Canonfire!

Sun Oct 10, 2004 8:53 pm Ivid the Undying has a serious blunder possible fixes?

Reading the Draons of Aerdy article the author brought up a good point:

Quote: Sargent noted that the Naelax clan had a very specific stipulation in their contract with Baalzephon which forbade all dealings with Tanar'ri. The later assertion that Ivid's general summoned hordes of them for this battle, therefore (an action depicted as the key to the city's fall), could not have happened. It would be a serious breach of said agreement, and claiming that one's generals had done it would not cut much ice with Baalzephon. (a) If allowed, it would make the pact virtually worthless; (b) Ivid's generals would almost certainly have included those of his lineage; and (c) As the stronger and more experienced party in such contracts, it is expected that interpretations would tend to favour and protect Baalzephon rather than Ivid. Risking this pact for the sake of one small city just isn't worth it, and I couldn't see Baalzephon or Karoolck allowing it. This struck me as a serious inconsistency. Unquote

I checked my copy of Ivid and he is right, this action would void the pact Exclamation

Personally I would take the easy route and exchange the Tanar'ri for baatezu spinagon and other baatezu troop types.

Just wondering how other Greyhawk Sages would square this circle if you want to keep the text as written??

Comments...

Mon Oct 11, 2004 2:19 pm My take on the use of demons

My take on this issue is that the devils used their innate illusion capabilities to confuse the defenders of Medegia, that way the pact was never broken. I included an excerpt from my Hell on Oerth article explaining this theory:

"These special fiendish units were manned by barbazu, “bearded devils”. These units were the most violent of the Companion Guard, but still possessed great discipline. It is thought that they developed the highly effective tactic of creating many powerful illusions of chaotic fiends to cover themselves in the hope that their enemies would use less effective spells and weapons against them. (In truth, this tactic only works against those who are well versed in the differences between devils, demons, and other lower planar creatures. Most mortals don’t know the difference and just throw everything they got against any fiendish creature and hope for the best.) This tactic was successfully employed in several battles in Medegia, an example of which is the confused accounts of devils, demons, and other fantastic creatures that have been reported to have leveled the city of Pontylver."

I think this method is not only very effective in a tactical sense (the defenders would be wondering why their fire attacks were not working), but also served to confuse the issue of who actually ordered the razing of Medegia in the first place (Ivid could claim that he has no ties to demons, so this must have been some renegade army at work).

My two coppers worth.

O-D