Continued:

Rushing to the prison, she confronted her sister, who showed no shame in admitting to what she'd done. As they argued, both sisters somehow managed to open up to each other far more than they'd ever done before, and finally, somehow, managed to reach a strange understanding with one another. The assassin apologised for the trouble she'd caused, but still showed little care, since she figured once she was executed the following day then the pact would be unenforcable, anyway (as long as she lived, Devils would keep on trying to fulfill the pact by killing the paladin so that they could claim the assassin's soul, but if she died and went to the Abyss, it'd be too late). The devil she'd signed the pact with had hinted that she'd become an Erinyes, which she thought would be pretty cool, anyway.

At this point, the semi-reformed Erinyes cohort came in handy, as the paladin called her in and she explained in rather graphic detail, with the help of illusory visual aids, that the assassin most certainly would not become an Erinyes, as it was impossible for normal devils to be promoted to that form, and in fact she would become a Lemure, and described this transformation in a most brutal and straightforward manner. This prospect sufficiently freaked out the assassin that she finally agreed to go along with the paladin's plan of Atonement to void the contract.

Due to a lack of high level friendly clerics to cast the Atonement spell, the paladin prayed to Mystra for guidance, who showed her a vision of a place she should take her sister so that her sins may be wiped clean. Explaining the situation to the Archbaron, the paladin was able to secure her sister's release, and together they swiftly departed for this place. The rest of the party were more interested in tracking down an annoying wizard that the rogue really wanted to kill, so no one else (except the cohort) came along.

Continued:

Reaching their destination, the trio were taken to a demi-plane occupied by a powerful Outsider named Judgement. He decreed that in order to void the contract, the assassin must prove her worth by rescuing two innocent souls from the Hall of the Vanquished, in Stygia, the fifth layer of Baator. The Hall was a fiendish museum/training centre where Chaotic and/or Good Outsiders, as well as the souls of heroic mortals, were permanently imprisoned in the ice, only occassionally thawed out for bored devils to practice upon.

The semi-reformed Erinyes cohort didn't volunteer to come along, and wasn't asked, either, as her fear of returning to Hell was well documented. Nonetheless, she did provide useful information on the layout and defences of the Hall. So, using a combination of powerful illusion and makeup (to slip by those devils with True Seeing), the paladin and her assassin sister were blessed with protection against the supernatural cold, and then plane shifted to Stygia.

Arriving on the icy plane of Hell, the duo made their way towards the Halls, bluffing their way past a passing Duke of Hell who wanted to draft them into an army bound for Avernus before reaching their goal. Inside, the assassin was able to locate the secret door to the room containing all the records and command words to release the 'exhibits', and with some illusions for distractions and dispels for traps provided by the paladin, they snuck inside.

Continued:

Grabbing the release commands for a handful of celestials, they snuck back out again, but without any illusions for cover, they were spotted by the guards. Bluffing failed, and so battle was immediately joined. Summoning forth a small herd of celestial bison, and cutting off reinforcements with a Solid Fog spell, the paladin threw herself into battle with the Bearded Devils and Barbed Devil that were nearby, while the assassin ran around freeing as many exhibits as she could.

While the battle was mostly under control, with the freed celestials immediately joining the fray to help even as more fiendish reinforcements finally managed to dispel the solid fog and arrive en masse as a small force of mid-power devils, the assassin suddenly came screaming around the corner, babbling about some really huge devil that was coming their way. Deciding they'd done all they could, the paladin urged the liberated celestials to flee for the exit, where they would be able to plane shift to safety, fighting a running battle past Erinyes and Chain Devils before they reached the exit... guarded by two Ice Devils and a huge Bone Devil (the Duke they had encountered earlier).

Throwing up a Mirror Image to go with her earlier cast buffs, the paladin threw herself into battle against the three Greater Devils, screaming at the others to make a run on the exit rather than be distracted by a pointless melee. Between her super buffed AC when fighting defensively, and her mirror images, she was able to easily hold off the attacks of the Gelugons, and her high saves let her shrug off the save or dies that the Duke was throwing at her. Even when the Duke shattered the icy floor beneath them to splash some of the participants with the freezing waters of the River Styx, she was able to avoid the worst of it as she fought a desperate battle to keep the fiends occupied while the celestials and her sister made their run on the exit.

Continued:

She wasn't doing much damage - even a Wraithstrike + Arcane Strike + Power Attack full attack only managed to land two out of four hits on the Duke (does anyone ever expect a Huge monster to have touch AC higher than 20?), and the 67 Good Aligned damage inflicted was described as 'barely phasing him'.

Then the Duke decided to full attack her.

