Having been granted rulership over the city of Vanhoover, and confessed their feelings for each other, Lex Legis and Sonata Dusk have started a new life together. But the challenges of rulership, and a relationship, are more than they bargained for.
“Would you like to say anything to Nosey before I kill her?”
Lex knew the question was insincere, knew that Xiriel was mocking his inability to do anything, but that knowledge brought him no comfort. Quite the contrary, he renewed his struggles, though it amounted to little more than shakily raising his unbroken foreleg to lightly tap against the tongue coiled loosely around his neck. The gesture was a futile one, he knew; even if the devil had released him, he wouldn’t have been able to cast a spell in his condition. The pain where his chest had been pierced was growing worse, and each breath was growing progressively harder to take. …have to do something, he thought dazedly, trying again to devise some plan or idea or anything that would let him keep fighting, or at least defend himself and Nosey, against the seemingly-unstoppable devil…only to come up, once again, with nothing.
Xiriel laughed, clearly enjoying the sight of Lex’s frustration and helplessness. “Aw, you won’t reassure her that it’s all going to be alright?” laughed the right head, its tone thick with cruel amusement. “Or perhaps make an impotent threat about what you’ll do to me if I don’t leave her alone? I thought you mortals loved doing that.”
The central head’s tongue reached out to flick one of the black crystals that had sprouted from the ground a moment ago. “Or maybe you’re preparing yet another last-ditch effort to win,” it mused.
“In that case,” murmured the left head, “I think I’ll get on with it. I’d hate to miss the opportunity to see the look on your face as you watch her die.”
Xiriel’s words weren’t idle. All three of its head were locked intently onto Lex, and even its leech-like maw was turned toward him. With Nosey directly behind it, the tongue around Lex’s neck lifted him higher into the air, letting him look over the belier at the blonde mare’s prone form. “dID i MEnTiON tHAt ThIs iS tHe sAmE sPElL i uSeD tO kIlL yOuR fRiEnDs yEStErDAy iN vAnHoOVeR?” screeched its fanged orifice. “iT rADiAtEs oUt iN EVerY dIReCtIOn, oVErWhELmiNg tHE sPiRIt rAThEr tHaN tHe bODy. yOuRS iS pRoBAbLy sTRonG ENoUgH tO sUrVivE tHiS, bUt pOoR nOSeY hAs nO sUcH hOpE.”
Lex heard the words, and part of his mind immediately started dissecting them for useful information, trying to figure out what “overwhelming the spirit” meant. But the bulk of his attention was focused directly behind Xiriel, where Nosey was lying on the ground. It was only because he was hurt so badly that he was able to keep the surprise off of his face.
Nosey’s eyes had just opened.
She didn’t groan or shake her head or move at all, simply making eye contact with him, and he belatedly realized that she’d been feigning unconsciousness, waiting for…what? He had his answer a moment later as her horn began to glow softly, a matching aura springing up around several rocks that were scattered nearby. Except they weren’t rocks, they were gemstones…the gemstones that had been orbiting Xiriel heads just a few moments ago, until it had inadvertently knocked them out of their flight paths when – thrashing in pain from Lex’s disintegration spell – it had flung Nosey over itself, scattering them. Now she was gathering them up, but wh-
Suddenly, he knew what she was going to do, and the realization made his heart lurch. No! he screamed silently. Don’t worry about me! Get out of here! The idea that she was going to use her last living act to try and help him, rather than save herself, was enough to renew his struggles, coughing up blood as he tried to yell at her to run. But it was useless, and an instant later Nosey brought the five gemstones together, pausing just long enough to give him a knowing smile…and flung them right at Lex.
Then everything happened all at once.
Lex’s magical sense screamed at him that the belier devil was about to release its magic, even as he heard the devil emit a wordless shout of surprise as the gems entered its field of vision. An instant later, the five of them settled around Lex’s head as Nosey’s aura sputtered out. Immediately, just as they had for Xiriel, the jewels began to orbit Lex’s cranium…and the pain in his chest disappeared, the burning sensation of not being able to breathe vanishing as though it had never existed, even though the wound remained. It was as though one of those gemstones had made it so that he didn’t need air to survive…or to speak.
Reacting before his conscious mind could fully process what had just happened, Lex raised his unbroken hoof and began to gesture as he started to chant, the words spilling past his lips even though no air accompanied them. But Xiriel was also speaking, its four voices rising as they shrieked a phrase in an unknown language in unison, and although the words were meaningless to him they were painful to hear. But Lex didn’t stop his own casting, uttering the syllables as fast as he possibly could, trying to finish before the monster in front of him.
