Nilaisha the Neverborn, agent of Baator's Ministry of Mortal Relations, has been assigned to bring damnation to Exandria. Minor obstacle: it needs saving first.
Should I be doing this while I'm still in the middle of my first Quest on here? Probably not. Should I be starting this after a lengthy period of no sleep defined by extreme agony due to this tooth infection? Also no. But do I love myself enough to stop? Good god. Have you met me? No.
That said, if it turns out I can't handle two Quests, this will be the one that gets hiatused or dropped. Don't say I didn't warn you. Additionally, mechanics may be...fluid, here in the early stages, as I figure out what works and what doesn't, refine what I'm dealing with, and beat the numbers into line. Previous rolls and rulings will stand even after a later change.
Exemplar. It's one of those capital-letter words that has different meanings based on geography and context. In one kingdom of mortals, it might be a title granted to a great champion; in a text from another, it's a lower-case sort of word, simply denoting great skill. But in Planar scholarship, the Exemplars are those cultures of post-mortal Outsiders who embody and are embodied by the high tenets of their Alignments. To be an Exemplar is to be made of fundamentally Material things, to be sure - so often do people forget that the proper title is the Outer Material Planes - but a Balor is not made of the four elements the way a human or an elf is; the Balor is made of malecules and cruelectrons, of the substance of Chaos and Evil rendered into flesh, wearing its soul as its body. The names of these cultures are known through many, many Prime Material worlds; the benevolent Archons, the glorious Eladrin, the enigmatic Modrons, the confounding Slaad, the sinister Baatezu, the ravenous Tanar'ri, and even the nurturing Guardinals and their poisonous counterparts, the Yugoloths.
There are those who consider Exemplars the business of wizards and clerics, unrelated to mortalkind except through folly or divine blessing. But as one of these souls, reborn from death to advance your beliefs, you know better. Belief shapes the Planes, and the Planes, they can shape Belief.
We meet you as an up-and-comer, an Exemplar on her journey towards her next stage in spiritual evolution. Almost every kind of Exemplar goes through something like this (we don't talk about the Slaad, but, then, neither do the Slaad); the refining of the soul can be a long and arduous process, during which one deviates significantly from what might be found in, as a random, nonspecific example, some manner of bestiary which purports to describe all creatures of a particular type according to only their most baseline qualities. Your position amongst your peers is not new, but the responsibilities granted to you are, and they have been granted at least in part because your work on yourself has been noticed and appreciated by those who can guide you to new heights. It's an exciting time in your life; for the first time, you're being given leave to make independent, or at least mostly independent, contact with the mortals of the Prime Material Plane, the better to reveal to them the truth of your Beliefs and advance the great cosmic struggle over the reality of reality and its very nature. Yours is only one name amongst trillions, and yet this too is a truth of the Planes; there are no small victories or defeats, and at long last, those victories and defeats, those lessons and arguments, will be your very own.
Obviously you're a cut above your peers in that hypothetical bestiary, and in more ways than just one. But one talent stands out, gets your name in more useful bestiaries where summoners find it sometimes, it's the talent you're known for. So what is it?
Choose 1
[ ] Martial Prowess To be an Exemplar is to be a being of immortal magic and intrinsic divinity, but the gods of the Planes have never been above a good scrap, and neither are you. Service in immortal armies saw to your promotion, but it was your might and skill that ensured your soul survived to see that promotion.
Gain +1 Legendary Resistance, +4 Dexterity, & +2 Intelligence
Gain Expert Lore: Tactics & Expert Lore: Planar Tactics
Gain Advanced Battle
Gain Precocious Lore: Geography
Gain Legendary Action: Wall of Blades
[ ] Acclaim You have a closeness with your peers - now mostly subordinates, with the others still on their spiritual journey - that was noticed by your new mentor. Whoever said that if you want something done right you should do it yourself has never had to manage a project; your ability to delegate and handle the internal politics of your own culture is more valuable than your personal prowess.
Gain +4 Charisma, +2 Wisdom, & +2 Intelligence
Gain Expert Lore: Planar Law & Expert Lore: Conjuration
Gain Advanced Delegation
Gain Precocious Lore: Mortal Subcultures
Gain Legendary Action: Greater Summoning
[ ] Magic The path of magical prowess needs to be walked carefully, not out of mortal fears of corrupt power but immortal ones of arrogance. You've seen sorcerers older than worlds die from one careless mistake, and that will not be you. Assuming you're right, though, this path is one trod by the great and admirable before you, and you can join their ranks by learning from their example.
Gain +1 Legendary Resistance, +2 Charisma, & +2 Wisdom
Gain Expert Lore: Arcana & Expert Lore: Planar Libraries
Gain Advanced Thaumaturgy
Gain Precocious Lore: Mortal Sorcery
Gain Legendary Action: Counterspell
[ ] Merit This won't be your first time working with mortals, and it probably won't be your last. You've been summoned before, and your name is known in select mortal circles already. Your excellent work amongst the living has earned you the notice of those who have long enjoyed their afterlives, and they're looking to see what a taste of real responsibility might bring out in you.
Gain +4 Charisma, +2 Wisdom, & +2 Dexterity
Gain Expert Lore: Mortal Cultures & Expert Lore: Mortal Tactics
Gain Advanced Infiltration
Gain Precocious Lore: Adventurer Tactics
Gain Legendary Action: Cloak of Normalcy
Don't worry overmuch about what the mechanics mean just yet. Like the afterlife, it will all make sense after a little while. Now, Exemplar, who are you?
Congratulations, Exemplar; you have the respect of your peers and your immediate inferiors both, a hard currency to maintain in the Planes. After all, each of you is one of trillions, and while you are as unique and special as every other soul, the cold fact of the matter is people meet a lot of people, working within an Exemplar culture. Even Morwel and her Court of Stars is pretty big and fluid, after all; it can be hard to stand out. But stand out you have, and there are names you can speak which will come to your aid. More importantly, your skill in navigating Planar politics and cultures, to say nothing of inter-Planar law, may well be in demand by potential summoners and co-operators. Not that I'm telling you what to do, but this angle may well be appealing to magic-users, priests, and rulers. The first two might summon you on their own; access to the third can be...more difficult, even for the likes of angels (who are not Exemplars, and try not to forget it - Angels serve the gods of Good, not the Planes of it). Currently, you look like this:
Ability Scores
The raw capabilities of your post-mortal body and mind, refined both spiritually and through work. Ability scores are used for most rolls.
Lores
Broad categories of knowledge that you can definitely, usefully call on.
Expert Lore: Planar Law - You know about the agreements, laws, and responsibilities into which even Chaotic planar cultures can be drawn, with a keen specialty in your internal culture. You make related rolls with double your ability score modifier, and at advantage.
Expert Lore: Conjuration - You might not be much of a mage yourself (yet), but you could write the book on Conjuration magic and probably actually have, as a side project. You make related rolls with double your ability score modifier, and at advantage.
Precocious Lore: Mortal Subcultures - A hobby that has proven very prescient, you've done some reading - and experiencing - of the way mortal cultures splinter and divide even within what other mortals would consider cultural monoliths. You advance this Lore more easily, and use your full ability score modifier for related rolls.
Approaches
When problems need solving and knowledge alone can't do the trick, these are how you solve them. The workhorses of your character sheet; later abilities and items will modify these.
Competent Battle: You can beat the average mortal and maybe some above-average ones, but try not to get too big your your britches. You make Battle rolls with your full ability score modifier.
Advanced Delegation: Project management is a valuable skill, and you'll manage people until they fucking understand that. You make Delegation rolls with your full ability score modifier, and at advantage.
Incompetent Thaumaturgy: So maybe you've been neglecting this aspect of your heritage a bit, and struggle to solve problems with magical main force or, for that matter, magical cunning. You make Thaumaturgy rolls with half your ability score modifier.
Competent Infiltration: What you lack in formal training, you make up for in illusions; you've got a working understanding of stealth, disguise, and entering (or exiting) secure facilities. You make Infiltration rolls with your full ability score modifier.
Legendary Actions
The big guns. If the worse comes to worst, and you start hearing your boss theme playing while 4-7 mortals in very stupid outfits are preparing to kill you, these just might save you. They may also be useful elsewhere.
Greater Summoning: There are names you can speak which will be answered. More will be revealed about this ability later.
You've had a storied career in this incarnation of your soul so far, haven't you? So many adventures, and so many successes and failures. You've kept something, and it has become both like, and unlike, a badge of office; certainly people who have never seen your face might know you by this item instead. But what is it?
Choose 1
[ ] Twin Blades Notched, scarred, yet unbroken, the two-sword style sets you apart from your new peers and your previous ones alike, and their service in keeping you alive has stained them in the blood of Exemplar, mortal, and beast alike. They're almost part of you. No...they are part of you...even when it hurts.
- Battle modifier: Frightful Presence
- Battle modifier: Immortal Combat
- Delegation modifier: Famed Warrior
- Gain Legendary Action: Disrupt Concentration
[ ] Glass Manacles You've done your time in a wizard's dungeon and escaped his binds through both cunning and faithful service. These manacles, payment rendered in place of an immortal grudge, help ensure that you'll learn from your mistake. If you turn them this way, they'll show you your dreams...
