Marion

**General:**

Marion is a lawful evil sorceress and diabolist who carries the child of Lucifer in her womb. She currently travels with the party rather than being affiliated with an active coven..

**Appearance:**

Marion is a 17-year-old woman of great beauty and charm. She has fair skin, an attractive body, captivating eyes and supple lips. She has long, curly, dirty-blonde hair which falls to her lower back. She prefers to wear brightly colored dresses with corsets that expose her cleavage.

**Personality:**

Marion is ambitious and craves power and glory but she is cautious and calculating. She does not reveal her abilities to those who she believes could be a threat to her. She has, in the past, been able to feign being an innocent, helpless maiden despite being an evil sorceress with incredible natural potential. She has demonstrated an ability to manipulate, coax and otherwise charm people into treating her favorably. She would rather avoid conflicts where she has nothing to gain and would only be put into danger.

**Abilities:**

Marion is capable of casting fourth level spells and although she has offensive spells that include magic missile and fireball she tends to favor subtlety with her magics as well unless in open combat.

**Weaknesses:**

Marion's greatest weakness was that she grew up in Brockenburg, where she was very sheltered from the outside world. As a result, she did not have access to much magical gear. However, after traveling with the party for a while and sharing some of their spoils, she is now very well equipped.

Marion also, perhaps, places too much faith in Lucifer. She believes that he alone will do what must be done to preserve order in the world and that he alone will allow his followers to gain as much power as their ambition allows. She does not know how much he seeks to destroy the free will of others and assumes that he only would enslave the stupid or weak, which she clearly isn't if she was chosen to bear his child.

**Goals:**

Marion's goals were to ingratiate herself to the party and make them trust her enough to keep her around. She saw them as a means of increasing her power faster than if she were alone. She now has returned to the Blackthorn peaks and plans to join a Coven or start her own.

She also hopes to protect the child of Lucifer until she can give birth, at which point the half-fiend will be taken by Lucifer's servants and she will be presumably rewarded. Marion has stated that Vornir's goals would plunge the world into chaos, which is the opposite of what her lord desires.

**History:**

Marion was born in Brockenburg to a simple peasant family. After the death of her parents from an unexplained sickness she lived alone with only her pet cat, surviving off charity as she prepared herself for a suitor. She was considered by many to be the most beautiful maiden in the village and many sought her hand in marriage. She also soon discovered that she possessed immense natural talent for sorcery and joined the cult of Lucifer for protection and help mastering these talents. Her original plan was to charm the son of the local blacksmith and therefore be taken care of by a man with stable income whom the lord of the village saw as useful to keep around.

When the party arrived in Brockenburg with the Order of the Thorn, she was accused of witchcraft. She pleaded sorrowfully that she was innocent when the inquisitors took her away earning the sympathy of many villagers. Danny, the village blacksmith, stepped forward to defend her honor only to be beaten down by the lord's guards.

The party requested and gained the right to interrogate her and Rikka spoke to her alone. At first, she seemed like a helpless damsel. She said that all she wanted was to be married and raise a happy family and that she did not want to die young. Her lies were convincing until Rikka showed her that he was marked with the devil's mark. He then found the same mark on her. Rikka promised to free her as they served the same master and offered to take her and Danny away from the village.

She revealed her true nature to Rikka saying that she thought Danny was nothing but a "lustful fool" for the way he tried and failed to defend her. She also revealed that she had been atop the bald mountain and promised to bear Lucifer a child. If she were to be killed, Lucifer's wrath would fall upon the ones responsible. She said she wished to escape the village to avoid living as a worthless peasant under the heel of a dying lord. She believes there is more that she can achieve in life and that her potential is wasted in the village.

Rikka ultimately succeeded in smuggling her and Danny out of the village and her taste of freedom had her reveal aspects of her true personality. This made Danny distrust her and no longer love her but she no longer needed his protection anyway. She later joined the Illuminators Guild as a silver pin member. She then accompanied the party on their mission to Fenrir's maw. She requested a fair share of whatever portion of the treasure that they find.

