Revenge? (OOC)

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Aug 14, 2025 6:36 am
oopsylon says:
... we can just have Benji talk to Circe ...
Depending on how Wentworth pulls Persephone out, maybe we well need Benji to come to Circe's rescue and comfort her?

You two have met that one time, after the Chablis encounter.
Aug 14, 2025 12:44 pm
If I'm not too late, Emma would have come to visit Pers at the hospital too, but likely only after she saw Titanias first. Whether or not she helps though would depends whether Pers would be willing to stop doing contracts for her patron...
Aug 14, 2025 8:41 pm
Delirium says:
... whether Pers would be willing to stop doing contracts for her patron...
That is not an option.

Please find a way for Emma to work around that. Be it 'ignorance is bliss' or whatever else you can find to justify it. This is a requirement for the game.

Persephone wants to find a way to get out of that contract, so she is 'willing', but that is end-game stuff, so maybe that has to be enough for you? You could be willing to help her, but there are currently no clues as to how to do that, or what it will cost (and there won't be till we are ready to completely change the player's character), so that is relegated to a background objective.
Aug 14, 2025 10:34 pm
I have a problem.

For Emma, seducing people into selling their souls and condemning them to eternal torment is inexcusable, pure, unquestionable evil. It's not 'enforcing the patron's will on his minions', or 'tracking down rouge demons' - where the Tainted (and his friends) could keep on lying to themselves that what they are doing isn't capital 'E' Evil. This is the most 'in your face' I can think of.

Emma can accept that such evil exists in the world, and she may even be forced to interact with it at times, but asking her to help it, indulge it, or be friends with it would bend her character to the point where she would no longer be "Emma."

Yes, Emma made some questionable choices, but she still sees herself as a fundamentally good person. Helping someone she perceives as the moral equivalent of Hannibal Lecter escape so they can keep doing harm is simply asking too much if far her. As horrible is it sounds, leaving an unrepentant Pers locked up in a Psych ward might be the thing that harms the least amount of people....

@Drgwen, I understand you wanted Pers and Emma to be friends, but as things stand, I can’t see that happening. Emma could work with Pers if necessary, but not as a friend, not unless Pers commits to changing her ways.

I honestly don’t see an easy solution here, because "ignorance" is no longer possible now that Pers has openly revealed what she does for her patron. I’m not saying Pers has to change, but we can’t expect Emma to enable her either.

I also admit the problem lies with the way I created Emma. I might need to consider playing a different character altogether, someone either more morally compromised or simply indifferent to these kinds of issues.
Aug 15, 2025 2:57 am
Delirium says:
... It's not 'enforcing the patron's will on his minions', or 'tracking down rouge demons' ...
Yes, but Emma has no idea about those other options. All the characters know is that Persephone has to do the Jobs she is given or else. She does not have a choice in the matter.
Delirium says:
... Yes, Emma made some questionable choices, but she still sees herself as a fundamentally good person. ...
She might think that, but, to an outside observer Emma is by far the most 'evil' player character in this game. The others don't have a choice, Emma chooses to destroy people's lives (I am thinking about poor Sarah, for instance) for her own comfort and convenience.
Delirium says:
... unless Pers commits to changing her ways ...
I don't know what you mean by 'commits to' and Persephone can not 'change her ways' at this time. She has no choice in this matter.

Persephone is actively trying to get out of the deal. That will have to enough.
Delirium says:
... Pers has openly revealed what she does for her patron. ...
Remind me where that revelation happened for Emma. We can maybe work within the facts presented there to find a solution to this impasse.
Delirium says:
... I also admit the problem lies with the way I created Emma. ...
This can be a very difficult game to play. We all have our own images of our characters in our own heads, and the game is about playing those characters and how they feel (it isn't simple 'orks are evil so we kill them'). Asking someone to 'be flexible' can undermine their character, so we want to find a way forward that does not break the character.