- Delegation modifier: Do Your Time
- Thaumaturgy modifier: Unsummon
- Infiltration modifier: Wounded Deer Gambit
- Gain +1 Legendary Resistance
[ ] A Blessing A long time ago, when you were not as far along in your spiritual evolution as you are now, you did a favor for a minor god with few friends. That repayment has clung to you, and while the name of this god does not open many doors, one counts one's blessings. The relationship might be more valuable than the power.
- Improve your Thaumaturgy
- Thaumaturgy modifier: Unveil Glory
- Delegation modifier: Source divine items
Your past experience has left you with a critical failure. It still haunts you, and the need to make up for it is part of your driving personal ambition. You cannot ascend further up this path until it is addressed. What happened?
Choose 1
[ ] ...And your little dog too! Hostile adventurers put paid to an assignment you were being counted on for, and you suffered the consequences. But it also taught you a valuable lesson that many, from the lowliest Lantern Archon to the most terrible Balor, often fails to learn: tread lightly with adventurers, be they the righteous or the wicked, and handle them with care. Mortal things are not to be underestimated.
- Improve your Infiltration
- Gain +1 Legendary Resistance
- Delegation modifier: Contingency
[ ] Words in Anger You mouthed off to a superior, and paid the price in blood as a result. Time and distance has taught you a valuable lesson, and while revenge may not be conducive to your goals, you continue to watch their career with...interest. You needed to learn what they had to teach. They need to learn too.
- Improve your Battle
- Gain Legendary Action: Die Hard
- Thaumaturgy Modifier: Dispelling Strike
[ ] Tactical Failure Improper use of magical resources, misunderstood orders, and unexpected enemy movements led to your defeat on the field of battle. You barely escaped with your life, and faced the consequences. Your opposite from battle that day still remembers your face. And you remember hers. Oh, you remember.
- Improve your Thaumaturgy
- Gain +1 Legendary Resistance
- Battle modifier: False Weakness
Your first assignment to a Prime Material Plane does require one of those to be sent to, doesn't it? Where is it you're going?
Choose 1
[ ] Oerth A planar backwater with outsized historical importance, Oerth has been the birthplace of a few notable Planar figures, including the insidious archmage Tasha, and was the site of the "last" battle of the War of Law and Chaos, an event which it miraculously survived hosting. Though certain powerful mortals maintain an interest in the world, they are fairly tolerant of Planar meddling, provided one manages to avoid the Circle of Eight and their conception of 'balance'.
Difficulty: Medium. Oerth is a swords-and-sorcery style setting where morality is often flexible in every direction, and powerful players tend to stay hands-off; however, they do have FULL DEMONIC INVASIONS on the regular, so Joe Average Citizen is, shockingly, a bit of a badass.
Advantages: Corrupt political systems with plenty of room for you to insert yourself, relatively relaxed power players, gods who don't tend to interfere, access to legendary artifacts, broad pool of mortal recruits.
Disadvantages: You know the guy who invented Evard's black tentacles? He lives here and his hobbies are exactly what you expect from knowing this man invented a tentacle spell. He's the high bar on sanity and consistency from the local archmages too, don't even start me on fucking Mordenkeinan. In addition to the obvious wizard problem, other Planar factions will be taking advantage of the same free-market attitude Oerth takes to itself, and you'll run into them pretty fast.
[ ] Toril A planar metropolis home to every culture, god, and beast that cares to try and get a slice, Toril is an absolute fuckfest of a mortal world infested by legendary heroes and villains, powerful artifacts, and power factions, none of whom want the new kid on the block interfering with their business. Its gods are active and mighty, its schemes far-reaching and absurd, and its rewards beyond measure - if you can survive.
Difficulty: High. Toril is a highly contested, extremely active death world, and the righteous & wicked have been known to ally with each other if they think something might be apocalyptic. "New" can often be the same as "apocalyptic", just to be safe. And hey. You're new!
Advantages: ABUNDANT resources, easy access to sympathetic religions and cultures with which you can make alliances, and your true nature as an Exemplar, while unusual, is only about as unusual as like, a left-handed baseball pitcher.
Disadvantages: Look out to the horizon. See everything the light touches? That's all the people who want you to shut the fuck up and leave their world. Oh, and all those sympathetic religions have enemies, who can, and will, hate you on sight with no chance to negotiate for anything better than a cease-fire. Good luck.
[ ] Exandria If Oerth is a planar backwater, Exandria is a sinister village whose denizens are definitely sacrificing people in the basement. This world wasn't even truly on anyone's radar until pretty recently; it's cut off from its own gods (and all others), low on most exotic resources, and simply not populated enough to be worth it for the Lower Planes to drag it screaming into torment. Which means it might be perfect to shape to your will, if you think you're the equal of it. There's some big problems to solve first.
Difficulty: Medium. Exandria is an underdeveloped shithole most Exemplars, even the Archons, wouldn't stoop to spit on, but it's not without its own homegrown powers or its own homegrown problems.
Advantages: A highly ignorant populace, high internal strife you can hide within, extreme social problems you can exploit for recruits, and the gods cannot fuck with your business, for weal or for woe. They locked themselves out of their own world.
Disadvantages: Turns out gods are supposed to be involved in worlds for a reason because man, this one is fucked. Exandria will, legitimately, end if someone doesn't do something about it, and unfortunately if you want to do well on your assignment, that someone might have to be you. Additionally, you're going to have to deal with the QM fixing Matt Mercer's fucking worldbuilding, from the baseline presented in Tal'dorei Reborn and also encouraged in the same book.
Votes will be in plan format. Starting location will be selected after setting.
Congratulations on choosing the objectively funniest option. I would apologize to Mister Mercer for all the shit I'm going to talk on his name during this Quest but I'll be real with you: he gave his blessing in advance, in the book he himself published. And, honestly, if his setting hadn't hooked me and been something interesting, I wouldn't be writing in it. Now, back to the show.
One hundred years recovering from the battle with adventurers - the Plainswalkers, the cheeky things - and a hundred & change more working your way back up into the good graces of your superiors. An expensive lesson, even for you, but one well-worth learning. If it weren't for your unique circumstances, the mortals might have tracked you down here and seen to your permanent end, and that would have been that. Still, despite your diligence, it is something of a surprise to receive the summons borne by a red-winged imp, its armor serving as both writ of passage and mark of station. You almost smile. You remember, and yet you do not remember, a time when you were as this creature was.
"Thank you, Kezzix," you greet it, as you take the heavy parchment in its claws. It bears the seal of Furcas, your master, to whom you have the pleasure, responsibility, and terror of reporting personally, and when you break the seal with a ritual affirmation of your oath of loyalty the contents inform you of what you already suspected: you are being assigned, though that you are being assigned a command is more surprising, raises your perfect eyebrows. You have one hour to attend upon His Eminent Darkness, the Minister of Mortal Relations; tardiness will, as usual, not be tolerated.
You dispatch some of your cadre of imps to explain things to your current ad hoc superiors, doing your diligence, and tug on a pair of heavy leather gloves, the better to hide the withered and skeletal left hand that is the blessing of an old...acquaintance. That may be a chip you need to cash in. Your armor gleams already, and your weapons - blade, bow, and rope - are as much as part of you as your own flesh, and so they need nothing to be perfect, and glorious, and beautiful, and steeped in perfected violence, uplifted brutality, mechanized pain.
You could fly, but the hour is a generosity on the part of His Eminent Darkness, time to think and comport yourself. A kindness, and such a gift is not to be wasted. So instead, you walk.
Oh, excuse me. Did I not mention, Exemplar? It must have slipped my mind.
You are Nilaisha the Neverborn, factotum of the Ministry of Mortal Relations
That is to say:
You are Nilaisha, an erinyes devil, and you are sworn to corrupt the mortal world, and all the Planes beyond.
Directions into the presence of Furcas are not needed; though the Ministry of Mortal Relations maintains branches on every layer of the Nine Hells, very much to include the primary citadel of the Dark Eight on Nessus in the presence of the Lord Below, he has been visiting this one on Avernus for some time, and you would have been one of the first to know if His Eminent Darkness had chosen to take his leave. You whistle sharply as you take the catwalks outside, blackened things of iron that provide a perfect view of the battlefields below, and are attended upon by a cringing spined devil. "Jax," you greet. "Take my regards to the bursar, and inform him that I may be in need of my stipend."
"At once, your Grace," the pathetic little thing hisses, and it wings off. You smile to yourself. He'll learn. Or he'll die. His absence affords you an incredible view of the blasted landscape of Avernus, a land of surging lava flows, great fortresses, and vast, seemingly endless armies clashing for centuries to gain mere inches of ground. There is no sun here, and there are no stars, but from the empty sky there is a rain of fire and brimstone, the incarnate wrath of Zariel, again ascendant as Lord of the First. Poor Bel. She didn't even give him the mercy of death after she escaped his little trap. It was, as an example, instructive. One might say it's why you swore yourself to the Dark Eight.
The screams and battlecries are so soothing.
