Café de Nuit

IMC, I recently introduced a widowed fidele. What's a fidele? You can read all about it here, or Dark Roads & Golden Hells, where they were eventually published. But in brief, they are LG outsiders that are champions of true love and marriage, appearing as "a towering human, ... with the antlers of a deer, elk, antelope, or similar creature, and deep, dark eyes," and always found in married pairs... well, almost always.

Mine, named Zorach, was somehow widowed, which drove him mad, and he fell into the worship/service of Evening Glory (Heroes of Horror, the goddess of eternal love through the embrace of undeath). Then he was summoned into Ravenloft by an Evening Glory cult, for the purpose of re-uniting and wedding a thrice-dead vampire with his vorlog lover, which he happily tried to do until the PCs killed him.

Of course, being an outsider in Ravenloft, he had a phylactery (his gold wedding ring), and when the PCs took it with them, I had to figure out what to do about his eventual return. Since their next adventure was "Dark Desires" (the Francois de Penible adventure from CotN:Demons), I thought he might come back and "help" there, trying to ensure that de Penible and "Louise Chantelle" (who IMC was actually Marie Delacourte) be together forever. So when the PCs reached the abattoir where that adventure climaxes, talking to a tanner outside before entering, I decided that Zorach would emerge from the phylactery as they walked away and possess the tanner. So far, so good. But then when they reached the final battle, Francois didn't need any more help that I'd already given him, and I ended up not bringing Zorach into the fray.

But now they've slain Francois, and are about to emerge from the Abbatoir. So Zorach (in his new body, not yet transformed to match the old) can be outside to confront them. But what does he do? The damage is done, and Francois and Marie won't live happily ever after in the Kyton city of Jangling Hiter. So what's my angle? I'd like Zorach to say something here, about how the PCs keep standing in the way of true eternal love. But if he attacks them alone, even damaged as they are by Francois, they will probably just quickly kill him, putting him back in the ring (unlike many fiends, fideles can't teleport freely to make an escape. They can only teleport to their lover's side, and this guy's mate is dead, and outside of Ravenloft). And would he really attack them in this situation?

He still sees himself as Lawful, and probably Good. All he wants is to unite lovers together forever (though he's willing to accept any collateral damage, including human sacrifice, to do it). Would he take revenge on the PCs for getting in the way of that? Or would he accept that revenge doesn't bring any lovers back together and move on? Or would he just be trying to get his wedding ring back from them?

Which end result is better from a story-line point of view... having Zorach out there at large doing who knows what, while the PC have his ring? Or having him keep popping up in a new body every day, attacking the PCs and getting slain again?

The PCs know Van Richten, and at this point Van Richten just failed to kill Drigor, and one PC has read his notes on that battle and the Mystick Cage, etc., which will eventually become VRGtFiends. I'd like to point them in the direction of building a mystick cage and using the phylactery ring to destroy Zorach for good. What's the best route to get there?

Gonzoron of the FoS wrote:But now they've slain Francois, and are about to emerge from the Abbatoir. So Zorach (in his new body, not yet transformed to match the old) can be outside to confront them. But what does he do? The damage is done, and Francois and Marie won't live happily ever after in the Kyton city of Jangling Hiter. So what's my angle? I'd like Zorach to say something here, about how the PCs keep standing in the way of true eternal love. But if he attacks them alone, even damaged as they are by Francois, they will probably just quickly kill him, putting him back in the ring (unlike many fiends, fideles can't teleport freely to make an escape. They can only teleport to their lover's side, and this guy's mate is dead, and outside of Ravenloft). And would he really attack them in this situation?

He still sees himself as Lawful, and probably Good. All he wants is to unite lovers together forever (though he's willing to accept any collateral damage, including human sacrifice, to do it). Would he take revenge on the PCs for getting in the way of that? Or would he accept that revenge doesn't bring any lovers back together and move on? Or would he just be trying to get his wedding ring back from them?

*thinking and then rambling*
* Excuse both *

How 'personally' has he taken the PC's interference?

If he sees them as interfeering with his 'job', he may just shrug and cut his losses. Wasting time on revenge means other worthy couples are denied his 'help'.
In this case, he leaves them in posession of the ring. Why? What better protection for his phylactery than a group of armed 'heros' who are posessive about their stuff - esp if the ring has a useful benefit. Even if to PCs just sell the ring to some merchant, he still wins as now the ring becomes almost untraceable as it passes through the market. How can one destroy what one cant find?

Later on, the PC's might go 'Oh crap' realising they need to find it again and go on a huge wild goose chase to get it back.

If he has taken it personally - then things could get interesting, but could be tricky from a RP side of things...