Already bereft of most of her mirror images from the attacks of the Ice Devils, her buffed AC of 32 proved no match for the 21+ hit dice Bone Devil which was hitting at +31 for 3d6+29 damage. Then when he rolled a 19, I heard the dreaded words of "I'll roll again to confirm that threat," from the DM. As if it wasn't already made of more rape than my 77hp could handle, it had to have Improved Critical? A crit and a normal hit got through, inflicting well over 100hp damage. Amazingly, this didn't kill the paladin, by virtue of the fact that she'd drank a potion of regeneration earlier, which gave her bonafide regeneration (not fast healing) for 1 minute.

Nonetheless, as she fell, I resigned myself to the fact that this PC would spend the rest of eternity as a grisly trophy in a hellish museum of rape. It sucked to be killed by a creature I genuinely had no chance in hell of ever hurting, but it's really hard to ask for a more awesomely paladinly way of dying than that, holding back an overwhelming force of fiends so that others could escape.

Continued:

But the DM kept rolling dice! After a minute of tense rolling, he announced the start of a new scene, with my paladin waking up in the realm of the Outsider who had sent us on the Atonement quest. Here, Judgement and the Erinyes cohort hesitantly explained that no, I wasn't dead, and then they asked if I knew about the properties of the River Styx.

Demanding that they stop beating around the bush and tell her what happened to her sister, the paladin was shown to a room where her sister was sitting in bed and reading a book. She cheerfully looked up at the new arrival with an innocent face that showed none of the hardness or guile that the assassin was known for, and asked, "Are you my sister?"

It turned out that the assassin, upon seeing the paladin fall, had rushed back into the fray and tumbled amidst the devils in order to reach her, only to suffer exposure to the waters of the River Styx splashing through the shattered floor even as she activated the item to teleport us both out of there.

ROW ROW FIGHT THE POWER!

Well, I wouldn't EXACTLY call that a Bad End. Bittersweet to be sure, but you were both alive, and even without her former memories the sister could still build a relationship with her sister.

BAD END

Wow, nice story OP, nice. Got any more follow-ups?

That wasn't a Bad End
But it was an Awesome Story, I don't like bad ends anyway

>>870492

I'll agree to that. On one hand, yes, she lost her sister as she once knew her--probably forever, unless extreme (and probably painful) measures were made.

On the OTHER hand, her sister now has a new lease on life, free of guilt and (for the most part) past sins. None of the bad air hanging around them is there anymore, really, which gives the paladin and her sister a chance to have a good, strong, familial friendship and sisterhood.

So, uh...NEUTRAL END?

>>870534
Until some dude is like "Hey you're that assassin bitch *STAB*" and she dies never knowing what the Hell was going on.

>>870534
delicious loli construct

Fuck win end.

I guess maybe it's not completely tragic, but it's still harsh since the paladin's entire backstory was built on absolutely loathing her sister, but having a perverse familial obligation that forced her to constantly put herself through shit to clean up her sister's messes, only to be met with scorn and derision for it.

So, on this atonement quest, the pair were finally working together, and pretty much kicking ass as they found their skills complementing each other awesomely as they infiltrated hell and rescued a bunch of angels. And so, just when they finally learned that they could get along, the chaotic evil assassin sacrifices her identity to save her stuck up lawful good sibling.

Bittersweet probably is the best word, yeah. The paladin's going to do her best to give her sister a good life in future, and she'll try to search for a cure (even if it takes a wish or miracle).

No follow up as yet, since this is where the session ended yesterday.

>>870538

Valid point. Although what retard would actually TRY to stab the sister of a paladin, especially if together?

>>870556
>>870538

Yeah, I doubt anyone will have the balls to try and stab her - even if they do, she hasn't lost any of her skills or abilities, just the memories that go with them.

What does worry me, though, is that people *will* treat her like shit. She poisoned the beloved Archbaron in charge of the country the game is set in, and there were angry mobs outside the prison for a few days right after she was arrested. Even if she gets a public pardon, she's still going to be reviled, and I worry that such mistreatment might prompt her to go down the same dark path she tread in the past.

>>870553

Eagerly awaiting the events of your next session.

Quick! Someone upload this to Wikich- oh, nevermind...

>>870553
What could REALLY make it tragic is when the sister is finally given her memories back, only to be so filled with horror and remorse at what she used to be that she turns on her sister, screaming: "Why did you remind me?! Why couldn't you just let me be HAPPY?!?!"

>>870571

I can help with that, dearie.

>>870582
Get lost shitbag!

>>870568
"she hasn't lost any of her skills or abilities, just the memories that go with them."