You salute the gelugons standing sentry outside the office of His Eminent Darkness; they return it, and then let you in. Furcas is, as always, an imposing figure; the pit fiend looms, as is his way, and the shadows of the room bend towards him the way flowers bend towards the faintest shred of light and hope. He is dressed today in one of those business suits you've seen on certain worlds - you still have one, in fact - and for a brief moment you have hope that you might be going back to one. They'd been intriguing, and an education in the dizzying breadth of the cosmos's technological and magical paradigms. It is a law of the Planes that one receives what one expects, after a fashion, and so it pays for the Ministry of Mortal Relations to have a breadth of experience. Still, let's not get expectations high; you are still disgraced.
You sink to one knee, head bowed submissively, and wait for your master to speak.
"Rise, factotum. Sit with me," Furcas rumbles, in a voice like steel picking and chipping at stone. He gestures expansively to the table between the two of you as you sit (forced to hunch painfully forward because of your wings), and in an instant you recognize the map on it. "What is it you feel we are here to discuss? Speak."
You chew the inside of your cheek. "...I'm being sent back to Exandria, Your Eminent Darkness," you hazard. "To support one of the Ministry's operations."
"Humble. I appreciate that about you, Nilaisha; you have learned humility, at great difficulty but, perhaps, to great benefit. But not to your benefit here. You are incorrect." Your master gesticulates with one hand, producing an iron figurine that has your exact likeness, and he offers it for you to take; you clutch it, uncertain but with a growing suspicion. "You are being sent to Exandria in order to establish a beachhead for the Ministry's long-term interests. It's time. You may speak."
You may speak, but can you? Evidence suggests no. "Master, I - after my failure there prior, my arrogance..."
"Flaws that you have corrected. However," here Furcas raises a clawed finger, "I will be generous with my honesty. The decision to send you was briefly contested, though not by any great margin. Two against, one abstaining, five in favor. The general consensus is that if my belief in your abilities is well-founded, then there is no flaw; if it is not, you are no great loss."
Cruel words. And yet Furcas is right; his honesty is, yet again, a kindness. A gift. With patience born of aeons, you do not growl, or sigh, or twitch, or make any aggressive action. The other Ministers have every right to vote on your fate in such a manner, and protests that they do not know you, and have not worked with you as His Eminent Darkness has, is tantamount to an accusation of incompetence. A worse shame than failure.
So you nod, tightly.
Furcas claps his hands together, and smiles with his fanged maw. He'd taken you with him once, on a trip through Sigil, where all he'd done was talk, and talk, and talk to mortals, asking them what they thought of the Blood War, hearing them hold forth every kind of opinion about the Nine Hells, and the Outer Planes, and the nature of Law and of Evil, and it had been an enlightening experience. That weaponized candor, a vulnerability that is itself a method of attack, is one you have promised yourself will be yours.
He'd even let you print out survey cards for your summoners, after that trip to one of the worlds with guns.
"Now, there is some preliminary intelligence available to you," here Furcas indicates a stack of tomes, "and testimonials from other field agents, including intelligence from the Ministry of Immortal Relations. Look them over. Meditate. And then indicate to me where you would like to begin, and what resources you will require. Whichever objective you choose will be your responsibility, factotum; any other resources in the field, or allies thereof, will be tasked with our efforts against the others."
Female Erinyes Devil
Lawful Evil
Current Supply: 5
Ability Scores
The raw capabilities of your post-mortal body and mind, refined both spiritually and through work. Ability scores are used for most rolls.
Lores
Broad categories of knowledge that you can definitely, usefully call on.
Expert Lore: Planar Law - You know about the agreements, laws, and responsibilities into which even Chaotic planar cultures can be drawn, with a keen specialty in your internal culture. You make related rolls with double your ability score modifier, and at advantage.
Expert Lore: Conjuration - You might not be much of a mage yourself (yet), but you could write the book on Conjuration magic and probably actually have, as a side project. You make related rolls with double your ability score modifier, and at advantage.
Precocious Lore: Mortal Subcultures - A hobby that has proven very prescient, you've done some reading - and experiencing - of the way mortal cultures splinter and divide even within what other mortals would consider cultural monoliths. You advance this Lore more easily, and use your full ability score modifier for related rolls.
Approaches
When problems need solving and knowledge alone can't do the trick, these are how you solve them. The workhorses of your character sheet; later abilities and items will modify these.
Competent Battle: You can beat the average mortal and maybe some above-average ones, but try not to get too big your your britches. You make Battle rolls with your full ability score modifier.
- Rope of Entanglement: You can attempt a Battle or Infiltration check to kidnap or subdue a creature even in the midst of pitched battle.
Advanced Delegation: Project management is a valuable skill, and you'll manage people until they fucking understand that. You make Delegation rolls with your full ability score modifier, and at advantage.
- Source Divine Items: The whispers of Mellifleur tell you what you need and where; your agents can always turn up access to divine-type magical items, holy or unholy symbols, and the like, as long as any physically exist to be found. Founding a cult to Mellifleur may improve this ability. - Contingency: You can invest 2 Supply before beginning an operation to prepare a contingency; when you or your forces would fail a roll during that operation, you or they succeed instead. Separately, you can also invest 2 supply to prepare such a contigency for your personal safety.
Competent Thaumaturgy: Your magic is pedestrian by infernal standards, so it's competent by mortal ones. You make Thaumaturgy rolls with your full ability score modifier.
- Unveil Glory: You add your Charisma modifier in addition to your other ability modifier when rolling Thaumaturgy relating to the undead. Improving your relationship to Mellifleur may unlock additional abilities. - Summon Devils: Meet or beat DC 20 Thaumaturgy (Wisdom) to summon your cohort of imps, a squad of spined devils, or one erinyes. Try not to summon the erinyes; she's mad at you.
Advanced Infiltration: Humility is the cousin of stealth, and you have eternity to get in the last laugh. There's no need to rush. You make Infiltration rolls with your full ability score modifier, and at advantage.
Legendary Actions
The big guns. If the worse comes to worst, and you start hearing your boss theme playing while 4-7 mortals in very stupid outfits are preparing to kill you, these just might save you. They may also be useful elsewhere.
Legendary Resistance (1): Once per crisis or operation, the first time you would fail a roll to defend yourself, you succeed instead.
Greater Summoning: There are names you can speak which will be answered. Once per crisis or operation, you can call three other erinyes to attend to your orders. They will arrive, and they will intelligently assist you to the best of their ability and understanding. If you can't show results for their contribution, you may face consequences. This ability can be improved.
By the pit this world is infested. Choose your starting location and its attendant problem
[ ] Emon, Capital of the Tal'Dorei Republic. Focus: The Breach The city of Emon is a thriving, cosmopolitan trade city somewhat recently destroyed by dragons and even more recently rebuilt, thanks in no small part to the League of Miracles. They are not, the intelligence emphasizes, currently agents of Hell, but are earmarked as interesting recruits for causes infernal; additionally, Emon's endemic poverty, ancient social strife, and chronic gentrification of access to magic make it nearly ideal for an infernal cult or organization to begin flourishing and propping up a veneer of legitimacy. There's just one massive problem: a nascent breach in the substance of reality itself, an opening into the Far Realms, festers beneath the city, and if it is not shut the catastrophe will be noticable. The last time this happened an entire pantheon died. You won't survive it. No one on Exandria will survive it. If you're looking to solve this problem, you're going to need to raise, buy, or manipulate - oh, no. Adventurers. You're going to need fucking adventurers.
[ ] Kymal, City of Vice. Focus: The Chained Oblivion WHAT DOES FURCAS MEAN, PEOPLE ARE TRYING TO LET THARIZDUN OUT OF THE BOX? HOW IS THIS NOT PRIORITY ONE IN ALL OF HELL? THE CHAINED OBLIVION? THAT CHAINED OBLIVION? THE END OF ALL IN MADNESS AND FURY? THAT ONE? Okay. You need to calm down enough to - BUT SERIOUSLY - calm down enough to read this. Kymal is a city in the Dividing Plains, itself rife with allies of chaos and evil here to include some kind of pan-racial alliance that venerates...are you reading this correctly...Gruumsh. What. You hate Exandria so much. Kymal itself is all-but-openly run by criminal interests, but contrasts this with a strong community that is, like most of the Dividing Plains, shockingly and stridently anti-racist, which interests you. It's not a lever you can turn against the residents, it's true, but it's one where you can wheedle your way in, pointing to the big obvious problem - to wit, people are TRYING TO LET THE CHAINED FUCKING OBLIVION OUT OF THE BOX - as a justification for your presence. If you think your boots are big enough to openly operate...
[ ] Rifenmist Peninsula. Focus: Cockblocking Bane's Stupid Ass Wow. You haven't thought about Bane in ages. Some upjumped mortal became a Greater Power, died three - no, wait, this report says four - times on Toril, got replaced several times, the usual. Toril is Toril, you don't get away with being the GOD OF TYRANNY, FEAR ME on fucking Toril. And it looks like sometime between his second death and his third Bane noticed because he got in on the ground floor of Exandria only to eat shit and die like the clown he is there too. His influence is weakening across the Planes and it's only a matter of time before someone puts him down for good and the githyanki build a city on his useless corpse. It'd sure be a shame if that slave empire he left on the southern border of Tal'Dorei went to waste in the process, wouldn't it?
