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View Full Version : Gamer Tales A contract with The Nine Hells *MINOR SPOILERS FOR OUT OF THE ABYSS*



Grizl' Bjorn
2017-05-02, 10:59 AM
**MINOR SPOILERS FOR OUT OF THE ABYSS**

So a fellow party member named Gaajel died. He then made a pact with an imp to be returned to life, forfeiting his immortal soul in the process (this is home-brew by our DM not in the module AFAIK). My character, a lovable but eccentric psion named Jet who used to be an archaeologist, responded by mixing his own blood and ink, and writing out and signing the following contract, whereupon there was a sudden smell of brimstone and a small A immediately appeared in the space left for Asmodeus's signature. Without further ado, here is the contract:



Contract of bounty against abyssal forces



1. The parties

The parties to this contract are Asmodeous and Jet, henceforth referred as the parties. Obligations on Asmodeus are understood to create obligations upon his agents, any beings under his control, any national or corporate entities controlled by himself and so on.



2. Contract of bounty only creating obligations for the bounty offerer

As a contract of bounty, this contract creates no obligations upon Jet, but rather specifies a reward, outlined in section 6. that Jet will receive in exchange for the occurrence of a particular outcome outlined in section 5.



3. Contract as solemn representation

In signing this contract, the bounty offerer represents that they have the capacity to fulfil all of their obligations under the contract, and will do so immediately upon occurrence of the outcome described in section 5.



4. Whole of the agreement

This contract represents the whole of the agreement between the parties and will remain so unless superseded or modified by further written contracts willingly entered into without threat or coercion of any kind.



5. Outcomes upon which the bounty is payable

The bounty will be payable if Jet, and/or any combination of persons who have travelled aboard or dwelt in the Imperator achieve or contribute to one or more of the following:

A) Kill, banish, bind, destroy, hinder for a period of at least twenty four hours, permanently incapacitate, seize control of or otherwise similarly interfere with the persons, souls or minds of one or more princes or greater demons of the abyss.
B) Prevent the entrance of a large host of demons into the prime material plane.
C) Prevent the exit of a large host of demons from the abyss.
D) In any fashion, prevent a victory of abyssal forces or create a loss for abyssal forces of at least modest significance.
OR E) Do or prevent anything which would at least moderately improve the position of the Nine Hells in their conflict with the abyss, or prevent at least a moderate deterioration in the position of the nine hells in relation to its conflict with the abyss.

6. Bounty

The bounty is as follows:

A) Without prejudice to the question of whether Gajeel has entered into a valid contract with Asmodeus, his agents or the Nine Hells, Asmodeus will release Gajeel from any and all obligations to hell, and from the forfeiture of his immortal soul to hell. Upon and before death his soul will not be interfered with by hell in anyway, and shall instead go to the afterlife his soul would be naturally destined for in the absence of any contract with hell. This clause requires hell to release Gajeel’s soul without further harm should Gajeel already be present in hell when the bounty becomes payable.

B) Asmodeus promises and vouchsafes that he and his agents will not act upon any intention, aim, plan, design etc. to cause any harm or pain (of any sort) to any person who has dwelt aboard or travelled in the imperator with Jet. Should such a person take deliberate and direct action against the Nine Hells this clause will be nullified, but only for that person.

7. A year and a day’s grace

Should Gajeel’s soul enter into the Nine Hells or any plane controlled thereof before any events have occurred to make the bounty payable, Gajeel’s soul shall be put aside in magical stasis and kept from harm or alteration by hell for a period of not loss than a year and a day, so as to ensure the condition of goods should the bounty become payable. Nothing in this clause shall prevent magical resurrection of Gajeel by Jet or agents in alliance with Jet.


8. Non-sabotage and non-vengance

Asmodeus shall not act in a way so as to prevent the fulfilment of any of the outcomes in section 5. by Jet, and/or any combination of persons who have travelled aboard or dwelt in the Imperator, nor shall he act so as to torment, hurt or otherwise harm such persons while at least a portion of them are pursuing the bounty with at least a portion of their resources and attention.

