Uh...you sure about that? From the sounds of it, she tried to pin down our native tongue by rapidly switching between all the ones she knows in rotation. Which then overloaded our translator protocol.
So she's a demon bound to an imprisoned body? So red writing is already a warning sign but her voice has the most positive effect on us we can remember to the extent it confuses us and she's talking about contracts and possession. We have to tread carefully here.
Again, I don't think that's where the confusion aspect is coming from. Pretty sure that was our translation spell having to rapidly shift gears repeatedly to keep up with her trying all the languages she knows.
I have to say, though, that this entity is at least refreshingly frank about, what was it... "Know that I don't accept post-death soul leases anymore, not after this. I also never liked sacrifices to begin with." This suggests that they are a being that is at least not entirely depraved and malign, a metaphysical 'businesswoman' who happens to run a rather harsh business, rather than the magical equivalent of a serial killer. Someone you would not by definition have to be insane to bargain with.
Re: pleasant voice: she may have had vocal training. Makes sense, since, at the core, devils are salespeople. They kinda need to be convincing and persuasive in order to succeed at making deals. Part of that is sounding good.
Uh...you sure about that? From the sounds of it, she tried to pin down our native tongue by rapidly switching between all the ones she knows in rotation. Which then overloaded our translator protocol.
An odd prickling occupies your throat and the back of your skull while the prisoner speaks. The ants indicate nobody has stopped by for a while, yet her voice still sounds unusually pleasant. You literally can't remember the last time you thought that about someone. Did you ever?
Could be. While I'd usually assume anyone who imprisioned a demon would be smart enough to put in anti-charm protections if they had charm speech, the person(s) who did this missed the possibility of ants getting in.
If so, it's a demonstration of bad technique on the devil's end. If your persuasion spell has physical effects, you slowly increase it so the effects are less noticeable. Them noticing is really bad. Though I suppose it might be an inherent, uncontrollable trait.
Also, prickling in the throat is a bizarre effect to have on someone you're influencing. Back of the head kinda makes sense, but the throat's an atypical spot to react to such magic. Whereas the throat actually makes more sense if this is the translation effect again. It's possibly that it was 'locking in' the current language as the one to be used.
I'm okay with handling this with care, but we should probably be careful about jumping to conclusions. If we're too focused on any 'charm' effect, we may miss something else that's important.
I'd be interested to know if the 'after-death possession' contract was specifically designed to entrap the entity or was just exploited after the fact. The prison itself seems to suggest the former.
Tempted to just free her for nothing other than assurances that they won't harm Melia. I think her reaction would be hilarious.
I'd be interested to know if the 'after-death possession' contract was specifically designed to entrap the entity or was just exploited after the fact. The prison itself seems to suggest the former.
Tempted to just free her for nothing other than assurances that they won't harm Melia. I think her reaction would be hilarious.
Actually...I think someone pulled a Faust, and got cold feet. What she talked about was leasing souls, not bodies. I suspect someone promised her their soul post-mortem, possibly in exchange for magical power or knowledge, and then locked her up to keep from having to hold up their end of the bargain.
[X] First and foremost: Hostile-djinn/devil/fae protocols.
-[x] Accept no deals, and take care not to offer any, even by accident - state preferences instead of making requests or agreeing to things!
-[x] No true or full names - call yourself Mel or another distant nickname.
-[x] Follow whatever other protocols your folklore and legends suggest.
[X] Admit your ignorance; you don't know who she is or why she's here.
-[x] Talking to her without knowing her name is awkward.
-[x] Whatever she's doing with her voice is also causing you some trouble.
-[x] Try to figure out what her story is.
-[x] Ask whatever questions come to mind.
mind you if the whole possession thing means we get an advisor in our head... that could be a cool way to get a friend we can bring along with us!
[X] First and foremost: Hostile-djinn/devil/fae protocols.
-[x] Accept no deals, and take care not to offer any, even by accident - state preferences instead of making requests or agreeing to things!
-[x] No true or full names - call yourself Mel or another distant nickname.
-[x] Follow whatever other protocols your folklore and legends suggest.
[X] Admit your ignorance; you don't know who she is or why she's here.
-[x] Talking to her without knowing her name is awkward.
-[x] Whatever she's doing with her voice is also causing you some trouble.
-[x] Try to figure out what her story is.
-[x] Ask whatever questions come to mind.
In addition to being a demon, I think she's also pestilence themed.
She assumed Melia was sick and sought her out, she has small bugs working to release her and they haven't been discovered.
What I think is that the people who imprisoned her are dead of the plague. The insects are not ants or any colony insect, but some kind of parasite. And she assumes we got whatever she used to kill her jailers.
She assumed Melia was sick because she got dizzy and slumped against the wall.
