Post by dyuman on Jun 17, 2009 12:09:51 GMT -5
I mentioned it before, but wanted to post up some stuff on what happened in peoples personal stories that was written out over PM:
Chip's Soul Weapon encounter with Soulforge conceptualized by me, re-written with style by him:
A representative of the Golden University takes Elsington to a private room and asks him to wait inside for the soul ritual to begin.
“Lord Elsington, you are the last of your group to get your enchantment, please enter the room." Quietly, Elsington nods and obeys, and the doors are closed behind him.
The room is circular with a magical square stone augmented with runes in the center, and torches line the wall. Elsington stands for a moment in the silent chamber, carefully observing his surroundings. He notices as the runes begin to illuminate the room along the floor in a circular path. The pulses grow as if something were trying to breathe into the world.
White wisps of magical energy begin to flow from the torches, dancing in the air as they converge to center of the room.
”You are Elsington, are you not?” a voice calls out.
"Yes. I am Elsington Darkreaver, Warlord to the kingdom of Zaileron, and member of the Heavenly Blades." Elsington intones, unfazed by the unusual circumstance.
“What is your purpose in this plane of existence?”
Stepping forward towards the center stone, Elsington speaks, "To Purge the destructive power of Chaos from this realm, and to protect Order and Justice for all mankind. To serve as an Aegis to the innocent, and Death to the wicked."
“Very well. Know this, Elsington,” The white wisp transforms, turning a deep ocean blue, and taking the form of a blade. “I hold you to this purpose. I serve you in this purpose. I disobey you when you fight against this purpose. Now, Elsington... grant me my name.”
The warlord pauses for a moment, considering the words of the disembodied voice. Finally, he nods, and gazes upon the wisp. "I accept your terms, noble spirit. Henceforth... You shall be known as Epoch, the Time Delver."
“I am… Epoch..."
Suddenly, something seems very wrong. The center rune stone begins to crack, shedding light all over the room. The light converges on the blue wisp and intermingles with it. In all of an instant, the runestone shatters, firing a column of light into the intermingled wisp above it. The ceiling shatters at the force of the blast, raining stone and rubble into the ceremonial chamber. An earth-shattering, yet familiar cry echoes through the room. As recognition dawns upon the warlord, and he begins to realize where he knows it from, Brilliant energy erupts from the column, engulfing Elsington in radiant light. The force of the blast sends Elsington crashing through the door of the chamber. The warlord's vision blurs as he weakly strains to look back into the room from which he was ejected. As he lie on the ground barely conscious, all he manages to see is a phantom approaching him. As consciousness finally ebbs away, realization floods Elsington's mind as he recognizes the phantom's visage - it wears the royal armor of Zaileron.
When awareness finally returns to Elsington's senses, he feels himself flying through an unfamiliar world. A thousand images rush to his eyes... Though pain sears through his mind, the visions are as clear as day. He sees with his own eyes the legend which had once only been read about in ancient tomes... the forging of Soulforge, and Kallista. Two teenage boys stand watching as the blades are etched with dwarven runes by Master Dwarven smiths. Mathias stands behind them, and behind him an army of 10,000 eladrin magi, all chanting in unison, casting a spell. From Mathias’ hands light bursts through the boys and into the swords.
Mathias says,”By our strength we place your hearts, your hopes, your being into the blades… and all our hopes to defeat Orcus.” The spell completes and many of the mages collapse under the strain. As silence falls upon the area, the boys touch the blades they begin to glow their familiar glows.
Ang raises his blade and cries out,“Kallista.” Zailid raises his blade and calmly states,”Soulforge.” Both blades erupt in white light.
The crowd cheers, and celebrates the dawn of the two new weapons. You see Mathias weakly walk away. As he departs, he mumbles, ”Our future lies with the two of you."
The vision shifts, and Elsington sees another grouping of images, as Ang and Zailid train and spar with one another.Though the brothers are closely matched in skill, Zailid seems to win the majority of the time. As time passes within the visions, Ang's jealousy and frustration become more apparent, as his movements become more reckless and angry, and he claims victory in fewer and fewer matches.