In addition to your starting stipend, amounting to 5 Supply, Furcas is furnishing you with 10 "phantom" Supply to get you started wherever you're going. Any extra will not carry over, so spend it while you have it; however, it may be wise to keep some of your personal Supply around so you can be flexible when you hit the ground running.
Supply Options
[ ] Portal to Hell (4 Supply): A permanent link to your "native" Ministry branch on Avernus, permitting you to freely travel to and from Hell and Exandria. Will begin the development of Lair Actions, but make it more difficult over time to hide your operations.
[ ] Local Agents (2 Supply): Local sleeper agents will be activated and begin providing you 1 Supply per turn.
[ ] Home Base (Underground OR Aboveground) (1 Supply): A reasonably secure location to hang your boots, threaten your underlings, file your surveys, and plot world domination.
[ ] A Cohort of Imps (2 supply): Why only summon your cohort when you can take them with you? They're smart, they shift shapes, they're useful as spies, and unlike with a mortal summoner they're not going to betray you. Look at these lil' guys. They're so adorable when they feast on the innocent.
[ ] Study Materials (1 supply; repeatable): Gain Precocious Lore in your choice of: your chosen starting location, Exandrian religion, Republic politics, the League of Miracles, or Exandrian adventurers
[ ] Kill & Replace (4 Supply): Furcas's agents will kidnap, mind-scan, and murder an obscure noble and provide you with her identity. You'll still need to use illusions to appear as her, but the doors that could be opened, especially if you can learn proper shapeshifting...
So, I wanna have a bit of a frank talk about this twist. If you've caught my other Quest, you know I'm not shy about horrific writing, and certainly I've been in D&D long enough to have some firmly developed opinions about its depiction of Outsiders and Exemplars, about Hell specifically, about Evil in a fantasy context and in D&D's context specifically as well. Even a cursory reading of just the dog shit 5e lore will turn up some pretty awful fucking shit; slavery (already mentioned in the context of our options above), torture of the body, mind, and soul, mind control, desecration of the dead (that's the necromancy), and violence, just, so much violence. Hell is not good for you! It is in fact Evil for you! That's kinda its whole deal!
But.
I am not a shock jock. I am not Paizo, cursed be their wretched names. It is not my intent or my goal to simply slop brutality onto a page and then tell you that it's "mature" writing or that an "inability to handle it" is some failure to face evil on your part, and for those of you wondering, yes, I am in fact responding to things Paizo has said and keeps saying about its own content. My goal here is a nice blend of horror, action, and comedy, which you may recognize as the pulp blend native to D&D itself, but here I need to cut a fine line; you're playing a villain here, a villain rooted and steeped and invested in a cosmic, systematized evil that has no regard for the well-being of its victims or its participants, an evil which has proven successful, dynamic, and sinister since before recorded time. To sell that, you're gonna do some evil shit to advance your goals. Advancing evil is, in fact, a goal, in and of itself. That's the whole thing of the Ministry of Mortal Relations - peddling damnation to the innocent and the virtuous.
I have a high tolerance for dark topics in my fiction, to the point where I, at times, have difficulty remembering what a more normal one is like. I am asking, and empowering, you - my audience & players - to inform me of when something is a bridge too far. Though my intent is to handle things with a certain amount of taste, there is a point at which "taste" is toothlessness, and that line is one I'm aiming to walk. I'm not familiar with where the culture of SV draws that line, and while I was encouraged in coming up with this concept when I saw the various 40K and PMoon Quests around, I am still a newcomer here. I am asking for a certain amount of grace, yes, but also genuinely imploring you for a certain amount of communication as I feel things out, and adjust, and refine.
Hell Itself
This part is at least a little bit OOC; Nilaisha doesn't fully understand what I am about to frankly lay out, because such understanding is part of her spiritual evolution. That refinement of her spirit deeper into the principles of Lawful Evil will involve, over long centuries and millennia, promotion and demotion into other kinds of devil, and if she is successful, eventually becoming a "unique" devil or even an Archdevil...but she's not there yet.
Baator, the Nine Hells, is commonly considered the Plane of Lawful Evil. This is not quite correct; Acheron is LN(e) (law tinged by evil), while Gehenna is NE(L), Evil tinged by Law, but Hell is certainly most concerned with the perfected marriage of the two, and every expression thereof that can flower from it. It is not, contrary to common belief, a monolith. While the Exemplars of Hell - the Baatezu - are certainly its dominant culture, there is a dizzying variety of life in Hell, including cultures that are not the Baatezu - most famously the Kytons, or "chain devils", who maintain an alliance with the order of the Lord Below but do not swear fealty to him. This, then, is where I need to start cutting some fine lines.
Systemic evil of any kind finds a home in Hell. Slavery, racism & sexism, classism, it plays all the hits from the Things That Hurt You Personally In Real Life soundtrack, but Baatezu culture is not, shall we say, omnivorous about this. They are more than happy to exploit such evils, especially when they plan conquests which make such injustices useful levers and sources of fifth columns, but they don't really practice many of them. Baatezu culture is mildly sexist at the highest levels (the consorts of the Archfiends are...not having a fun time, but then, they do live in Hell), but ultimately the belief advanced by the Baatezu is that the Law can empower and corrupt you, that you can make and break your bones by it, that you can become one whom the law protects, but does not bind. The spiritual evolution of any given Baatezu is the struggle to gain enough power and influence to throw the boot off of your neck while grinding yours on the people below you so that they don't usurp you, only to discover that success is rewarded with a larger, more elaborate boot that goes right back down on your neck as the power of the Law to force you into common cause and common identity is turned against you. Even those who become Archdevils are not truly free, for there are none who escape the will of the Lord Below.
As an erinyes, Nilaisha is part of a sort of "middle class" in Hell, outside the typical chain of command and with the luxury of choosing her own master(s). That she chose Furcas is significant, but while she is intrinsically a valuable resource, she is not an irreplaceable one. Erinyes are permitted to be promoted into many kinds of devil, often far up the chain, so in a sense she is experiencing a CEO apprenticeship...by way of running one of the CEO's mob businesses on the side.
The Dark Eight & The Ministry of Mortal Relations
The Dark Eight are a council of eight ancient, loyal pit fiends whose joy and responsibility is the prosecution of the Blood War. Though not free from infernal politics by any means, each of the Eight are notable for their genuine loyalty to the Lord Below and the cause of Hell over their personal power or spiritual advancement, serving a twisted vision of the communal good above all else. The council is democratic, with the members able to vote on contested actions of any of the other members, and each Minister is responsible for some part of advancing the Blood War and seeing to the defeat and scourging of Chaos and, eventually, the damnation of all the Planes.
The Ministry of Mortal Relations, led by Minister Furcas, concerns itself with the damnation of mortals. It is a PR firm, recruitment branch, diplomat corps, and army all in one, and has many needs seen to by a vast array of agents. Notably, those who work for the Ministry of Mortal Relations - or any of the Dark Eight, really - are not rewarded for treachery in the manner of other devils. If you reveal yourself as the sort of person who will advance at all costs, you also reveal yourself as a shitty employee, and they'll simply demote you, fire you, and hire someone else. This, ironically, makes working in the Ministry somewhat "safer" than many other options in Hell, as while someone might scheme to outperform you and take your job, they're not going to have you locked up in a wizard's whiskey bottle for one million years or eat your immortal soul or get you killed on the field of battle. They'll do their job, or they'll die with you. And isn't that comfort?
As a field agent - a factotum - of the Ministry, Nilaisha's duties are A. to do whatever Furcas tells her to B. to identify high-value mortals whose damnation might be of worth C. to advance the soft power and image of Hell as a preferable evil in comparison to the Abyss or even encourage mortals into true belief in infernal ideals D. harry the goals of Chaos at all turns and grind it into submission E. to identify and secure valuable resources for the Ministry (or other Ministries) F. to provide intelligence relevant to the Blood War & G. to get people to fill out those surveys. Another devil with another master might have the time and leeway to indulge in, I dunno, kidnapping a princess to torture for fun; Nilaisha has a fucking job to do, and any hypothetical princesses are more useful as pawns, allies, lovers, or victims of conquest than they are for personal entertainment.
Notable here as well is that the Baatezu broadly do not practice a lot of slavery qua slavery in their internal culture. Certainly unwise oaths of fealty or complex chains of command can make the difference academic, but for the most part if Hell is buying slaves it's to pitch them into the torture pits that turn them into devils, there to become part of their own culture with "the same" chance as everyone else to advance. And while they do buy a lot of slaves on those terms, especially from allies such as the City of Brass...to be frank, Exandria is only worth considering in those terms if you were to find some way of dragging the entire planet directly to Hell, which just is not a realistic goal as far as Nilaisha knows. Local slavers are better as levers, allies of convenience, or sacrifices to "prove" your honest intentions than they are as sources of damnation; the local slaves might be even better. Their list of grievances against the current powers is certainly quite long.
A formal character sheet post will be up at some point soon-ish, I've finally got a dentist appointment tomorrow and this post is about to be long enough on its own. In my ideal world I press-gang someone else into maintaining the sheet but that's just not happening.
After an appropriate period of thought and reading, and some humiliating losses of composure - Furcas makes an inscrutably amused expression when you go from frowning at the breach into the Far Realms to naked disbelief about the Chained Oblivion - you place the iron figurine that represents you down on the Rifenmist Peninsula, amidst the Beynsfal Plateau. You look up at your master, well aware that you are still being tested, and wait.