He didn’t quite make it.
The belier devil’s spell went off a microsecond before Lex’s, unleashing an invisible wave of corruptive energy that radiated out from its body like a shockwave. Although he couldn’t see it, Lex felt it slam into him…even as he saw the force field that he’d cast spring into existence around Nosey, the transparent dome shimmering as Xiriel’s magic washed over it harmlessly, and he knew that he’d done it. He’d saved her.
It had been the wrong decision, of course. Strategically, taking the brunt of Xiriel’s spell in order to shield Nosey accomplished nothing. All that would happen was that the devil would simply incapacitate or kill him a moment later, and then dispel the force field around Nosey and do the same to her. As awful as it was, the sound decision was to accept that Nosey couldn’t be saved, and instead use the last chance she had given him to cast an attack spell at the creature and hope that it got through its spell resistance, finishing it off. That was the only logical course of action.
But that was utterly unacceptable. The thought of letting Nosey die when he had the opportunity to save her was one that Lex rejected down to the core of his being. It went deeper than his responsibility to save Equestria from this monster. Deeper than his hate and loathing for the creature that had hurt so many ponies. Deeper than his moral code. Rather, for someone who measured their life only in terms of what they’d lost, who for as long as he could remember had always been excluded, the question of what it would cost him to save her didn’t matter, even if that cost was death.
It was simply that the thought of losing one of his only friends was more than Lex could bear…so much so that it took him a moment to realize that he was completely unharmed.
“What…?” The word slipped from his lips unconsciously, unable to believe that he wasn’t suffering from any new pain or weakness or other debilitating condition in the wake of the devil’s spell. It hadn’t thought it would kill him, but for it to leave him completely uninjured? The gems, he thought to himself. They must have done it.
But Xiriel didn’t seem to share that opinion. “Unhurt?” The shock in its voices was unmistakable. “But that means you’re-”
Lex didn’t wait for it to finish, immediately rattling off another spell as he shook off his surprise. Silently hoping that one of the belier’s gems enhanced magical aptitude, he pointed his good fore-hoof at Xiriel’s left head. He received his answer a moment later as two bolts of darkness burst into existence, crossing the short distance between himself and the belier. The magically-shaped shadow-weapons burst through the devil’s spell resistance, and an instant later burst through the thing’s head, causing it to explode in a shower of gore. Immediately, Lex fell to the ground, the tongue that had been coiled around his neck falling slack now that the head it had been connected to was no more, Xiriel's screams of agony ringing out across the battlefield.
For a moment Lex dared to hope that the sound was the monster’s death cry…and then the thing’s two remaining tongues lashed out, curling around two of the gems orbiting Lex’s head – the iridescent spindle and the orange prism – and flinging them away. Instantly, the horrible pressure around Lex’s chest returned, and breathing was once again nigh-impossible, leaving him gasping and choking on his own blood. No! he wailed in his mind. How can it still be alive?! Across the battlefield, he could see Nosey – still encased within his force field – gaping in horror, her eyes wide at the sight of their enemy’s ungodly fortitude.
Then there was no more time to marvel at the belier’s resilience, as it darted toward Lex in fury. “HOW DARE YOU!” screamed Xiriel’s remaining voices. “HOW DARE YOU DO THAT TO ME!” This time it didn’t lash out with its tongues. Instead, it was the fanged maw that approached Lex, the gnashing teeth sinking into his left hindleg and beginning to draw it deeper, pulling him bodily into the creature’s toothed orifice. Xiriel wasn’t quiet as it began to devour him, continuing to roar. “I’LL KILL YOU!” it howled. “I’LL KILL NOSEY! I’LL KILL SONATA! I’LL KILL EVERY PONY IN THIS CAMP! IN THIS ENTIRE WORLD!”
…I won’t let you…
“I won’t…let you…” choked Lex, barely able to get the words out. He could feel the thing’s fangs sinking down to the bone on his leg, its gullet greedily gulping down his blood. A small part of him marveled at the fact that he could still register more pain after everything he’d already been through.
“YOU WON’T LET ME?!” shrieked Xiriel. “YOU CAN’T STOP ME! NO ONE CAN!”