Soon, memories of countless battles flood Elsington's mind, with Ang and Zailid decimating the armies of Orcus. Yet above all of the many battlefields, one in particular stands out. It is in this battle, while Ang recklessly surges forward into the undead horde, that Gargantuan Undead creatures whom once appeared to be Dragonborn overtake the him, but Zailid manages to break the undead line, and save his twin brother's life. After the battle, in the resting camp, several drunken guards, corrupted by the subtle magics of Orcus, approach Ang and begin goading him on how his brother had to save him. Ang grips Kallista and in one swift, silent motion, cuts the men down where they stand. Tasting the souls of the living, breathing men as life ebbed from their bodies, Ang swells with glee. These were not the emotionless husks that felt nothing as they perished - these were sentient, knowing beings, who felt fear, pain and despair in death. These were far more worthy sacrifices to Kallista, the Fleshreaver. From that day, the auras of Ang and Kallista became a darkened red, the aura itself dripping off the blade as if dripping blood.
The visions shift to the battles of the following year. The two twins have separated and are fighting alongside their own armies against the undead threat. Zailid's movements are more precise than ever. With a single swipe of his blade, he wipes out hundreds of undead, yet his own forces remain unscathed by the awesome power of Soulforge. On the other hand, Ang has become cruel and careless. His battles always suffer from huge casualties, but it is clear that it is not casualties from the undead killing his men, but rather him killing them himself. Ang has become a reveler in death - a serial killer in its purest form.
The visions shift again, showing Ang's encounter with Orcus. The Dark God whispers his malice and evil into Ang's mind, promising him untold power if he can destroy his brother and the hated Soulforge. Ang swears his loyalty to the Lord of the Undead, and with the souls of those he slaughtered along with the undead, he forges a new army - an army of those slain by the Fleshreaver.
The Visions turn to the battle between Ang and Zailid, the Corrupted aura of Fleshreaver and the Holy light of Soulforge clashing in bursts of chaotic energy. Though the brothers are almost evenly matched, in the end the Fleshreaver lay in the dust, sundered at the hilt.
Your vision swims, as you witness the defeat of Orcus at the hands of Zailid, and his ascension to heir of the newly named Zaileron. The visions continue showing Zailid’s decision to hide the Fleshreaver in Thunderspire using a new type of magic Mathias and the elves were tampering with… now known as chaos magic... the magic of Twilight. The blade is sealed away, but its spirit still claws at its arcane cage, transforming itself into a horrifying visage...
With a flash of light, Elsington finds himself in a deserted plane. White wisps begin to form again and take shape in the form of Zailid... Elsington's ancestor, and father of the nation of Zaileron.
“Son of Zaileron, you have done much good in the name of justice. I am proud of you. I showed you the past so that you may understand the present, and understand what is to come. Soulforge and Kallista took on our very essence and spirit when Ang and I took them up as our Soul weapons. The blades were blank slates that permanently became infused with our being… as if to have copied our very souls. In that sense, the Fleshreaver is Ang, but is also not, and as well – I am Zailid, and yet I am also the spirit of Soulforge.”
Though pain numbs his senses, the gravity of the situation grants Elsington the power to speak. "Then... If the Fleshreaver contains Ang's essence... it has been corrupted as well! Does this mean that Kallista is no longer neutrally aligned? Is it a blade of evil now?"
The body of Zailid transforms into Soulforge and floats infront of Elsington with a bright glow.
“Yes... There is no hope left for the Fleshreaver… it will seek the power and blood of those around the wielder… at the very least. I do not know how the spirit of the Fleshreaver will effect Saber… He and I always had a respectful partnership, I have never had to enforce my will upon him nor he on me.“
Upon hearing this, Elsington frowns. "Then... you do not know if Saber is strong enough to impart his will upon the Fleshreaver's spirit?"
“Correct... but I do know that Saber is a being of exceptional power... especially now, after the encounter in Winterhaven. If the dark spirit of Ang were to take control of him… this world will come to an end.” With those words the desert landscape erupts in dark flame, and a visage of Saber with ruby red eyes and a red aura stands walking away from you through the fire.
“Elsington... I am now a part of your blade along with Epoch. My powers have dwindled from the Endscape, and I must rest… but if you are in complete despair, you can call me forth. But be warned – if I have not rested enough it will do no good… and even after I have… my power will have consequences.... I will require several weeks of rest before I am of any true use to you, but I will do my best to aid you and protect you, my Scion…”
"Wait!" Elsington manages to gasp, before pain overtakes his senses once more.
