Legend
Azoth's hold on you is getting a little stronger and your own thoughts are becoming very disjointed and confused. You can't concentrate on what you want to do next; Azoth has some ideas on the situation though.
"Ah civilization, how I've missed it. You may find it surprising but I'm actually a people person. I suppose the interaction of mortals has always fascinated me. Their petty wants and their shallowness. It's all very delightful when they perform horrible acts just to get what they want. Hmmm, this city in particular is rife with conflict. I can sense great strife brewing here. Yes, I definitely sense a growing darkness. Might even be a demon cult here."
"I suppose you want us to head towards it huh?" you remark.
"Ha ha! You misjudge me and I'm wounded after all the time we've spent together! No, we should not join whatever cult is here. Cults are sadly a dime a dozen and in the scheme of things aren't very interesting. Oh sure they serve their purposes and can be fun, but as far as any real progress to be made, I think we'll do better on our own. We don't need a bunch of brainwashed sheep hanging around us right?"
"I can honestly say I don't want anyone ELSE hanging around me right now "
"Hmmm, still resisting I see. Well you'll come to appreciate me eventually. Now then I highly recommend that we start exploring this city, I'm sure we'll find something to do."
Having little else in mind you agree and proceed to familiarize yourself with Holgard starting with the poor district. Boy is this place wretched. Beggars, thieves and whores are just about all that exist in this area. Though there are some do gooder types in the area attempting to make the lives of the poor and destitute easier by running a soup kitchen of sorts. Looks like it might be run by members of the Church of the One True God, which wouldn't surprise you. Azoth doesn't like the way you're lingering around it.
"Feh! Their deeds can't save these pathetic sods! Come on let's go get ourselves a whore! You need to loosen up!"
Ignoring Azoth you enter the soup kitchen, this certainly isn't very adventurous, but you feel compelled to defy the demon.
"Argh! What're we doing here?! We got better things to do!" he fumes, but doesn't do anything.
You wander in a kind of daze while these poor homeless people seem shy away from you and give you strange looks, but soon one of the kitchen volunteers comes up to you.
"Hmm, you don't look like you're starving, but you don't look exactly well." She says.
"I'm not " you accurately retort.
"Well, I suggest you go down to the Church of the One True God, perhaps they can help you. We aren't equipped to help the sick I'm afraid."
Part of you really wants to take that advice, and get this demon exercised, but right now you're really struggling with it. The lure of power has gotten too great. You're just trying to maintain your concentration for right now
"You mean you aren't part of the Church?" you ask as you attempt to cover up your gem embedded hand.
"Well not as such no; while some of the members do come out and help and they are some of the nicer people of faith, I prefer this place stay unaffiliated. Makes it less likely to get caught up in a holy war. The tension between the various Temples has really been high as of late. Besides I run this place and I like to remain independent. But are you sure you're alright?"
"Yeah I'm okay. Hey can I help here? I'm just passing through this city and I guess I'm just lost right now and I need a place to stay and to clear my head "
"Um, sure! Didn't expect that answer, but we could use the help here. Not many volunteer. My name's Patricia. As for staying here, I guess in exchange for your help you can stay here. We let some of the homeless stay here too during the cold winters, but right now they most prefer the streets, so it won't be overcrowded."
Patricia goes on to explain that you'll mainly be serving food, but given that you look to be an adventurous type perhaps if something unusual comes up, she hopes that you'll be able to help. She then shows you a small room near the kitchen used to store food. It's not much, but after she hears that you were sleeping in the Poison Blade Inn, she almost insists that you stay here instead.
You now have a place to stash your stuff. The Soup Kitchen. Mark this down so you can make a list of what you want to keep there in the future. Also keep in mind that your gold and items you keep here can't be used while you're actually on a quest! (You CAN use any gold that you stash here when buying things here in the city though) You won't have to worry about rations either.
Meanwhile Azoth is really grumbling about your recent decision and makes a not so veiled threat that you need to get with the "program" or it won't be good for you.
At this point Azoth has been with you for awhile and is starting to try to slowly take over completely. You have to prevent this if you want to continue your existence as you know it. For this part of the adventure you'll be temporarily getting a new stat: HUMANITY. (You start at 0 and it increases or decreases depending on your actions) This will gauge how well you're keeping control of your faculties.
If you're a technologist, you're a little luckier since Azoth is still having trouble trying to figure you out. Whenever you have to subtract HUMANITY points you only subtract half the number (rounding up)
No doubt Azoth will be trying to get you to do evil as usual. Giving in will cause you to cause you to identify more with the demon meaning it puts you more at risk, however this also allows you to tap into his power a lot easier. Resisting him of course is typically going to have the opposite effect.
