The demoness (Laulieh of Luralune) is already summoned, the ritual is in the "haggling over terms" phase (which, demons being demons, can progress into *creatively murder the summoner* phase at any time, which is why you think there is so much half fiend minotaur and cultist muscle in the room). From listening in on the conversation, there is a mentioned "Abyssal accord", which apparently provides for gentler terms for recruiting demons following other demonlords, but according to the demoness who is being summoned/bound, this accord does not apply on mortal planes.
You also get the strong idea that the 2 principal agents doing the summoning, a white winged and white dressed Succubus names Janeamineh and a strange, you think half fiend Deskarite version, sorcerres named Chorussina, are both, by their actions and demeanor, considering this Laulieh to be incredibly dangerous.
You can also assert with some confidence that this Laulieh is... significantly more beautifull and charismatic then the other Succubus on the room.
I am quite happy going with Idaya failing to destroy the circle with brute force (a jest from her current companions) and needing someone with actual ritual knowledge to help disrupt the summoning.
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So it'd be interesting if Arthur could be cross-plane communicating with Idaya. I'm sure there are items that do this in the city, and they could be coordinating. I think this would be cool so Arthur doesn't feel so alone right now, since he doesn't know the gates are about to be stormed (or something of the sorts).
So, surely Arthur is scared of this Laulieh demoness, she can probably see him invisible, so he disguises himself to learn about her instead. Other than that, he tries hard to understand the demon politics so he knows how best to disrupt the negotiations.
Oh, how interesting... a mortal pretending to be a Vampire spawn? Thy disguise is well conceived, including some type of... ablative coating to insulate your body temperature in order to appear as having the temperature of the surroundings? Well done! Which clearly means thee are prudent enough to further strengthen thy disguise with a spell of misdirection, but thee havent, which means it is not available to thee? An Alchemist then? It is prudent to assume that the nobility of the midnight isles has alignment sight up, most of the time... but perhaps thee wished to be discovered by me? Bold, and commendable.
A polite melodic soprano voice speaks in your mind, far more politely and friendly then the same demonesses vocal voice is speaking to the ones trying to bind her.
We may have common cause, as I have scant interest in being bound by individuals so far beneath me, and I have always been a patron of the arts, including of course the scientific ones. Thee have of course scant reason to trust me, and while there are vows I could make, alas doing them in a way thee or thy plausible patrons could plausibly enforce would be obvious to our... hosts
I am willing to telepathically pledge that no harm, from me or mine, shall come to thee for at minimum a year and a day, unless of course thee strikest first during that period, should thee be willing to assist in disrupting this ritual, although I would recommend that thee stay thy hand for now. the telepathic messaging continues, being... formal and diplomatic, not what you would have expected from a Succubus.
This improperly secured door shall soon be kicked in by some righteous crusaders or such, which will greatly ease many a thing, these crusaders are quite interesting, as they performed a bold teleport assault to decapacitate the mortal leadership of this citadel by slaying Staunton Vhane? Bold and decisive. As well as implying good intelligence collection, to know his whereabouts precisely and the time of their strike. A far more respectable form of taking a fortified position then marching at it in orderly ranks.
But I get ahead of myself, Thee may know me as Laulieh, Lady of Luralune, a blade of midnight and occassional attendant to my Lady in Shadow herself, by what name and title does thee wish to be addressed in the context of this meeting?
You hear her telepathic voice at the same time as she is holding an entirely differnet conversation in Abyssal with the demons in the room, and you know enough about the specific question she posed at the end, about the name and title you wish to be addressed by her right now, that you could, and are even encouraged to, came up with any name or title you want without her considering you to be "maliciously lying" to her.
The manner of communication the Succubus is useing is more fae, albeit very much unseelie court fey, then demon of chaos
Luralune? Wasnt she a fae who became a demonlord and later died? Something about song, banshees, seduction, hidden valleys? Killed by Nocticula at which point most of her former servants joined Nocticula, as is often the case when she kills of rival demonlord.
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Arthur feels exposed and powerless to fight the demoness. Still, he hears her words and tries hard not to think of anything. However, his mind races as he considers her words. "Why is a demoness using fey-like abilities? What is going on?", he thinks.
He finally calms down, seeing he will not be exposed in this minute. She promised not to harm him for a year and a day, but that's as reliable as begging dwarfs for change. He decides to answer her in thought "Call me Dr. Tickles." He wonders how she's going to advise him to do his deed. Right now, not listening to her seems more dooming than any pact with a demon he could make.
How knowledgeable aret thee, Oh Dr. Tickles, in the arcane arts? There is a gently smile in the telepathic communication
Our hosts comitted quite strongly to physically keeping me in that circle, and to prevent me from using summoning abilities, either innate ones or those from bound spells, as well as reducing my physical abilities, but
Images of, interestingly enough celestial runes flash in your mind, and you can then see these runes worked into the circle
These are the main points of vulnerability which i could identify. As is evidenced by our communication, their wards against divinative abilities are much less thorough, and I can likely employ both my weapon song in a way that affects those outside the circle. There is also a summoning scroll, currently slated to summon forth A Paladin of Iomedae named Idaya who oweth me a favor, but I deem it more likely for it to work where it to be cast outside of the circle. It is the scroll on the rightmost part of my belt
She gracefully taps the aforementioned scroll as she says this.
Further, do I have thy leave, in the event of this Succubus dominating thee, to attempt to overrate her domination with a suggestion to kill whoever is dominating you in particular, and Baphometans and Deskarites in the room you are in in general? I will see no insult whatsorever if thee reject this proposal. there is then a quite... dangerous question. Reasonable, but dangerous.