I bet she'd be interested in heading to another world with Melia. She obviously has enemies on this one, and a fresh start for her.. probably pretty tempting. That would let her get us as an advisor until she finds a dimension she likes enough to settle down in plus whatever else she's willing to offer.
Though that depends on her not being a jerk who hurts people.
I'm reluctant to ask for her name. For some reason I'm getting 'djinn' or 'demon' vibes off her right now and names are a big deal to them. We might accidentally offend her.
[x] First and foremost: Hostile-djinn/devil/fae protocols.
-[x] Accept no deals, and take care not to offer any, even by accident - state preferences instead of making requests or agreeing to things!
-[x] No true or full names - call yourself Mel or another distant nickname.
-[x] Follow whatever other protocols your folklore and legends suggest.
-[x] Otherwise be generally polite and friendly.
[X] Admit your ignorance; you don't know who she is or why she's here.
-[x] Talking to her without knowing her name is awkward.
-[x] Whatever she's doing with her voice is also causing you some trouble.
-[x] Try to figure out what her story is.
-[x] Tell her your own story.
[x] First and foremost: Hostile-djinn/devil/fae protocols.
-[x] Accept no deals, and take care not to offer any, even by accident - state preferences instead of making requests or agreeing to things!
-[x] No true or full names - call yourself Mel or another distant nickname.
-[x] Follow whatever other protocols your folklore and legends suggest.
Power-granting individuals seldom came up in the stories of your homeworld. Oh, there were a few, but monsters-turned-intelligent and guardians of corrupted magical havens were both much more common. You do know not to let your blood spill on anything important, not to let her speak with any fiancees you might eventually have, and to always assume she has a less-than-stellar relationship with the truth. Which is to say, you can probably trust the exact letter of what she says, but the spirit might be something completely different.
Assuming she's anything like the fairy tale contract-creatures from your home, there's nothing stopping her from seemingly agreeing to a given proposition with 'Yes,' then 'elaborating' so she's no longer agreeing to what you originally said. Wish-granters often aren't malicious, but they are lazy; they won't warn you of the downsides of a decision unless specifically asked for them, and even then, they're still only bound to tell the letter of the truth. They'll spend the smallest amount of power needed to fulfill their side of the bargain and no more.
If you agree to something, you should probably have an alternative option you can default to in place of fulfilling the main commitments. One you know wouldn't be too awful, even if it should seem worse than what you originally agreed to. You remember one story where tributes from the family of a wisher didn't only include the contractee's daughter and husband like she'd thought, but also all of her numerous cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents, nieces, and nephews.
...You really hope your Translation gift doesn't get in the way.
It won't.
You huff once and cross your arms. You know you don't have any business being sure about that.
Is this my anchor speaking? Because if so, I'd rather like it if you stopped sounding so much like me.
Your own head is silent and devoid of answers. If you were talking about someone else, you'd take the opportunity to make a joke about business as usual.
[X] Admit your ignorance; you don't know who she is or why she's here.
-[x] Talking to her without knowing her name is awkward.
-[x] Whatever she's doing with her voice is also causing you some trouble.
-[x] Try to figure out what her story is.
You're pretty sure about half a minute went by while you were thinking about how to handle speaking with the prisoner. She has yet to get up off her side, although considering how small her prison is, you don't really blame her. If it's comfortable enough, why interfere?
"Whatever you're doing with your voice is causing me some trouble. C—"
You clamp your mouth shut and avoid requesting she stop. Curtailing your own habits is hard.
The prisoner frowns and lifts her head slightly.
"Whatever I'm doing with...?" The prisoner trails off and lowers her head again. "Oh. That's a combination of speech training and a permanent confirmation trait. The first helps me avoid sounding like a shrew while the second binds me to my word. I cannot easily stop either under the best of circumstances. These are not those."
She raises her bound arms and raises one eyebrow. You open your mouth, close it, and pick your next words carefully.
"I believe it's safe to assume you can't, then."
She lowers her hands and nods.
"Not at this time."
You sigh and pinch the skin of your throat. You suppose you can live with it.
"I don't actually know who you are or why you're here."
You resist the urge to launch into your next question. If you ask too many at a time, you might not get a complete answer to any of the above. Cross-comparing answers to different questions seems like it'll be important for someone who might be fond of lying by omission and misdirection.
The prisoner stares at you for several seconds before sighing.
"You may call me Delight. I agreed to give a cute lil' lady longevity, physical refinements, and a better position in life. In exchange, I'd own her soul for a period of time equal to the time elapsed between the completion of my own commitments and her death." Her face darkens. "Thirty years later, she contacted me and claimed two of her subordinate acolytes were interested in making a similar agreement. I agreed to reduce her time owed by one third if I successfully made a contract with one or both of them. As one of Gaea's High Priestesses, she claimed she couldn't simply create a standard summoning circle without risking discovery, meaning I would have to come here in person. You can see how well that went over."
