Quandaries
Jan. 20th, 2010 08:04 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
theronLast night, our weekly D&D game provided me (by way of my character) with an interesting and juicy quandary. Namely, what does a paladin do when faced with a Good vs Good conflict, wherein his actions MAY contribute to significantly weakening a major god of good in order to correct an ancient injustice.
Some backstory is probably in order. This campaign (a D&D 3.5 Forgotten Realms game) takes place almost entirely in the basement of a manor inherited by three PCs way back at 1st level. The manor sits over a megadungeon, which has been used by a number of factions and groups over the centuries, including the Cult of the Dragon, a mercenary company hired to conquer Baldur's Gate, a Duergar colony, Drow, Aboleth, and the Orcus-worshipping lich of our ancestor who built the manor in the first place. It also contains the entry points for a number of pocket dimensions, which play into the greater story.
Over the course of our explorations (my PC is 17th level now, so we've been doing this a while), we've discovered that one of the pocket dimensions is nothing less than a prison where Lathander locked away Paivatar, a minor goddess of the sun, in order to usurp her role during the events known as the Dawn Cataclysm. We know where Paivatar is, and what's more, we know how to free her. And thus our quandary.
Lathander is without doubt a major force for Good. Releasing Paivatar will doubtlessly diminish his power. Even though Val (my character) is not a Lathanderite, he still doesn't particularly want to harm the cause of a god of Good.
All of which was brought home last night when we found ourselves confronted by a trio of Devas who demanded (quite rudely) that we turn aside from our current quest, as it will doubtlessly lead to the freeing of Paivatar. When we balked on this (we didn't refuse them outright, we just didn't bow and scrape and immediately do their bidding), they attacked, leaving us on a cliffhanger. Given that Val is significantly less effective when it comes to fighting things that aren't evil, this is going to be a difficult conflict from both a moral and tactical perspective.
Some backstory is probably in order. This campaign (a D&D 3.5 Forgotten Realms game) takes place almost entirely in the basement of a manor inherited by three PCs way back at 1st level. The manor sits over a megadungeon, which has been used by a number of factions and groups over the centuries, including the Cult of the Dragon, a mercenary company hired to conquer Baldur's Gate, a Duergar colony, Drow, Aboleth, and the Orcus-worshipping lich of our ancestor who built the manor in the first place. It also contains the entry points for a number of pocket dimensions, which play into the greater story.
Over the course of our explorations (my PC is 17th level now, so we've been doing this a while), we've discovered that one of the pocket dimensions is nothing less than a prison where Lathander locked away Paivatar, a minor goddess of the sun, in order to usurp her role during the events known as the Dawn Cataclysm. We know where Paivatar is, and what's more, we know how to free her. And thus our quandary.
Lathander is without doubt a major force for Good. Releasing Paivatar will doubtlessly diminish his power. Even though Val (my character) is not a Lathanderite, he still doesn't particularly want to harm the cause of a god of Good.
All of which was brought home last night when we found ourselves confronted by a trio of Devas who demanded (quite rudely) that we turn aside from our current quest, as it will doubtlessly lead to the freeing of Paivatar. When we balked on this (we didn't refuse them outright, we just didn't bow and scrape and immediately do their bidding), they attacked, leaving us on a cliffhanger. Given that Val is significantly less effective when it comes to fighting things that aren't evil, this is going to be a difficult conflict from both a moral and tactical perspective.
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(no subject)
Date: 2010-01-20 08:47 pm (UTC)I'm a huge fan of Lathander, in general. They tend to be my default "good-guy" NPCs. I've played a Paladin of Lathander in a short lived campaign, and I had a decent chunk of backstory for him.
obSnark: So does this mean I might be able to blame y'all for Lathander's fall between 3rd and 4th? :)
(no subject)
Date: 2010-01-22 05:10 pm (UTC)I thought it was very telling that the angelic leader was quite obvious much more committed to the orders he'd been given than his two underlings - there may yet be an opening there for reasoning, or at least for sending a bruised messenger back with our terms for a peaceable meeting.
We might have even come to blows a lot sooner if our Chosen of Tempus cleric had been off the bench for that session. When he comes teleporting into the middle of that ruckus we're starting, he's going to have several choice words for Lathander's angel boys.
Sounds like Good vs Evil to me
Date: 2010-02-23 03:12 am (UTC)