Given he still thinks he is LG-ish. He may decide to make the punishment suit the crime. Much better than whack-a-mole when ever he pops up.
Since the PCs have denied a couple 'love', he decides that turnabout is fair play (and an object lesson) he denies them love.
He starts cutting them off from things and people they love (platonically and romantically if any), maybe even going so far as to arrange for PC's to have happy times, and then break them - (eg: their new lover gets vamped - echoes of Erasmus) lecturing that this is what it feels like for those they have wronged by defying his designs, and the PC's are destroying his holy work, etc etc.

The catch is thant while Love & romance are part of the Gothic horror theme, they are very often tricky and uncomfortable to run.

How for how he says something without ending up on the wrong end of a pointy stick - given the PC's have close posession of a outsiders phylactery - haunting dreams, half heard whispers, and the like would seem reasonable given the proximity.

Another option may be like the Fallen of the Black Denarius in the Dresen Files. In the DF, a mental copy of the fallen imprints itself on the owner of the Blackened Denarius acting like an invisible friend only the person can see (its all inside their head). Do the same with the person holding the phylactery - with the unwelcome guest verbally pushing the PC with varying degrees of force to perform his holy mission to unite lovers or to offer themselves up as a suitable host.

It wouldnt be long before said PC wants to get rid of the uninvited guest in their head - hence destroy the phylactery again.
Though in your PC's case it could be interesting, as I remember from the journals one of them already has an invisible friend.

He could also alternatively talk to them and curse them that until they 'instead of destroying a couple will suffer until they complete another union."

Obvious quick solution to getting rid of whatever negative effect the curse comes with would be for one of the party members to marry quickly or each other. (Now he could also throw a clause of true love in there and then it becomes much harder.) So they'd get to potentially play match maker. (Hehe, i know of a certain pair of twins that need to settle down and find a nice young man before their Grandfather dies.... though in your timeline they might be a little young. I can't remember if yours was the campaign that made them born sooner.)

Since this Zorach character is in the cult of Evening Glory, he may try to find some way of reanimating Francois and then reuniting them once again. The player characters may think Francois' obsession has allowed him to rise as one of the Restless Dead, though in fact he is an Obedient Dead. I seem to remember the Delacourte adventure involving necromancers, so Zorach could look among whatever remains of them or their notes to bring back Francois. Alternatively, he may try to set up the mourning Marie with Nikolai Melenthas.

Depending upon how he views the characters, he may seek to reclaim his phylactery. This need not be done personally, as he could manipulate other parties into stealing the ring for him. Alternatively, if he values the characters for some reason or other (they travel from domain to domain, allowing him chances to go off and reunite lovers), he may seek to manipulate them to his own ends through various possessed hosts or proxies manipulated by his possessed proxies. He might justify his actions as enacting their atonement for the evil of denying love they have caused.

As for striking back at them, I think he would do it more as prevention rather than revenge. He might think that if they've broken up love before, then they're likely to do it again. On the other hand, Zorach might believe the player characters interfered because they did not know love themselves. In this case, Zorach may try to ask as a matchmaker for the PCs with various (perhaps inadvertently unsavory, inconvenient, or incompatible) characters.

Or, if the PCs already have lovers, he may kidnap their lovers and fake their deaths, in order to inspire empathy for those in similar situations and to prove that even the player characters might stoop to drastic actions in getting back their lovers. Of course, Zorach would do this with "the best of intentions" and not mean to harm anyone, but he might cause some pretty lasting collateral damage. (For example, if the player characters believe somebody else kidnapped their lovers and then hit the proverbial hornet's nest trying to track them down.)

Evening Glory is from Liber Mortis, thought, and it was a neutral deity.

He could always try teleporting to his mate and end up being dumped in a random location as per usual when trying to hop planes out of Ravenloft.

Mistmaster wrote:Evening Glory is from Liber Mortis, thought, and it was a neutral deity.

Oops, you are correct. I always mix those two books up. Libris Mortis it is.

And yes, EG herself is a neutral deity, but that doesn't matter all that much as far as what her followers are like, especially in Ravenloft. By the books, her worshipers could be anything except the "corners" of the alignment grid. (But of course, we have in Ravenloft stuff like worshipers of NG Belenus who are LE, thanks to the meddling of the Dark Powers.) The cult that summoned Zorach was led by the CN vorlog Cynthia DeGrieves (I wrote her up in QtR20). I don't have my notes with me, but I think I put Zorach at LN to start, but my plan is that Ravenloft will take a further toll on him, pushing him towards LE. But without direct contact with Evening Glory, he's not going to know that he's drifted so far from his patron, and won't suffer any ill effects.