…you’re wrong…
“You’re…wrong…” This time Lex was aware of it, aware of the words that the tulpa that lived in his shadow was feeding him. It had been doing that intermittently during the fight…and each time it had, it had preceded a sudden success in affecting Xiriel with his magic. First when he had been trying to force it out of Nosey, and then again when trying to disintegrate it. Other than when he’d appropriated the thing’s gemstones, those had been the only times he’d been able to affect it. But now…
“I’M GOING TO DRAG ALL OF EQUESTRIA DOWN TO HELL! THE ONLY FUTURE YOUR PEOPLE WILL HAVE WILL BE TERROR AND SUFFERING AND DEATH!” The belier’s voices were rising, its rage reaching its peak. “I WILL MAKE ALL OF YOUR KIND KNOW THE PAIN YOU’VE INFLICTED ON ME!”
…and you will know mine…
It was all Lex could do to speak. The thing’s maw had drawn him in up to his waist now, and as the fangs dug into his abdomen, he realized that he couldn’t feel them anymore. Distantly, it occurred to him that he was dying, but he had to keep going…had to…do what he could…to keep fighting… “And you…will…know mine…”
As the last words left his lips, Lex felt the familiar sensation of magic being activated. But that couldn’t be right…he hadn’t chanted, hadn’t gestured. But even so he felt a spell take shape…from himself…felt magic coalescing in his one good fore-hoof…and somehow he knew that he just had to reach out…just had to touch the thing… Inching his hoof toward where the Xiriel’s lower mouth was eating him, Lex reached out to touch it…and stopped, unable to keep going.
One of Xiriel’s tongues had grabbed his foreleg, curling just below the knee, preventing him from touching the thing and discharging whatever spell that was.
“DID YOU THINK I WOULDN’T NOTICE THAT?!” it roared. “DID YOU THINK I WOULDN’T BE READY FOR YOU TO TRY SOMETHING ELSE?!” Its tongue slammed his leg down, keeping it pinned uselessly as its teeth continued to eviscerate him. “THIS IS THE END, LEX LEGIS!”
His vision was dimming, and the creature’s shrieking sounded as though it were coming from incredibly far away. Nevertheless, the smile that crossed Lex’s face at that moment was one of triumph. “I…know…”
Lex lays dying as his final gambits prove insufficient to kill Xiriel.
Does his last smile mean anything, or is this the end?
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Way to go Nosey! (Though I do wonder how a single action was able to place 5 ioun stones on Lex, who is not their owner.)
What's interesting is that Lex's sacrifice for Nosey is what convinced me he was LN, rather than LE, but of course The Night Mare's influence let's him ignore the blasphemy. Not sure exactly how the Tulpa is aiding Lex, but it's definitely an angle I didn't see coming. That and a lot of luck in Lex beating SR with his remaining spell means he might just have a chance.
You have a distinct flare for such intense scenes.
Lex is going to pull Planet Eater Kill on it?
Lex seems to have made progress in gaining control over the tulpa and some of its powers if Xiriel's cries at the end are anything to go by.
Though considering the life or death situation Lex was in, it is likely the tulpa granted Lex some of its power to ensure their survival rather than because Lex fulfilled the condition to control the tulpa. Though I suppose this depends on how much sapience(or would autonomy be more appropriate?) did Night Mare instill into the tulpa when she created, it if any at all.
Then again, if the former was true, then why didn't it help Lex in his fight against the dragon, or Lirtkra, Aria and the Monitor or even the Kraken? The best guess I have, is that since the tulpa is part of Lex, it knows if Lex has the will to fight and a plan to go with it as well as allies to back him up. Against the dragon, he had his astral construct and black magic. Lex had his magic and tactics to fight Lirtkra and his group. And he had allies to depend on in the fight against the Kraken and its minions.
Here however, Lex is outmatched magically and his tactics failed against Xiriel and Nosey, the only ally in the area is obviously in no condition to fight(Good on her with her throw. She better gain some brownie points with Lex after this...oh wait, there's no such thing when it comes to Lex). Added to the fact that he was about to die, the tulpa had to step in though it seems it was too late... if it had intended to save Lex.
8760282
That's actually two separate issues. The first is with regard to activating a magic item on someone else; in that regard, I decided to take a more liberal reading of the rules, since a strictly-textual interpretation says that you can't activate an ioun stone on someone else. In that case, I elected to interpret the rule as saying that you can place them around someone else, rather than only yourself.