Soulforge erupts in blinding light. As the light dissipates into the darkness of slumber, Elsington hears the sword's last words, ”Tell no one of me… evil stirs, that which we do not see... You will be a target if they know of me...” and the darkness engulfs Elsington, returning him to a state of slumber.
Elsington winces awake, the pain from his wounds from the explosion within the soul chamber shoots through is unconscious form. As he glances around the room he realizes that he is in the same room as Meiko, the woman who lost her unborn child. She sits in her bed, sobbing. He tries to mouth out words of comfort, but his wounds sap the last of his strength, and he slips back into unconsciousness...
And so… the adventure begins anew.
Jon's response to his purpose:
Purpose? I dunno if I really have a purpose in life. Sure others tell me that I have a purpose. In their eyes I'm supposed to do the right thing. But what is the right thing? My master Saber wants me to protect the weak. Tells me that good and evil are of no consequence as long as I stand up for the little people. Old man Dagon wants me to become a useful asset to the Order. That smart ass Fuji wants me to become a respectable member of the Order. My team mates expect me to be useful and to stay out of their way. You expect me to have some kind of grand purpose in life that I guess you're gonna try and help me accomplish. Me, I just want to have a good time and keep both feet out of the grave so to speak. You know, don't sweat the details and just have some fun in life before something or someone decides to come around and end it.
Heh, for a boring commoner like me it's strange to have all these celebrity status people with their high expectations of me. I've got leaders of the Order, ancient heroes, and even a few nobles and kings expecting great things of me. But anyways, enough with my griping. You asked me for my purpose and I don't exactly have one. I guess my purpose right now is to live life how I see fit. To go out and have some fun. Spread a lil' chaos around to keep things interesting and to always look out for the little guy.
Josh's general plan... and the reason why he took the transmutation soul blade ability - Remember the fire bomb potions that Damiano gave Jon were based on a fire bomb that ignites when the contents meet the air... :
And at some convenient point, I'll have to reveal who I am, and then I'll rub it in Elsington's face that I manipulated (or helped to manipulate) the party into doing killing good guys. I'll probably point out to him a thought: As he was killing people who he thought was bad, in the most sadistic way possible, he would have thought to himself, "I killed them, I slew the murderous bastards, and I cruelly slaughtered them because they deserved it." And yet, the moment I reveal to him that I messed with the party, it'll be, "Greifer killed them, he made me do it, and it's his fault." I'll tell him that he's a fraud, that he can only take responsibility for his own cruelty under his double standards, and that he's not even half the hero he thinks he is. I'll accuse Elsington above all else, for being a coward and bully who isn't actually good, but is just an indecisive man who can neither embrace or banish his own love for the pain of others.
If that doesn't drive him nuts, I dunno what will.
For Allen, I'll tell him that a part of him enjoys my plan. There is a part of him that can relate to what I love about controlling things from the shadows. He acknowledges that the world is chaotic, messed up, and often out of control. I will then offer him to join us so that he can be a part of a group that doesn't need to twist and bend to the whims of fate like Illarus and Elsington, and can rise above it all.
Best of all, by keeping Elsington alive, I can get Allen to kill him as proof of his allegiance.
So I just figured I'd share with you where I'm going with all this. I won't pull anything off at the cost of releasing Orcus. Here's a scenario I might use to make my villainous revelation:
I'll hand them a bunch of explosive potions from Damiano, purchsed with money (to keep the illusion that it's legit). Spread them around the party. Let them use a few to good success. I'll probably come up with some nasty, violent ways to use them to spur the party on to do the same. Whereas I think Allen is less susceptible to this, Illarus and Elsington will definitely follow suit. At some convenient time, when I need to tell everyone that I'l a bad guy as well, I'll probably tell them that Del'Wari is Damiano, and laugh as the explosive potions Illarus is carrying blasts him to all hell. I think that's jacked up enough.
(Josh, I don't seem to have you're soul weapon response in my box)
Josh's Weapon encounter without his responses:
Greifer’s mini scenario:
A representative of the Golden University takes you down a hall way towards a specialized room for the ritual. As you walk through the hall, Lord Daimiano approaches you. ”Don’t worry attendant, I will escort Lord Greifer to the chamber.”
Daimiano waits until he is confident that you two are alone. “A bit of advise for you while you are in the chamber. You must be honest with the spirits. Lie to them, and you won’t be able to use your weapon for our purposes. It binds itself to you and your personality that you claim. My agents have spotted Saber leaving Thunderspire. Seems he may have what he wanted already.”