Wait, but are'nt most Assasin abilities tied-in with the fact you have to be evil to use the Prestige Class? I'm not certain you lose anything if your alignment shifts (which, in her case, went to true Neutral, right?), but don't most of those abilities/spells have evil discriptors or something, the casting of/use causing an alignment shift back to Evil?

Archive! NAO!

>>870588

She's always described as assassin because she killed people for money. Mechanically she was just a straight level 8 rogue.

>>870568

Hat of Disguise, maybe?

>>870588
>>870592

Ahh, got that.

>>870457

I haven't read a D&D story this awesome since the Wyre Story Hour, also featuring a TRUE PALADIN.

>>870457
Shit story is shit.
Also, if I was the one who was playing the paladin, I would've killed the character just to stop the shitty plot.

I can't even begin to imagine the amount of railroading it took to deal with this shit

>>870629
FUCK YOU AND DIE!

This is awesome!

>>870629

ITT People who think the DM taking any role other than uncaring observer and arbiter is railroading.

Either there was some roleplaying way above par going on in that session, even if it was just between you and the DM, or you are a master at retelling events in a brilliant and evocative way.
Either way, come back with what happens next when you get the chance.

Also, how do the other players feel about this story direction?

>>870629

If you think the story's shit, fair enough, but it sure wasn't railroaded. It was my idea to intro the new PC using the connection to the previous villain, and for the most part things developed fairly naturally from our interactions.

Hell, by the point the soul pact had been signed I'd set it up so that the paladin had washed her hands of her sister, and could have convinced herself to leave the assassin to her execution and call the problem solved. But I worked hard at RPing out the argument where their respective barriers came down, and after that I even could have theoretically gone to the temple of Waukeen (only two temples nearby with high enough level clerics, Helm and Waukeen) and dumped a bucket of gold on their altar in exchange for the Atonement spell, but I wanted to do this through Mystra, so I prayed and got the vision and things went from there. I even could have bailed out rather than fighting the Duke long enough to get put down, since the round before his full attack had seen two of the angels successfully escape, fulfilling the terms of the quest.

So I had tons of options all the way through, and I really can't see it as railroading.

>>870658

The other PCs honestly aren't that interested in this particular plotline - the closest they've come to involvement was when the rogue threatened to steal my NPC after I had the paladin withdraw her plea for mercy, since we each have our own bands of associated NPCs and followers that we interact with in downtime and sidequests.

The paladin of Helm has his associated temple, kensai trainer, and archer girlfriend. The half-elf rogue/wizard has her magic school, temple of Waukeen, inn, and various elves. The paladin of Mystra has... her pet devil and assassin sister. Funny how things work out.

Why are the really good stories almost always paladin stories?

*saves*

>>870699

Because paladins who aren't lawful stupid are -great- protagonists, and it takes a great protagonist to make a great story.

While I feel that the OP has some false advertising, the story is cool enough in its own right. I approve.

>>870702

Oh yeah, I know that, some of my favorite characters are the LG ones who aren't asses about it (and a few of my favorite villains are ones who are) but it's possible to play a powerfully LG character without them being either lawful stupid or a paladin, it just never seems to get done that much, and there are other alignments (LN and CG come to mind) with just as much potential that also don't really get much in the way of stories.

Although I would like to point out that it's idiotic to make Atonement a spell. I mean, what the fuck? You pay a high-level cleric enough gold, and voila, all sins expunged?

This shit caused protestantism, people.

>>870709

Yeah, the way we're playing the game has alignment change occur naturally due to your actions. On the other hand, the Atonement spell served a useful purpose as a cosmic rubber-stamp to void the fiendish contract on the assassin's soul. If it was just a matter of convincing the assassin to repent, it wouldn't have been necessary, but we needed to do something about the unending stream of diabolical assassins coming the paladin's way to enforce the contract.

>>870457
ugh, i remember giving you advice for that Pc regarding the assassin. A shame about the BAD END.

>>870709

DMs need to refuse to hand it out except under a case by case basis. It's a reasonable spell that gets fuckmangle abused by people that don't have a clue. I'd never have a cleric sell that spell, there needs to be divine oversight on that shit.

>>870710
The way atonement actually got handled was awesome.

But the way it could easily have been handled according to the system is lame.

>>870709

There's also an XP cost to be paid by the atoner as a sacrifice. And doesn't the spell note that clerics will generally give it away for free?

>>870709

At least in the case of Waukeen's church, it does actually make sense that they'd sell the spell. For most other churches, though, it makes sense that they'd require a suitably heroic quest to be carried out first.

>>870721

Hahaha, good point.

>>870728
STONKING GREAT TITS

>>870721

I had a character seek an atonement from an evil temple once. I had them require him to go sack a small village on his own. Dude went out of his way to show how totally fucking sorry he was by making with the rape and pillaging, and brought back all the plunder to the temple, then kept the best shit for himself and gave the rest to the temple. I approved of that shit, so I let the Atonement go off.

