Jebalat
“Huy bez laykov” © Vladimir Matyukhin, accessed at his ArtStation here
[Jebalat was a recurring NPC in my Rise of the Runelords game. One of my players was playing a hellspawn, which was a tiefling-like playable race from Fiendish Codex 2, which were pledged to hell at an early age instead of being born with fiendish blood. I really like that as a tiefling origin, and that’s been a canon way to do it in my games ever since. That character, Evangeline, will be posted in the near future as an NPC, as will a more recent character of mine who is another one of his clients. Stay tuned.]
Jebelat CR 13 LE Outsider (extraplanar) This humanoid figure is intimidating, with gray skin covered in scales and a crown of horns like a sinister halo. His facial expression is calm in a condescending way.
Jebelat has been in the soul trade for a long time. He considers himself to be one of the finest case managers in the courts of Nessus. His specialty is escrow contracts; he has some noble dupe sign away their child’s soul in order to have the child transformed into a tiefling, to be put to work as a high status slave, or just as a trophy of infernal influence. The legal grasp on the child’s soul is somewhat tenuous, as the baby cannot sign of their own free will, but such a cruel contract damns the soul of the parent regardless of any specific legalese. The baby then is coached as they grow up, encouraging them towards law and evil, and in most cases, signing their own contract when they reach an age of majority and their own ambitions have been stoked.
Of course, not all of these cases work out. Pesky free will and all that; Asmodeus’ perennial obstacle. The most prominent contract Jebelat lost was of a promising warrior named Evangeline. Although Evangeline was strong enough to resist Jebalat’s back and forth of wheedling and threats, she did die under her parent’s contract. Twice. Jebalat was able to obtain the services of the orcitimor Melamas to kill Evangeline the second time when she was resurrected by her allies. But in so doing, pushed his luck too far, and ended up losing any right to Evangeline’s soul when defeated in a fiddle contest overseen by angels of Saerenrae. A lesser devil may have ended up demoted or at least tortured for that failure, but Jebalat was able to successfully argue that, because of how many souls Evangeline sent to Hell by killing neutral evil targets, who then opted for the surety of the Pit rather than the nihilism of Abaddon, that it was a net win for the forces of Hell.
Jebalat is a mesmerist of some skill, but true to his nature as a phistophilus, prefers to entice or trick rather than force the hand of a client. Long term emotional manipulation, gaslighting and inducing the dread of uncertainty are his favorite tactics, and he has the rehearsed pace and controlled tone of an expert cult leader. He would much rather not engage in physical violence, as his body has literally been sculpted to minimize his natural weapons in exchange for being able to better move in mortal circles. Still, he is an excellent spellcaster, and his curses and the nightmares they induce are legendary, even in Hell.