Well, my hope is that Thale will be the one primarily invested in determining Anya's fate. He's surprised me by going above and beyond to keep Anya alive (and even rescue her), when at other times he's seemed more mercenary. But that's the thing: he could surprise me again. I've never really been able to pin down just in WHAT WAYS he's "mercenary." I've had that same problem with the group as a whole (some players more than others). While that might make things interesting in some respects, it's also made me a bit weary of trying to run a "morally mushy" campaign such as this one was destined to be from the start. (Our newest player, New Guy, or whatever it is I'm calling him until I've got a proper handle, has expressed some confusion over this, and the best I can do is commiserate and see if he'll bear with it for a couple more sessions or so, and then when Thale's player takes over for the Pathfinder campaign, maybe we'll have a "normal" RPG campaign again.)
If he WERE to sacrifice Anya, I only think he'd do it because the infernal phrased it in such a way that it sounded like the Right But Hard Thing To Do. That is, Ayisla is the goddess of death, so surely it'd make a sort of "sense" that the only way Ayisla can intervene with Anya is if Anya is brought to the brink of death ... or something. If only someone in the party actually had at least 1 rank in "Lore: Iosan Religion" (or equivalent), maybe we'd have a reasonable chance for someone to shoot holes in the theology of that, but even then that'd just be boiling it down to the whim of a die roll (and a potential "tell" by the fact that I'm asking a player to immediately make a die roll just after I had an NPC make a questionable claim).
I'm placing my bets on the idea that Thale is going to be *hesitant*. The infernal is not a mortal, and does not experience emotions the way humans (or elves!) do; the closest things to emotional displays portrayed by infernals would be that "true" infernals are capable of experiencing something resembling fear if they are in true peril (since they do not have "souls" and hence if they are somehow slain, they cease to exist) ... and that they display a sense of *satisfaction* (perhaps smugness) at maneuvering a mortal into a hopeless situation, and winning out in a bargain -- but those are tied to their primary motivators.
The umbrals (or "conscriptus" or "decaconscriptus") don't have any fear of death, because they're even less alive than the true infernals are. They're fashioned together of "soul-stuff," and if they're "slain," their masters can potentially put them back together again. It's a matter of question of whether the thing that gets put back together again is really the SAME CREATURE, but umbrals don't have a strong sense of self: they SIMULATE a sense of self, for the purpose of interacting with mortals, and may SIMULATE more mortal emotions of surprise, happiness, etc., in an attempt to be more relatable, but they are generally very BAD at it compared to true infernals.
The only reason why this umbral should have *any hope at all* of fooling Thale is simply because, despite his misadventures, he really doesn't have much *experience* with dealing with infernals/umbrals. Nor does he have experience with gods. That "Ayisla" might seem a bit alien to him might seem perfectly reasonable, since she's an immortal. Okay, so she's pale-skinned, with raven-black hair and eyes as black as night -- not exactly out of character for being the Nis-Asyr (Goddess) of Night. The umbral does not have the power to assume ANY form it pleases; it's generally part of the umbral package that it can adopt *A* form resembling any given species (albeit with some telltale "unearthly" details for those wary enough to pick up on them), but it cannot attempt to impersonate a particular individual's appearance. Here, it simply does not need to, because the subject is not personally familiar with the appearance of Ayisla, the specific individual elven goddess.
Goober_Chris seems to be better than most players at picking up on my subtle cues, even though he hasn't been gaming with me as often as several of the other players. It's another reason why I'm more willing to have a "deeper" plot with his character, because I think he handles nuance better.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2018-01-24 10:42 pm (UTC)If he WERE to sacrifice Anya, I only think he'd do it because the infernal phrased it in such a way that it sounded like the Right But Hard Thing To Do. That is, Ayisla is the goddess of death, so surely it'd make a sort of "sense" that the only way Ayisla can intervene with Anya is if Anya is brought to the brink of death ... or something. If only someone in the party actually had at least 1 rank in "Lore: Iosan Religion" (or equivalent), maybe we'd have a reasonable chance for someone to shoot holes in the theology of that, but even then that'd just be boiling it down to the whim of a die roll (and a potential "tell" by the fact that I'm asking a player to immediately make a die roll just after I had an NPC make a questionable claim).
I'm placing my bets on the idea that Thale is going to be *hesitant*. The infernal is not a mortal, and does not experience emotions the way humans (or elves!) do; the closest things to emotional displays portrayed by infernals would be that "true" infernals are capable of experiencing something resembling fear if they are in true peril (since they do not have "souls" and hence if they are somehow slain, they cease to exist) ... and that they display a sense of *satisfaction* (perhaps smugness) at maneuvering a mortal into a hopeless situation, and winning out in a bargain -- but those are tied to their primary motivators.
The umbrals (or "conscriptus" or "decaconscriptus") don't have any fear of death, because they're even less alive than the true infernals are. They're fashioned together of "soul-stuff," and if they're "slain," their masters can potentially put them back together again. It's a matter of question of whether the thing that gets put back together again is really the SAME CREATURE, but umbrals don't have a strong sense of self: they SIMULATE a sense of self, for the purpose of interacting with mortals, and may SIMULATE more mortal emotions of surprise, happiness, etc., in an attempt to be more relatable, but they are generally very BAD at it compared to true infernals.
The only reason why this umbral should have *any hope at all* of fooling Thale is simply because, despite his misadventures, he really doesn't have much *experience* with dealing with infernals/umbrals. Nor does he have experience with gods. That "Ayisla" might seem a bit alien to him might seem perfectly reasonable, since she's an immortal. Okay, so she's pale-skinned, with raven-black hair and eyes as black as night -- not exactly out of character for being the Nis-Asyr (Goddess) of Night. The umbral does not have the power to assume ANY form it pleases; it's generally part of the umbral package that it can adopt *A* form resembling any given species (albeit with some telltale "unearthly" details for those wary enough to pick up on them), but it cannot attempt to impersonate a particular individual's appearance. Here, it simply does not need to, because the subject is not personally familiar with the appearance of Ayisla, the specific individual elven goddess.
Goober_Chris seems to be better than most players at picking up on my subtle cues, even though he hasn't been gaming with me as often as several of the other players. It's another reason why I'm more willing to have a "deeper" plot with his character, because I think he handles nuance better.
So ... eh, we'll see.