OP here. Holy fuck I just realised something terrible. I was too distracted by the mad rush to get the assassin atoned, but I'd planned on asking her at some point the name of the devil that bought her soul, so I could track it down and kill it later on.

Now I'll never fucking know! *headdesk*

>>870743

Just start tracking down and killing demons until you kill one that knows who did it. Then kill the right one. You'll get there eventually.

>>870743

Hire a midway decent diviner from the city. There's gotta be at least ONE in a decent sized city, there's just too much money to made for there not to be one.

>>870754

He couldn't even get a level 9 cleric, what chance of a diviner that good?

>>870754

I guess I'll find someone to cast Commune or Contact Other Plane at some point, yeah. Still, that oversight really struck me hard when I realised.

>>870743

BAD ENDING

You could also try that IWD2 spell (I know, in b4 /v/) that allows you to conjure up informations from planar record keepers.

I forgot the name. Maybe I can dredge it up.

>>870765

Ah, here we are. Level 5 wizard, Contact Other Plane.

Could work.

Damn it dms gotta stop "Reforming" demons and devils! While yes sometimes in extreme cases it could work now its becoming like people with good drow, over used for how rare it is.

>>870767

Yeah, the highest level wizard in town can cast 5th level spells. She sold me the Summon Monster V and Solid Fog spells that were so instrumental in pulling off the mission. (Nothing's so sweet as rolling a 4 on the 1d4+1 roll for celestial bison. They only managed to kill a single Bearded Devil between them, but they made an awesome distraction)

Saving thread for future referance when MOAR is revealed.

BTW OP, when is your next D&D session going to happen?

>>870771

I've had to work my ass off to get that Erinyes even so far as 'semi-reformed', and she's still a pretty vicious piece of work. But that's a whole different thread.

>>870774

Next main session with the other PCs is on Friday, but we'll probably do a side session during the week to wrap up this sidequest.

women can't be GAR

>>870771
Fall-From-Grace would like to have a word with you.

>>870785

lul, wut?

>>870807

>>870809

My boss was walking by and now I'm fired. Thanks 4chan :(

>>870864
You've just been promoted to Adventurer.

>>870778

Were you the person who posted the thread about converting her a long time ago? I think I remember it.

>>870864 Thank your own dumbass self for surfing when you should be working.

Epic story. I love threads like these.

>>870864

>>870877

>>870810
why does succubus has such drooping tits?

>>870882
because of gravity you dumb weeaboo shit, /h/ is over there --->

>>870882
They don't have breast implants in D&D.

>>870882
>>870890
>>870891
>>870893
magical creature that takes on the body of what the male deems most desirable, tits can sag but those are starting to look granny to me.

>>870874

Yeah, that was me. She's not turned towards goodness, yet, but we're slowly working towards it. The advice I got in that thread helped a ton, and she's actually managed to have her alignment shift up to Lawful Neutral by now.

She still has a lot of issues, and frequently complains about how she *should* be doing certain things (like she said she should have went along with the paladin and assassin on the atonement quest in order to ensure they failed), but for some reason she isn't and it's tearing her apart. It's quite awesome to see play out.

>>870893
record_del_request &cause=1 (Q$4:4512404)

>>870893

i happen to like my tits in a contained anti-gravity field.

>>870911

Why? Why you do such a thing?

note_del_success &id=870893

In fact,

mods = fags.

This thread made me think of Read or Die.

>>870810
Those tits could poke an eye out of a man's face. I don't mind the sag as much as I mind that they're more deadly than a masterwork bastard sword.

So I googled fall-from-grace

and I got this piece of shit

http://www.fall-from-grace.com/current.htm

Is this what I'm looking for?

>>871041

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planescape_Torment

>>870911
Confirmed Hit. Enemy Unit Destroyed.

>>871025
seconded, if the tits looked more like fun bags and less like a wine sack I would be pleased.

So, a new PC will be playing the pally's sister now?

How do you two plan to handle this relationship?

>>871829

...Incest?

NO, NO, WAIT, THIS ISNT /b/ AT ALL!

This is the greatest D&D story I've ever heard.

If only I could have such bitter-sweet, poetic endings in my campaigns. T_T

>>870771
I would argue that the 'fallen angel' type fiends are not beyond redemption. The mortal souls twisted into the physical embodiment of evil are a different story, but if they were angels once, they can at least attempt to atone.

>>871843
*thwack*

I'm about to archive this, OP. Any requests on a title? I can't think of one.

makes me wish people actually roleplayed in the game im running im gonna TPK them this weekend