"Speak," Furcas invites, at last.
You nod. "Perhaps my humility might serve me in this, Your Eminent Darkness. I am not confident in my thaumaturgy or education in comparison to the other threats that stand in the way of a serious campaign of damnation - but I am quite certain that the resources of the Iron Authority are being squandered by the stupidity and indolence of its emperors. Looking over what you've provided...they're practicing early imperial fascism." You click your tongue behind your teeth. "They need to be whipped into shape. The conversation needs to be changed. If I can unlock those resources, perhaps establish a peaceful naval route to Emon, I can be the anchor upon which my fellows or our allies can depend. As the Archduke Mammon is so fond of saying, conquest is a terribly expensive business." Here you stop talking, wanting approval, fearing punishment.
"...Well-reasoned," Furcas grants at last. "Others will be assigned to lay the foundations in Emon and Kymal. Be warned: the latter may well need your soldiers more, and be more difficult to provide those soldiers to. This is a primitive world, factotum. Armies mostly walk."
Oh COME ON - it's fine, it's fine, it's all fine WHAT ARE THE WIZARDS DOING IF THEY'RE NOT nope it's fine, it's fine, it's all fine. You affect a deep breath, and then a nod, to show your submission to the Minister's wisdom. He invites you to sketch out your initial plan of arrival, and here you settle into more familiar territory; terrifying, yes, but also in a sense comforting. Such lessons have been part and parcel of your service to the Ministry of Mortal Relations for a long time, and while you have no delusions of intimacy - it is the place of an erinyes in the Ministry to be taught thus - you do get the sense that your development interests Furcas. This will be it. Your chance to prove yourself, or face ignoble demotion if not death. Exandria's spellcasters may be arrogant classists, but they still play for keeps.
Securing supplies and resources will be easy enough. Bane and the Nine Hells have always been fellow travelers more than allies - the Lord of Tyranny doesn't even make his home in Hell - but he has long passively permitted infiltration by both devils and infernal cults within his territories in exchange for the benefits of easy access to such for negotiations and the sharing of expertise. You're somewhat surprised to learn that the Iron Authority maintains a necropolis and even permits some very controlled use of necromancy, as this is rarely the style of Baneites, only to learn upon further discussion that Exandria maintains no god of necromancy. Indeed, its local goddess of death, the Raven Queen - by the pit, haven't thought about her in a while either, and you really should have - is stridently anti-necromancy and has been known to send.
Fucking.
Adventurers.
About it. But here there is an opportunity too. Your old acquaintance could come into play, and if you can build him a power base...
You look up at Furcas, not making eye contact, but indicating through subtle body language that you seek his leave to speak. The Minister cocks his head curiously, and gestures to you. "Your Eminent Darkness, it has been some time since..." your eyelids flutter as you go back into memories that are buried amidst a haze of different bodies, promotions and demotions and other forms of your soul, "...the Hasafari Incident." Here you emphasize what you mean by touching the back of your left hand. "The Lord of the Last Shroud is not aligned with infernal interests; is he facing censure at this time?"
"...Audacious," Furcas rumbles, and he smiles. "If you produce results, he is not facing censure. Acknowledge."
You bow your head. "Acknowledged, Minister."
With that business out of the way, there are final preparations to make in the scant time before you are to leave. Mere months! There are some things to figure out about your cover identity, and one of them has to do with the opportunity before you. Two obvious choices present themselves, each with their own drawbacks and advantages. The other three, while certainly important and relevant - the City of the Forge-Lords especially - simply don't have the deep draw and cracks in which you can wedge your skill sets and odd alliances.
Where will your base of operations be?
[ ] Taz'Arrm, Helm of the Emperor The capital city of the Iron Authority, the site of the death of one of Bane's avatars, and a seemingly limitless source of iron chipped from the titanic armor of that avatar, Taz'Arrm is perfect for an aggressive campaign of subversion and perhaps open rebellion. However, long experience - and the Ministry's own strategic manuals - do tell you that you're still going to have to deal with the other cities before either your puppet or, deliciously, you personally can reign over the Iron Authority; furthermore, the capital will be infested with clerics and entrenched political interests.
[ ] Hdar-Fye, the Necropolis A vassal-city of Taz'Arrm, Hdar-Fye is a center of arcane learning and where the honored dead of the Baneites are interred. It is also the home of many, many trained necromancers, the most you'll find anywhere on Tal'Dorei quite literally - not even the Lolthites are competing with them here. The distance from the levers of imperial power might be a problem, but being able to cloak a potential new cult to the Lord of the Last Shroud amongst the restless dead - to say nothing of all these corpses if you can break the spine of Bane's power over the city - are tempting targets. You need to exercise a light hand. There will be no alliance with Emon if you show up with an army of the dead that blackens the very land beneath it, but as with all things, it's about changing the conversation at the moment. Conquest can come later.
Preparing your cohort of imps to travel with you is a whole affair. They're eager to go, for while their own glory will be in some senses married to yours, even if you fail they may get separate praise and commendation, especially as you will need to send regular reports. This is a bigger opportunity for them than it is for you, in many ways, which is saying something. Whoever said idle hands do the devil's work never had to look at your payroll forms.
You're doing your reading. The purchase of relevant study materials on the Rifenmist Peninsula has been educational; your target is an empire of goblinoids which, after being freed of magical compulsion to worship Bane, was re-founded by those who remained loyal to the Lord of Tyranny. Internally, they're doing...not well, but there are good roads, no one starves unless someone is starving them on purpose, no slave uprising has ever succeeded, and sitting on an infinite source of iron certainly does them a lot of favors. You make a mental note that if for some reason trying to kill Bane yourself becomes necessary or viable, that armor could be used as a sympathetic connection to the Lord of Tyranny, permitting a magical strike against his very essence. Sloppy work, Bane. Sloppy, stupid work. It would be expensive, and likely require both permission from the Dark Eight and much internal favor-trading with your peers amongst other Ministries to get the magical resources and sacrifices necessary, but you place it on your mental table as an option. It could be a hell of a card to play in negotiations with the societies of the virtuous.
However, the Iron Authority has a perennial problem; it is at war with the Rifenmist Jungle. It has been at war with the Rifenmist Jungle for five centuries. No, not the people living in the jungle (well, yes, actually, them too), the fucking trees. And this shitty little empire has been losing that war the entire time. Your first instinct is contempt, but then you remember having your heart carved out by mortals, and you think instead. And after you are done thinking, you mark the jungle itself down as a deadly threat to be approached with caution.
Let's plan for success, Nilaisha.
What is your driving ambition?
[ ] Power Like many devils, you seek power, and authority; you wish to use them against enemies and rivals too numerous to name, and to shield yourself from superiors too horrific for even you to contemplate. Your work with the Ministry of Mortal Relations has been a centuries-long gambit to prove yourself worthy of responsibility and the attendant privilege that comes with it, with your ultimate goal being to usurp and replace an Archduke and finally, at long last, reign in Hell instead of serving in it. Playing the part of empress on a conquered mortal world will be good practice for governance.
[ ] Legacy Devils die. Immortals are anything but; they die too. You've seen comrades on the front lines of the Blood War devoured by demons and smote by mortal soldiers caught up in its madness. You do not trust in the eternity of your supposedly eternal soul. But a legacy? Something you've built, invented, discovered, a true shift in the Blood War, new sorceries that change the tactics of the Hells, innovations in damnation...you could be eternal still. You will be eternal, still.
[ ] Order Chaos must be crushed. Uncertainty must be stamped out. Mortal things don't understand the horrific spring from which their vaunted 'free will' bubbles, and it disgusts you. You have never lost sight of the true enemy or their goals, and if you perish in the struggle against the foes of all reason, so be it. The Baatezu are the only ones willing to do what is necessary to ensure the persistence of existence, and you are an ardent disciple.
It's time, it's time, it's finally time. You have to carefully counsel yourself against rushing as your cover identity is explained to you; you will be taking on the now-ended life of one Lady-Captain Jesca of House Niir. Niir is a big fish in the small pond of Hdar-Fye, exerting quite a bit of control over the local military by main force of, let's check your notes, having more children than a sunfish, but Jesca was never quite what you'd call an achiever. Though she was owed title and, technically, command, she spent her time as a shut-in, managing a business that handles messages for the Academy of Strife Unending, Hdar-Fye's school of necromancy. This suits you just fine. Your imps can hide amongst her messenger birds, people don't really know her socially, and her House isn't likely to interfere until you've had enough success to control the conversation. Honestly, this is suspiciously thoughtful of Furcas.
You make a mental note that you may be getting set up to fail so that Furcas can burn you and shake enemies within the infernal hierarchy. It's nothing personal. But if you're to succeed, you should be aware.
The relative isolation of Lady-Captain Jesca made it easy to insert infernal agents into her staff, who will be assisting you with acquiring the necessary resources to see to your work. Further acquisition of resources will be done in the field, as usual. Getting them from others in the Nine Hells will require a certain amount of favor-trading, browbeating, and wheedling, and to do any of that you need results to show first. Part of your briefing warns you that there will be taxes due every year as part of your cover; a cheeky editorial note describes these as 'an excellent incentive for your inevitable success', and is signed Greshil. Ah, Greshil. That osyluth prick does know how to make you smile, which is dangerous to your health considering that he is, again, a fucking bone devil.
