fandomhigh | Still want to be a Hero?, Thursday, 3rd Period

Entry tags:

heroism

Still want to be a Hero?, Thursday, 3rd Period

Cara had told her students to meet her outside the preserve today, so the email that they were instead having class in the salle probably came as relief given teh weather. Especially since there weren't any racks of dresses waiting for them when they arrived.

"So we're going to have class we're we discuss what choices you might make and why. Before we begin I'm going to explain what a baneling is," Cara told them once they'd settled, one hand resting ever so casually on the hilt of an agiel. "During times when the barriers between the Underworld and the world of the living are thin or breached, banelings are people who have made a deal with the Keeper of the Underworld to return to life. Something like the zombies here, with several differences. For one, they stay in the world of the living by killing at least one person a day, for another they retain their personality, their humanity for better or worse." From her tone, apparently Cara didn't think that was necessarily a good thing.

She paused before continuing. "Depending on how recently they've killed, they also look like one of the living, gradually rotting throughout the day, which is a mental image I'm sure you're all glad to have. You can kill them again, but if you want it to stick you either need to destroy the body, preferably with fire, or keep them restrained until their time before they need to kill again runs out, then they'll just crumble into dust anyway. Have you all got that clear or do I have to repeat myself?

"I thought so. With that out of the way, we are going to pretend that you and several of your heroically like-minded companions are travelling on a very important quest when a random woman accosts you for help because half her village has been captured by men working for some enterprising waste of breath who realised he could make some coin by providing ready kills for those who took the Keeper's offer but found themselves lacking either the spine or the skill to actually kill someone capable of fighting back.

"Taking it as given that you decided to help the woman, you manage to find the men, after they've already delivered their captives. Since they're not particularly inclined to change sides out of the goodness of their hearts, a fight ensues, and the driver being the one who actually knows where the captives now are, tries to escape so you give chase. While separated from the rest of your part, you manage to catch him and get the location of the captives, mortally wounding him in the process, unfortunately he got lucky and mortally wounded you first, so you die. Sorry about that.

"Now, I'm not going to ask you if you take the Keeper's deal, or why, that much is obvious, you're the only one who knows where the captives are, it's your duty to tell the others in your group so they can rescue them before they're all killed, so you do. And you get some details clarified by the Keeper's emissary, your time limit resets every time you kill, so you can't kill several people then leave everyone alone for a week, banelings don't count, only the actual living, and while you normally have access to magic that can bring the very recently deceased back to life." Which was probably news to all of them. "That's gone too if you're a baneling."

"So you take the deal, are now a baneling, the driver has died by the time you're back in your body, so you can't kill him, and you head back to your friends, who have also killed all the men they were fighting. What do you do now?"

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

What if?

That's a very detailed hypothetical scenario...

You're now a baneling, do you tell your friends and ~~let them know that you're a terrible person for taking the deal~~ put them in the position of either killing you, watching you die, or letting you kill to survive, or do you do something else?

Once the discussion had died down a bit, Cara started talking again, hand still on her agiel. "So working off the assumption that you didn't tell your friends that you're now a baneling, you all go to rescue the captives, and another fight ensues, unfortunately all the people you kill in the fight are banelings, the only actually living non-captive there was the man who thought this whole thing up, and he got away," she told them. "In any case, one of banelings you captured tells you and your friends about a rumour of a cure in a town about a day's journey away, before she runs out of time and crumbles away in front of you. Your friends decide to check out the cure, though you only travel a few hours before making camp. However, you're well aware that the human-shaped rat will have returned to his lair, and if you leave now you can go back, kill him, solving two problems at once, and return without your friends missing you. So do you?"

Again Cara began outlining the situation. "Having killed the man and burnt the body, you and your friends make it to the village without incident. Good news, the rumours of a cure are true, it's a substance called Shadow Water. Bad news, there's only one vial left, and no one knows how to get more. Also one of the men selling the cure is the estranged brother of an older member of your party so that's awkward. There is a way make a map to find the source of the cure, but it'll use up the remaining vial. If you speak up now about being a baneling, your friends would give you the cure, but then there's no chance of finding more for anyone else. What now?"

"You keep quiet, hoping the source is close enough you might make it without having to kill again. It's not, but it's closer than it might be, only one or two more days travel, and your friend's brother comes with out. The day passes without incident, and while your outward appearance doesn't change enough to be noticeable you can feel the time when you need to kill or die coming closer. You catch sight of a fire in the distance, and after slipping away from camp, you're in luck. It's deserters from an army that spends more time crushing villagers underfoot and anything else. If you approached them they'd likely try to kill you and loot your corpse even if they didn't know you were a baneling." Especially if you insulted them or their mothers. "Do you go into the light and kill whichever one attacks you first?"

"A day and most of a night passes after killing the deserter and ordering his not-so-eager for a fight friends to burn his body. You're close to the source of the cure, but you won't make it there before you run out of time, especially without the map. The Keeper's emissary comes to you in your dreams with a new deal, you will be properly alive again, no strings, no more killing, you just have to tell him where the source is so the Keeper can destroy it. Do you take this deal?"

"You turn him down. But the Keeper's emissary out an idea in your head about your friend's brother. He's an old man, he's might as well be a stranger to you, and the main thing you know about him is that he was willing to profit off other's desperation. You get him get him alone easily enough, you have a sharp blade, and he's got his back to you. Do you go though with it?"

"It turns out that you can't actually kill an old man who's done no actual harm for your own sake. Of course, your friends now know you've been a baneling for the last three days and are going to die for good in the time it takes to walk a thousand paces. Which is when your friend's brother deliberately runs himself onto your dagger. Which buys you more time, which you want to use to get to the source quickly since if you get there soon enough you'll be able to use that magic I mentioned earlier to bring your friend's brother back, also the Keeper's emissary has very few qualms about torturing information out of your friend's brother's spirit so there may not be a source much longer.