I feel like the Phantom Lover might be involved

DustBunny wrote:*thinking and then rambling*
* Excuse both *

please do. That's what I'm looking for.

How 'personally' has he taken the PC's interference?

If he sees them as interfeering with his 'job', he may just shrug and cut his losses. Wasting time on revenge means other worthy couples are denied his 'help'.

Yeah, I guess there's the rub. I'm thinking he's somewhat pragmatic. On the one hand, you're right. On the other, he's been in this strange land for all of two days. And in those two days, he's seen this group of interlopers foil "true love" twice. And the first time, he was told by Cynthia that the PCs "always ruin everything." So he might see them as a consistent threat to his purpose, and want them destroyed from that standpoint. In the small amount of roleplay I did with him, I tried to play him mainly as a zealot, purely dedicated to his task. If they are enemies of that task, killing them isn't revenge, it's a smart plan. But on the third hand (don't judge me, I have three hands, ok?) he probably knows he's outmatched by them, as they defeated him the first time, even with Cynthia, her cultists, and assorted other bad guys on his side.

In this case, he leaves them in posession of the ring. Why? What better protection for his phylactery than a group of armed 'heros' who are posessive about their stuff - esp if the ring has a useful benefit. Even if to PCs just sell the ring

The PCs know what the ring is, so they aren't going to sell it. They will likely try to destroy it. I guess that's a very good reason he'd want it back from them. Even if he doesn't know that destroying it would kill him, it's got extreme sentimental value for him and he wouldn't want it destroyed. I wonder how much he knows about what happens around him when he's inside the ring. Has that ever been mentioned anywhere? I can't find anything definitive in VRGtF, RLPH, or Ryan Naylor's Pathfinder VRMHC. Would he know about their plans they discussed? Is that how he knows about Francois and Marie or is it some innate "love sense" he has? As they've been carrying the ring around, has he heard everything they've said since "killing" him? Would he even try asking them to hand it over?

Given he still thinks he is LG-ish. He may decide to make the punishment suit the crime. Much better than whack-a-mole when ever he pops up.
Since the PCs have denied a couple 'love', he decides that turnabout is fair play (and an object lesson) he denies them love. .. (eg: their new lover gets vamped - echoes of Erasmus)

Yes, this is good thinking. I don't want him to be a whack-a-mole combat encounter every day. That's silly, and not thematic. But I don't see him denying anyone love, even his enemies. That would go against his creed. But he might do some twisted things in the name of love. That I'll grant. Since he doesn't even see death or undeath as a barrier to love, I could see him letting one of the PC's lovers become an undead like that. Trouble is, we've had a bunch of flirting here and there with NPCs (or even within the PC group) but no solid love connections. But it's something to keep in mind. The minute one of the PCs does fall in love, Zorach will be there to complicate it.

How for how he says something without ending up on the wrong end of a pointy stick - given the PC's have close posession of a outsiders phylactery - haunting dreams, half heard whispers, and the like would seem reasonable given the proximity.
Another option may be like the Fallen of the Black Denarius in the Dresen Files. ... Though in your PC's case it could be interesting, as I remember from the journals one of them already has an invisible friend.

Good point. Even if he's not actually in the phylactery, he could still use it to communicate, perhaps. It's not a canon ability of fiend phylacteries, but who cares, if it's cool. But yeah, I already have a PC with a bunch of voices in his head. Adding another one a la Harry Dresden and Lasciel wouldn't have the same effect, it would just be like, "take a number and sit over in that corner of my skull please.."

Zilfer wrote:He could also alternatively talk to them and curse them that until they 'instead of destroying a couple will suffer until they complete another union."

Intriguing.... I might incorporate that.

(Hehe, i know of a certain pair of twins that need to settle down and find a nice young man before their Grandfather dies.... though in your timeline they might be a little young. I can't remember if yours was the campaign that made them born sooner.)

Yeah, IMC, they are about 9 years old, but I like your thinking.

The Lesser Evil wrote:Since this Zorach character is in the cult of Evening Glory, he may try to find some way of reanimating Francois and then reuniting them once again.

ooh... good one. Complicated by the fact that at the moment the PCs are hauling Francois's corpse with them to show to the authorities. But depending on what they ultimately do with him, I'll keep it in mind as a potential scheme for Zorach.

Alternatively, he may try to set up the mourning Marie with Nikolai Melenthas.

That would be cute too, but I've portrayed him as too young for her. (He died at 13 and is stuck at that age. She's 25 by now) Also, I'd considered letting him go to rest at this point, having been destroyed during the battle with Francois. He'd rejuvinate if Marie were in trouble again, but I think she's been through enough and might actually be safe for a while. (Don't want her to become Timmy to Nikolai's Lassie. "Guys, guys! Marie fell in love with a monster... again!")

