Aginot takes some time to pen his thoughts on to a scrap of parchment, one of several that compose a makeshift journal of thoughts.
Alaric,
When you left us, you stole more than the mask. I hope that the gods can forgive your transgressions, and that debts can be settled, but in my heart, I know it is more likely that you will fall to the darkness within you. Should we meet again, and should you still bear the mask, it will be as enemies.
Despite your shaky moral foundation and questionable judgment, you brought a sense of balance to our group. My own faith pays little regard to justice; a ridiculous term, subject to whims of the spirit and self-righteousness. The Order, however, does concern itself with equity, and for all of your faults, you always tried to distribute your misguided justice equitably. You would have made a good acolyte.
I fear, however, that our new companions Gaertorin and Carmen may not share this trait. They are deadly, each in their own way, but they are seemingly indiscriminate in their lethality, and that makes me worry.
Consider the Talon soldiers, if you will. The Talons as an organization are surely tyrannical in their motivations, that much is without dispute by anyone of a reasonable mind. A single Talon soldier, however, is just a tool of his lord, and is not necessarily deserving of a knife to the back or killing blow while helpless. There have been times where Talons have directly opposed us, and we fought with lethal intent, but it was to save our own lives.
In Gorgi, though I do not know the details of Carmen's assassination of the Talon she encountered, I witnessed Gaertorin crack the skull of a guard I had rendered helpless, killing him instantly. Such actions create imbalance, and can only be answered with equal force, and I fear that we may not be up to the challenge should tides ever turn against us.
I cannot help but think that you would have handled the situation more responsibly, and it is for that, more than nearly anything else, that I regret your betrayal and desertion.
Alaric,
When you left us, you stole more than the mask. I hope that the gods can forgive your transgressions, and that debts can be settled, but in my heart, I know it is more likely that you will fall to the darkness within you. Should we meet again, and should you still bear the mask, it will be as enemies.
Despite your shaky moral foundation and questionable judgment, you brought a sense of balance to our group. My own faith pays little regard to justice; a ridiculous term, subject to whims of the spirit and self-righteousness. The Order, however, does concern itself with equity, and for all of your faults, you always tried to distribute your misguided justice equitably. You would have made a good acolyte.
I fear, however, that our new companions Gaertorin and Carmen may not share this trait. They are deadly, each in their own way, but they are seemingly indiscriminate in their lethality, and that makes me worry.
Consider the Talon soldiers, if you will. The Talons as an organization are surely tyrannical in their motivations, that much is without dispute by anyone of a reasonable mind. A single Talon soldier, however, is just a tool of his lord, and is not necessarily deserving of a knife to the back or killing blow while helpless. There have been times where Talons have directly opposed us, and we fought with lethal intent, but it was to save our own lives.
In Gorgi, though I do not know the details of Carmen's assassination of the Talon she encountered, I witnessed Gaertorin crack the skull of a guard I had rendered helpless, killing him instantly. Such actions create imbalance, and can only be answered with equal force, and I fear that we may not be up to the challenge should tides ever turn against us.
I cannot help but think that you would have handled the situation more responsibly, and it is for that, more than nearly anything else, that I regret your betrayal and desertion.
See, even when he's not there, Alaric screws everything up!
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ReplyDeleteThis was really good, but I will say that I don't think there should be a question of moral judgment around anything Carmen did. She slipped into the stable and saw a soldier firing a crossbow through a hole in the wall, so she stabbed him. He recovered and turned to assault her (albeit unsuccessfully, without a melee weapon in hand), and she cut him again, dropping him to 0. She was saving her companions and fighting for her life. The details in the recap may not have made that completely clear.
ReplyDeleteRegardless, it's certainly acceptable if Aginot doesn't happen to see things the same way...
I guess I just assumed that Aginot didn't necessarily know the details of what Carmen did, even if Jason could read them in the recap. And if the group did share information regarding the attack, and Carmen let everyone know what happened, then it's very likely that Aginot doesn't fully trust her story.
ReplyDeleteAginot, after all, knows very little about the pair, so I don't think it's too far out of the question for him to assume the worst of Carmen...at least until he sorts out his feelings about Gaertorin's slaying of the Talon.
Pretty fair assessment, interested to see how things play out.
ReplyDeleteWhen we were ambushed, I was worried, but I have gotten out of worse situations than that. Fortunately, I knew I could count on Carmen to provide help without getting into much trouble. I was not so sure about Aginot or Leilana. Once the dwarf was down, both Aginot and Leilana paused at the sight of the held soldier. I chose to kill him swiftly and move on. I could not have him following us, or alerting anyone else to what happened. Where I come from, leaving a foe alive and knowing your location is the best way to get ambushed later. I was just doing what needed to be done, but I can tell that Aginot and Leilana did not agree with my decision.
ReplyDeleteI tried to envision the move in a Drizzt sort of way, acting on instinct and out of necessity, drawing neither pleasure nor pain. Again, I think it was justified, though not as readily acceptable as if the target were some inherently evil race, like orc or goblinkin. Being a ranger, it makes some sense that Gaertorin would be a very instinctive character, as opposed to Alaric, who always seemed to drift toward either thinking too much, or not enough.
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