If no outcome from section 5 is fulfilled, Asmodeus will take no vengeance, punishment, action designed to torment etc. against Jet or any person who has dwelt aboard or travelled in the imperator with Jet in retribution for the non achievement of a section 5 outcome.

9. Interpretation

This contract is to be interpreted as it would be by a reasonable, neutral person. The document is to be read as a whole governed by the intention and overall meaning of what is written.

Finis contract


Asmodeus, you are no doubt aware already of why this contract is in your interest, but for the sake of appearances I will spell it out. Offering me something to contribute to the setback of the abyss costs you nothing if I do not achieve it. If I do achieve it, it costs you one soul and the prize is immense. The only danger then is that we might have done it anyway. However, even the smallest chance that your offer will make the difference between my having the strength of motivation to achieve it, and my not having such strength is worth a single soul given the strategic stakes of the bloodwar, the dangers represented by the demogorgons incursion etc. In the grand market of the universe we are asking for pocket change in exchange for bullion.


Yours (but only in a strictly metaphorical and conventional sense, and certainly not in any sense entailing ownership or real obligation on my part)


Jet

Grizl' Bjorn
2017-05-02, 11:10 AM
Anyone else here written out such a contract in game?

Cealocanth
2017-05-02, 01:27 PM
So, I see a bit of a problem with the contract that seems to strongly benefit Asmodeus. While the contract does technically say that Asmodeus will release his soul if he does not harm or even if he helps the hells, there is a major loophole that Asmodeus can exploit. Basically, if Asmodeus were to send an agent to the world that makes another deal with the major villian in the game or someone that Jet is bound to fight, then interference in his plot can be argued as deliberate interference in the operations of the hells, which would render the contract null and ensure that Asmodeus gains control of his soul. For the lord of all the hells, nullifying this contract and blaming Jet is a pretty trivial thing, and so you're basically hedging your bet that Asmodeus has more important things to do than pull some strings to secure a soul.

icefractal
2017-05-02, 04:08 PM
If the contract is voided it's only Gajeel's soul that (remains) forfeit. And the only part voided by interference in infernal affairs would be:

B) Asmodeus promises and vouchsafes that he and his agents will not act upon any intention, aim, plan, design etc. to cause any harm or pain (of any sort) to any person who has dwelt aboard or travelled in the imperator with Jet. Should such a person take deliberate and direct action against the Nine Hells this clause will be nullified, but only for that person.But that doesn't grant Asmodeus any extra power to harm Jet, it simply allows him to do so in the same way he would have been able to if the contract didn't exist.

There is one big danger to Jet though - this brings him to Asmodeus's attention. :sabine:
(Yes, I know succubi are demons, but there's no devil icon.)


Edit: Ok, there is one loophole I noticed ...

Gajeel’s soul shall be put aside in magical stasis and kept from harm or alteration by hell for a period of not loss than a year and a day, so as to ensure the condition of goods should the bounty become payable. Nothing in this clause shall prevent magical resurrection of Gajeel by Jet or agents in alliance with Jet. Keeping the soul from alteration could extend past resurrection, so you get someone who's alive but can't change in any way, probably meaning no ability to remember new things. That's still an improvement on being tortured in hell though, and only the case if he dies, so not a big issue.

Also, I figure that Asmodeus does fulfill deals in a non-screwjob way some of the time - he wants people to think there's a chance, so that there continue to be takers.

Grizl' Bjorn
2017-05-02, 05:22 PM
"There is one big danger to Jet though - this brings him to Asmodeus's attention."

Well apparently part of A's reply was "If you ever grow tired of good, we certainly have a job offer for you." (!!!)

Regarding stasis, apparently A wants to negogiate counter terms (signing immediately was retconned out) so I'm going to add in a few clauses:

1. Specifying that time is measured from the perspective of this material plane.
2. Specifying that A may not attempt to 'tempt' the party into action against hell.
3. Specifying that magical stasis will not be in place upon the return of Jet's soul to his body (I think this is already metaphysically necessary?)

I think most this stuff is already guaranteed by the interprative approach specified in clause 9, but redundancy can't hurt.