You really need to see if he's single again.
A thorough look at Lady-Captain Jesca is provided for you, as a drawing would rather defeat the point. She's tall, for a hobgoblin, a fact that has likely contributed to her selection; short-cut dark hair, a certain scholarly mien, a strangely shaped scar around her left eye whose cause you cannot quite place. Perfecting your major image of her features while she watches is likely quite stressful for her, but to be quite honest she'll forget it as soon as she gets thrown into the pits to become a lemure. Possession may not be nine-tenths of the law, but conquest is certainly a significant part of Baator's legal system. Sucks to suck, mortal.
You are transported at night, into the former Lady-Captain's bedroom, a relatively utilitarian affair where the utility maximized above all else appears to have been amateur magical study. With the house asleep, you spend some time going over her tomes and notes; it appears that Jesca was far from unintelligent, and yet was struggling in her studies. A mismatch between her learning style and her culture's teaching style? Perhaps. You might want to study more closely to learn more, and to brush up on your own magical fundamentals. Pretending to be a wizard is so fucking annoying that if you're going to be here anyway it might be easier to just become one.
Locals simply call this place the Coop, but your new home's official name is Manor Hirgla, an obscure pun in the local language that means both 'where birds live' and 'where insane people live'. Tasteless and cruel, so, perfect. It has three stories, a cellar, and a tower that goes up to the roosts for Jesca's messenger crows; you direct your imps there for now, to await orders, and ascend to the roof to get a look at your target. Even this late at night the temperature is high - no Avernus, but high - and the air is thick with moisture.
Hdar-Fye is a blasted wasteland of a city, on a blasted wasteland of a plataeu, in a blasted wasteland of a culture. This is your first impression. Further inspection is not improving it in your estimation. Nestled on the edge of the plataeu itself, Hdar-Fye guards a road painstakingly carved down to the jungle, where you can see the firelights of forward positions in the eternal war with the trees as an entire dedicated army is spent simply to attempt to feed one city's hunger for wood and spell components. The terrain is rocky; despite this, most of the buildings heavily incorporate a blackened, pitted iron rather than using locally quarried stone; you can sense a fell power within the iron, dormant - nearly useless - and yet omnipresent, which gives Hdar-Fye the impression of a jagged growth of metal which is rising from the earth in three tiers. At the top will be the Prince, the Academy, and whatever nobles are currently in the good graces of both (merely being in the good graces of either sticks you in the second tier). Your new home base is in the lowest tier, and it's a long walk up there.
Perfect.
There is a tang of misery in the air that you recognize. Even this late at night, slaves roam the streets, shuffling and trying not to make eye contact with patrols of soldiers. Most are branded; even more have had some part of their body cut off or removed. You frown as you realize the majority of the ones you're seeing are other goblinoids, goblins and bugbears in particular, and make a mental note that the system of racial supremacy here seems to not have built a pan-goblin coalition. Another lever.
Deep breath in.
Deep breath out.
Let's get to work.
Standard turns take place over the course of four months. During each turn, you have access to three actions; your subordinates may or may not have actions they can take outside of this pool. If a chosen action needs a personal touch, that's an Operation, during which we'll zoom in for combat, infiltration, social manipulation, and the like. If something unexpected happens and you have to deal with it, that's a Crisis, which is similar except you don't get fucking prep time. One must try to be ready for emergencies.
Some actions cost supply, an abstract measure of your access to money, necessary spell components, expendable dupes, equipment, and other necessities. Until you change the situation, you owe 4 supply in taxes at the end of every 4 turns. Great success or wealth may increase these taxes until you get into a position where you can exempt yourself from them.
Rolls during turns will be made by you, the players. I'll call for rolls after actions are selected; this means you might not know for sure what, if any, rolls are necessary, though context clues might help.
Current Strategic Resources Supply: 5 (+1 at the end of this turn); taxes due at the end of Turn 4. Actions: 3 Imp Actions: 1 Infernal Agents: Providing +1 Supply at the end of each turn
Personal Actions
Sometimes you just have to handle certain things yourself.
[ ]Establish a Contingency (2 Supply, non-action)
[ ] Introduce yourself to your infernal agents (1 action, unlocks Agent Actions)
[ ] Study Lady-Captain Jesca's library (1 action)
[ ] Explore your new headquarters (1 action)
[ ] Scout the necropolis (1 action)
[ ] Meet your household slaves and take their measure (1 action, unlocks further actions)
[ ] Contact Mellifleur, the Lord of the Last Shroud (1 action, unlocks Cult Founding)
[ ] Review Lady-Captain Jesca's duties to the Academy (1 action, unlocks Academic Actions)
[ ] Find out what personal training is available in this city (1 action, unlocks Training Actions)
Imp Actions
Idle hands do not, in fact, do the devil's work. Your cohort of imps can take 1 unsupervised action per turn, requiring no roll (and therefore not risking consequences for failure, nor bonuses for exceptional success). Further Imp Actions can be taken under your supervision; these typically roll Delegation and spend actions from your pool.
[ ] Discreetly acquire resources (1 action, +1 Supply next turn)
[ ] Intercept and copy mail (1 action, +1 Leverage next turn)
[ ] Take the temperature of the city's culture (1 action, requires interpretation on your part)
[ ] Scout out other extraplanar influences (1 action)
[ ] Study the labor camps at the bottom of the road (1 action)
Infernal Actions
Hell is other people.
[ ] Desecrate your headquarters (2 Supply, 1 action; bonuses to Battle, Infiltration, and Thaumaturgy in your headquarters; pre-requisite to open a portal to Hell)
Exandria's other problems will not follow your schedule. Acquire power, influence, resources, and forces to assist in preventing someone else from ending this world. Spread damnation upon the incompetent and wicked so that you can peddle it to the righteous.
"Was I forgetting something," I thought to myself last night with half this update written. "Surely not," I told myself, as I went to a fitful sleep. Open the doc this morning and realize I could/should have called for rolls and didn't like a fucking clown. I am a competent adult with more than 20 years of gamemastering experience, I promise.
MID-WRITING EDIT: If the EEPY could LEAVE ME IN PEACE and LET ME WRITE that would be great, I say, as I heal from a tooth extraction.
Also
WINNING VOTE
[X] The Accelerated Beachhead
-[X] Personal Actions
--[X] Introduce yourself to your infernal agents
--[X] Meet your household slaves and take their measure
--[X] Contact Mellifleur, the Lord of the Last Shroud
--[X] Establish a Contingency
-[X] Imp Actions
--[X] Take the temperature of the city's culture
No use in keeping your imps idle. You get them roused and double-check their chosen disguises, then send them out to investigate the local culture. You want to know who talks about what and why. It's about to be a great deal of information, but you'll have the luxury of sorting through it at your leisure; your cohort produces written reports, and they know what will happen if they fucking don't. They'll be awhile, which will give you time to take care of other business.
First on the docket: it's time to meet your agents. You have a list of names, not many, but all of them possessed of convenient licenses and privileges that let them legally and unsuspiciously generate money. You're looking forward to -
Why are there only four motherfuckers on this list.
This question consumes a solid week of your thoughts during which you do not leave your room and open the door only to take trays of food left by the house slaves. It is settling in just how bad the expenses-versus-income is in this house that you have four motherfuckers who are not slaves. Four motherfuckers. This would be an unbelievable bounty of infernal cultists if you were in fucking Emon but THE IRON AUTHORITY? With no Maglubiyet out here managing the goblinoids for some reason? Four? Four? You end up double and triple-checking your books and realize, to your fucking horror, that even fitting these four dudes into the staff has involved a certain amount of tax fraud. By the rod of Asmodeus this is dire. It's absurd. You catch yourself thinking about sending a letter for more funding and just manage to stop yourself from making what would, objectively, be a very stupid decision right now. Okay Nilaisha. Just enter your meditation, and think. Ignore how keenly you're feeling not having a pit fiend's level of intelligence and cunning right now; you're a smart girl, and you've been set up for success. What does this change about the plan?
...Nothing.
Okay.
So on the eighth day you put on your illusions, go out into the house, and inform your majordomo - the first of your infernal agents, a goblin named Nakta - that you are taking a meeting with herself and the other three this evening, just after dinner, in your tower study. Then you go to the tower study so you can work on appearing as ominous and refined as possible. The room is a fucking disaster and also, why in Mammon's gold-plated asscrack is there a separate study when Jesca's room is already a study? You have to tidy up the books, rearrange the candles, dodge your own slaves so you can haul up some additional chairs, and even then there's downsides. The room is drafty. The windows are in the wrong spots to catch sunlight or moonlight. There is a feral cat with six kittens nesting inside a chest that doesn't so much have a 'mousehole' as it does 'a royal road for His Majesty, the Rodent King, Praise His Name'. After some thought, you order the cats fed. They might be useful, and if they are not useful directly they will be useful to you as a form of constant practice in holding something weak within your power without hurting it. Also, not to put too fine a point on it, if the rest of the house is this bad you're going to either need to learn how to bend vermin to your will or get help exterminating them, and the cats are both free and already here.
