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Suffer Not the Witch (Warhammer 40k Psyker Quest)

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Imrix said:
People are making an awful lot of assumptions about this particular daemon's nature when we have, to my knowledge, had no particular information about its associations.
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It speaks in orange text, that is close enough to red for my taste. But even if it is not made of murder the other three options are every bit as bad.
 
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We do have one important piece of information, though. The thousands of corpses we stepped over to get here were also being 'helped' by it to 'free' themselves. Remember, "The Doom gathered the people and led them here, hope in hand and lies on tongue. It spent their lives like air, froze the bodies in memory, spent the world as coin for promise of victory… and failed."

Its track record with these deals are...not good, you know?

[X] Safety First. Kill it, kill it now. Working with a daemon is madness, as is taking its presentation of the path ahead on trust. Destroy the creature, and between the lot of you, find some other way to escape from the Imperium's retribution.
-[X] We stepped over literally thousands of corpses that believed its lies and were sent into a complete meatgrinder. Why would it be different this time?
 
Imrix said:
People are making an awful lot of assumptions about this particular daemon's nature when we have, to my knowledge, had no particular information about its associations.
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it a freaking demon for one and demons that aren't extremely malevolent are exceedingly rare on a warp scale, I can only think of living saints and the tau thing which might be tzneeth as example of non malevolent demons(people are gonna argue with me on living saints one too)
another is nadia the demon expert doesn't trust this demon since the first thing it did when gaining freedom was to butcher thousands of people and stall the ship cause unpredcndet chaos
then their the reading of the text itself
Maugan Ra said:
"Hello, my friends," it says in a rasping voice, charred lips pulling back from fire-blackened teeth in a rictus grin, "I am Karnak Zul."

"Just so," Karnak Zul replies, stale yellow eyes coming to rest on the Aeldari. It is still smiling, a horrible rictus grin from a broken corpse, and small spots of blood are welling up at the corners of its stolen mouth.

the daemon chuckles, a horrible rasping sound like nails through rust. It is still rising, its feet leaving the floor behind to hang weightless in midair, and you can see the withered stick-like limbs are each crowned with manacles of tarnished silver, the chains clattering softly against the deck.

"Hardly a current concern," Zul says with that same horrible smile, and you realise in that moment it doesn't know any better, it's trying to be friendly but doesn't know how, "Master Tahr thought himself clever, and in his pride grew complacent. I squirmed free of those chains some time ago."

"That's my point," Nadia replies, smiling grimly, "You were bound, daemon, and yet you managed to wriggle free… and your first act upon attaining even this slight degree of liberation was to butcher thousands and set us drifting through the void in a broken husk. What kind of bargain could possibly be made on such unsteady grounds?"

"You would me, my friend. Can the deeds of two centuries ago be taken as iron writ today?" the daemon replies, the rictus grin slowly starting to fade from the face of the corpse it is bound to, before gesturing at you with slender, taloned hands, "I have demonstrated my good will already, by guiding your compatriot to a possible threat. Trust in our mutual interests, at least."
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the fact that nearly all the description of the demons describe it in negative ways, how unnatural it is, how horrible, the laughter of it, the fact that it can't even smile and be friendly with that smile and furthermore that it doesn't even know how to be showing how malevolent it is, nadia not trusting it, the fact that it made deals in the past with the while doom thing and then immediately betrayed everyone killed thousands and made the ship into a husk and threw it into the void of space to float, yah even if I were willing to deal with demons, the fact that it also extremely untrustworthy for a demon seals the deal
 
[X] Relief. You're not damned, no matter what others might have said, no matter what you might have thought. If binding a daemon is not grounds for damnation, then sheltering with a dark cult in ignorance cannot be either. You are not a wicked man, and so you do not need to embrace death or damnation outright, not yet.
[X] Safety First. Kill it, kill it now. Working with a daemon is madness, as is taking its presentation of the path ahead on trust. Destroy the creature, and between the lot of you, find some other way to escape from the Imperium's retribution.
 
Imrix said:
Four options. Five if you count Malal. Potentially infinite, honestly.
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And each more terrible than the last. Look I am not even inherently against all warp beings if we have some reason to believe they might not be malicious, but this thing has both acted and appears in a very malevolent light. It does not seem reasonable to me to trust it as far as traveling though the warp, because self-interest does not work on the neverborn. Their interests are too alien their weaknesses too esoteric.
 
