So my players have done all the prep work, sent some forged letters, and are ready to press ahead with their plan to undermine the local Duke.  They have secured an ally with a magic book with an Ice Devil bound to it.  They plan to summon this devil, order it to attack a bunch of the Duke's political rivals, and generally make it seem like the Duke is BBEG.  They will then "defeat" the devil in the town square, restore their own reputation, and assuming all goes well lead to the Duke getting overthrown.  I won't go over all the boring details but for the purposes of this exercise assume the following is true:

- They can summon this devil for 12 hours.  

- For the first hour, the devil must follow commands given to it by the person attuned to the book (the ally).

- The devil is free to take any action it wishes so long as it does not contradict an order its been given.  

- After one hour the devil starts getting saves to break control... so the plan is to pull this off and banish the devil again within 1 hour.

Here are the instructions that will be given to the devil, verbatim:

"Devil-  you know as well as I you only obey me due to the binding placed upon you.  Were you free you would no doubt flee this place or attempt to destroy me.  And you have always attempted to twist my orders or "interpret" them in ways counter to my plans.  Consider this carefully.  This will be the last time I call upon you.  Follow these instructions without alteration or diversion, and when this is finished I will destroy the bindings on this book and release your spirit.  Your destiny will be back in your own hands.  On the other hand, try to cheat me and I will see this book delivered to a mages college where you will be summoned, poked, prodded and used as a teaching tool for countless lifetimes to come.  Consider you actions well.

First I will conjure you in the home of a wealthy human woman. When you locate the noble human Lady of the house- tell her, "Woman! Your insolence has not gone un-noticed by the Duke! Your reluctance to immediately support his claim was an insult, and he does not tolerate insults. You are lucky that I am only here to destroy your property, and not take your life outright! If you do not make suitable endowments to your new Duke- rest assured I will return and finish my job here!"   I want you to kill no one in this home, only damage the doors walls, artwork, and windows. Then, make your exit. Spend no more than 15 minutes fully ruining her home and property. If you cannot find her- scream the scripted rant from the rooftop in the Common tongue and leave, moving onto your next task.

You will find a number of homes in the area, many of which are marked with Red painted X's on their doors. Vandalize those homes, and while doing so say loudly in the common tongue- "This is what you are owed for not immediately supporting your new Duke's claim to the throne." Repeat this phrase over and over, as loud as you can, in the Common tongue.

Feel free to utilize lethal force against any humans you see during this time, as long as they are not the old noble woman you warned earlier. DO NOT intentionally bring any harm to any Elves, Dwarves or Orcs you see. Likewise, do not harm me or ANY person wearing an armband colored grey and red. Any other human who attacks you can be dealt with as you wish. I will keep watch for Clerics and Wizards and will do what I can to keep you away from them. I may even dismiss you back to hell and recall you in a safer place nearby.

You will be confronted by a group of fighters wearing grey and red armbands. When they confront you, I want you to retreat to the large keep in the area. While retreating, I want you to shout at them in the Common tongue- "Why are you attacking me? I am doing the bidding of your new lord the Duke of Lordstown? I am simply bringing his justice to the people who insulted him, per our bargain!"

If you are able to retreat to the gates of the keep and they are closed, I want you to bang on them and say loudly in the Common tongue- "Please, let me in! I am a simple servant of the new Duke and I seek refuge here! Please, I beg of you- give me shelter." After you scream this in the Common tongue a few times- I will dismiss you.

Behave yourself and follow these commands without perversion, and I will release you for all time."

ADDENDUM ISSUED AFTER I ASKED "Is that everything you will tell the devil?"

"Above all else, you are to make no sign, in any way, in any language, or with any pantomime, signal, gesture, speech, or any other communicable method to indicate a familiarity or relationship with myself, or any person wearing the armband of grey and red. You are to follow my specific orders to their letter and to your present understanding of their intent with no alterations to your fullest ability, but pretend to not know me should we encounter one another while this is happening."

So what do you think?  I am wresting with whether or not to slip a betrayal in.  On one hand, no contract can ever be air tight and devils are supposed to be masters of using contracts to their advantage.  So I really should find a way for the devil to mess this up for them (ideally in a way where the devil has a chance to get released and only later they learn he betrayed them).  On the other hand, I like that my players not only put some thought into the orders, they wrote them out so they sound a bit like a contract.  I would like to reward them for trying to be thorough.  We also play this as a pretty DARK campaign and I punish them quite a bit.  Maybe this is one I should just let them have.

