Monday, January 26, 2009

Better Late Than Never

Before setting off with his companions on their new quest to restore an ancient church, Chen releases the carrier pigeon. The story it carries, he feels, would sit well amongst the other historical tomes back at the monastery. An epic tale of power struggles, good versus evil, mythological creatures, sacrifice and heroism. At last! He is finally a part of these stories himself.

Until now his reports had only included the savage slaughter of defenseless zombies and the accidental killing of stubborn guards. This tale, however, was far different - and much more worthy of being told to the acolytes.

He recalls how he wrote about the powerful druids, the massive elementals, and the horde of werewolves who all but overwhelmed his brave companions. Of course modesty forced him to play down his role. Yes - it was he who 'rescued' the White Lady, thus saving Mendez and Durin, but to imply that he had singlehandedly resolved the situation would be too far a stretch of the truth! While he might wish for those days to come, he knew his limits. Could he ever dream to be as powerful as the White Lady? Should he ever dream to be as powerful as the White Lady? What would he do with this power if he did ever possess it?

A shudder went through him. He had sworn to protect Balance, but would power tempt him one way or the other? He already had witnessed how 'good' people behaved once they were given an opening - the Church of St Cuthbert was supposed to be good, but the power vacuum in Seawell had a strange effect on these clerics and they had dispatched Hextor's clerics with such pre-meditated precision that it had seemed almost... evil?

And now of course, he was supposed to help them spread their word even further - into the Forbidden Lands. While he had no hesitation in helping his friends Eolar and Elogyn, he was concerned that the line between Good and Evil was becoming somewhat unclear to him. With such actions taking place in the name of Good, he could only hope that Evil was thriving elsewhere!

The thought occured to him that, should this trend continue, he may be oathbound to take action to restore Balance to the area himself...

3 comments:

Joebroesel said...

I never said St.Cuthbert does good or is good :) But they don't do evil either! The commando operation against Hextor was for the greater good of the city and the order in it.
But they have a tendency towards good sometimes....

Charlie Stilton said...

I've always found the 'good' vs 'evil' thing a bit too arbitrary in D&D.

The whole alignment thing seems to polarise everything a bit too completely. e.g. the zombies that we killed when we rescued zombie Boscorm. I assume they were 'evil', and so Eolar/Elogyn had to kill them - even though they didn't actually do anything!

Hedzor said...

Their very existence was an affront to all that is decent!
Actually I can't remember if Zombies are actually evil. I think they're just soulless shells that simply do as they're told.
I'd feel sorry for them if they weren't so icky.
Don't worry though, The occupants of the Chaotic church are completely evil and mean too!