The question about the suggestion to counter a domination is made in good faith you think. A suggestion can override a domination, based on the force of personality behind the various mind control sources, and you think that this Laulieh has a very very powerful force of personality indeed. However, there is not much specificity nor a time limit to her request, and it could be some long term setup. But then... Demons even bothering to be asking for permission? Wait, does she perhaps gain parts of her powers, which seem to significant eclipse those of a Succubus, by accepting Fey like limits on her actions? You could see a really powerful Fey offering such a bargain to a demon, but you never heard of any such actual cases.
My apologies for my absence. To be honest, I got overwhelmed and distracted. I got an in-game post up and will be working on a more constructive post here later tonight after I've caught up.
I do want to send my warm welcome to the new players along with my thanks to Elliot. I need to get caught up more, but it sounds like he had quite a bit going on himself. I hope all goes well moving forward.
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Arthur considers hard what he's hearing. From one side, the demoness offers things that would be automatically good. If it were a devil, he'd be sure whatever things he agrees to are probably better for the devil than him, but this isn't one. So he is at an impasse.
Further, she is suggesting he won't be able to resist an eventual domination from the summoning Succubus. Why would she want to dominate him? When the fight breaks out? He thinks the demoness will want to kill her summoner at her first opportunity.
Also, a scroll to summon a Paladin? Is this a mock Paladin? Or a true one? He returns in thought "Maybe I can handle this Succubus. What is this about a Paladin? How do you propose I get this scroll if you can't use it yourself?"
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So, my Will is +4, yes. But I invested heavily to fix this. From my campaign trait I have 1/day reroll vs possession or incapacitate from demon. From Mythic Iron Will feat, I roll twice and take better result in Will Saves from a non-mythic source. Finally, I have the Lesson Learned Mythic ability which gives me +5 for all subsequent rolls on saves from an ongoing effect. So If I roll again against this Possession (or another from another Succubus), I gain a +5 bonus. If I surge that, I think I have a decent chance to maintain my control, even if I lose it for a second.
So, with my Knowledge Planes, do I think I have a fair chance with all of that going on?
Ah, I just purchased the intelligence file on this... Janeamine. Its good to have a pact partner in the library of shadows.
She has a mesmerists stare... There is a witness describing it as also painfull and demoralizing, and another witness describing that she could affect an Undead, although less effectively.
As with most mesmerist stares, averting your eyes doesnt actually work, neither does blinding her, annoyingly enough. She is limited to 30 feet, and its one person. The demoness speaks in your mind as she shares some information.
A Nocticulan knowledge repository in the Abyss. Well guarded and expensive, but access can be purchased. Nocticulas guards her secrets ferociously, but she can be quite open with the secrets of her... near peer competitors.
Succubi can offer a profane gift to a mortal, gaining influence over him but also strenghtening the partner. It is believed that this includes a telepathic connection.
But as far as you know, that connection does not work between planes. Maybe its different for *noble* Succubi, or perhaps this library of shadows is made to be accessible via profane pacts, irrespective of the plane the Succubus holding the pact is on. Maybe both.
Working on it, hmmm, I cannot teleport myself or move outside, but lets see if this works You hear her quite bemused voice
You do not know what she does, all you see is her looking intenseively at the Deskarite sorceress, a gracefull movement, likely a different telepathic conversation, and suddenly the scroll appears in front of you, you quickly snatch it, making it invisible as you yourself are.
There you go, my daughter designed these to be easily useable, although she is useing a different spellcasting tradition then you likely are
An identical scroll case, like an illusion, reappears at exactly the place it was.
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Arthur feels a bit nervous having a summon scroll in his possession. It is even weirder since he isn't sure it does what the demoness says it does. Still, he sends a message saying "Thanks. I suppose I shouldn't use this now. It would be very unkind to a Paladin to make them appear here right now. Tell me when?"
This is of course OOC, but my view on Succubi-equivalents in RPG games is:
--Only a complete fool gets (willingly in a not mind control way) seduced by a Succubus in a dungeon crawl. Unless perhaps they somehow have very very low knowledge planes and do not at all know what they are dealing with, which is not the case for any of the party members.
--To be credibly effective against people who arent fools or idiots, a Succubus, as long as she is recognizable as one, has to, generally speaking, establish herself as unusual for her kind.
--Having a relatable sense of humor and/or being fun to be around is one way (two of the half Succubi from Idayas side use that), being extremely formal and courteous is another (their mother, who Arthur has been talking to and whom the rest of the party will soon encounter), being, on the surface, completely uninterested in seducing others is yet another (the mad, for a demon, scientist daughter).
--Some Succubi, specifically Nocticulan ones, although by no means all of them and not all Succubi who participate in that game are Nocticulan, try to one up each other by Seducing ideally powerfull mortals while applying *handicaps* to themselfs, such as not pretending to not be a Succubus, not useing mind control, and/or not lying (the latter has an anti-infernal thing as it is partly about beating infernal seducers at their own game).
Since its a game for them, and they are chaotic, it is of course entirely within their personality to alter the games rules on a whim. In contrast to a fae, or a devil (who would face meaningfull mechanicaly consequences), breaking rules just costs them a bit of status, if it even gets caught/reported in the first place.
--Others view such *games* as *irrelevant elitist behaviour by the pompous so called nobility* We are hear to break the mortals and bath in their tears as we eat their souls! Praise the truly ruinous powers!
Are we waiting on anyone in particular? Merixia/Thesius got your buffs and status lines up to date? I guess I should do Elliot's in my style as well, for your reference, GM. No need to spend an extra spell on protection from evil, anyone, if you were going to do that.
I think everyone buffs are declared, I am doing the finishing touches on the (pretty ambitious frankly) encounter.
As well as on team "Old guard" saying "we kick the door in".