Originally Posted by
Hectonkhyres
Ok. Lets run this over. To me it looks like Parson put himself and that artifact down as bait for Charlie in what looked like an attempt to simply outbid Ansom. In reality, he was trying to get the mercman himself to come over to the dark side and try to take everything of value on both sides in a play to become the most powerful being in existence. Now, having positioned Charlie so that it looks like he is going to slit the throat of whoever wins, he can watch as both sides self annihilate in a frenzied orgy of self destruction... and he comes out smelling like a rose, possibly with both an arkentool and an absurdly defensible city under his control. And a very damaged Charlie owing him the god of all favors and dependent on him for survival now that most of his shocktroops are croaked and he has been accused of outright betraying two different allies simultaneously. And he does it smiling while a blade is practically against his throat, metaphorically speaking at least.
I'm sorry, I classify that as Magnificent Bastard material. If he pulls it off, he is a Magnificent bastard.