Dispater Dilemma

[Bobbyjackcorn]

Here we go guys, it's come to the time of the night where someone says they are running an evil campaign. I'm going to be running a sixth level gestalt evil campaign, using the Book Of Vile Darkness suggestions for all-evil pcs for inspiration.
My issue is this; I want to have some clear direction, and motivation, so rather than just having a cleric getting divine advice, one of their ranks (who took a major demonic bloodline) is going to receive a vision from Dispater, Lord of Dis. Now I've read up on Dispater, that's not an issue, I know how to play him and what he can and can't do. What I need help with, is thinking of what Dispater wants with these evil rapscallions.
One is a Hexblade/Warlock Gestalt, two are undecided, leaning towards melee focus. I'd really appreciate some group think as to what interesting missions an Archfiend would want from them.

Additional information:
The campaign setting is of my own making (of course) but otherwise follows similar established norms as other campaign settings (there is an Underdark, the planes are all the same, et cetera). Books available are largely relaxed, though I'm of course not allowing things like Factotums and other over-powered material.
The group is rules focused. We like having original settings and the like, but at the end of the day, things need to be not homebrewed, so those ideas should be disregarded.

[Aergoth]

Dispater is an Archdevil which should be your first hint.

As an archdevil and a figure of power he wants a few things.

Security for his power and status in the present
Security for his power and status in the future
Increase in his power and status in the future if possible
The downfall of his enemies


And this is pretty much in order. While you could argue that "Downfall of his enemies" folds into the other three pretty well, there's a general sense of "And this should probably be to the detriment of someone else as well". Think frame jobs and misdirection. Not only do you damage the guy below you, you position it to happen in such a way that the guy below thinks someone else did it so now you've killed two birds with one stone because those parties are now using their resources and time on each other instead of gunning for your spot.

As to the third, this probably wants a slight caveat of "if it doesn't threaten the first two", but there is also the school of thought that says "Nothing Ventured, Nothing Gained".

So Dispater wants things that will bring him power, artifacts, worshippers etc.
He want to see bad things happen to people he doesn't like: Celestials, demons, other devils he doesn't get along with, worshippers of any of the above.

That should be a pretty good starting place.

[Bobbyjackcorn]

From my understanding, Fiendish Folio II has thus described him as trying to make peace with all his former enemies after the scare of Asmodeus wiping out one of the other Archdevils to make a place for his daughter. Thus, I should probably find a way to stick them up against mortals and celestials, yes? And something that would increase his power (since all of his power ends up centralizing in Dis, and I can't really bring level six's there to help concentrate his power, now can I?) that utilizes souls and makes a distraction that pits mortals against celestials...

[Aergoth]

From my understanding, Fiendish Folio II has thus described him as trying to make peace with all his former enemies after the scare of Asmodeus wiping out one of the other Archdevils to make a place for his daughter. Thus, I should probably find a way to stick them up against mortals and celestials, yes?

You don't need to have him starting the Pax Romana with the other archdevils. Remember that these guys get where they are by stepping on each other. They can be scared into line with a show of force(Levistus, for instance), but that doesn't change the fact that they're still power-hungry LE outsiders. They're just going to get a hell of a lot more subtle and not go right for each other.

For instance: Have your lawful evil party of adventurers manipulate the followers of another archdevil into open war with good-aligned forces? It doesn't even have to be another archdevil. Name an outsider that that Dispater doesn't want to share power with (Hint: It's all of them) and have your adventurers go to making life misrable for them however they can.

[Bobbyjackcorn]

Sounds like a solid beginning. Though I suppose things will become more complicated because not all of them are LE, I know at least one is going CE. They'll likely want to stick together because of their mutual powerfulness and ability to acquire power/money/slaves/what-have-you, but their methodology might end up grating pretty badly. How can I entice the CE members to try things more subtly?

[Aergoth]

Well, there's a couple things you can do. It really depends on your players.

Your first line of defense would be educating them that CE doesn't always mean "blow everything up". Talking to your players away from the table about things like the tone of the game and ensuring things are fun for everyone is where you should always start if you can. Deal with the player, not the character. It's part of your role as the DM to make sure that people have fun. That said, our Chaotic Evil crash course. CE is generally about undermining and destroying order and authority while also being evil. Explosions and fire is a great way to do that, the whole, burn the crops and salt the earth style. You could also go the fifth column route, and slowly rot away at everything. A CE character could, for instance, corrupt officials with bribes to keep them complacent while they do things that lead to the whole city burning, disease running rampant in the streets, cats sleeping with dogs...

The second is getting your CE players to go for delayed gratification. Throw them the occasional opportunity to blow everything all to hell if that's what they enjoy, but have them work subtle to get it. The aforementioned bribes leading to everything being on fire is a great example, and they can feel cool for having done it that way.

The third is your other players. If the lunatics are running the asylum there's not much you can do, but havng LE players and those who are more inclined to a subtle approach can do a lot to temper things. Again, talk to the players, see if you can get their help to rein in disruptive impulses in other players.

Fourth is violent discouragement. If they do something obviously stupid despite warnings to the contrary, let it blow up in their faces. If something sets them on the road to ruin, despite your attempts to pull it away, you sometimes have to let it run off a cliff. Just don't nuke the whole party the first time. Let them get away by the skin of their teeth with the plans in ruins and now they have to get out of town because the authorities and every good aligned adventuring party with a light purse is looking to collect a bounty. And then go right back to #1 and see if they know what they did wrong. This is sort of a last resort object lesson. Try playing this out with NPCs if you can before it gets to this point.