As for how Nosey was able to pull that off, well, that's a bit of cheese on my part. When she met Lex, Nosey was a 1st-level character, but she rose to 2nd-level after the battle at the docks. One of her 2nd-level purchases was "Action Hero" with the "Stunts" option (Eclipse, pg. 23-24), giving her a small pool of "action points," each of which can be spent for +6 CP worth of abilities...but such abilities are either single-use only (and must be used immediately) or simply last for one minute. Of course, said abilities must be related to what the character can do, and is subject to GM approval.
From a meta-game standpoint, Nosey has been trying to use her action points for some time, and the GM (which is to say, me) has been shooting her down. She simply doesn't have much in the way of extant abilities or plausible backstory to justify much in the way of plausible abilities that she could suddenly pull out of nowhere. She's been presented as stubborn and determined, but that's been characterized as childish obstinacy in the face of not being able to get what she wants (i.e. a scoop) rather than actual strength of will, and so she wasn't allowed to buy Luck to take 20 on her Will save against being possessed by Xiriel. She's never been shown to be particularly skilled with magic, so she wasn't allowed to buy a single-use instance of some heretofore unseen spell that she could use in this fight. She's simply not enough of an extraordinary character to explain her having any extraordinary abilities.
What she can spend them on is minor abilities that could be explained as good fortune or favorable circumstances, rather than displays of exceptional prowess. That's how she was able to make it so that her being flung by the belier let her knock its ioun stones away (a single purchase of Mana with Reality Editing – Eclipse, pg. 36-37 – which counted as a major edit. Fortunately, she rolled a 6 for her total mana points, because that took all of them). Similarly, she spent another action point here to purchase Reflex Training (Eclipse, p. 40), with the specified condition being "when one of her friends was in extreme danger," specialized in Lex for double effect (i.e. two extra standard actions when Lex is in extreme danger). Furthermore, she has a Dexterity of 14, meaning that she can use Reflex Training up to twice per round if the circumstances permit, so up to four extra standard actions in a single round. Hence, she used her normal standard action, and her four bonus standard actions, to grab all five ioun stones and give them to Lex.
As I said, that's really cheesy from a game mechanics standpoint; it can be rationalized, certainly, but as an ability it's fairly broken. But from a narrative standpoint, that's sort of the point; Nosey is taking a heroic action under extremely desperate circumstances to try and help someone she cares about. Moreover, it's one that didn't seem outlandish from a non-rules-based point of view. Moreover, she's used a highly resource-limited method to do it, without breaking any aspect of her character or the setting. Between that, and the GM disallowing a lot of her previous attempts to put her purchased ability to good use, this seemed acceptable.
Funny thing there, Lex's not being affected by blasphemy was actually a result of his having King Sombra's horn. Part of its abilities are that he's treated as being evil-aligned for game mechanical purposes (and he doesn't get to count his natural or melee weapons as being evil for the purposes of overcoming damage reduction, the way he would if he had the Evil subtype). Fortunately, that saved him here.
I've been dropping hints and laying down foreshadowing about that for a while now, ever since the Night Mare first let it slip that it could be controlled over one hundred fifty chapters ago.
There's always a chance. The question now is if he'll be able to capitalize on it, since this looks like the end...
8760311 Thanks! I'm of the opinion that action scenes should always leave readers on the edge of their seats, and write appropriately.
8760566 Mmmaybe.
8760979 You're absolutely thinking along the right track, but there's a slight twist as to why Lex's tulpa is suddenly being so helpful now when it never has before. I won't say what it is though; with any luck, the reason should be made clear soon. (Though, as a note, "autonomy" is probably the better word for the thing; it's still a part of Lex himself, even if he normally has no control over it.)
8761003 Ah, I thought it might be some cool "take a bunch of standard actions at once 1/day" kind of thing. I like how you blend your role as GM and author like this.
8761044 I've had that exact question in mind, ever since that acolyte of Bane in the Finder's Stone book bragged about how she was going to be an overseer in the City of Bane after death. I think you've largely hit on how evil characters justify it. I mean, to an evil person, what is the point of working your way up to Solar if it's not acceptable to smack around the Planetars when you are in a bad mood?
I think a cleric of Asmodeus, who knows exactly what is going to happen to him, thinks of being a Lemure as a form of hazing, something to tolerate until you ascend into a greater form and can torture others. There's also the idea that most evil people, even LE people, think on some level the rules don't apply to them. I know in Forgotten Realms deals can be cut where you get to skip being a Lemure, and that seems like the sort of thing almost every fantasy setting would have evil churches offer their clergy as a retirement benefit.