<Insert any questions your character asks >
“Well, go ahead inside. Don’t do anything stupid.”
Daimiano begins to walk away, “Oh, and Greifer. Do me a favor, make that human, Elsington go insane. I didn’t like the way he looked at me last night.”
With that you enter the room, and the doors are closed behind you.
The room is circular with a magical square stone augmented with runes in the center, and torches line the wall. You stand for a moment in the room and notice runes begin to illuminate the room along the floor in a circular path. The pulses grow as if something were trying to breathe into the world.
White wisps of magic begin flow from the torches and converge and dance in the center of the room.
”You are Greifer, are you not?” a voice calls out.
<Insert your response>
“What is your purpose in this plane of existence?”
<insert your response>
“Very well. Know this Greifer,” The white wisp transforms and turns a deep <color that you want your enchantment to be>. “I hold you to this purpose. I serve you in this purpose. I disobey you when you fight against this purpose. Now Greifer, grant me my name.”
<You say the souls name>
“I am… <insert name>”
The wisp rushes towards you and augments your weapon with a <insert color of your choice> glow.
The room goes dark, and the lights up to normal outdoor light and the doors open.
You leave the room and go back to the waiting area with the others. Having gone first for the ritual you show off your new weapon a little bit and relax in the entry room. You watch as Allen goes in and returns and Elsington go in last.
Elsington is not heard from for a while. He has been inside for over 15 minutes compared to yourself and Allen. 5 minutes more pass and a beam of light shatters the sky. Allen and you both know that it started from the Soul enchantment chamber.
As you rush off back towards the chamber you see Elsington on the ground unconscious, the enchantment room devastated with a gapping hole in the ceiling. The attendants rush Elsington to the hospital.
You as a move to make Elsington even more insane, by telling the hospital staff to place him in the same room as Meiko (pregnant girl… not so pregnant now). They rush him into the room. You are able to glance at Meiko while in there and notice her flash a grin towards your way as a signal that she knows why he’s there.
You leave the hospital room and wait outside while he heals. The healers say that he will be fine, just needs to recover, but you can sense there is some sort of magic disturbance within him. Something happened in the chamber…
And so, the adventure begins…
Chip's Soul Weapon encounter with Soulforge conceptualized by me, re-written with style by him:
A representative of the Golden University takes Elsington to a private room and asks him to wait inside for the soul ritual to begin.
“Lord Elsington, you are the last of your group to get your enchantment, please enter the room." Quietly, Elsington nods and obeys, and the doors are closed behind him.
The room is circular with a magical square stone augmented with runes in the center, and torches line the wall. Elsington stands for a moment in the silent chamber, carefully observing his surroundings. He notices as the runes begin to illuminate the room along the floor in a circular path. The pulses grow as if something were trying to breathe into the world.
White wisps of magical energy begin to flow from the torches, dancing in the air as they converge to center of the room.
”You are Elsington, are you not?” a voice calls out.
"Yes. I am Elsington Darkreaver, Warlord to the kingdom of Zaileron, and member of the Heavenly Blades." Elsington intones, unfazed by the unusual circumstance.
“What is your purpose in this plane of existence?”
Stepping forward towards the center stone, Elsington speaks, "To Purge the destructive power of Chaos from this realm, and to protect Order and Justice for all mankind. To serve as an Aegis to the innocent, and Death to the wicked."
“Very well. Know this, Elsington,” The white wisp transforms, turning a deep ocean blue, and taking the form of a blade. “I hold you to this purpose. I serve you in this purpose. I disobey you when you fight against this purpose. Now, Elsington... grant me my name.”
The warlord pauses for a moment, considering the words of the disembodied voice. Finally, he nods, and gazes upon the wisp. "I accept your terms, noble spirit. Henceforth... You shall be known as Epoch, the Time Delver."
“I am… Epoch..."
