What is the downside for IFCC?

[stsasser]

They've taken important assets out of the vault and attached them to V. Those assets may realize that riding around with V is better than going back.

[The Minx]

I don't think they have a say in the matter, the IFCC will have designed the soul splice that way.

[GSFB]

We have no idea if those assets are exactly what the IFCC said they are. They could very already be in cahoots with the IFCC and, rather than experiencing a brief period of "freedom" with V could be putting in some overtime by going along for the ride.

Be very very VERY careful when dealing with fiends (better yet, don't deal with them at all).

[Janmorel]

The IFCC seems like they've covered all of their bases -- I doubt that they would care if the 3 souls stuck with V for the rest of hir life since 1) the fiends are immortal and 2) the longer the soul splice lasts, the longer they get V's soul.

I think the only downside will be if V lets go of the power sooner than they intend hir to, thus making the deal not worth their time. Right now, they have no reason not to think that V will never let go of the power willingly. Hopefully, the elf will prove them wrong.

[Spiky]

2 possibilites:

Super-V is too weak or the splice falls apart and the experiment becomes a failure for their cause.

Super-V is too powerful and takes over all life, planes, and existence, dominating even the gods. (seems quite unlikely)

[Cúchulainn]

Demons don't negotiate downsides, silly mortals!

[HandofShadows]

I think there is a (slight) possibility that V could trun on the IFCC. IF (big HUGE if) V is able to think steight I think ve could outsmart them. Consider, according to the rules any spell V would cast ends when the splice does and people killed stay dead. What if V takes a page, or rather a scroll from the dragon and kills the IFCC and then uses the scroll to soulbind them? Of course there are some things I don't know about. Like if V is powerful enough to take out the IFCC and if a soulbind would even work on them, which it may not.

[Xanedan]

Demons don't negotiate downsides, silly mortals!

This.

It can already be assumed that they've been studying V for some time, they've likely calculated the odds of their plan to succeed (whatever their plan may be) and have likely left little room for chance.

I'd place money on whatever they're attempting to accomplish by throwing their "chips in the pot" will likely go in their favor, at least initially.

A good guess would be that the "pot" is the snarl. It's the central figure of the storyline that every player is revolving around. Extending the metaphor of the poker game; Xykon, Redcloak, the Order, the Linear Guild, the IFCC and other forces yet unknown are all just players trying to walk away with control/destruction/protection of the gates and the snarl.

V is likely to be that cleverly hidden straight that the IFCC uses to win this game.

[GSFB]

We have no idea what kind of safeties the IFCC has put in place. For all we know, the evil 3 souls agreed to sign a contract that prohibits their power from being used to harm the IFCC in exchange for a brief bit of "run amuck" time in the Prime Material Plane.

We have no idea if the 3 souls are even real. They could be a powerful illusion put in place to make V "think" she is being guided when she is really simply fulfilling her own evil inner desires. The arcane power could be coming from anything fiendish and the story of the 3 souls could be a big fat lie.

We know pretty much nothing at this point. And, I predict we will continue to know nothing for some time. We need to cut back to Elan and Durkon, then we need to cut back to Roy, then we need to cut back to Haley, Belkar and the attempt at resurrection.

THEN, we will cut back to V.

[Nerdanel]

If V killed the IFCC would he get XP for it?

[Silverraptor]

I think the downside for the IFCC is the politics they've put themselves in.

[Porthos]

I think the downside for the IFCC is the politics they've put themselves in.

This.

What has almost assuredly happened is that the IFCC has joined the merry band of people who are going to try to control the fate of the Snarl (remember there's at least nine sides to this battle). This means that they might lose an upcoming battle over said Snarl.

They could lose anything from prestige (their long term solution blows up in their face) to their very existences (one [or more] of the other sides takes exception to the IFCC sticking their snouts into this mess and takes them on). Of course loss of prestige can be deadly in the Lower Planes, so there's that to think about as well.

So short term there is probably not much downside. But long term they are now committed to a very dangerous game. And one they are not guaranteed to win.