To me, the biggest flaw of the D&D afterlife system is that almost everyone loses their memory when they die and become a servitor, which kind of breaks down the idea reward/punishment in the afterlife for conduct in this life. Can you think of any non-undead way ordinary people can permanently retain their memories and personality after death? (Becoming the chosen of a god is definitely not for ordinary people).
8761517 Normally, I'd make some statement about how being a GM is like being an author, or vice versa, but I think that comparison is somewhat overblown. So instead, I'll say that I enjoy mixing the two roles simultaneously for this story.
With regards to the D&D/d20 afterlife...I don't remember Walinda (the cleric of Bane from Finder's Bane) saying anything about her (expected) position after her death, I haven't read that book in several years now. I suspect it's more likely that she said something to that effect when she became a cleric of Beshaba in Tymora's Luck, as that story seemed to touch on that issue somewhat more. (Remember that clerics also bypass the normal fate of petitioners altogether, since they get whatever their god sets for their followers, rather than being subject to what secular petitioners have to go through. So unless Asmodeus wants his clerics to go through the normal diabolic hierarchy – which is distinctly possible – they won't have to.)
Personally, I think that there should be some sort of system whereby higher-level mortals can "skip" to being higher-level Outsiders after their death. Not only is that something I've seen alluded to in various places, but it also creates an incentive for Outsiders (mostly various planar lords) to get in on the game of recruiting powerful mortals to their cause, going for quality instead of (just) quantity. Otherwise, a particular mortal's value inherently plummets as soon as they die, meaning that they're not worth nearly as much in terms of their post-mortal existence compared to any other mortal. There's also the issue that advancing through the ranks of a given type of Outsider is typically presented as being a semi-spiritual progression, e.g. the greater an archon you become, the more you understand what it means to be Lawful Good, refining the nature of your post-mortal existence.
The problem there is that, if all mortals are the same after death, that ignores that some mortals can have spiritual progression while they're still alive. A high-level paladin should already have learned some of the lessons of what it means to be Lawful Good, rather than having to go through the same process as some 1st-level commoner who happens to have the same alignment. That might sit rather oddly with the fact that petitioners lose all of their memories of their mortal lives, of course, but if we presume that spiritual existence transcends mere memory, being an aspect of the soul (or something like that), then it should work fine.
Speaking of which, I'll say that I'm not sure that losing your memories after death invalidates the idea of a reward/punishment system; after all, you don't have to remember why you've earned a particular fate to have it be warranted. But more than that, the "reward/punishment" you receive really isn't that; rather, it's quite simply the fate that you chose for yourself, by aligning yourself to whatever Outer Plane best matches your ethos while you were alive. It's not something deliberately handed down, and so can't really be called a "reward" or a "punishment" per se. You might not remember why you ended up there, but it was still due to your own actions (notwithstanding various issues that can come up to alter your afterlife, such as being ritually sacrificed to a different god, being kidnapped by Outsiders, etc.).
As for things that can counteract the memory loss...I'm afraid I can't find any remedy tailored specifically toward that. I remember reading about various exceptions, but those were either presented as being some sort of cosmic flukes or were simply not explained. I know that in AD&D 2E, there was at least one god who deliberately made sure that all of their faithful retained their mortal memories, but I can't recall which one (I think they were in On Hallowed Ground). For what it's worth, 2E was the only edition to say why this happened at all, which was that mortal memories were left behind as "memory cores" in the Astral Plane, and that those were what speak with dead contacted.
Personally, I'd say that a wish could pull it off if you cast it before you died; odd things like that are sort of what the spell's for.
8765831
I could have sworn she said something about ordinary worshippers becoming slaves and her getting to hold the whip, but it's been a long time and I don't care enough to look it up.
But that's kind of weird. In Forgotten Realms the False and Faithless get really specific fates, and in Golarion atheists and I believe agnostics just hang around the boneyard and get buried. So wouldn't everyone else be the worshipper of someone? Who's going to Hell besides worshippers of Azzy? And if only his worshippers go there, it makes sense the normal power structure applies.
I agree emphatically. It infuriates me that they decided in Pathfinder that Mariliths are the reincarnated forms of legendary CE generals, but Balors are just like 50 dretches that got stuck together in a pit, that's such a lame origin. And especially high level priests, since they combine service with greater power.
Heck, what's the point in valuing souls by HD if all souls just get ground into basic level petitioner eventually anyway?
I think it does. Conversion to a petitioner effectively erases the mortal, which means the outer planes are pretty much torturing/rewarding these beings based on whoever's in proximity.