You may find a way to combat Azoth's possession attempt and still gain the benefits of his power, but ultimately you're going to have decide how to balance this and if power is worth the risk of losing yourself completely.
"Ah civilization, how I've missed it. You may find it surprising but I'm actually a people person. I suppose the interaction of mortals has always fascinated me. Their petty wants and their shallowness. It's all very delightful when they perform horrible acts just to get what they want. Hmmm, this city in particular is rife with conflict. I can sense great strife brewing here. Yes, I definitely sense a growing darkness. Might even be a demon cult here."
"I suppose you want us to head towards it huh?" you remark.
"Ha ha! You misjudge me and I'm wounded after all the time we've spent together! No, we should not join whatever cult is here. Cults are sadly a dime a dozen and in the scheme of things aren't very interesting. Oh sure they serve their purposes and can be fun, but as far as any real progress to be made, I think we'll do better on our own. We don't need a bunch of brainwashed sheep hanging around us right?"
"I can honestly say I don't want anyone ELSE hanging around me right now "
"Hmmm, still resisting I see. Well you'll come to appreciate me eventually. Now then I highly recommend that we start exploring this city, I'm sure we'll find something to do."
Having little else in mind you agree and proceed to familiarize yourself with Holgard starting with the poor district. Boy is this place wretched. Beggars, thieves and whores are just about all that exist in this area. Though there are some do gooder types in the area attempting to make the lives of the poor and destitute easier by running a soup kitchen of sorts. Looks like it might be run by members of the Church of the One True God, which wouldn't surprise you. Azoth doesn't like the way you're lingering around it.
"Feh! Their deeds can't save these pathetic sods! Come on let's go get ourselves a whore! You need to loosen up!"
Ignoring Azoth you enter the soup kitchen, this certainly isn't very adventurous, but you feel compelled to defy the demon.
"Argh! What're we doing here?! We got better things to do!" he fumes, but doesn't do anything.
You wander in a kind of daze while these poor homeless people seem shy away from you and give you strange looks, but soon one of the kitchen volunteers comes up to you.
"Hmm, you don't look like you're starving, but you don't look exactly well." She says.
"I'm not " you accurately retort.
"Well, I suggest you go down to the Church of the One True God, perhaps they can help you. We aren't equipped to help the sick I'm afraid."
Part of you really wants to take that advice, and get this demon exercised, but right now you're really struggling with it. The lure of power has gotten too great. You're just trying to maintain your concentration for right now
"You mean you aren't part of the Church?" you ask as you attempt to cover up your gem embedded hand.
"Well not as such no; while some of the members do come out and help and they are some of the nicer people of faith, I prefer this place stay unaffiliated. Makes it less likely to get caught up in a holy war. The tension between the various Temples has really been high as of late. Besides I run this place and I like to remain independent. But are you sure you're alright?"
"Yeah I'm okay. Hey can I help here? I'm just passing through this city and I guess I'm just lost right now and I need a place to stay and to clear my head "
"Um, sure! Didn't expect that answer, but we could use the help here. Not many volunteer. My name's Patricia. As for staying here, I guess in exchange for your help you can stay here. We let some of the homeless stay here too during the cold winters, but right now they most prefer the streets, so it won't be overcrowded."
Patricia goes on to explain that you'll mainly be serving food, but given that you look to be an adventurous type perhaps if something unusual comes up, she hopes that you'll be able to help. She then shows you a small room near the kitchen used to store food. It's not much, but after she hears that you were sleeping in the Poison Blade Inn, she almost insists that you stay here instead.
You now have a place to stash your stuff. The Soup Kitchen. Mark this down so you can make a list of what you want to keep there in the future. Also keep in mind that your gold and items you keep here can't be used while you're actually on a quest! (You CAN use any gold that you stash here when buying things here in the city though) You won't have to worry about rations either.
Meanwhile Azoth is really grumbling about your recent decision and makes a not so veiled threat that you need to get with the "program" or it won't be good for you.
At this point Azoth has been with you for awhile and is starting to try to slowly take over completely. You have to prevent this if you want to continue your existence as you know it. For this part of the adventure you'll be temporarily getting a new stat: HUMANITY. (You start at 0 and it increases or decreases depending on your actions) This will gauge how well you're keeping control of your faculties.
If you're a technologist, you're a little luckier since Azoth is still having trouble trying to figure you out. Whenever you have to subtract HUMANITY points you only subtract half the number (rounding up)
No doubt Azoth will be trying to get you to do evil as usual. Giving in will cause you to cause you to identify more with the demon meaning it puts you more at risk, however this also allows you to tap into his power a lot easier. Resisting him of course is typically going to have the opposite effect.
You may find a way to combat Azoth's possession attempt and still gain the benefits of his power, but ultimately you're going to have decide how to balance this and if power is worth the risk of losing yourself completely.