Friday, June 6, 2008

An Uncomfortable truth.

Gazing around at yet another group of dead bodies, Eolar starts to feel uneasy.
The brutish Bailey was ugly and ill mannered, but did he deserve to die?
He wasn’t ‘Good’, true, but he and Chaplin were certainly ‘Lawful’.
In his eagerness to help his friends, had he crossed the line?
Friends?
Actually Eolar was beginning to worry about both Thesis and Bodush. His preaching didn’t seem to be affecting them. In fact, he was beginning to feel that their bad habits were beginning to rub off on him.
Killing and lying hadn’t used to come so easily to him.
What had these fifteen Humans actually done wrong?
Who was it that attacked first?
Were all these Humans killed just to gain a little more gold?
Looking across the camp, Eolar sees his cohort Elogyn reassuring the surviving Orc women and children.
Her behaviour causes his feelings of unease to turn towards shame.

6 comments:

Insanodag said...

Bodush briefly considers the unnecessary slaughter of the innocents, before realising that the St. Cuthbert contingent might have some issues with it. The whole Bailey incident was, in a way, quite satisfying.

RoboGeek said...

Laying it on a bit thick there buddy.

Fact is Bodush and Thesis deliberately hung back to avoid a bloodbath. Only when they were spotted did things get nasty, and Thesis very loudly tried to warn those silly guards not to attack.

In any case, Bailey obviously expected trouble or he wouldn't have set 2 guards on the road. Live by the sword, die by the sword and all that.

Hedzor said...

I still can't believe 'Righteous' Eolar lied!

Actually if Mendez had been there, I'd have said 'Kill them all!'

Insanodag said...

Indeed, it was good to actually not be the one instigatinng massacres.

Hedzor said...

It's true, Bailey started it when he thought he had the advantage.
:)

Joebroesel said...

A few minutes earlier....

They've just entered the camp when Elogyn started to look around in disgust. There were dead bodies with mushrooms growing on them. Most of them had clear signs of unnatural deaths. The goblins that are chained and clearly enslaved didn't improve the picture. She turned to Eolar next to her and whispers
"This is evil, we have to stop that!"
"Growing plants is not against the law!"
"But the enslave and kill creatures to grow them!!"
"Creatures that are evil. And we don't know if they killed them!"
"Acting evil against evil creatures doesn't make you good!"
"I know, but killing them doesn't make us any better!"
"This has to be stopped, with or without your help!"
"Don't forget who you are and who you are talking to! We are not getting involved!"
Elogyn turned away, clearly enraged, but complies to Eolars decision.

Eolar stares straight on. He already is angry at himself for lying to the orcs earlier. But he didn't want any more bloodshed. And if they would have found out the truth about the unjustifiable killing, they both would have died trying to stupidly avenge their clan immediately. Shen-Shen will try to make up for that, but that is not his business.

He already has much to confess to St.Cuthbert and doesn't want to add another point on the list. It is bad enough at it is!

They are moving on. Finally. The faster they get out of this camp, the better! Elogyn will obey his decision. She still is a cleric of St.Cuthbert!

They turn a corner in the path and Eolar sighs. It was the correct decision, although the whole thing leaves a bad taste behind. He can hear battle noises from the camp. They are attacking Thesis and Bodush! He was hoping Bailey wouldn't remember, but it seems he was wrong!

While jumping down the cart and grabbing his shield, he can already see Elogyn running. She got the outcome she'd wanted without disobeying his decision. This time the decision was clear, they had to help their companions against the aggressors!