That's a stronger argument. The idea that the soul is eventually being converted into a piece of pure evil/good/law/chaos, and this is just the process by which it happens. I still find it creepy that CG souls, in particular, are forced to surrender their individuality.
See, that's why I'd pick a god out. I feel like in D&D, most evangelism should be like time-share sales pitches. "This is a typical example of your living spaces as a petitioner in our god's realm, here's the sauna and buffet line..."
Probably, but in some ways it might be easier to be the chosen of a deity than to get a wish spell, lots of niche gods out there who'll take a mid-level adventurer as a chosen after their death.
8766411
She might have; I don't remember either. Of course, I'm not entirely sure how much credence she deserves anyway, since she doesn't exactly strike me as having been completely sane. I mean, I get that her thing was "resurrect Bane -> get rewarded," but that seems like a really stupid idea for a god of that persuasion, especially one who had never had priestesses to begin with.
The Forgotten Realms is actually somewhat unusual in that regard, compared to the rest of the Great Wheel. If I recall correctly, it was established as early as AD&D 1E's Manual of the Planes (and possibly earlier) that souls simply went to an Outer Plane that most closely matched their alignment and outlook, while those who worshiped a deity went to that deity's realm. The Forgotten Realms was unusual because it mandated that everyone must worship a deity or they would suffer eternally for it. (It's worth noting that there were hints dropped all over the place that a mortal's beliefs had a great deal of influence on their afterlife otherwise. The 2E Legends & Lore book had an ascetic class that allowed for the character to track their karma and possibly affect their future incarnation(s). On Hallowed Ground said that mortals who died while believing in no afterlife whatsoever, that death was truly the end, ceased to exist...but Guide to Hell told us that they were sent directly to the bottom of Nessus, where Ahriman (i.e. Asmodeus) slowly and painfully devoured them over the course of several centuries, healing his ancient wounds just slightly.)
Even Golarion doesn't require that mortals worship a deity to be sent to their requisite afterlife. Agnostics are essentially treated the same as D&D characters who didn't worship a deity, though atheists seem to get one of several different fates. But for the most part, Pathfinder characters in Golarion's cosmology seem to hold true to the old rule of "go to a plane that matches your alignment, if you weren't devout in life." Hence, anyone who's Lawful Evil and prone to trying to use that to oppress others is going to Hell, even if they're not Asmodeus' faithful.
Yeah, that whole "(some) higher-level Outsiders are an amalgamation of souls" thing didn't really do it for me, either. I mean, I can get that there are some Outsiders who aren't simply mortals who've worked their way up the hierarchy, like if you have the Abyss spontaneously form new demons, or the product of two Outsiders mating or something. But while the "gestalt of souls" thing sounds cool in theory, I think it introduces more problems than it solves. Of course, I also think the whole "most half-dragons are the product of magical experiments, rather than actual children of dragons and other creatures" thing is similarly stupid; are you really telling me that magic colleges are turning out half-dragons as part of some graduate-level course? It sounds like the sort of thing deadbeat dragon-dads would say so that they didn't have to deplete their hoards with child-support payments.
Except the Outer Planes per se don't do anything; it's the occupants who make those places so awful or wonderful. Obviously, environmental effects can play a role, but the vast majority of it is that the place is populated with beings of the same outlook as you.
I look at is as the spiritual equivalent of decaying and returning to the earth. Ultimately, everyone surrenders their individuality by that logic. More germane is probably the fact that if they had souls simply hang around for forever, it would cause some logistical problems in terms of the setting.
I agree completely; gods in D&D have always struck me as being somewhere between sovereign nations and multinational corporations. Ultimately, they're the arbiters of pretty much everything, and are constantly trying to sell their products among the general population and drive up their stock.
I wonder about that. It's never been explicitly stated, but the presumption (as I've read it) is that most deities only have a single Chosen; Mystra has umpteen because she's presented as being so exceptionally powerful. Just look at what the opening chapter of the novel Shadows of Doom says about her:
Admittedly, that's what's written in "The Book of Mysteries" in the setting, but it certainly seems to neatly answer the question why other deities don't have a dozen or more Chosen running around. Even during the Sundering, most seemed to only have one (and even then, that seemed to be because the gods were jockeying for position; most of the time, we don't really see the majority of them bothering with appointing one). So I suspect that convincing a genie to grant you a wish is a lot more likely.
Well, it is certainly the end of the devil. The eating end I guess.
9217595 But is it the end of Lex...?