Acceptable behaviour

[jack]

Suppose Viking raiders have been terrorising your coast. A few Vikings have previously settled here and become accepted. You know one noble in the capital city is a Viking, but this is generally unknown, and you suspect him to have *some* nefarious purposes.

However, you have some dealings with him, partly because he's rich and powerful, and partly to find out more about him, and he hires you to assassinate the leader of a band of Vikings who have settled in the nearby countryside.

However the leader is still a boy, just old enough to go into battle, but young enough you don't feel right about holding him culpable. Killing non-resident Vikings is generally regarded as a good thing, but you don't know if this specific band has been raiding anyone, or just settled there.

Do you:

(a) Find out if they have been raiding, and if so feel no compunction about one more regrettable but necessary death?
(b) Go ahead with the assassination anyway, them being here is problem enough
(c) Talk to the boy, find out if he's as malicious as Vikings in the country generally are, or if he might find allegiance with this country.
(d) Refuse to assassinate a boy whatever the circumstances, and try to expose the secret Viking noble who instigated it?
(e) Refuse to cooperate with the noble in any way, cooperating with an evil enemy is wrong even if the specific cause is valid in itself.

(The metaphor I'm seeking is Viking <=> DnD Dragon. And "leader of band" with "30-ft-long and breathes fire". Dragons are invariably but not in this campaign necessarily evil. Killing enemies is necessary. But this young dragon could be entirely innocent, his enemy, the dragon we became embroiled with, has politicl reasons for targetting him)

Comments

[ravingglory.livejournal.com]

I like that Dragons are smart enough to create moral delimas like this. Most D&D monsters just get killed without much thought.

[d37373.livejournal.com]

Does anyone else know that you associate with the noble? Also, I assume from the context that you agreed to the job before finding out what it was and as such are obliged to do it but have doubts? If the noble is standing in front of me waiting for an answer, my choices are really quite limited[1].

I I have the time and nobody else knows about our deal,
F) attempt to get the boy Viking to expose the noble as a Viking.

If it works, problem solved. You might decide to lop off the boy's head anyway, depending on how he goes about the exposition (is that the right word?).

If it doesn't work, you have a better reason for lopping of the boy's head. OK, so it's a manufactured reason, but people are good at fooling themselves and it looks good to outsiders, so it's a marginally better situation.

Also, A) & C) are pretty similar.

B) is unbalanced unless paired with something like "so that I am more trusted by the noble and find out more about him". I double I'd do it though - , since you can get always do A/C (get more information) then do B anyway.

D) sounds like a good way to end a promising career in the sword-for-hire business. Also, I don't like exposing the noble without knowing their motives.

E) Is bad reasoning. Greatest good, net benefit, use what you've got, etc. If the noble is going to give you loot for doing something you would have done anyway, bonus.

[1] Notwithstanding the deafness of NPCs unless addressed directly.

[d37373.livejournal.com]

This is why I don;t think I would enjoy playing a paladin. While there is a certain amount of satisfaction in acting so...smugly? Not quite the right word. Anyway, it's not enough of a challenge to come up with interesting things to do or stances to take. At least with a morbidly evil character you can do something and have everyone else wonder what you're up to.

[rochvelleth.livejournal.com]

(c)

This would then undoubtedly be followed by forging a strong, if unlikely, friendship with the boy, and eventually probably giving up my life to save him.

Extract:

The boy was buried beneath a great furskin, snoring gently in sweet slumber. I had not thought that he would look quite so young. It was a child's face I saw when I creeped round to where his head rested at an awkward angle on the ground, though his brow was furrowed, suggesting that his mind bore the burden of an adult's cares and woes.

I drew my long knife, not with the intent of hurting him, but so as to ensure his cooperation. I was otherwise undetected by the burly menfolk of his camp, and sought to keep it that way.

Getting as close as I could, I held my breath and, with a single movement, clasped my hand firmly over his mouth. His skin was soft to the touch, no trace of a beard. I held the knife in a prominent position so that he could see and understand my threat in an instant.

His eyes flicked open, eyes of a very pale, almost fragile, blue. He raised his eyebrows as he saw the knife, not in fear but in a sort of consternation, and his muscles tensed. For a moment I feared that I had misjudged him, and that he might struggle and force me to kill him there and then for my own safety.

But after a moment I felt him relax ever so slightly. "Keep quiet and still," I hissed, "or I will kill you." I said it slowly and clearly, since I did not know what sort of Norse tongue he spoke.

After a moment, his eyes showed clearly that he understood, and he nodded ever so slightly. I removed my hand from his mouth and saw his lips twitch in defiance. But he remained silent, and I began my interrogation.

Disclaimer: There was a story! I wouldn't be me if I wasn't filled with a sudden desire to write it! ;)