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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Greenfield" data-source="post: 6285028" data-attributes="member: 6669384">The arrangement is more than a simple truce.  It's an actual alliance, Law v Chaos, and it's been acknowledged by no less than Apollo himself.The party took shots at the Imp assigned to them, the first time they met, but he didn't hold a grudge.  DR 5/Silver v a D8 arrow/ backed up by a Fast Heal makes those kinds of things easy to forgive.And while his role has been largely informational (warning them of danger, or when they're about to do something stupid), he has at least attempted to play distraction for them when they were being attacked.He even offered them information on the Chain Devil (who he sees as something of a professional rival).  All he wanted in return was that they dedicate the kill to him, so he could have first claim on the Llarva he would become when he went down to hell again.On general principle, they refused, but his offer was in good faith.  He's actually been an ally, whether they want to admit it or not.As for the Chain Devil, he could make quite a case for himself if this landed in a Celestial court.Point 1:  He never offered anything in exchange for shares of souls.  The deals were always porposed by the PCs.Point 2: He withheld nothing when it came to terms of the deal.  No fine print, no twists of wording, not even a shred of deception.  (It would have fouled the contract.)Point 3:  It was a PC who proposed the arrangement when he would come to their aid when called, but specifically so more soul shares could be traded.  Point 4: He included in the contract a way for them to buy it off.  Several ways in fact.  One was the completion of a service for him.Which brings us to...Point 5: The PC accepted the Service deal, knowing the full terms in advance.  No coercion was applied, the PC was under no immediate threat or danger.  The time allowed for completion was generous, a full year.  He could have said no, and waited for a better or easier service offer.  (The contract allowed for up to three such offers.)and...Point 6:  The PCs are in trouble with the church and the Empire not because of any requirements of the Service, but because of how they chose to fulfill it.  He expected a simple case of adventurers exploring old ruins seeking treasure.  You know, the kind of thing adventurers do all the time.  It was the PCs who decided to violate the Law of Time in order to travel to the past (pissing off a deity as they went), who attempted to change that past event (pissing off that same god even more), raiding an active temple right as the people were praying to their god for salvation, killing several Temple guardians and stealing the altar piece right in the middle of services.  So they can't blame him for the sheep dip they're in right now, that was entirely their own doing.  Even the fact that the Church of Zues found out was their doing:  One of their own number dropped a dime on them.So their goal of killing him to deprive him of his due is murder, pure and simple, and violates Law as well.  Is murder still Evil when the person you're planning to kill is Evil?(By the way, I didn't plan or arrange any of that, it's just the way things played out.  Crazy, eh? <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /> )</blockquote>

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