We've been playing some D&D lately as part of the Coronavirus WFH era. Me, Kyle, Chris, Tom (Chris' son), and Eryn. Recently, despite being low level (aka 3) we seem to have run afoul of Demogorgon (the original demon from D&D, not the Stranger Things monster, although they're related as those kids play D&D). My character has a pact with Demogorgon (my character is not evil, but he's not good - aka Chaotic Neutral) for his warlock powers, and said Demogorgon seems to be eating the locals which is at odds with our goals, so we either need to run or figure out what he's/they are up to, and regardless, if they recognize me, it might be a problem for my pact. Hence, this write up, so we don't have to discuss it for a lengthy period of time. That said, best laid plans of mice and men meet the enemy and those plans lose their tails. Something like that.
Warbear: https://www.dndbeyond.com/profile/Dexter_Scootarus_I/characters/27038034
Approach to the sudden appearance of Demogorgon, Pact Entity for WarbearThe below process is in conjunction with whatever the rest of the group is up to, but they can at least run/find cover/etc while I do a bit of negotiation/distraction/exploration of cause and give them some runway.
- Assume as someone who prides himself on a lot of studying (per my character sheet) that I know quite a bit about the entity with whom I have a pact.
- Make the assumption based on the Ixitxachitl (carnivorous manta rays who serve in Demogorgan’s armies) that this is truly Demogorgon
- Knowing his telepathic (among other things), reach out to Aameul (left of the two heads) as he’s the thinker of the two and the one I specifically made a pact with. Hethradiah (right head) is the growler. I’ve always assumed he doesn’t much like me. He tends to make his own pacts. Presumably with more physical types.
- Let him know I’m here (mention Gef, the house pact representative who lives in the walls, if that helps set context, pacts are generally make and forget as I understand them. They’re a grant of powers, not an ongoing connection like a cleric has. So he might not be specifically keeping track of me. I’m small potatoes).
- Mention that it seems we killed priestess of his, but in our defense, we were defending ourselves, she was weak AF and deserved to die, they can eat her if they want, and she was a serious fuck up. Presumably she was supposed to be sacrificing innocents and the particularly good, and instead she was trying to sacrifice one of his own worshippers. Serious fail.
- Given he’s dealing with dumbshits like this priestess and small fry like this village, I’m going to assume this isn’t about worshippers or even skilled soldiers for his army. Looks like it’s more about vitals to supply his existing foray into this area with the Ixitxachitl as forward troops. Which implies he has concerns here beyond a particularly incapable priestess and a bunch of confused fish villagers.
- He’s got a history with other demons. Can I assume we’re going to have some politicking with some force behind it between rivals in the area? Care to say who or what? If not, there must be something that has him on edge?
- Our goal has been a journey back to our village where I’m more capable of influencing change than amongst the underdark (wherever we are), but perhaps Aameul would care to let me know why he’s apparating, why he has to suffer this pathetic priestess, why he has a small army with him, and if there’s something we should be watching for on the way toward the surface that might be useful as a bulwark against his foes.
- Note that I don’t ask about my father. He made his own bed. I’m not some Inigo Montoya looking for the two-headed thing to avenge my father.
- Dragon Magazine history of Demogorgon: https://ia903109.us.archive.org/8/items/DragonMagazine260_201801/DragonMagazine357.pdf
- Art for Demogorgon (including the original AD&D coloring page by Gygax):http://darkheritage.blogspot.com/2018/02/demogorgon.html
- Gef the Talking Mongoose on wikipedia:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gef