[X] Relief. You're not damned, no matter what others might have said, no matter what you might have thought. If binding a daemon is not grounds for damnation, then sheltering with a dark cult in ignorance cannot be either. You are not a wicked man, and so you do not need to embrace death or damnation outright, not yet.

[X] Common Interest. Trusting a daemon is madness, but you can believe it wants to be free as much as you, and will not sabotage its own chances of success. Watch it carefully, and part ways as soon as your mutual desires are fulfilled.
-[X] Were not each and every one of you damned by the Inquisition? Better to join hands and escape their hypocrisy, than destroy your chances of escape in a fit of belated piety.
 
[X] Relief. You're not damned, no matter what others might have said, no matter what you might have thought. If binding a daemon is not grounds for damnation, then sheltering with a dark cult in ignorance cannot be either. You are not a wicked man, and so you do not need to embrace death or damnation outright, not yet.

[X] Safety First. Kill it, kill it now. Working with a daemon is madness, as is taking its presentation of the path ahead on trust. Destroy the creature, and between the lot of you, find some other way to escape from the Imperium's retribution.
-[X] Warp travel with a proper, sane navigator that understands what people need to stay alive is dangerous enough, wrangling a malevolent entity that destroyed an Inquisitors ship, wants to eat your souls, and already has some influence over you and Bore is worse. Writing a contract that would try and safely bring you anywhere is suicide, considering you have no first-person experience of warp navigation, the daemon knows the ship better than you, and doing anything with daemons is more dangerous with a psyker around.
 
Maugan Ra said:
"An excellent display of initiative," Ciro nods, and for a moment you feel like you're a teenger again, preening before the compliments of a superior in the courts. You cough, brushing the feeling aside,
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Well, that pinged my gaydar. Huh. It could easily be a false positive, but it would be an interesting character trait. (Assuming Vince lives long enough for it to matter.)

[X] Resignation. Of course, of course the Inquisitor did this. You'd seen similar in the nobles you guarded and championed. 'Rules for thee but not for me.' Same bullshit, different circumstances. The lesso- the indoctrination of the Imperium that has been beaten into you must be examined. When you have time, understand why you believe what you believe. Find your own right and wrong.

[X] Safety First. Kill it, kill it now. Working with a daemon is madness, as is taking its presentation of the path ahead on trust. Destroy the creature, and between the lot of you, find some other way to escape from the Imperium's retribution.
-[X] We stepped over literally thousands of corpses that believed its lies and were sent into a complete meatgrinder. Why would it be different this time?
 
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[X] Resignation. Of course, of course the Inquisitor did this. You'd seen similar in the nobles you guarded and championed. 'Rules for thee but not for me.' Same bullshit, different circumstances. The lesso- the indoctrination of the Imperium that has been beaten into you must be examined. When you have time, understand why you believe what you believe. Find your own right and wrong.

[X] Safety First. Kill it, kill it now. Working with a daemon is madness, as is taking its presentation of the path ahead on trust. Destroy the creature, and between the lot of you, find some other way to escape from the Imperium's retribution.
-[X] We stepped over literally thousands of corpses that believed its lies and were sent into a complete meatgrinder. Why would it be different this time?
 
[X] Resignation. Of course, of course the Inquisitor did this. You'd seen similar in the nobles you guarded and championed. 'Rules for thee but not for me.' Same bullshit, different circumstances. The lesso- the indoctrination of the Imperium that has been beaten into you must be examined. When you have time, understand why you believe what you believe. Find your own right and wrong.

[X] Safety First. Kill it, kill it now. Working with a daemon is madness, as is taking its presentation of the path ahead on trust. Destroy the creature, and between the lot of you, find some other way to escape from the Imperium's retribution.
 
Like, we do need a way to get off this ship, because I am not favoring our odds with whatever backup's coming. Five admittedly badass people and a low-quality army is not going to be enough for whatever backup's coming—and I'm assuming backup's coming, because that would make things way more Interesting than just a tale about us hunting down and killing an Interrogator hiding somewhere.

I still don't trust the daemon because come on. It's a daemon. It might just backstab us out of pure instinct if we leave it unbound. Direct Control is probably going to lead to it backstabbing us later, but that's better than dying right now?

