talk but you basically just get to watch while your body fries the other heroes). This can be stopped by a dispel magic or a disjunction spell cast upon you. If they cast it (you're not allowed) then you gain all your memories of what I just told you, and a huge advantage over your potential foes for the coming destruction of Golarion.
Ain't that a kick in the pants? Ain't that worth a little risk?
Please roll your Will saving throw. I'll tell you if you succeed.
And do put the savingthrow in Sblocks, if possible. Or call it "Sblock Roll" if you use the forum dice roller.[/sblock][/sblock][/sblock][/sblock][/sblock][/sblock][/sblock]