I say again, though: Persephone wants to get out of her Contract. If Emma cares she can try help her. This is not on the cards to happen soon, but that is a meta-game issue and the characters don't know that they will not find ways to do this in a hurry, this just means we will not focus the story on that aspect till it becomes relevant and interesting, the characters can still be trying to deal with it in the background, all the time.
Aug 15, 2025 3:40 am
vagueGM' says:
She might think that, but, to an outside observer Emma is by far the most 'evil' player character in this game. The others don't have a choice, Emma chooses to destroy people's lives (I am thinking about poor Sarah, for instance) for her own comfort and convenience.
Was that evil of her though? She took a total strangers into her tiny home. She clothed and fed her. She risked her own life to make sure no one was hunting her. She gave her time to get her act together and at least STARt looking for a new place/job, and even offered to help. And then she found said woman cozying up with her husband in bed (her perception perhaps, but she wouldn't have thrown her out if Sarah could have kept 'some' distance from David). So I would say she has gone above and beyond any 'obligation' any of us have to take care of our fellow men. Maybe she is not a saint, but I wouldn't call her evil. She's done more for a woman she didn't know than I personally would...

Anyways. I don't want this to turn into a discussion about the nature of evil,.else we could spend days and weeks and years talking about it and still not reach any agreement. Let's just say that Emma thinks tricking/seducing someone into the worst fate imaginable is very Evil.

And more importantly:
vagueGM' says:
Persephone can not 'change her ways' at this time. She has no choice in this matter.
But she does. She might lose all her powers (Emma doesn't have powers either), she might put herself in terrible danger. She might even die and sent to hell. But she would'nt be condemming other people to the same fate.
vagueGM says:
I say again, though: Persephone wants to get out of her Contract. If Emma cares she can try help her.
And Emma would be willing to help her with that. And like I said, Emma would even be willing to cooperate with her in other investigations. What we can't expect Emma is to be friends with someone she considers to be worse than a serial killer.
Aug 15, 2025 3:52 am
Delirium says:
... She might lose all her powers (Emma doesn't have powers either), she might put herself in terrible danger. She might even die and sent to hell. ...
We don't know the terms of the price, it could be worse than that. We know from the mechanics of the playbook that the Dark Patron is willing to involve friends and family in the deal, even Emma is at risk (see the Tainted's End Move).

I am telling you outright that Persephone does not have a choice. And that she is looking for a way out.
Delirium says:
... can't expect Emma is to be friends ...
Fair enough. You don't have to be friends, but you do have to work together.
Delirium says:
... someone she considers to be worse than a serial killer. ...
Like Elliot or Benji? You are stating that your character has made a choice that this is 'worse', but the people Persephone is brokering deals with obviously think otherwise, they think the price is worth it, so your opinion on 'the worst fate imaginable' is just that, your opinion.

Setting aside what we, the players, think about the existence of the soul and hell, is that such an important part of Emma's beliefs that it should derail the game or force a drastic change of character?
Aug 15, 2025 4:02 am
vagueGM says:
Like Elliot or Benji?
Emma isn't friends with Elliot. And Benji really does try to make sure he doesn't harm anyone. Emma might change her mind about him once she actually sees him lose control and kill someone. But for now, she wants to believe he can get it under control. And still - killing someone out of hunger is not subjecting them to eternal torment in a literal hell.
vagueGM says:
Fair enough. You don't have to be friends, but you do have to work together.
Which i am perfectly willing to. And if Pers is ever truly repentant, perhaps they might become friends again (though the longer it takes, the less likely it becomes).
Aug 15, 2025 4:04 am
Cool, no need to be 'friends'.
Aug 15, 2025 4:11 am
vagueGM says:
Setting aside what we, the players, think about the existence of the soul and hell, is that such an important part of Emma's beliefs that it should derail the game or force a drastic change of character?
Just as a note, as a player I don't believe in the existence of souls or the afterlife, but we're in a fictional world in which these things DO exist. Even if they didn't, Emma still considers herself to be a good person (even if others think it is up for debate, this is her own perception of herself). She has lines she won't cross. For that purpose, it doesn't matter if souls or hell exist or not. She wouldn't be personal friends with a murderer/rapiest either. She wouldn't help them escape prison/hospital so they could commit more crimes. Etc, etc

So this is not about belief in the supernatural, but more her personality and character.

If I need to change and play something else so I don't derail the game, I am willing to do that too. I really do enjoy playing with all of you, and it wasn't my intention to create a character that would end up disruptive to anyone's enjoyment of the game.
Aug 15, 2025 4:16 am
So long as Emma can work with the other PCs there is no problem. I mistook your "we can't be friends" to be a issue with playing with the character. They will have to work together, even if they don't like it.