[X] Resignation. Of course, of course the Inquisitor did this. You'd seen similar in the nobles you guarded and championed. 'Rules for thee but not for me.' Same bullshit, different circumstances. The lesso- the indoctrination of the Imperium that has been beaten into you must be examined. When you have time, understand why you believe what you believe. Find your own right and wrong.
[X] Direct Control. Between Nadia and Bore, surely there must be some way to control the daemon, to make certain of its actions and loyalties? You cannot allow it true freedom, but it did not lie when it said you needed it, so use it as one would a dangerous tool and be done.
 
[X] Resignation. Of course, of course the Inquisitor did this. You'd seen similar in the nobles you guarded and championed. 'Rules for thee but not for me.' Same bullshit, different circumstances. The lesso- the indoctrination of the Imperium that has been beaten into you must be examined. When you have time, understand why you believe what you believe. Find your own right and wrong.
[X] Direct Control. Between Nadia and Bore, surely there must be some way to control the daemon, to make certain of its actions and loyalties? You cannot allow it true freedom, but it did not lie when it said you needed it, so use it as one would a dangerous tool and be done.

Fuck it. No way in hell we let this thing free, but we actually do need a way out of here, and this thing is probably our best bet. I'm not also not betting that our group would be willing to blast that the demon, so I'm voting for a compromise between safety and utility.
 
I'm not sure the demon actually killed most of the ship, weren't there burns and bullet holes in corpses all around? I don't trust it but I'm not all that sure it's whole plan revolved around them dying, I mean doing so presumably only helped strand it further.

I don't trust it generally this just seems worth noting.
 
At work now, but I will call the vote when I get back in about 4-5 hours. Currently there is a one vote margin between relief and resignation if anyone reading wants to chip in there. Honestly might combo them, it's easy enough to see how that would work.
 
[X] Relief. You're not damned, no matter what others might have said, no matter what you might have thought. If binding a daemon is not grounds for damnation, then sheltering with a dark cult in ignorance cannot be either. You are not a wicked man, and so you do not need to embrace death or damnation outright, not yet.
 