[Bobbyjackcorn]

How's this sound, "First, the PCs must acquire a sample of some celestial's blood. Second, they must find the secret hide out to the Cult of Mammon in a fairly distant city, and steal cult garbs and a crest of Mammon while they are there. They must then go to the Church of St.Cuthbert located in the same city, kidnap the head priest while the rest of the congregation is unaware, all in the uniform of the cult of Mammon, and bring him to a safehouse. Then, acting quickly, they must go back to the cult of Mammon, steal an artifact they are holding there, kill at least one guard and spill the celestial's blood by his body, ditch the uniforms somewhere, and come back to the safehouse. While there, they must interrogate the priest in the garb of the cultists of Mammon, then give him a brief opportunity, seemingly by accident, to pray to his god, just long enough to tell his god that Mammon has stolen him. Then they knock him out, and an Erinyes brings both him and the artifact to Dispater, and if all goes well, the Adventurers are awarded handsomely."

[Aergoth]

It sounds a little like you're trying to dictates the means to accomplish an ends to a group of players comes off a little like an MMO Quest.

Disclaimer first: If that's how you want to run it at your table, run it that way! It's your table, not mine and my way of doing things is most likely not the best way of accomplishing stuff.

Remember that this is an archdevil, if he's giving the quest to sixth level adventurers who aren't neccessarily his worshippers, this probably isn't something terribly high priority that requires minute details be dealt with. The assignment given to them could be as simple as this.

"In the town of X, the worship of my foes thrives. Set them at each others throats and you will be rewarded. But be warned that should your actions cast suspicions on me or mine that you will regret your actions."

So this sets the stage. Dispater wants followers of his enemies to fight each other and he doesn't want anyone finding out he was behind it. You can trail out bread crumbs for them. Let them make Knowledge (Religion) checks to determine who Dispater thinks of as his enemies (St. Cuthbert and Mammon) in this case. It could be that they sneak into the changing room at the temple of St. Cuthbert, steal some priestly garb and holy symbols and go mess things up for the Mammonites and steal the artifact, rather than the other way around. Either way, the same end is accomplished. If they do some violence while in Cuthbert's temple to get the robes and leave them in the cultist lair (now probably bloodsoaked) they're probably going to have an even easier time of it.

The important thing is that you haven't left yourself without wiggle room. The players know their end goal, the means of accomplishing it is theirs within the bounds that have been set (namely that they have to be clever and circumspect about it). Trying to curtail player freedom either means that they're going to chafe at railroading, or you've missed Option 3 and the players will surprise you with it. And the players will always surprise you. If you sit down at a table with four other people expecting that you've out-thought them, you're opening yourself up to be wrong. Give yourself the room to roll with the punches your players throw.

[Bobbyjackcorn]

Aye, so rather I should focus on building the environment, then give them the vague outlines of actual directions, and see how they accomplish their goal, trying hard to remember that as long as they don't do something that is utterly stupid and short sighted, I can work out the background events in or against their favor if I see fit towards whatever end goal is actually in mind.
It's been a little while since I last DM'd, and I admit that rustiness alongside several bad DMs in the rotation has caused my quest making skills to deteriorate somewhat.

[The Insanity]

I don't think an Archdevil would bother dealing with 6th level chumps. He has servants for that.

[Fouredged Sword]

Yeah, here is how I would do it. They get an imp who is in charge of the party's general direction. He is much weaker than them, but in theory is the imp is talking for a more powerful devil who is talking for a more powerful devil who is serving Dispater. Give the little guy a massive ego and very few ways to show it. He has instructions to keep the party moving in the right direction, and will help with information and such, but isn't to engage other than to pass along messages.

Let the party have a "who's the boss NOW?" relationship with him, with him bossing the around, and them threatening him. If they kill him, another gets sent in his place with little or no repercussions. Imps are disposable. You CE player will love an NPC he can rebel from and kill without too much trouble. Just remind him that following orders lets him kill more people faster than if he didn't. On his own he can do so much less than he can do working with others. Just give him outlets that he can role play with that won't throw a wrench in your plot.

Remember that the archdukes of Hell are smarter than you, as DM, are. You can take some liberties with planning to make this happen. No matter the outcome of any mission, the end result was always the plan, and always to be betterment of Dispater. Feel free to revise history to make sure it seems this way in retrospect, just don't change anything in a place the players can tell you changed things.

[Zubrowka74]

I'll go the same direction as the others who pointed out that a 6th level party is nothing to an archdevil.

Unless they are already worshippers or part of the church, they won't attract Dispater'S attention. Have a first encounter like having priests of Dispater in a dangerous position against good-aligned mob / clerics or whatnot. The party saves them, with or without the priest asking for help. Then there will be several other minor mission where the clergy with test the party's worth and loyalty. When they reach a sufficient power level the priest will recommend then to his lord.

Of course this can change if they actively worship him and/or if they use magic to contact him.

[Urpriest]

If the player took a major demonic bloodline, the character will probably be uncomfortable working for a devil. Have you considered using a Demon Prince instead, if you're using the bloodline as inspiration?

[Bobbyjackcorn]

*Major Devil Bloodline
Sorry about that, it was a bit late at night for me.

As for the "Dispater wouldn't deal with some level 6's." The campaign is set in the classic idea of there being very few powerful people who aren't monsters or busy on different planes of existence. These level six gestalt characters are, 1. At least a level's worth if not two levels worth higher than normal level six's due to their gestalts, and 2. Level six is a rare thing to come by in the world in general. Unless it's got LA, you won't find hardly anything with ECL 6 or higher in close proximity to other ECL 6's.
What I mean to explain by all this of course is that level six characters are a fairly powerful lot, and thus, though they may not be anywhere near Dispater's power level, or the power level of many of his minions, why wouldn't he contract them as a means of achieving some of his goals on the material plane rather than one of his own? His cultists aren't generally as powerful as them, and his Devils are too valuable to start thrusting into the mortal plane where they are outsiders and thus are hard to find and resurrect should something happen.