Delight pauses and forces her mouth back into something distantly approaching a smile. "I broke none of their god's laws; I dealt not with infinity or excess. No deception was involved and the contract was accepted by all parties. And yet, here I am, imprisoned until such a time as I release my grip on every last soul I've ever 'deceived.' They were not amused when I complied and released all of zero."
A ghost of a genuine smile flickers across Delight's face.
"They never did promise to let me go if I released anyone else, so I didn't. I expect they'd kill me once I no longer had their High Priestess to use as leverage. Temporary or not, restoration is so very tedious."
Delight carefully props her head atop both hands, barely avoiding the edge of the dome as she does so. You don't think she can be more than a few centimeters away from contact.
"I don't believe I'm unfair. In many ways, shared possession would be its own reward. You'd be all-but immune to the risks of mana overindulgence; I'd simply absorb that which travels over your tolerance. Letting my host die would end our contract early, and as such, it would be in my best interests to shield you from disease and old age, your current illness included. I'd even be willing to provide advice on your love life."
You choke and gape at Delight, earning a grin from the woman in question. One of these things is not like the others!
"Don't give me that. You're a beautiful young lady and an Arcane. Really, the bigger concern is making sure nobody gets you pregnant—which, incidentally, I can do for you. I can even make you more attractive if you're interested in that sort of thing; I certainly wouldn't complain."
A few dim dreams and thoughts claw their way toward the surface of your mind. You whimper quietly and bury your face in both hands, trying to refocus your attentions toward something more productive and less embarrassing. This conversation did not go in a direction you expected, nor do you even think you'll be ready for... that... for at least a few more years. Delight's giggling isn't helping.
[x] First and foremost: Hostile-djinn/devil/fae protocols.
-[x] Accept no deals, and take care not to offer any, even by accident - state preferences instead of making requests or agreeing to things!
-[x] No true or full names - call yourself Mel or another distant nickname.
-[x] Follow whatever other protocols your folklore and legends suggest.
[X] (Default) Tell Delight you'd really like it if she avoided bringing up the potential of a love life or any related inappropriate acts.
[] Force yourself to brush past Delight's teasing instead of outright asking her to stop.
[] Tell Delight you're not actually ill.
[] Imply more questions.
-[] You're wondering if the High Priestess is the only soul Delight has ownership of.
-[] You're going to assume Delight means "reasonable and satisfactory for BOTH parties" when she makes references to fairness.
-[] You don't know what else she'd be willing to offer you for 'shared possession.'
--[] You sincerely doubt it's as nice as she says it is.
-[] Delight doesn't look a year older than nineteen. You're wondering how old she actually is.
[x] Tell Delight you're not actually ill.
[x] Imply more questions.
-[x] You're wondering if the High Priestess is the only soul Delight has ownership of.
-[x] You're going to assume Delight means "reasonable and satisfactory for BOTH parties" when she makes references to fairness.
[X] Force yourself to brush past Delight's teasing instead of outright asking her to stop.
[X] Tell Delight you're not actually ill.
[X] Imply more questions.
-[X] You're wondering if the High Priestess is the only soul Delight has ownership of.
-[X] You're going to assume Delight means "reasonable and satisfactory for BOTH parties" when she makes references to fairness.
-[X] You don't know what else she'd be willing to offer you for 'shared possession.'
That calming spell is really coming in handy for reasons I never would've anticipated.
A few tricksy wordings in there. Might do a full analysis later, but for now, tentative preliminary vote:
[X] Force yourself to brush past Delight's teasing instead of outright asking her to stop.
[X] Tell Delight you're not actually ill.
[X] Imply more questions.
-[X] You're going to assume Delight means "reasonable and satisfactory for BOTH parties" when she makes references to fairness.
-[X] You don't know what else she'd be willing to offer you for 'shared possession.'
-[X] Delight doesn't look a year older than nineteen. You're wondering how old she actually is.
[X] Force yourself to brush past Delight's teasing instead of outright asking her to stop.
[X] Tell Delight you're not actually ill.
[X] Imply more questions.
-[X] You're wondering if the High Priestess is the only soul Delight has ownership of.
-[X] You're going to assume Delight means "reasonable and satisfactory for BOTH parties" when she makes references to fairness.
-[X] You don't know what else she'd be willing to offer you for 'shared possession.'
Okay, 'Delight' is about in line with what we might reasonably have expected. It's kind of unfortunate that the only currency she deals in is "shared possession," because it makes it... doubtfully useful... for us to have further dealings with her. Having her riding around inside Melia's head is at best an iffy proposition.
