Today’s snippet, titled “A Moral Impasse”, is a piece I wrote about my PC in Mark’s Pathfinder Campaign. Please Note, this was originally written around 9/11/2014 just before our hiatus of the game, when two of our players moved away. We would the regroup in December/January and solider on. There are like, forty chapters after this one. *ahem* So far.
      Be forewarned, there may be mature themes and naughty language below.
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      “Surrender and repent your evil ways, or prepare to meet my blade.”
      Graves’ hand was on her hilt as the words rang from her throat. Rhiallis found her own weapon loose in its scabbard, ready to do battle with the monstrous creature before them. Every fibre in her body was prepared for the fight; she had heard – and given – this speech a hundred times before. Always it was met with vitriolic retorts, denials, vulgar insults and filthy oaths.
      Always.
      Then the cowled figure shifted his leathery shoulders and spoke. “Sure, I’ll try my best.”
      Rhiallis froze. Graves gave him a blank stare, then blinked and cast a glance at her fellow paladins.
      “W-what?”
      “I’ll do my best to renounce my evil ways. You can go now.”
      It had all gone downhill after that.
      Maximillian, as he called himself, was an undead horror of intelligence and cunning. He was careful to speak no direct lies, yet he tip-toed around the truth with semantics and playful turns of phrase. Though Rhiallis knew that Graves and Celeste, as much as she, wanted to put him down, their faith required that they accept his word.
      Iomedae’s Eighth Miraculous Act, so beautifully captured in the Lymirin Discourses, had always resonated strongly with her. Redemption was perhaps more important in Sarenrae’s church, for Iomedae’s crusaders focused so strongly upon vanquishing evil in all its forms, but the Inheritor herself had found it in her heart to convert a graveknight. And not just any graveknight – no. The Black Prince himself, a powerful undead warrior who had served the Whispering Tyrant. The Whispering Tyrant! she thought, marveling at the sheer audacity Iomedae had showed. How could we do any less? Our sacred vows require us to strive for Her perfection. She would have accepted his surrender…
      “We should kill him,” Kumiko grumbled. “He is evil. Iomedae knows this.”
      Graves nodded. “He is, and She does. But he gave his word. Until he proves false, it is our duty to try.”
      Jensen rolled his eyes and threw his head back on his neck, groaning. “Paladins are so unreasonable. He’s just going to try and kill us, or someone else.”
      “And the eyes,” Korael said, trotting alongside the rest of the command party. “Those red eyes – he was not alone in there. He will perhaps try, but the other? It will not.”
      Rhiallis bit her tongue. They don’t understand. How can they?
      “Look, he surrendered. It would dishonor us all were we to kill him.” Celeste spoke so rarely, and was so often contrary, but Rhiallis was pleased to find that she was a staunch ally in this decision at least.
      “It ain’t right for you three to make the choice for all of us. No vote or anything. We know he’s evil and he ought to die. He was probably outfitting that whole ghoul army and maybe even responsible for making them! We should just go back in there now and cut him down.”
      A dagger to her heart. Rhiallis could hardly believe Mira’s words. She was certain if anyone outside the church was going to back the paladins up, it would be her dear halfling friend. Surely, she must be thinking of Seraphina’s sacrifice…and Sera’s desire for vengeance. Would Sera have accepted his surrender? She had such a stout heart, and she was so smart. I feel like – she would understand the struggle, the need for the chance. But she would probably look at me with those eyes of hers and I would see that she wanted to put him to death, regardless of his empty words.
      “Don’t you understand?” Rhiallis said at last, frustrated. “This is a fundamental tenet of our faith! We have taken sacred vows to uphold Her word. For you, it is a matter of a simple choice – black and white. For us – this is our very soul at risk.”
      “Yeah, well,” Mytra said from her left side. “There’s good and there’s evil. And maybe it isn’t fair for you guys to make this choice without input from the rest of us, but its done now.”
      “It is not,” Kumiko insisted. “We can go back, kill him now. He should die and we all know it.”
      “We’re not the ones fooling ourselves into thinking something like that thing could ever redeem himself.”
      Throwing her hands in the air, Rhiallis stopped short. “Damn it, Jensen. We are not naive, and we are not stupid. We, all three of us, know that the chances of Maximillian keeping the faith is next to nil. We know that in all likelihood, we will not return to the crypt after Drezen is safely in the hands of the Faithful to find him knitting baby booties and raising fluffy bunnies! But by the word of our Goddess, we must try. We have to make the effort when the surrender is given, there is no other option for us.
      “If you go back and kill him now, it is as much dishonor to each of us as if we had done it ourselves. Perhaps it isn’t fair, and maybe we have come to an impasse as a group. But this is important to our faith. And our faith is crucial to our very… existence. If we can’t come to an agreement on this – if you can’t bring yourself to understand how very basic this need to honor Iomedae’s Acts is to Her paladins – I think… maybe it would be best to part ways.”
      “No one is saying that,” Mira said softly. “But it isn’t right.”
      Graves nodded. “Yeah, I guess it seems that way to you. And I do not advocate splitting this group up. We were charged to complete this together and we work well together. I am honored to fight alongside each of you. But whether or not he stands by it, Maximillian gave his word and we have to… to try.”
      There was a general grumbling of uneasy assent. It would have to do. The siege of Drezen lay before them with at least three entire armies standing between the combined might of the Knights of Kenabres & the Silver Dragon and the denizens of the Citadel.
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Note: Image is “King Jagiello Statue Central” by (Mulligand) from SXC.hu; edited by me