As soon as the people show up, challenge them to answer riddles!
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Extrication, or: Tricking Fate
- Thread starter Alivaril
- Start date
- Original Fantasy
- Location
- My own little world...
Yeah, getting the artifact stolen by someone would be easy, but getting them to destroy it...not so much. Often these things turn to Monkey's Paws or the Hero kills the guardian instead of stealing it and leaving us unharmed. The Mount Doom thing is a good idea, but also problematic: we've apparently already tried that. A volcano did nothing.
I'm sure there is a way to destroy it (there always is), but the question of us being around to see it is the tricky one. Guardians are only around so long as they have things to guard, and usually stories have said guardians die when their evil item is taken. I have a feeling it won't be quite as easy as 'lure in hero, let them steal our stuff', especially since the item is explicitly said to be corrupting. We might try to be away when our Hero of choice shows up, but depending on how things go either bad timing will probably conspire to have us return just as the Hero is leaving, or the item itself will be so influential it won't let us let someone else take it.
Or it could be enchanted to only be transferable when the previous owner is dead, since it seems to respawn "bad penny" style at our lair. That would just SUCK. I don't suppose resurrection magic is a thing in this universe? Doesn't seem like it would be (at least, not any sort of resurrection we'd want/be able to have used on us).
Doable...but I'm not sure it solves our problem. I doubt the artifact will just let us fail the challenge and give it away. It is...precious to us...probably.
- Location
- Germany
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Exactly, we are nearly a Sphinx! Four legs, tail, wings and sharp teeth!
Riddle number one: 'How can this item be destroyed?'
That is fantastic, actually.
- Location
- Germany
- Pronouns
- He/Him
That's why I tried the Frodo route, with a little twist. And Mount Doom wasn't meant literally - get Vulcan to hammer it, feed it to Tiamat, whatever. (means looking for an Oracle might be an idea)
Vebyast
Nascent Transhuman
Nobody ever kills a fair Riddle-Giver. The riddle-giver is occasionally hoist on his own petard, but we can avoid that by killing failures manually instead of depending on a bridge or other automated system. The riddle-giver occasionally gets greedy and tries to cheat the hero, and of course gets killed. But a legitimate, aboveboard riddle-giver? Safe. I very much like that solution.
If we're really good, we can construct our riddle to create the method of destruction for the evil artifact - being able to answer the riddle is not just a sign that the hero deserves it, but is actual constructive proof that the hero has the solution.
If we're really good, we can construct our riddle to create the method of destruction for the evil artifact - being able to answer the riddle is not just a sign that the hero deserves it, but is actual constructive proof that the hero has the solution.
Misspelled "Apprentice".
- Location
- Germany
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Offer them a part from our hoard when they get it right; as soon as someone chooses our artifact tell them that only a true hero may get it and to prove that, fulfill tasks. Last task is to destroy the evil artifact after we explain the subterfuge ...
Oh good one there too. Heroes never go "nope" when presented with tasks to prove their worth in stories.
That being said, there are a fair number of scenes where villains approach the honest riddler/tester/guardian, are challenged honorably, and they ignore it and cruelly slay the guardian, looting everything.
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- Location
- Just passing through.
- Pronouns
- He/Him
[1] The Evil Sorceress
[2] A Soon-to-be-captive Princess
[3] The Misunderstood Artifact Guardian
[4] The Sorcerer's Apprentice
[5] A Tragic Hero
[2] A Soon-to-be-captive Princess
[3] The Misunderstood Artifact Guardian
[4] The Sorcerer's Apprentice
[5] A Tragic Hero
- Location
- My own little world...
More information will definitely be required, and casting ourselves as a villain would be a great way to get those hero-types to do all our digging for us. Of course, it won't stop them from killing us, but one problem at a time.
Unfortunately, until we know more about the item we have, we likely won't be able to say for sure what will and won't work. Does the corruption just make us evil, or does it also start making us not want to give it away at all?
Problem is, we have a corruption artifact and stories like to be completed. By the time some farm-boy shows up with the answer, we might be so twisted we'll want to cheat to keep the thing...leading to our deaths.
I like the riddle idea, but I doubt we can make that into the solution to all our problems. It's just too easy.