Suddenly, something seems very wrong. The center rune stone begins to crack, shedding light all over the room. The light converges on the blue wisp and intermingles with it. In all of an instant, the runestone shatters, firing a column of light into the intermingled wisp above it. The ceiling shatters at the force of the blast, raining stone and rubble into the ceremonial chamber. An earth-shattering, yet familiar cry echoes through the room. As recognition dawns upon the warlord, and he begins to realize where he knows it from, Brilliant energy erupts from the column, engulfing Elsington in radiant light. The force of the blast sends Elsington crashing through the door of the chamber. The warlord's vision blurs as he weakly strains to look back into the room from which he was ejected. As he lie on the ground barely conscious, all he manages to see is a phantom approaching him. As consciousness finally ebbs away, realization floods Elsington's mind as he recognizes the phantom's visage - it wears the royal armor of Zaileron.
When awareness finally returns to Elsington's senses, he feels himself flying through an unfamiliar world. A thousand images rush to his eyes... Though pain sears through his mind, the visions are as clear as day. He sees with his own eyes the legend which had once only been read about in ancient tomes... the forging of Soulforge, and Kallista. Two teenage boys stand watching as the blades are etched with dwarven runes by Master Dwarven smiths. Mathias stands behind them, and behind him an army of 10,000 eladrin magi, all chanting in unison, casting a spell. From Mathias’ hands light bursts through the boys and into the swords.
Mathias says,”By our strength we place your hearts, your hopes, your being into the blades… and all our hopes to defeat Orcus.” The spell completes and many of the mages collapse under the strain. As silence falls upon the area, the boys touch the blades they begin to glow their familiar glows.
Ang raises his blade and cries out,“Kallista.” Zailid raises his blade and calmly states,”Soulforge.” Both blades erupt in white light.
The crowd cheers, and celebrates the dawn of the two new weapons. You see Mathias weakly walk away. As he departs, he mumbles, ”Our future lies with the two of you."
The vision shifts, and Elsington sees another grouping of images, as Ang and Zailid train and spar with one another.Though the brothers are closely matched in skill, Zailid seems to win the majority of the time. As time passes within the visions, Ang's jealousy and frustration become more apparent, as his movements become more reckless and angry, and he claims victory in fewer and fewer matches.
Soon, memories of countless battles flood Elsington's mind, with Ang and Zailid decimating the armies of Orcus. Yet above all of the many battlefields, one in particular stands out. It is in this battle, while Ang recklessly surges forward into the undead horde, that Gargantuan Undead creatures whom once appeared to be Dragonborn overtake the him, but Zailid manages to break the undead line, and save his twin brother's life. After the battle, in the resting camp, several drunken guards, corrupted by the subtle magics of Orcus, approach Ang and begin goading him on how his brother had to save him. Ang grips Kallista and in one swift, silent motion, cuts the men down where they stand. Tasting the souls of the living, breathing men as life ebbed from their bodies, Ang swells with glee. These were not the emotionless husks that felt nothing as they perished - these were sentient, knowing beings, who felt fear, pain and despair in death. These were far more worthy sacrifices to Kallista, the Fleshreaver. From that day, the auras of Ang and Kallista became a darkened red, the aura itself dripping off the blade as if dripping blood.
The visions shift to the battles of the following year. The two twins have separated and are fighting alongside their own armies against the undead threat. Zailid's movements are more precise than ever. With a single swipe of his blade, he wipes out hundreds of undead, yet his own forces remain unscathed by the awesome power of Soulforge. On the other hand, Ang has become cruel and careless. His battles always suffer from huge casualties, but it is clear that it is not casualties from the undead killing his men, but rather him killing them himself. Ang has become a reveler in death - a serial killer in its purest form.
The visions shift again, showing Ang's encounter with Orcus. The Dark God whispers his malice and evil into Ang's mind, promising him untold power if he can destroy his brother and the hated Soulforge. Ang swears his loyalty to the Lord of the Undead, and with the souls of those he slaughtered along with the undead, he forges a new army - an army of those slain by the Fleshreaver.
The Visions turn to the battle between Ang and Zailid, the Corrupted aura of Fleshreaver and the Holy light of Soulforge clashing in bursts of chaotic energy. Though the brothers are almost evenly matched, in the end the Fleshreaver lay in the dust, sundered at the hilt.
Your vision swims, as you witness the defeat of Orcus at the hands of Zailid, and his ascension to heir of the newly named Zaileron. The visions continue showing Zailid’s decision to hide the Fleshreaver in Thunderspire using a new type of magic Mathias and the elves were tampering with… now known as chaos magic... the magic of Twilight. The blade is sealed away, but its spirit still claws at its arcane cage, transforming itself into a horrifying visage...