Then again, they are turning a DEVIL loose on a town, with orders to harm the people who oppose the same guy they oppose.  So maybe my players deserve what's coming to them.

Some of my thoughts:

- They start out with a nice broad prohibition against making any sign or gesture, etc... but then narrow it and make it very specific in that the Devil cannot relate knowledge of his relationship to them.  I think that opens it back up that the devil could leave messages about other topics....

- The only people they tell the devil not to kill are them and their subordinates (with the red and grey armbands) and the first noble woman.  That gives me freedom to kill just about anyone in town.  The point of their plan was to only hurt people who didn;t support the Duke, so people suspect the Duke.  I could have the Devil whack a bunch of the Duke's relatives or something and throw a huge wrench in that plan.

But if the devil does take outside action it needs to be part of a broader plan or purpose.  Devils are lawful evil and tyranny incarnate.  It is not going to just cause havoc for havoc's sake.

I am all ears if folks have ideas.  Thanks in advance.

Oh... and how about voicework (for the ice devil)?  I am torn between Cobra Commander or the bug from Men In Black (since they kinda look like bugs).

I’d let them complete their plan, enjoy the benefits for a while. The Duke will be taken out by his own people in the most brutal way possible. The players deserve a win, and they’ll feel really cool. But make sure someone knows what actually happened. Rumors will start spreading in the streets that the devil was part of the coup, and that the people were tricked: all of which is true! Eventually, a local mage might even summon the same devil and compel him to tell the truth of what happened, and he’ll happily do so. The players will then have to figure out how to deal with the exact same brutal mob they recently unleashed on the Duke...and find out what sneaky rival observed their plan, and deal with them and their minions as well. They’ll be forced to be either fugitives or tyrants. It’s perfect karma.

(And at this point, with all this prep, anything else will probably just be annoying.) :-)

I say that you should prove to them that they can never write a contract that a devil can't outwit...

Does the Devil have a perfect memory? Will it need to read each of the proclamations from the actual written contract? (A bit embarrassing for the summoner and his team if it is the latter.)

I want you to kill no one in this home, only damage the doors walls, artwork, and windows.

So, the devil can damage the walls of the house enough so that the house collapses killing everyone inside?

Or the devil could lure the occupants outside? (He might have to remain inside when killing the human lady noble, in order to avoid the "during this time" rule for the second phase of the contract.)

Spend no more than 15 minutes fully ruining her home and property.

"Fully ruin" in a mere 15 minutes? Should the devil use an earthquake to achieve the FULLY part of this instruction within the mandated time period. Will the devil be issued with a timepiece in order for it to know exactly when the 15 minutes is over?

when this is finished I will destroy the bindings on this book and release your spirit.

Is the devil going to cast a Geas on the summoner to ensure that this part of the contract is fulfilled?

Or does this become a case of the summoner breaking a contract with a devil, and thus the devil can send enforcers after the summoner if they don't comply?

Likewise, do not harm me or ANY person wearing an armband colored grey and red.

So make sure that you remove the armband without harming them first.  And if the summoner isn't wearing an armband, then you can hurt them.

If the attacks are occurring in the dark, and only darkvision is being used, then the "red" component of the armbands won't be seen.  (Or, he could ask every single creature that he meets whether they are wearing a grey and red armband - so he only attacks those who say no. How many bystanders will see this?)

DO NOT intentionally bring any harm to any Elves, Dwarves or Orcs you see.

So he can close his eyes whilst attacking, or maybe gain blindsight or similar from somewhere.

Behave yourself and follow these commands without perversion

Note the definition of perversion is "to distort or corrupt the original course, meaning or state of something." How is the Devil supposed to know the original meaning that the summoner really intended? Maybe the summoner put in these specific words because he didn't want his own allies to know the real intention of his summoning.

You will find a number of homes in the area, many of which are marked with Red painted X's on their doors. Vandalize those homes,...

So the devil will assume that "those homes" refers to the "find a number of homes in the area", and will assume that the "RED painted X's" is purely FYI.

Feel free to utilize lethal force against any humans you see during this time, as long as they are not the old noble woman you warned earlier.

So ALMOST lethal force against her is fine?

DO NOT intentionally bring any harm to any Elves, Dwarves or Orcs you see. Likewise, do not harm me or ANY person wearing an armband colored grey and red.

So absolutely anything else is fair game - including buildings, animals, other property - just not Elves, Dwarves or Orcs.

If you set fire to a house that contains elves. Can it be reasonably assumed that they will find their way out of the house, thus "intentionally bringing harm" won't apply?