They do not like you. Yet.
At last, your exactly four motherfuckers are gathered. Nakta, your majordomo, is a little green lass (why are the goblins here green? No, seriously. They're not green anywhere else. What the fuck happened on this world?) of serious disposition who addresses you solely as 'Lady-Captain' and cuts a nice figure in a forerunner to the business suit in your closet back on Avernus. Hragh (it's pronounced 'Hu-rahh') is a stocky hobgoblin boy in polished iron chain armor who bears a formal club that has been banded in the same metal, and is your 'duty officer', a title you quickly learn means he collects taxes from your tenants. So, okay, you're a landlord and you're still poor. This gets better and better. Musla, your Sergeant-at-Arms, commands your nonexistent house guard and as a result is actually in charge of the aviary. If you had to bet money, 'she' is gonna be the wrong pronoun there; you wonder if Musla knows yet and what that means to the local hobgoblins. Last, and certainly least, is the fragrant Gizail, a bugbear lass whom you mistake for a physician at first due to her thick layers of oiled leather, only to learn that she is in charge of the public garbage within your demense.
They gather nervously, and sit when you tell them to. You shut and lock the door; the curtains are already drawn over the useless windows. They gasp appropriately when you drop the illusion, revealing the full glory of your stolen celestial beauty to them. You're really going all-out for this one, concentrating to maintain a thin halo of black iron woven with chains of bone atop your perfect, flowing hair.
You take your seat and tent your fingers beneath your chin.
"Glory to the Lord Below," you begin, and they mumble something that sounds suspiciously like 'Hail the Lord of the Hells' back. Note to self, check in with a representative from the Ministry of Immortal Affairs before you somehow manage to cock this up badly enough to piss off the one man in Hell who can do whatever he wants. "I hope you understand the trust you are being extended in seeing this much. If you do your work well, you may receive the privilege of my name; other, more tangible rewards will precede this more intangible one, should you prove competent. Incompetence will receive instruction. Failure to learn will receive punishment."
There is a chorus of silent nods. Your majordomo is, interestingly, not intimidated. Fascinating; you make a mental note, and then you continue: "We will be working closely with one another. Once per week we will meet like this; when things get moving, that may become once per month. Consider me your student in your realms of expertise. Informing me of my ignorance is not a transgression against me; maintaining my ignorance if it was feasible to teach me will be. Now is the time to begin thinking about what it is you want out of this arrangement. You will find that honesty is appreciated."
Nakta makes a little 'hrm' sound, a refined clearing of the throat. "Lady-Captain, forgive your slaves; it would better enable us to serve your will if we knew your objectives."
You favor her with a smile that you know for a fact can damn, and indeed has damned, more than one human who thinks with their glands instead of their brain. "Not slaves. Employees. I don't keep or use slaves if I can avoid it; they're full of liabilities." You drop one hand, and drum your fingers on the desk. "...Short-term, we need to become financially solvent. We will require staff, soldiers, and respectability. In the medium term, I want command of this city, either de facto or both de facto and de jure."
Gizail raises her furry hand, and you acknowledge her with a nod. "Lady...what does de facto and de jure mean?"
You smile pleasantly. "De facto means 'in truth' or 'in fact', and 'de jure' is 'in law' or 'by the law'. I want to be the power behind the throne, or else I want to be princess of this city and wield the power openly. Which one has not yet been decided. Thank you for your question, Gizail."
You submit orders for financial reports by the end of the month, along with itemized lists of assets. Nakta is tasked with assisting the others as needed. At no point does Hragh speak up, and you make a note of this. Being pre-existing infernal agents suggests they have pre-existing bargains with other devils. If you are very lucky, it won't be Archdukes or anyone so grand, but luck is the rallying cry of fools, so it will pay to investigate. You don't need to be blindsided.
* * * *
The slaves are going to be more of a problem. Twelve in all, with the majority being domestic servants; some three are instead technically remanded to Gizail's authority. They are, like most domestic servants, used to being ignored; the weight of your attention, subtle as it is, spreads unease through the house. There are quiet conversations between you and individuals who will not meet your eyes, and slowly you learn the situation. The majority of your house slaves were sentenced to slavery by military tribunal, typically for 'cowardice'. Most bear the marks of the lash, though you cannot, for the life of you, find any whips or torture implements in the house (note to self, acquire some torture implements; they make for good conversation pieces even if you never use them). Your 'head chef' was a luckless human adventurer who had the misfortune of surviving the jungle, and is missing his left leg; the remainder are ordinary, if green, goblins. You cannot figure out for the life of you how they're kept in the house, until you finally resort to magical detection and realize that each and every one of them is laboring under a geas. Your blood runs cold. Someone, probably from Jesca's house, is expending a lot of money and power to keep these slaves doing something, and whatever that thing is, it's probably not following Jesca's orders.
You will need to proceed carefully. Especially if you want these to stop being slaves and start being useful. A geas only lasts for so long...this might be a problem to solve with patience. In the meantime, a light hand could go far. A harsh one might be useful in the short term, but how useful?
* * * *
About a month in, 'Jesca' announces that she is not to be disturbed, not even for meals, as she is in the midst of an experiment. Your statement about potentially lethal side effects isn't even that much of an exaggeration. Your privacy secured, you lock the door to your bedroom, in which you have slept not at all, and drop your illusions. You clutch a newborn crow in your skeletal left hand and sit, cross-legged, on the floor, and you pray. It is not a habit you have been known to keep, but it is rather more polite than sending a letter or a mephit, and the courtesy may well be appreciated by the Lord of the Last Shroud, who is often shown none.
It has been some time, Neverborn.
"Indeed it has, dread lord," you murmur politely, eyes closed. The crow grows still in your hand; not dead, no, but held, paralyzed by the touch of undeath. "I come bearing opportunity in a strange world."
It is within my sight. And yet I see it ringed by my enemies, and encased in a great shell. You see opportunity here?
"I do. You cannot make new enemies here, for those present already bear grudges. But you might make a new ally. It has been said by His Eminent Darkness that if I can produce results with your assistance, your status in the eyes of the Hells may be revisted. Further, I sit within the most prolific society of necromancers upon this world, who foolishly choose to follow the Tyrant Lord. When his faith is expunged root and branch, those arcanists will need someone to guide them."
Hrm. The lich-god Vecna is present...and yet he cleaves to old patterns. There is a space for me, this is true. What is your goal?
"Before this world may be damned, it must be preserved, dread lord. I seek an alliance with the Friend of Heroes, who undermines the wicked. And from that relationship, who knows what your role might be in the new world?" Left unspoken is the second opportunity; your failure doesn't have to drag Mellifleur down with you, if he plays his cards right. A delicate little dance, and a bold one to dance with a god, but the Lord of the Last Shroud has needs which are ultimately simple, and you trust in that simplicity.
Still, he hesitates. So you push your luck, just a little further: "Dread lord...is there a version of this where I somehow make your position any worse?"
A dry, rattling laughter fills your mind, full of genuine mirth and an ancient malice. And the Lord of the Last Shroud says to you:
I suppose we shall see, Neverborn. A blessing, once again.
Mellifleur withdraws from your mind, and you look down at your hand. The crow has gone still, and dead; it has, in fact, mummified, and you understand its use in an instant: whomsoever devours it will become a Cleric to the God of Liches, and give unto him a stake in this world. You smile to yourself, and lock it within your desk.
* * * *
I need two players to roll 1d20+3 (Wisdom Infiltration at Advantage); the higher result will be taken. This is to interpret the reports from your imps.
Additionally:
Slave Approach
[ ] The carrot You cannot promise them their freedom. Not yet. But you can insinuate, and wheedle, and play up your financial straits. Privileges can be earned. Trust can be given. Education, perhaps, might be secured. There will be no change in your finances, but over time they will begin to trust you.
[ ] The leash Here's the cold facts: you're broke, and Jesca spends a lot of money on these people. Meals can be cut down. Privileges can be curtailed. Contraband can be sold. +2 Supply at the start of Turn 2 and boy will you piss off all these slaves.
It takes some careful acting, but you begin subtly disseminating the information amongst your household that Lady-Captain Jesca is in need of money, and that her woes could be exploited to earn honors and privileges. There is a great deal of hand-wringing. Glory to the Lord Below for your illusions, as they alleviate the need for you to summon tears on demand. Nakta is instrumental in selling your deception of absolute desperation, forming the partner in your sort-of-kind-of-but-not-really grift by having the 'temerity' to propose motivating the household slaves with the promise of payments or at least allowances. A great show is made of shouting her out of your study, only for you to permit yourself to be 'caught' agonizing over the ledgers.
Slowly. Carefully. In these societies, people report on their neighbors, not support them. It is one of the few ways in which the Iron Authority resembles the Nine Hells, though of course even this process is unoptimized and deeply stupid, as the reports coming in from your imps describe. They do not have intelligence on the ruling class, and indeed you gave them strict instructions to not even try to get it - too high-risk, especially in as magical a city as this one. But the reports from the actual working citizens are here, in great detail. The advantage of how you've trained your cohort is that you get a great deal of information; the disadvantage is filtering the signal from the noise (gods below, that phrase still hasn't left your vocabulary has it) takes forever. When you run this country you are going to retain expensive prostitutes to soothe you during this process and they are going to be well compensated.