With a flash of light, Elsington finds himself in a deserted plane. White wisps begin to form again and take shape in the form of Zailid... Elsington's ancestor, and father of the nation of Zaileron.
“Son of Zaileron, you have done much good in the name of justice. I am proud of you. I showed you the past so that you may understand the present, and understand what is to come. Soulforge and Kallista took on our very essence and spirit when Ang and I took them up as our Soul weapons. The blades were blank slates that permanently became infused with our being… as if to have copied our very souls. In that sense, the Fleshreaver is Ang, but is also not, and as well – I am Zailid, and yet I am also the spirit of Soulforge.”
Though pain numbs his senses, the gravity of the situation grants Elsington the power to speak. "Then... If the Fleshreaver contains Ang's essence... it has been corrupted as well! Does this mean that Kallista is no longer neutrally aligned? Is it a blade of evil now?"
The body of Zailid transforms into Soulforge and floats infront of Elsington with a bright glow.
“Yes... There is no hope left for the Fleshreaver… it will seek the power and blood of those around the wielder… at the very least. I do not know how the spirit of the Fleshreaver will effect Saber… He and I always had a respectful partnership, I have never had to enforce my will upon him nor he on me.“
Upon hearing this, Elsington frowns. "Then... you do not know if Saber is strong enough to impart his will upon the Fleshreaver's spirit?"
“Correct... but I do know that Saber is a being of exceptional power... especially now, after the encounter in Winterhaven. If the dark spirit of Ang were to take control of him… this world will come to an end.” With those words the desert landscape erupts in dark flame, and a visage of Saber with ruby red eyes and a red aura stands walking away from you through the fire.
“Elsington... I am now a part of your blade along with Epoch. My powers have dwindled from the Endscape, and I must rest… but if you are in complete despair, you can call me forth. But be warned – if I have not rested enough it will do no good… and even after I have… my power will have consequences.... I will require several weeks of rest before I am of any true use to you, but I will do my best to aid you and protect you, my Scion…”
"Wait!" Elsington manages to gasp, before pain overtakes his senses once more.
Soulforge erupts in blinding light. As the light dissipates into the darkness of slumber, Elsington hears the sword's last words, ”Tell no one of me… evil stirs, that which we do not see... You will be a target if they know of me...” and the darkness engulfs Elsington, returning him to a state of slumber.
Elsington winces awake, the pain from his wounds from the explosion within the soul chamber shoots through is unconscious form. As he glances around the room he realizes that he is in the same room as Meiko, the woman who lost her unborn child. She sits in her bed, sobbing. He tries to mouth out words of comfort, but his wounds sap the last of his strength, and he slips back into unconsciousness...
And so… the adventure begins anew.
Jon's response to his purpose:
Purpose? I dunno if I really have a purpose in life. Sure others tell me that I have a purpose. In their eyes I'm supposed to do the right thing. But what is the right thing? My master Saber wants me to protect the weak. Tells me that good and evil are of no consequence as long as I stand up for the little people. Old man Dagon wants me to become a useful asset to the Order. That smart ass Fuji wants me to become a respectable member of the Order. My team mates expect me to be useful and to stay out of their way. You expect me to have some kind of grand purpose in life that I guess you're gonna try and help me accomplish. Me, I just want to have a good time and keep both feet out of the grave so to speak. You know, don't sweat the details and just have some fun in life before something or someone decides to come around and end it.
Heh, for a boring commoner like me it's strange to have all these celebrity status people with their high expectations of me. I've got leaders of the Order, ancient heroes, and even a few nobles and kings expecting great things of me. But anyways, enough with my griping. You asked me for my purpose and I don't exactly have one. I guess my purpose right now is to live life how I see fit. To go out and have some fun. Spread a lil' chaos around to keep things interesting and to always look out for the little guy.
Josh's general plan... and the reason why he took the transmutation soul blade ability - Remember the fire bomb potions that Damiano gave Jon were based on a fire bomb that ignites when the contents meet the air... :
And at some convenient point, I'll have to reveal who I am, and then I'll rub it in Elsington's face that I manipulated (or helped to manipulate) the party into doing killing good guys. I'll probably point out to him a thought: As he was killing people who he thought was bad, in the most sadistic way possible, he would have thought to himself, "I killed them, I slew the murderous bastards, and I cruelly slaughtered them because they deserved it." And yet, the moment I reveal to him that I messed with the party, it'll be, "Greifer killed them, he made me do it, and it's his fault." I'll tell him that he's a fraud, that he can only take responsibility for his own cruelty under his double standards, and that he's not even half the hero he thinks he is. I'll accuse Elsington above all else, for being a coward and bully who isn't actually good, but is just an indecisive man who can neither embrace or banish his own love for the pain of others.