(For MANY years we had the most evil GM where we learnt NEVER to try to make a contract with any sort of supernatural creature.)

Quote from Farling >>

I say that you should prove to them that they can never write a contract that a devil can't outwit...

Does the Devil have a perfect memory? Will it need to read each of the proclamations from the actual written contract? (A bit embarrassing for the summoner and his team if it is the latter.)

 

I want you to kill no one in this home, only damage the doors walls, artwork, and windows.

 

So, the devil can damage the walls of the house enough so that the house collapses killing everyone inside?

Or the devil could lure the occupants outside? (He might have to remain inside when killing the human lady noble, in order to avoid the "during this time" rule for the second phase of the contract.)

 

Spend no more than 15 minutes fully ruining her home and property.

 

"Fully ruin" in a mere 15 minutes? Should the devil use an earthquake to achieve the FULLY part of this instruction within the mandated time period. Will the devil be issued with a timepiece in order for it to know exactly when the 15 minutes is over?

 

when this is finished I will destroy the bindings on this book and release your spirit.

 

Is the devil going to cast a Geas on the summoner to ensure that this part of the contract is fulfilled?

Or does this become a case of the summoner breaking a contract with a devil, and thus the devil can send enforcers after the summoner if they don't comply?

 

Likewise, do not harm me or ANY person wearing an armband colored grey and red.

 

So make sure that you remove the armband without harming them first.  And if the summoner isn't wearing an armband, then you can hurt them.

If the attacks are occurring in the dark, and only darkvision is being used, then the "red" component of the armbands won't be seen.  (Or, he could ask every single creature that he meets whether they are wearing a grey and red armband - so he only attacks those who say no. How many bystanders will see this?)

 

DO NOT intentionally bring any harm to any Elves, Dwarves or Orcs you see.

 

So he can close his eyes whilst attacking, or maybe gain blindsight or similar from somewhere.

 

Behave yourself and follow these commands without perversion

 

Note the definition of perversion is "to distort or corrupt the original course, meaning or state of something." How is the Devil supposed to know the original meaning that the summoner really intended? Maybe the summoner put in these specific words because he didn't want his own allies to know the real intention of his summoning.

 

You will find a number of homes in the area, many of which are marked with Red painted X's on their doors. Vandalize those homes,...

 

So the devil will assume that "those homes" refers to the "find a number of homes in the area", and will assume that the "RED painted X's" is purely FYI.

 

Feel free to utilize lethal force against any humans you see during this time, as long as they are not the old noble woman you warned earlier.

 

So ALMOST lethal force against her is fine?

 

DO NOT intentionally bring any harm to any Elves, Dwarves or Orcs you see. Likewise, do not harm me or ANY person wearing an armband colored grey and red.

 

So absolutely anything else is fair game - including buildings, animals, other property - just not Elves, Dwarves or Orcs.

If you set fire to a house that contains elves. Can it be reasonably assumed that they will find their way out of the house, thus "intentionally bringing harm" won't apply?

(For MANY years we had the most evil GM where we learnt NEVER to try to make a contract with any sort of supernatural creature.)

Love it.  Love all of it.  I especially enjoy the idea of having the Devil inquire about armbands.  "Fools!  I have been sent by the evil duke to punish his - ", stops just before stabbing a guard with his ice spear.  "Excuse me, could you pull up your sleeve for me?  Thats not a red and gray armband?  No, just a silver bracelet?  Ok."  Kills guard.  "Fools!  Behold the Duke's wrath!"

The other half of the problem has nothing to do with the devil: will people actually believe the frame? It's a rather bald an unconvincing narrative.

There's also an issue that the ice devil might just get killed, they don't have super good options for dealing with being swarmed by guards.

Just a quick thought OP: you may love the idea of screwing over the players directly, but they may hate it, especially after working so hard on something like this. Remember to look at everything from the players’ perspective. I don’t know how your group feels, but mine would feel really upset and cheated if they put this much effort into something only to have the devil find a super lawyered breach anyway. If they left a gaping hole, that’s one thing, but they did great work here. That’s why I suggest the payback should come from outside.

Quote from NaivaraArnuanna >>

Just a quick thought OP: you may love the idea of screwing over the players directly, but they may hate it, especially after working so hard on something like this. Remember to look at everything from the players’ perspective. I don’t know how your group feels, but mine would feel really upset and cheated if they put this much effort into something only to have the devil find a super lawyered breach anyway. If they left a gaping hole, that’s one thing, but they did great work here. That’s why I suggest the payback should come from outside.