As the group began making their way north toward Fenrir’s Maw, Marion seemed to be keeping an eye on the cycle of the moon. She also tried to get more information out of the party and their motivations. She learned of Adam’s search for a spellcaster to train his village's budding sorceress and Momiji’s plan to hunt down the woman that was Vornir’s father’s advisor. When Marion learned how old this woman Momiji chased was, Marion seemed intrigued by the idea of magics that would allow one to far outlive their normal lifespan while still retaining youthful beauty.

About two weeks later, it was once again the night of the new moon. When Marion and Rikka were together on watch, Marion asked Rikka to make up an excuse if the group were to awake and ask where she is. They agreed he would tell her that she had the woman’s bleed and she crept off into the night. Some time later, an unnatural storm began to rage across the frozen plains and icy rain and lightning fell.  Where the lightning struck, fire burned and did not extinguish.

Momiji revealed his true form to Rikka and dug the party a tunnel for shelter. Rikka then told the group that he would go off looking for Marion when they asked where she was. Momiji decided to sneak after him, for he alone had heard a faint female moan on the wind. Rikka arrived on the scene first, finding that Marion had lit a circle of nine candles in the eye of the storm and lay within it. Lucifer stood hunched over her, furiously fucking her.

She was fulfilling her pact to bear the devil’s child and the storm was a result of his great evil being summoned into the world.

Rikka decided to summon a wolf and stand guard. Momiji arrived and after seeing what was happening decided to abandon stealth and run back to the group. Rikka’s summoned wolf gave chase at Rikka’s command and the kobold badly injured the kitsune with a scorching ray before he got away. Rikka then approached Lucifer and Marion mid-copulation to tell them that Momiji now knew. Marion, angrily, demanded to know why Rikka had led them here when she explicitly wanted him to distract the group. Lucifer, irritated, finished his deed and then vanished, causing the storm to die down.

Marion hastily dressed herself as Rikka demanded that Marion help him in killing off the party. Marion said that he was outnumbered and that she wouldn’t risk dying while carrying the seed of Lucifer’s child if she didn’t have to. She said that she would attempt to talk down the group though Rikka was convinced she would be killed on sight.  Marion took the precaution of creating a major image to walk far ahead of where she actually stood when negotiating with the party. Rikka was able to spot and follow close behind the real Marion unseen.

Momiji then returned to the party and received healing from Ren as he told them what he had seen. The group took up defensive positions inside the burrow and drew their weapons, preparing for battle.
The group did not see through Marion’s illusion, which approached with hands raised in a sign of non-aggression. She informed them that Rikka attacked them on his own and that she had no intention of joining him in that.

Adam told Marion to leave them at once and to toss aside her Illuminator pin. The rest of the group seemed to share this sentiment initially. However, Marion began to negotiate with them.

She first explained that she was fulfilling a pact that she had made in exchange for Lucifer’s protection during the inquisition. She had taken no actions against the group and had no intention to.
 She said that all that the group knew of her master was what they had heard from the inquisition. Two types of people served Lucifer, she said, those who were just degenerate and sinful whom Lucifer ensnared and punished, and those who recognized that sometimes one must use darker methods for battling great evils that sought to spread wanton evil and destruction. She said that Lucifer still believed in a sense of order and that he honored his bargains. The followers of Loki, by contrast, wanted only to destroy and she too wanted to thwart that goal. She added that spells that detect “good” and “evil” are defined by the overdeity who himself must be flawed for the group saw with their own eyes the inquisition going after innocent people.

The party then reconsidered what to do with Marion, deciding that they would have to turn back without at least one sorcerer. They agreed that she could remain with them at least for the duration of their quest.
Marion also offered to act as an intermediary and relay messages between them and Rikka at which point Rikka revealed himself.