Oy! Whoa whoa whoa, what kind of dragon are we? GIVE AWAY our HOARD? Sure, we've got to get rid of this thing, but at what cost? Some lines can't be crossed, even in the face of death!
Also that again risks the Evil Overlord wanting it, completing all but the last task, and then killing the 'virtuous guardian' to obtain it from our corpse. Lots of different stories around evil artifacts...
What you said.
Also, if it's obviously evil, would a virtuous hero even select it as their desired reward?
Here is a thought: just throw the evil artifact at anyone who approaches you. Even the densest hero or villain isn't going to fight you for a thing that is behind them, not you, right?
Also give it as a 'consolation prize', even if they get the riddle wrong?
Also give it as a 'consolation prize', even if they get the riddle wrong?
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- Location
- scrabbling
If you just give it away then you're the jerk who dumps cursed items everywhere willy-nilly.
- Location
- Germany
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Could work, but then we need to fight of the "harm set, harm get" trope.
Okay, just use the best strat at hand. Offer tests of mind or body; riddles or feats/labors/quests. If the guy mindlessly attacks you, THEN you throw it at him.
If he takes riddles or feats, and he wants the cursed item, you give it to him even if he fails, as a consolation prize for riddles or on the grounds he proved his worth through effort anyway for feats. If he doesn't want it, give him what he wants.
This should eliminate everyone except the needlessly evil villain who kills even after getting what he wants, but there is no defense against those except 'kill him harder'.
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Go to the nearest town and bellow out that you seek a true hero worthy to ride a dragon? Upon receiving satisfactory hero, invoke wise mentor trope and give him the quest to unmake the artifact in order to prove his worthiness. Optionally serve as noble steed, those rarely die. Especially dragon steeds, I can't recall one of those ridden by a hero that died.
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- Location
- Germany
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Like
(except for the part serving as steed ... what you do to stay alive ...)Well, the problem with just handing over the artifact is if it works the predicament is instantly over with little effort, which means that fate is going to rek that outcome harder than anything.Like
- Location
- Germany
- Pronouns
- He/Him
That's why we need to make certain it's destroyed and doesn't come back and bites us. Finding the hero is just one step to avert the 'evil dragon hurk slay' that's coming, and the 'BWAHAAHHA' that goes with evil artifacts. It would just be the begin of the journey, with 'help hero', 'forgive hero betrayal' and 'I was always evil you sucker' to be handled/averted.
@Alivaril how exploitable are echoes? Can you, if possessed of suitable reputation, force things to turn out to be true? For example, the respected evil dark wizard proclaims that he has nearly cracked the secret to the underworld, yadda yadda - he is lying, but the countless people believe it, and marshal their heroes. Meanwhile he returns to the problem in the lab. Is he likely to receive any new insights? Narrative convention would have him solve it with just enough time for the heroes to interrupt.
- Location
- Germany
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Yes - tempting
(couldn't resist)
[1] The Misunderstood Artifact Guardian
[2] The Sorcerer's Apprentice
[3] A Tragic Hero
[4] A Soon-to-be-captive Princess
[5] The Evil Sorceress
I'm so slow the quest turned into an entirely different quest, started a new thread and is five pages in. Maybe I should aim for voting every other turn, or something.
[2] The Sorcerer's Apprentice
[3] A Tragic Hero
[4] A Soon-to-be-captive Princess
[5] The Evil Sorceress
I'm so slow the quest turned into an entirely different quest, started a new thread and is five pages in. Maybe I should aim for voting every other turn, or something.
- Location
- Germany
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Vote when you can?
The artifact isn't what's doing the letting. It's the Echo. If we set up conditions that attract a different Echo, then we can give it away just fine.
The time problem is an issue, but it's one that's solvable with adequate PR. Basically, it has to be known why a hero should seek out the item. If the hero seeks out us as a dragon guarding a hoard, that's bad news.
It's probably less likely to work due to Echoes messing with things. There would be a misunderstanding, like "hey, it's trying to use the *thing*!", or it would just teleport back to our hoard.
You really have to milk the cliches hard. For example, as the princess, if you aren't dressing as a boy, you're doing it wrong.
There are plenty of benign magical beings in stories. And there are plenty of benign rulers. But people who are magical and who use their powers to rule? Very few of them are benign. I'm not sure how we'd setup the Echoes for that without abdicating.
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