Well it happened.  

Initially it went well.  Since the devil was already bound to this magic book it didn't get a say in the contract and what they worked into the orders was pretty good.  I did have the devil cause way more property damage than expected (I just had it conjure ice walls inside of noble manors over and over again until it compromised the structure and the buildings started to collapse.  Guards weren't a problem at first because my players decided to SET FIRE TO THE LARGE POLYTHEISTIC TEMPLE IN THE CENTER OF TOWN WHERE PRIESTS KEEP SHRINES TO ALL THE GODS.  This drew fire brigades and lots of guards away from where the devil was working.  They seem to think that since they set the fires to do "minimal property damage" that the gods won't be pissed.   .......

Time got away from them and they had to "confront", defeat and dismiss it early.

Then they really screwed up.  In the guise of "searching for survivors" they went through some of the destroyed manors and found correspondence to suggest the duke they were framing might actually be fighting some of the same conspiracies they are trying to uncover.  So after all this was done, they impulsively decided to pull a 180 and put another donut inside the donut hole.  They decided to pick another noble, and frame him for framing the duke (this would have helped with the rather overt and hamhanded plot of the original frame pointed out by Pantagrue).  However, they did so by first framing the other noble for murder (long story) and then breaking into his home and planting a bunch of evidence.  This included the MAGICAL BOOK TO WHICH THE DEVIL WAS BOUND.

I rolled wisdom checks behind the screen and they all failed so I did not warn them of the obvious problem with that plan.  Of course, if someone just finds the book and identifies it as a book with this particular ice devil bound to it - and stops there - the frameup should work.  However, should the investigators take the additional step of attuning to the book and summoning the devil for questioning, it will now be bound to them and will answer all their questions... including ratting out my player's entire plan.

I'm not sure how to get them out of this.  They seem to believe they have pulled this off flawlessly... I'm afraid "in world" they wouldn't discover there was a problem until their compound was surrounded by a company of guardsmen.... 

Quote from Bartjeebus >>

So my players have done all the prep work, sent some forged letters, and are ready to press ahead with their plan to undermine the local Duke.  They have secured an ally with a magic book with an Ice Devil bound to it.  They plan to summon this devil, order it to attack a bunch of the Duke's political rivals, and generally make it seem like the Duke is BBEG.  They will then "defeat" the devil in the town square, restore their own reputation, and assuming all goes well lead to the Duke getting overthrown.  I won't go over all the boring details but for the purposes of this exercise assume the following is true:

- They can summon this devil for 12 hours.  

- For the first hour, the devil must follow commands given to it by the person attuned to the book (the ally).

- The devil is free to take any action it wishes so long as it does not contradict an order its been given.  

- After one hour the devil starts getting saves to break control... so the plan is to pull this off and banish the devil again within 1 hour.

Here are the instructions that will be given to the devil, verbatim:

"Devil-  you know as well as I you only obey me due to the binding placed upon you.  Were you free you would no doubt flee this place or attempt to destroy me.  And you have always attempted to twist my orders or "interpret" them in ways counter to my plans.  Consider this carefully.  This will be the last time I call upon you.  Follow these instructions without alteration or diversion, and when this is finished I will destroy the bindings on this book and release your spirit.  Your destiny will be back in your own hands.  On the other hand, try to cheat me and I will see this book delivered to a mages college where you will be summoned, poked, prodded and used as a teaching tool for countless lifetimes to come.  Consider you actions well.

First I will conjure you in the home of a wealthy human woman. When you locate the noble human Lady of the house- tell her, "Woman! Your insolence has not gone un-noticed by the Duke! Your reluctance to immediately support his claim was an insult, and he does not tolerate insults. You are lucky that I am only here to destroy your property, and not take your life outright! If you do not make suitable endowments to your new Duke- rest assured I will return and finish my job here!"   I want you to kill no one in this home, only damage the doors walls, artwork, and windows. Then, make your exit. Spend no more than 15 minutes fully ruining her home and property. If you cannot find her- scream the scripted rant from the rooftop in the Common tongue and leave, moving onto your next task.

You will find a number of homes in the area, many of which are marked with Red painted X's on their doors. Vandalize those homes, and while doing so say loudly in the common tongue- "This is what you are owed for not immediately supporting your new Duke's claim to the throne." Repeat this phrase over and over, as loud as you can, in the Common tongue.