If that doesn't drive him nuts, I dunno what will.
For Allen, I'll tell him that a part of him enjoys my plan. There is a part of him that can relate to what I love about controlling things from the shadows. He acknowledges that the world is chaotic, messed up, and often out of control. I will then offer him to join us so that he can be a part of a group that doesn't need to twist and bend to the whims of fate like Illarus and Elsington, and can rise above it all.
Best of all, by keeping Elsington alive, I can get Allen to kill him as proof of his allegiance.
So I just figured I'd share with you where I'm going with all this. I won't pull anything off at the cost of releasing Orcus. Here's a scenario I might use to make my villainous revelation:
I'll hand them a bunch of explosive potions from Damiano, purchsed with money (to keep the illusion that it's legit). Spread them around the party. Let them use a few to good success. I'll probably come up with some nasty, violent ways to use them to spur the party on to do the same. Whereas I think Allen is less susceptible to this, Illarus and Elsington will definitely follow suit. At some convenient time, when I need to tell everyone that I'l a bad guy as well, I'll probably tell them that Del'Wari is Damiano, and laugh as the explosive potions Illarus is carrying blasts him to all hell. I think that's jacked up enough.
(Josh, I don't seem to have you're soul weapon response in my box)
Josh's Weapon encounter without his responses:
Greifer’s mini scenario:
A representative of the Golden University takes you down a hall way towards a specialized room for the ritual. As you walk through the hall, Lord Daimiano approaches you. ”Don’t worry attendant, I will escort Lord Greifer to the chamber.”
Daimiano waits until he is confident that you two are alone. “A bit of advise for you while you are in the chamber. You must be honest with the spirits. Lie to them, and you won’t be able to use your weapon for our purposes. It binds itself to you and your personality that you claim. My agents have spotted Saber leaving Thunderspire. Seems he may have what he wanted already.”
<Insert any questions your character asks >
“Well, go ahead inside. Don’t do anything stupid.”
Daimiano begins to walk away, “Oh, and Greifer. Do me a favor, make that human, Elsington go insane. I didn’t like the way he looked at me last night.”
With that you enter the room, and the doors are closed behind you.
The room is circular with a magical square stone augmented with runes in the center, and torches line the wall. You stand for a moment in the room and notice runes begin to illuminate the room along the floor in a circular path. The pulses grow as if something were trying to breathe into the world.
White wisps of magic begin flow from the torches and converge and dance in the center of the room.
”You are Greifer, are you not?” a voice calls out.
<Insert your response>
“What is your purpose in this plane of existence?”
<insert your response>
“Very well. Know this Greifer,” The white wisp transforms and turns a deep <color that you want your enchantment to be>. “I hold you to this purpose. I serve you in this purpose. I disobey you when you fight against this purpose. Now Greifer, grant me my name.”
<You say the souls name>
“I am… <insert name>”
The wisp rushes towards you and augments your weapon with a <insert color of your choice> glow.
The room goes dark, and the lights up to normal outdoor light and the doors open.
You leave the room and go back to the waiting area with the others. Having gone first for the ritual you show off your new weapon a little bit and relax in the entry room. You watch as Allen goes in and returns and Elsington go in last.
Elsington is not heard from for a while. He has been inside for over 15 minutes compared to yourself and Allen. 5 minutes more pass and a beam of light shatters the sky. Allen and you both know that it started from the Soul enchantment chamber.
As you rush off back towards the chamber you see Elsington on the ground unconscious, the enchantment room devastated with a gapping hole in the ceiling. The attendants rush Elsington to the hospital.
You as a move to make Elsington even more insane, by telling the hospital staff to place him in the same room as Meiko (pregnant girl… not so pregnant now). They rush him into the room. You are able to glance at Meiko while in there and notice her flash a grin towards your way as a signal that she knows why he’s there.
You leave the hospital room and wait outside while he heals. The healers say that he will be fine, just needs to recover, but you can sense there is some sort of magic disturbance within him. Something happened in the chamber…
And so, the adventure begins…