I would like to see some effort to repair their relationship, but that is up to the players if they want that or want to play with in-game-tension between them.
Aug 15, 2025 4:27 am
Thanks. I did direct that question to @Drgwen on my original post though. I want to make sure she's alright with the way the two characters interact too.
Aug 15, 2025 6:11 am
Honestly, I am not sure. I need some time to process all this. As of now, I am uncomfortable with your representation of my character in the above posts.

I have been trying to portray Persephone as a deeply traumatized victim who was tricked into an awful scenario, but desperately wants to undo it, or escape it. To be clear, thus far, she really hasn't done anything exceptionally evil for her patron. She showed up and sat with a man while he took his own life. She allowed it to happen, which is problematic, but she was immediately remorseful about that.

With Viv, she met her, felt empathy toward her, and decided she would try to find a way NOT to condemn her. Then all hell broke loose, I rolled abysmally -- repeatedly -- and I let the results of those critical failures stand. As a result, Persephone was inflicted with a truly horrific experience and is now traumatized out of her mind, nearly catatonic with PTSD. And now, damaged, broken, and in pain, she is considering doing something truly evil. I was trying to portray her as sympathetic, not repellent; it seems I was not successful.

So I am at a bit of a loss. Let me think about it, ok?
Aug 15, 2025 6:16 am
As a player, I have sympathy for Pers situation, and I don't think she has done something morally repugnant yet either. Emma has no idea, of course, that Pers has yet to compromise herself (when Pers originally revealed her true form to Emma she merely said she is tasked with convincing people to sign away their souls).
Aug 15, 2025 6:16 am
For what it’s worth, I think the stuff that has recently happened to Emma is similar — really tragic and traumatizing stuff that makes her more sympathetic. I think you’ve done a great job of writing that.
Aug 15, 2025 6:19 am
Thank you, and I enjoyed reading everything you wrote too, despite it's visceral portrayal of trauma.

I think Emma is actually going to take a closer look at her own life now, and possibly make some adjustments. We'll see how it goes.
Aug 15, 2025 6:19 am
Delirium says:
... convincing people to sign away their souls).
We can retcon that sentence? We don't know what happens to 'souls' and such, it could be made all about recruiting people to work for demons if that makes it better?
Aug 15, 2025 6:23 am
Drgwen says:
... I was trying to portray her as sympathetic, not repellent; it seems I was not successful.
...
That is exactly how I read her. Forced to do repellent things, but very sympathetic.

Maybe she needs to be more circumspect with telling people about what she does? Maybe the rift with Emma gives her enough pause that she leaves that bit out when telling Circe? (Or we strike that from the record with Emma as well?).
Aug 15, 2025 8:11 am
I think I’ve identified one thing that is bothering me abut all this. Above, @Delirium , you claim that Emma could not accept someone seducing a person in order to get them to sell their soul. But (a) Persephone has not done this; she has suggested she might to Wentworth and she’s considered it via inner monologue, and (b) Emma wouldn’t know ANYTHING about any of that! So I am confused about your posts above in which you conclude, rather forcefully, that Emma will never be Persephone’s friend.

I also happen to find the moral condemnation above a bit off-putting, especially in this game/setting. I mean, that’s literally just the nature of the Playbook. What’s more, your condemnation feels a little bit like victim blaming, if I’m being honest. None of which sets well with me.

Does that all make sense?
Aug 15, 2025 12:20 pm
Sorry, it was a poor choice of words. I should have used 'tempt', rather than 'seduce'. When Pers first revealed her nature to Emma, she told her that's what her job entails; convincing people to sign away their souls, in the same way she was convinced

The moral condemnation isn't directed from me as a player. This is Emma expecting accountability and responsibility from Pers, and there might be an element of impatience there indeed too (the same way she was impatient with Sarah, who was also a victim). Maybe it is good for Pers to have someone who isnt OK with whatever it is she is doing, and calls her out for it? Pers herself knows what she is doing is evil, and admitted as such, so it shouldn't be a suprise other people have the same view on it?

Anyways, I never said they could never be friends again. I'm saying 'as long as'.

I realize Emma might not be too suitable for this game, if she can't stomach the actions of some of the playbooks. This is why I suggested I was the one who might need to make the change, rather than you.
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