Feel free to utilize lethal force against any humans you see during this time, as long as they are not the old noble woman you warned earlier. DO NOT intentionally bring any harm to any Elves, Dwarves or Orcs you see. Likewise, do not harm me or ANY person wearing an armband colored grey and red. Any other human who attacks you can be dealt with as you wish. I will keep watch for Clerics and Wizards and will do what I can to keep you away from them. I may even dismiss you back to hell and recall you in a safer place nearby.

You will be confronted by a group of fighters wearing grey and red armbands. When they confront you, I want you to retreat to the large keep in the area. While retreating, I want you to shout at them in the Common tongue- "Why are you attacking me? I am doing the bidding of your new lord the Duke of Lordstown? I am simply bringing his justice to the people who insulted him, per our bargain!"

If you are able to retreat to the gates of the keep and they are closed, I want you to bang on them and say loudly in the Common tongue- "Please, let me in! I am a simple servant of the new Duke and I seek refuge here! Please, I beg of you- give me shelter." After you scream this in the Common tongue a few times- I will dismiss you.

Behave yourself and follow these commands without perversion, and I will release you for all time."

 

ADDENDUM ISSUED AFTER I ASKED "Is that everything you will tell the devil?"

"Above all else, you are to make no sign, in any way, in any language, or with any pantomime, signal, gesture, speech, or any other communicable method to indicate a familiarity or relationship with myself, or any person wearing the armband of grey and red. You are to follow my specific orders to their letter and to your present understanding of their intent with no alterations to your fullest ability, but pretend to not know me should we encounter one another while this is happening."

 

So what do you think?  I am wresting with whether or not to slip a betrayal in.  On one hand, no contract can ever be air tight and devils are supposed to be masters of using contracts to their advantage.  So I really should find a way for the devil to mess this up for them (ideally in a way where the devil has a chance to get released and only later they learn he betrayed them).  On the other hand, I like that my players not only put some thought into the orders, they wrote them out so they sound a bit like a contract.  I would like to reward them for trying to be thorough.  We also play this as a pretty DARK campaign and I punish them quite a bit.  Maybe this is one I should just let them have.

Then again, they are turning a DEVIL loose on a town, with orders to harm the people who oppose the same guy they oppose.  So maybe my players deserve what's coming to them.

 

Some of my thoughts:

- They start out with a nice broad prohibition against making any sign or gesture, etc... but then narrow it and make it very specific in that the Devil cannot relate knowledge of his relationship to them.  I think that opens it back up that the devil could leave messages about other topics....

- The only people they tell the devil not to kill are them and their subordinates (with the red and grey armbands) and the first noble woman.  That gives me freedom to kill just about anyone in town.  The point of their plan was to only hurt people who didn;t support the Duke, so people suspect the Duke.  I could have the Devil whack a bunch of the Duke's relatives or something and throw a huge wrench in that plan.

 

But if the devil does take outside action it needs to be part of a broader plan or purpose.  Devils are lawful evil and tyranny incarnate.  It is not going to just cause havoc for havoc's sake.

 

I am all ears if folks have ideas.  Thanks in advance.

 

Oh... and how about voicework (for the ice devil)?  I am torn between Cobra Commander or the bug from Men In Black (since they kinda look like bugs).

 have the devil remove an armband, then attack the former wearer of the armband; they're not wearing it per se

Well, seems they’ve dug their own grave now. Truth is a dangerous weapon! :-)

Quote from NaivaraArnuanna >>

Well, seems they’ve dug their own grave now. Truth is a dangerous weapon! :-)

 PCs are their own worst enemy :-)

Makes a change from the PCs screwing up the DMs plot - they screwed up their own plot :-)

Quote from Bartjeebus >>

do not harm me OR any person wearing an armband colored grey and red.

  There's your loophole. Don't harm him, kill everyone with the armbands. He was told either/or.

I was going to suggest that the devil kill the duke, but...

Quote from Bartjeebus >>

I'm not sure how to get them out of this.  They seem to believe they have pulled this off flawlessly... I'm afraid "in world" they wouldn't discover there was a problem until their compound was surrounded by a company of guardsmen.... 

 "Okay everyone, new campaign. The objective of this campaign is to hunt down and kill your old PCs, for being psychotic supervillains."

Repeat the wisdom check again once a day if the devil comes up in a conversation. That won‘t stop them from being discovered, but it gives them a warning.

You can have they devil take revenge on them for not freeing it like they promised. Who knows, the ice devil might know a pit fiend or two. Or, the ice devil could have an invisible imp minion frame the PCs and have them be put under arrest. Even worse, the ice devil could slowly corrupt the PCs into a LE alignment in exchange for the vital information.

