DustBunny wrote:*thinking and then rambling*
* Excuse both
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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.
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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."
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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.
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"We're realistic heroes. We're not here to save the world, just nudge the world into a better place."