Despite the frustration, however, and the need to take breaks every few hours so you can rub the aches from your hands while you collect the useful pieces of information together and make a separate list of potentially useful information, you can't deny the utility. There are three classes of people, broadly, within the Iron Authority; citizens, subjects, and slaves. In theory, citizens enjoy a variety of rights, privileges, and legal protections, though in practice - as is often the case - the nobility has the full run of these, followed close after by the monied class. Still, even the most wretched hobgoblin is free to spit upon subject and slave alike, and here one finds the goblins and bugbears, held under the boot of their hobgoblin masters by dint of some bizarre theological argument that could not more nakedly be in service of power. The brazenness of "a hobgoblin founded the Iron Authority, therefore we are the master race" could not be any worse without simply openly stating "we're building our legitimacy by inventing racism, fuck you". Actually, no, now that you think about it that is worst. Honesty is a virtue.
While the average citizen worries mainly about finances, the movements of politics that might change their fortunes or see them dragged under with a failed liege, or their legacy, the average subject lives in a state of constant anxiety. Complaints about their lot can be framed as sedition, if one is of a mind, and the Iron Authority's war machine is always hungry for slaves, all the more when it's gearing up for the next major assault on the jungle. That momentum seems to be building, and there is much chatter about recruitment rates, the possibility of getting a 'safer' posting if one can qualify as a necromancer, and a great deal of - if you're reading this right - unironic praise for the local Prince. You sort through the rest of the notes and try to read between the lines, and if you've been successful in doing so, it seems the local leader has his thumb firmly on the Baneites, and has twisted their arms into expanding their works in public health and wellness. Some manner of plague was stopped in its tracks, maybe five years ago. Interesting. Very interesting.
Finally, the slaves. You wish you could say that you're surprised, but honestly if you find a system of slavery that's surprising to you you just may knock on Heaven's door and ask what the going rate is to switch teams. It's always the same incentives and the same vulnerabilities, and in this case the situation for the slavemasters is dire. Their underclass, held in bondage, outnumbers the military six to one by some estimates, and is equal in number to the subject class by others. Physical punishments are common, rights and protections are few, and the threat of the 'curse of strife' is often used to keep them in line. You frown, and make a note to find out what this curse of strife might be. A novel attack by the local Baneites? If it could compromise your operation, you need to know, and in any event the promise to lift or counter it could win you allies by the score amongst the oppressed. The offer to become the boot on the necks of their masters is always appealing, but the promise of protection will really complete that particular temptation.
Now you just need to handle your business. You organize your notes, hide them, and stand to begin the business of the day.
Current Strategic Resources Supply: 4; taxes due at the end of Turn 4. Actions: 3 Imp Actions: 1 Agent Actions: 2
Personal Actions
Sometimes you just have to handle certain things yourself.
[ ]Establish a Contingency (2 Supply, non-action) CONTINGENCY ACTIVE
[ ] Study Lady-Captain Jesca's library (1 action)
[ ] Explore your new headquarters (1 action)
[ ] Scout the necropolis (1 action)
[ ] Review Lady-Captain Jesca's duties to the Academy (1 action, unlocks Academic Actions)
[ ] Find out what personal training is available in this city (1 action, unlocks Training Actions)
[ ] Review your properties (1 action)
[ ] Consult with Mellifleur for advice (1 action)
Imp Actions
Idle hands do not, in fact, do the devil's work. Your cohort of imps can take 1 unsupervised action per turn, requiring no roll (and therefore not risking consequences for failure, nor bonuses for exceptional success). Further Imp Actions can be taken under your supervision; these typically roll Delegation and spend actions from your pool.
[ ] Discreetly acquire resources (1 action, +1 Supply next turn)
[ ] Intercept and copy mail (1 action, +1 Leverage next turn) [ ] Take the temperature of the city's culture (1 action, requires interpretation on your part) DONE RECENTLY
[ ] Scout out other extraplanar influences (1 action)
[ ] Study the labor camps at the bottom of the road (1 action)
[ ] Spy on Baneite rituals (1 action)
[ ] Sabotage business competitors (2 actions; assists in expanding your waste-disposal business)
Agent Actions
Right now is the time to move fast and stay flexible. What you can do with your agents is small, but because of the combination of your supervision and everyone's relative lack of notoriety, you might just be able to do a lot of it. Your agents can take two actions unsupervised; further actions come out of your pool, and typically roll Delegation.
[ ] Make money (1 action; +1 Supply next turn)
[ ] Crack down (1 action; +2 Supply next turn; damages your income overall)
[ ] Expand waste-disposal (2 actions; increases effectiveness of Make Money)
[ ] Learn local etiquette with Nakta (1 action; begin learning an Infiltration trait)
[ ] Infiltrate Baneite worship (1 action)
[ ] Take an interest in someone's personal life (1 action, [NAME OF NPC HERE])
Infernal Actions
Hell is other people.
[ ] Desecrate your headquarters (2 Supply, 1 action; bonuses to Battle, Infiltration, and Thaumaturgy in your headquarters; pre-requisite to open a portal to Hell)
[ ] File an information request on the Curse of Strife (1 Supply, 1 action)
Cult Actions
All of the following will need to be completed before you can formally found a cult to the Lord of the Last Shroud. Then he can start being more useful to you.
[ ] Search for a candidate to become a Cleric of Mellifleur (1 Action; Infiltration) [ ] Recruit worshipers (1 Action) LOCKED until you have a cleric and a shrine [ ] Create a shrine to Mellifleur LOCKED until you explore your headquarters AND/OR review your properties
[ ] Acquire tomes of necromancy (1 supply, 1 action; Thaumaturgy)
[ ] Create unholy symbols and instruments consecrated to Mellifleur (1 action; Thaumaturgy)
The following is not finished, I've been lax on getting this together and I need to go find some food so I can buckle down and write this up proper for ya.
Nilaisha the Neverborn
Female Erinyes Devil
Lawful Evil
Current Supply: [CALCULATING]
Ability Scores
The raw capabilities of your post-mortal body and mind, refined both spiritually and through work. Ability scores are used for most rolls.
Lores
Broad categories of knowledge that you can definitely, usefully call on.
Expert Lore: Planar Law - You know about the agreements, laws, and responsibilities into which even Chaotic planar cultures can be drawn, with a keen specialty in your internal culture. You make related rolls with double your ability score modifier, and at advantage.
Expert Lore: Conjuration - You might not be much of a mage yourself (yet), but you could write the book on Conjuration magic and probably actually have, as a side project. You make related rolls with double your ability score modifier, and at advantage.
Precocious Lore: Mortal Subcultures - A hobby that has proven very prescient, you've done some reading - and experiencing - of the way mortal cultures splinter and divide even within what other mortals would consider cultural monoliths. You advance this Lore more easily, and use your full ability score modifier for related rolls.
Approaches
When problems need solving and knowledge alone can't do the trick, these are how you solve them. The workhorses of your character sheet; later abilities and items will modify these.
Competent Battle: You can beat the average mortal and maybe some above-average ones, but try not to get too big your your britches. You make Battle rolls with your full ability score modifier.
- Rope of Entanglement: You can attempt a Battle or Infiltration check to kidnap or subdue a creature even in the midst of pitched battle.
Advanced Delegation: Project management is a valuable skill, and you'll manage people until they fucking understand that. You make Delegation rolls with your full ability score modifier, and at advantage.
- Source Divine Items: The whispers of Mellifleur tell you what you need and where; your agents can always turn up access to divine-type magical items, holy or unholy symbols, and the like, as long as any physically exist to be found. Founding a cult to Mellifleur may improve this ability. - Contingency: You can invest 2 Supply before beginning an operation to prepare a contingency; when you or your forces would fail a roll during that operation, you or they succeed instead. Separately, you can also invest 2 supply to prepare such a contigency for your personal safety.
Competent Thaumaturgy: Your magic is pedestrian by infernal standards, so it's competent by mortal ones. You make Thaumaturgy rolls with your full ability score modifier.
- Unveil Glory: You add your Charisma modifier in addition to your other ability modifier when rolling Thaumaturgy relating to the undead. Improving your relationship to Mellifleur may unlock additional abilities. - Summon Devils: Meet or beat DC 20 Thaumaturgy (Wisdom) to summon your cohort of imps, a squad of spined devils, or one erinyes. Try not to summon the erinyes; she's mad at you.
Advanced Infiltration: Humility is the cousin of stealth, and you have eternity to get in the last laugh. There's no need to rush. You make Infiltration rolls with your full ability score modifier, and at advantage.
Legendary Actions
The big guns. If the worse comes to worst, and you start hearing your boss theme playing while 4-7 mortals in very stupid outfits are preparing to kill you, these just might save you. They may also be useful elsewhere.
Legendary Resistance (1): Once per crisis or operation, the first time you would fail a roll to defend yourself, you succeed instead.
Greater Summoning: There are names you can speak which will be answered. Once per crisis or operation, you can call three other erinyes to attend to your orders. They will arrive, and they will intelligently assist you to the best of their ability and understanding. If you can't show results for their contribution, you may face consequences. This ability can be improved.