Quote from Thauraeln_The_Bold >>

You can have they devil take revenge on them for not freeing it like they promised. Who knows, the ice devil might know a pit fiend or two. Or, the ice devil could have an invisible imp minion frame the PCs and have them be put under arrest. Even worse, the ice devil could slowly corrupt the PCs into a LE alignment in exchange for the vital information.

 Definitely!  The PCs didn't hold up their end of the infernal bargain - who knows, perhaps the planes of Hell are already aware of the breaking of the supernatural(?) bargain - no need for the Ice Devil to petition any other devils at all. ;-)

Quote from Thauraeln_The_Bold >>

You can have they devil take revenge on them for not freeing it like they promised. Who knows, the ice devil might know a pit fiend or two. Or, the ice devil could have an invisible imp minion frame the PCs and have them be put under arrest. Even worse, the ice devil could slowly corrupt the PCs into a LE alignment in exchange for the vital information.

 Or...it could be totally honest when questioned by the authorities.

Two questions -

A: What alignment are these guys?

B: What are the devils going to do about the breach of contract? Seems to me like the Ice Devil upheld the bargain, and they didn't... 

OK... to wrap things up and answer a few questions...

1) This wasn't a typical infernal contract (if there is such a thing).  The devil was already bound to a magic book.  They never bothered to investigate the backstory but there is black dragon lich lurking around the periphery of the campaign and this book belonged to it.  It had tricked the devil into breaking a contract and as punishment the devil was trapped in the book.  The book had been loaned to a dragon cultist to carry out a specific task using the devil but my PC's wiped out that dragon cult without even realizing what it was.  They let an NPC mage keep the book because they did not want to mess around (at the time) with a devil.  So this devil wasn't able to negotiate terms or "bind" them to their promise to release it.  It was required to do what they said as part of the magics binding it to the book.  They promised to release it only as what they hoped would be a way to get the devil to actually follow their instructions without trying to find some kind of evil loopholes (ie. Hmmn.  I could take that loophole and mess up their plans, but then they definitely won't release me.)  Also, the devil doesnt actually go back to the 9 Hells when dismissed.  It was trapped in a pocket dimension created by the book.  But my players never bothered to ask about this.  Long story short, if they had not screwed themselves by leaving the book as "evidence" they would have been AOK.  Just sink the book in the ocean or something and that devil would not have been able to spill their secrets.

2) Officially, my players' alignments are Chaotic Good/Chaotic Neutral/Chaotic Neutral/Lawful Evil.  Yes, it has been a nightmare to manage them together as a unit.  The CN's play CN as "we are willing to do whatever, whenever, and however as appears necessary to get what we want" and they are the glue that let this game function at all.  But they are bad guys.  They think that by giving a percentage of their loot to charity, it makes it OK that they murder everyone they think might have something to do with the conspiracies they are investigating.  In reality, by my own score, the players are Chaotic Neutral/Chaotic Evil/Chaotic Evil/Chaotic Evil.  The Lawful Evil tries to be Lawful Evil, but makes a lot of dumb decisions and changes his mind a lot so functions more like Chaotic Evil.  

3) The "Chaotic Good" character escaped the hangman's noose.  The day after the devil session, player sent me an email that he had a crisis of conscience given all the horror they had unleased on the town.  He sent letters to the other PC's and left town to "find himself" (this is before I dropped the bad news about the book.).  PC may come back or may not.  For now player is rolling a new character.  As an added kick in the pants, he wrote a sappy letter to his NPC love interest, an on-again, off-again support party member.  She is now probably going to hang for her connections to them (fulfilling a weird and unplanned tradition of that character's girlfriends getting killed).

4) The "Chaotic Neutral" characters received job offers from BBEG.  He tipped them off about their plot being discovered but given how they had shown themselves more capable of tearing down the local infrastructure and making the world ready for him than any of His actual servants, He wanted them to come work for him.  One of them accepted and will become an evil NPC.  One refused and has gone on the run.  Neither warned the last player, or the NPC girlfriend.  Both players are rolling new characters.

5)"Lawful Evil" noble character didn't find out until his manor was surrounded by guards, peasants, and clerics from several faiths (since they set the dang church on fire).  That player is mad because he had been against the whole "Let's unleash a devil on the city" plan from the get go.  He wants a game session to let his player go down swinging.  I think in reality his own guardsmen would probably hand him over to save themselves but I will probably let him have his moment. 

***

Thus ends the first arc of my first campaign.