Rikka scolded Marion for not taking a side in this conflict and for being out for self-preservation above all else. At this, she told Rikka that she would neither help or hinder him if he was about to attack the group but that she wanted to protect her master’s child. She then turned invisible and used a pass without trace potion to watch the drama from the sidelines while keeping safe. When spoken to for the rest of this encounter, she used the ghost sound spell to throw her voice and hide her position.

Rikka attempted to negotiate his way back into the party’s good graces. He revealed that he too was a follower of Lucifer which he kept hidden out of fear because the group was working with the inquisition. He said that he had not recognized Momiji as Momiji when he attacked and he said that he had saved the party’s lives numerous times through his negotiations.  He said that he still wanted to go north and help them rescue his people and fight Vornir. The group was convinced, more or less, about Rikka’s sincerity in these matters.

However, they did not forgive Momiji being attacked. They also demanded to know how Lucifer’s servants knew about the Stone of Amun Ra. When Marion was questioned, rather than expose Rikka’s pact, she said that ‘clearly a follower of Lucifer must have seen it on you and promised to take it.’ She also offered to sign in blood a written testimony that she had made no pact regarding stealing the stone. This, while not a lie, also did not expose Rikka’s plot. The group ultimately concluded that Rikka could not be forgiven for attacking them and that while they would not try to kill him they would no longer travel with him.

Rikka told them all to go fuck themselves and flew off into the night, aiming to complete his quest alone if he had to. Whether he will still try to aid the party or attack them again at some future time has yet to be determined. Marion remains traveling with them.

That night, the party drew up a contract with Marion which stated that she would not attempt to aid anyone opposing the party, she would not attempt to take the stone herself and she would make the group aware of anyone she knew of plotting to do so. Deciding that it was no longer advantageous to protect Rikka, and figuring the group already knew, she signed the contract and revealed the Kobold’s promise to Lucifer to take the Tear of Amun-Ra, which was made atop the bald mountain before the whole black mass. She then asked if Rikka was likely to seek out the group and seek revenge at which the others believed he would.

Marion continued to aid the group in their travels through the north. She helped them battle polar bears for a cave when they sought shelter and used her major image to help them and Vera, a half-dragon who later joined the party, escape a frost giant that was pursuing her. She later helped the party defeat an ice golem and used her illusion to help them enter the frost giant kingdom undetected.

Marion continued to help the party in their battles through the ice caves and accompanied them into the Neanderthal initiation cave. She was initially skeptical that such primitive peoples could give them any assistance of value. However, she was proven to be wrong. Marion, although human, was unable to see the spirit animals and other supernatural phenomenon because she has no honor. The trials and the spirits and deities associated with them recognized her as a damned soul and rejected her.

During the party's battle with Tamamo No Mae, she attempted to hit the kitsune with magic missiles only for them to be deflected by her barrier. When the fox insulted her for attacking with such pathetic, low level magic, she immediately resolved to make the arrogant bitch suffer. Marion used invisibility to hide while the party defeated Klaus, and then mage hand to steal Tamamo No Mae's orb of dragon kind when she was thrown from the back of the dragon after he was knocked from the sky. She later had an opportunity to take the staff and tear of Amun-Ra and was able to channel a fiery aura around herself. When Tamamo No Mae was lying on the ground, badly beaten by the party, she seemed intent on grabbing her and burning her to death - but the kitsune was able to escape with a portal created by her magic fan.

She surrendered the staff back to the party and assisted them in rescuing the Kobolds and trying to get back to the guild before Vanargand's army arrives to warn them. Upon returning to the guild, she did not help them battle Rikka, who had abducted Adam's wife -believing it to be an unnecessary risk for her. When they returned, she learned that Rikka was dead but had murdered Ophelia. She said that Rikka was exactly the kind of scum Lucifer sought to punish. She offered them a chance to flee the guild and seek protection from her coven, but they refused and thus Marion parted ways with the group and returned to The Blackthorn Peaks equipped with new magic items.