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OK, going to call the vote there, I believe this means Relief wins the emotional response vote, while Safety First wins the advice/opinion vote, cool.
Scheduled vote count started by Maugan Ra on Sep 1, 2021 at 2:32 PM, finished with 107 posts and 62 votes.
  • [X] Safety First. Kill it, kill it now. Working with a daemon is madness, as is taking its presentation of the path ahead on trust. Destroy the creature, and between the lot of you, find some other way to escape from the Imperium's retribution.
    [X] Resignation. Of course, of course the Inquisitor did this. You'd seen similar in the nobles you guarded and championed. 'Rules for thee but not for me.' Same bullshit, different circumstances. The lesso- the indoctrination of the Imperium that has been beaten into you must be examined. When you have time, understand why you believe what you believe. Find your own right and wrong.
    [X] Relief. You're not damned, no matter what others might have said, no matter what you might have thought. If binding a daemon is not grounds for damnation, then sheltering with a dark cult in ignorance cannot be either. You are not a wicked man, and so you do not need to embrace death or damnation outright, not yet.
    [X] Common Interest. Trusting a daemon is madness, but you can believe it wants to be free as much as you, and will not sabotage its own chances of success. Watch it carefully, and part ways as soon as your mutual desires are fulfilled.
    [X] Anger. He dared, he dared to sneer and judge and condemn you? Your crimes were born of ignorance and fear, but compared to this monstrosity they are nothing! Anger at Tahr's hypocrisy, and hatred for the system which judges him superior to you, will guide you going forward.
    [X] Direct Control. Between Nadia and Bore, surely there must be some way to control the daemon, to make certain of its actions and loyalties? You cannot allow it true freedom, but it did not lie when it said you needed it, so use it as one would a dangerous tool and be done.
    -[X] There's no reason to expect it to have changed in two centuries, and it killed all these people. Maybe we can take the incoming ship if there is no other way forward on this one. Feels less risky than trusting this monster for a moment.
    [X] Confusion. You simply… don't understand. The righteousness of the Inquisition, the blasphemy of demonology, so many other precepts of your life and belief are in conflict. You cannot reconcile them, and that means one or more must be wrong. Soul searching will wait for now, but you need to make this make sense, somehow. It has to make sense.
    -[X] Warp travel is possible albeit limited even without a Navigator. A Daemon isn't a person that can be trusted but rather a malign entity that will attempt to gain our trust only to screw us all when it senses opportunity.
    -[X] We stepped over literally thousands of corpses that believed its lies and were sent into a complete meatgrinder. Why would it be different this time?
    -[X] Were not each and every one of you damned by the Inquisition? Better to join hands and escape their hypocrisy, than destroy your chances of escape in a fit of belated piety.
    - [X] Also, you don't know much about the Warp, but trusting a daemon to guide you through it seems like it's not going to lead to anything better than dying on a ship adrift in space. It not sending us straight to a daemonworld is a best case scenario.
    -[X] Warp travel with a proper, sane navigator that understands what people need to stay alive is dangerous enough, wrangling a malevolent entity that destroyed an Inquisitors ship, wants to eat your souls, and already has some influence over you and Bore is worse. Writing a contract that would try and safely bring you anywhere is suicide, considering you have no first-person experience of warp navigation, the daemon knows the ship better than you, and doing anything with daemons is more dangerous with a psyker around.
    [X] Relief
    [X] Laughter. You want to scream in rage and of this indignity, to mumble confused words at the madness of it all, to let out a breath of relief that the man who judged you taited was a heretical hypocrite. Yet all that comes out of your mouth is laughter. This is madness, all of it! You were condemed by an Inquisetor, how in return was everything he condemed you to be. And now here you stand, alive becase of a Emperor damned Deamon... This feel like a Joke, and a bad one at that, but better to laught with it than to be laught at.
    [X] Safety First
    -[X] This thing has been planning this for 200 years, and it chose us because it thought it could work with us. Releasing it isn't just a momentary alliance, for the daemon in front of us it is the long game.
    [X] (write-in) Strengthen the Bindings. Karnak Zul will remain where he is, within the binding circle. He will say no words and take no action. If anyone attempts to release him, including by destroying his body, he will do everything in his power to stop them.
    -[X] It a freaking demon we should not under any chance trust this thing especially since it will take the first opportunity to betray us and torture and eat our souls for eternity
    -[X] I will not stoop to the inquisitor level
    -[X] Warp travel with a proper, sane navigator that understands what people need to stay alive is dangerous enough, wrangling a malevolent entity that wants to eat your souls into bringing you safely through the warp is worse. Writing a contract on a subject that regularly kills the experts on it, with secondhand experience at best, is practically suicide.
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I understand the motive behind this vote but I am more than a little worried now.
I hope all 40 of you have some plan for calming Nadia down if she throws a fit at this and or/reassuring the rest that we have not in fact stranded them.
 
16 characters said:
I understand the motive behind this vote but I am more than a little worried now.
I hope all 40 of you have some plan for calming Nadia down if she throws a fit at this and or/reassuring the rest that we have not in fact stranded them.
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Summon a different daemon that doesn't have a history of making promises that people bet their lives on and subsequently die for, under a binding that ensures that it won't fuck us that way.
 
We can always make short ranged jumps without a navigator. We don't need to get far, pretty much any even marginally inhabited system will do.
 
16 characters said:
I understand the motive behind this vote but I am more than a little worried now.
I hope all 40 of you have some plan for calming Nadia down if she throws a fit at this and or/reassuring the rest that we have not in fact stranded them.
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I don't think she gonna throw a fit considering from the update she doesn't even really trust this demon compared to others demon too
 
[X] Relief. You're not damned, no matter what others might have said, no matter what you might have thought. If binding a daemon is not grounds for damnation, then sheltering with a dark cult in ignorance cannot be either. You are not a wicked man, and so you do not need to embrace death or damnation outright, not yet.

[X] Safety First. Kill it, kill it now. Working with a daemon is madness, as is taking its presentation of the path ahead on trust. Destroy the creature, and between the lot of you, find some other way to escape from the Imperium's retribution.
-[X] Warp travel with a proper, sane navigator that understands what people need to stay alive is dangerous enough, wrangling a malevolent entity that destroyed an Inquisitors ship, wants to eat your souls, and already has some influence over you and Bore is worse. Writing a contract that would try and safely bring you anywhere is suicide, considering you have no first-person experience of warp navigation, the daemon knows the ship better than you, and doing anything with daemons is more dangerous with a psyker around.


-"Some guy name Morty trust daemon to get him out of the warp,that end badly for him":mad:
 
I actually feel very reassured now. We may just survive the next turn.
 
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