This need not be done personally, as he could manipulate other parties into stealing the ring for him. Alternatively, ... he may seek to manipulate them to his own ends through various possessed hosts or proxies manipulated by his possessed proxies. He might justify his actions as enacting their atonement for the evil of denying love they have caused.

This is good stuff. As a not particularly powerful creature physically, he's going to have to use his smarts to take down the PCs, if that's his goal.

As for striking back at them, I think he would do it more as prevention rather than revenge. He might think that if they've broken up love before, then they're likely to do it again.

Exactly.

On the other hand, Zorach might believe the player characters interfered because they did not know love themselves. In this case, Zorach may try to ask as a matchmaker for the PCs with various (perhaps inadvertently unsavory, inconvenient, or incompatible) characters.

Ooh.. This I like too.

Or, if the PCs already have lovers, he may kidnap their lovers and fake their deaths, in order to inspire empathy for those in similar situations and to prove that even the player characters might stoop to drastic actions in getting back their lovers.

Hmm.. this I like too, especially because it works even if the PCs aren't actually in love with who Zorach assumes they are. Even if they saw it as just flirting, Zorach can read more into it, and serve the dual role of pushing them closer together.

Resonant Curse wrote:He could always try teleporting to his mate and end up being dumped in a random location as per usual when trying to hop planes out of Ravenloft.

Hmm.... I guess that goes back to how much a fiend instinctively knows about his new powers and limitations in Ravenloft. I'd decided that after becoming widowed he gained the ability to temporarily force a shared bond similar to what mated fideles have, and that his teleport ability would only bring him to a victim of that power or possibly his wife's grave (which is now outside of Ravenloft, if it even exists. Do truly slain celestials even leave a body to bury?). Would he know what would happen if he tried to go to her grave? Or would he just try it and find it doesn't work as expected. Same goes for the phylactery. Having died once and been inside it, and figured out how to posses someone, does he know he can do that again? Does he know that destroying it will destroy him?

Another option would be, does the tanner have a wife? Maybe even though the tanner is really slain instantly, since his body takes time to revert to Zorach's, he still maintains some bond to her, and can teleport to her side. That would at least fit the theme better than a random location. ("Vechor? What am I doing in Vechor? Guess I'll roll the dice tomorrow and see where I end up next time." )

thekristhomas wrote:I feel like the Phantom Lover might be involved

Not a bad next fiance for Marie if I do choose to keep tormenting her.

Gonzoron of the FoS wrote:

thekristhomas wrote:I feel like the Phantom Lover might be involved

Not a bad next fiance for Marie if I do choose to keep tormenting her.

Actually, this setup might make for an interesting setup for a followup adventure with Zorlach. Zorlach might initially see the Phantom Lover as a benign entity, depending upon what he knows. However, I feel like Evening Glory would ultimately consider the Phantom Lover to be an evil blasphemy of the worst kind because he is a fraud and imposter and represents the end/death of love rather it lingering on. So ultimately, Zorlach might turn and put his full fury against the Phantom Lover, possibly creating a situation of odd bedfellows with the PCs, especially since they have his ring. And in finding common cause, the PCs might open up a more complex relationship with Zorlach than simple adversaries.

On the other hand, Zorlach may break ranks with the party on what to do with Marie after their common enemy is defeated.

For some reason, George Weathermay and Natalia spring to mind. There was a time when he genuinely loved her, but now hates her. There was a time when she was using him to get to Van Richten, but now she is infatuated with him.

It's not true love, not by any sense, but if your fidele ended up trying to pair them together, it could cause huge ramifications; Gennifer's latent lycanthropy could be exposed for example, which would cause, at the very least, scandal in Mordent.

It relies on your party having a connection to the twins and/or George, though.

What if, in its own twisted logic, the fidele reasons that the reason that the party are consistently a thorn in his side is because they are unwed and he sets his sights on pairing them off. He may approach them and offer them parley, offering to help one or all of them find their true love. You could either play this as him redeeming himself, or the potential spouses he finds being lethal to the party somehow (the new wife is actually a Red Widow, the new husband is actually a shadow fey who desires to make the hero a changeling etc).

Or, just for fun, you could have him confront the party in Barovia, have some random temporal effect take place and have the appear just before Sergei's wedding. The fidele would want the wedding to take place, but the players would actually have to side with Strahd and cause the massacre to go ahead, otherwise they'd doom all those they know and love to non-existance (using the Vistani to deliver this information may help).

^good suggestions above not sure it will fit into Ron's campaign but only he'll know that! Haha, I do have a George Weathermay + Natalia thing coming up of my own here soon....