The Ballad of Jeff the Stop Sign
Jeff arrived in Lehill alongside the others, a strange figure amidst the more conventional adventurers. He wasn't born in the usual way, not of human or even typical Demigod stock. He was made, crafted by a demon whose name remained unspoken, a being of rules and order given form – a living Stop Sign in a world of fluid Demayth. He carried a secret burden: the knowledge, or perhaps just the feeling, that his power wasn't truly his own, that he lacked the divine spark of the true Demigods.
His early days in Lehill were a mix of the mundane and the slightly off-kilter. He tried to fit in, working for a time at the blacksmith's forge, learning a craft. Yet, the rigid lines of his being seemed ill-suited to the messy realities of mortal life. He dabbled in gambling at the Cup of Sludge, a brief flash of success overshadowed by being caught cheating, a clumsy escape leaving him slightly battered. He fought alongside the party against the horrors that emerged – the monstrous Ravager in the marketplace, the ghouls and zombies infesting the graveyard – proving capable, if perhaps unremarkable compared to his companions' growing prowess.
But beneath the surface, something stirred. Jeff felt his limitations, the constraints of his artificial nature. He began experimenting, delving into crafting hybrid spells, attempting rituals in the quiet hours between adventures. These attempts, however, consistently failed, reinforcing his sense of inadequacy, his feeling of being merely a construct playing at being real. He meticulously maintained his appearance, perhaps an attempt to impose order on a self he didn't fully understand.
Then came the fall of Lehill, and with it, a terrifying revelation. As chaos engulfed the city, Jeff found himself adrift in a place beyond reality – the Labyrinth of Unreason. There, he met Zakir, the embodiment of Chaos itself. The trickster god laid bare the truth: Jeff was a puppet, animated by borrowed demonic power, lacking the divine spark necessary for true growth, for ascension. But Zakir offered a deal, a chaotic bargain – embrace the unpredictable, become a "blank slate," and gain the potential for true divinity, the chance to forge his own path. Burdened by his limitations and tempted by the promise of becoming real, Jeff said yes.
He returned to the world, changed. He was now a "blessed soul," touched by Chaos, imbued with a potential he didn't fully comprehend. Tasked by the newly arrived Urilys Aetheroes to help rescue prisoners from the fallen Keep, Jeff unleashed his newfound connection to chaos. He summoned mischievous pixies, sowing confusion amongst the enemy ranks. He entered a bizarre dance battle, a strange manifestation of the chaos within, only to lose and fall unconscious, suffering the indignity of being treated as little more than street refuse by passing children.
Wounded but resolute, he rose again, seeking out the fiddler who had bested him. But the chaos within him was growing, demanding release. As Esty transformed into a seventy-foot Sunlight Gundam, slaughtering vampires, Jeff’s power erupted uncontrollably. He didn't just fight the undead; he became a consuming force, spawning a "Creep Tumor" that devoured everything necrotic in its path. This culminated in a horrifying transformation – Jeff lost himself, becoming a monstrous Kaiju, an uncontrolled force of destruction fueled by the chaotic blessing and his demonic core.
The ensuing battle against Esty's light-infused mech was a clash of titans that shattered the remnants of Lehill. Though Esty ultimately prevailed, Jeff survived, the Kaiju form receding, leaving him exhausted and terrified by the power he couldn't control. Faced with Esty's confusion, Jeff chose deception, weaving a tale of corruption by Lucius to mask his own catastrophic loss of control. His lie held, for now, but the seed of mistrust was planted. Despite the destruction they had caused, the party was hailed as heroes by the refugees they helped evacuate. Jeff received praise for battling a monster he himself had become.
The journey south, the encounter with Narin, the discovery of Maria's displacement – Jeff experienced these events carrying the heavy secret of his pact and his role in Lehill's ruin. He saw Narin's grief, the consequences of manipulation born from loss, perhaps seeing a distorted reflection of his own struggles. He witnessed the party's moral dilemma, remaining quiet, perhaps contemplating the nature of the "true divinity" Zakir had promised.
Then came the blessing from the Church of the Three Sisters. The Light Demayth washed over him, not with pain or rejection, but with a subtle resonance that went unnoticed by most. Unbeknownst to Jeff, this blessing acted as a beacon, marking his conflicted soul for Divine Scrutiny. He was now being watched by forces far greater than he knew.
Perhaps it was this scrutiny, the weight of his secrets, the volatile chaos within, or the encounter with the celestial during his out-of-body experience that led to his final choice. While Yuri held onto him, Jeff, interacting with forces beyond her perception, made a decision. He chose not oblivion, perhaps, but a chance at the rebirth the 3 sisters had offered. He chose to embrace the potential of the "blank slate," to be "returned back to the cycle."
From Yuri's perspective, he simply dissolved, unraveled into swirling motes of chaotic energy and light, leaving behind only empty space and profound questions. Jeff, the Stop Sign, the demon's creation, the pawn of chaos, was gone. But his soul, now blessed with the potential for true becoming, was somewhere else, waiting for its next chapter.