"In the end it's something of a wash, the source of the cure is destroyed, but not before you get cured, and you manage to save your friend's brother. Additionally, your friend's don't seem to hate you for taking the deal like you did. So how do you feel about the choices. Either the ones 'you' made here or that you who have made instead?"

Edited 2014-07-24 16:43 (UTC)

One of whom spent most of the class talking and holding an agiel.

Both totally normal behaviours for her, yep.

Cara, the woobiest not!zombie ever.

Kathy Li

"I have to tell them," Kathy said. "They'll keep me from doing something stupid, like murdering someone. I mean, if I explain that I only took the deal because I needed to come back and tell them where the captives were held, I'm sure they'd understand."

She paused a moment and asked, "Does anyone else have the same magic I did? The one that could bring the recently deceased back to life? Because that might make things a lot easier overall."

"There are others who can use this magic," Cara replied. "But not within a day's travel, and even if they were close enough, they'd be more likely to kill you than aid you."

Anders

"I tell my friends and ask them to kill me," Anders said, though he sounded slightly uncertain -- he wasn't the type (yet) to take joy in the notion of his own noble death. "That's the only cure for possession, isn't it? It's kindest all around."

"I don't see a good reason to let him live," Anders said. "He got lots of people killed, and tried to set up more for the same fate. There's no reason to let him stick around -- especially not when if I don't kill him I'll have to either die or kill one of my friends."

"At that point I could only speak up if it was to tell my friends to kill me and use the vial to make the map," Anders sighed. "Which, being my friends and knowing a cure was so close, they probably wouldn't do. So I'd need to stay quiet."

"You're not possessed, just not quite alive," Cara said. "The only thing influencing you is you. That and the knowledge that from now on other people will have to die to kept you that way."

"You're right, they wouldn't." You know, hypothetically. "Even if everyone would be better off.

Hypothetically.

"But that would be a waste," Kathy said, darting Anders an apologetic smile for disagreeing with him. "If you want to die, just wait until your time runs out. Don't make one of your friends do it for you--especially not when you have people to rescue."

Well, that plan was out.

"Then I tell my friends up front what I did and why. It's much better if they find out from me than if something happens and they find out later. Lying isn't going to get me anywhere. And if they kill me, well, at least they know where the captives are. But if they're really my friends, then I don't think they'll murder me out of hand."

Andros

"I don't tell them until we've rescued the captives," Andros said decisively. "Then I let them know because I'm not going to kill anyone to survive, so they'll probably want to know I'm going to die soon."

"You don't think your friend's concern about you might distract them from rescuing the hostages?"

"But if I just wait, I'm placing a bet on myself that I could resist the urge to kill," Anders disagreed, also politely. "I'm not taking that bet. I've seen too many people think they could get in bed with a demon and lose terribly. Better to end it before the risk gets too great."

Abominations were the great threat, when you grew up a mage. And a baneling sounded quite a bit like an abomination to Anders.

"I don't see an enormous difference," Anders admitted. "You still have to kill. Besides, they say there are some demons who let you feel like you're still yourself, so you go along with what they want you to do until they take over. And then you suddenly go burn down a brothel or something. Even if it's not exactly the same, I'm not taking that risk."

Someday, Anders and Justice would have a good laugh about that.

"You're not worried about what effect it might have on them?"

"So it's an easy choice?" Cara asked.

Evan Sabahnur

Anders hesitated. "Not easy," he said. "I'm never happy to take a life. But in this case, given the alternatives -- yes, I think he should be killed."

Oooh, she hadn't considered that.

"I'll just remind them that we have innocent lives on the line. We can worry about me later. But the whole reason I made this stupid deal was to make sure these people would be safe. If that gets messed up, then my whole sacrifice was for nothing."

"But at least agree to wait until after the captives are rescued," Kathy said. "Otherwise, why did you come back at all?"

"The difference is you don't have something outside yourself to blame for your actions," Cara told him. "If a baneling decided to set fire to a brothel, there was already a part of them capable of that under the right pressures."

"Because she said I did," Anders said, pointing to Cara -- which was not, strictly speaking, within the spirit of the exercise. "But, all right. I suppose I came back so my friends wouldn't waste time looking for me, and so they wouldn't find my dead body and worry."

"But," he added, glancing over to Kathy again, "you're right that it might make some sense to hold off on the being killed until we could get the captives. Strength in numbers, all of that."

"I...I don't think I could kill anyone," Kathy said. "Not even to save my own life. I mean, it would be one thing if we were fighting or he was about to murder someone innocent or something. Maybe, then, in the heat of the moment, I could do it. But just hiding out in a cave somewhere? I don't know if I have it in me to do that."

She gnawed on her lower lip. "But this guy shouldn't be allowed to go free. He's willing to kill people to make a profit. I'd probably drag him back with me to my friends. Once we bring him to the next town, we can turn him over for justice."

Surreal was there, and totally willing to prompt any students who looked lost.

Mind you, her plan would have been "Tell the others, split off, and shadow them the rest of the way. And drag along a deserter or two to kill when needed."

Surreal waited until after class, with the students starting to pack up and leave, before she unfolded herself from her perch and approached Cara, moving to stand just a half-step beside her her, one hand reaching out to overlay her fingers on the wrist holding an agiel.

"Still a better person than me," Surreal reminded her quietly. "I would have killed the brother and not thought twice about it. Hell's balls, Cara, I would still kill the brother without hesitation."

Four

Cara glanced down at the hand on her wrist as if she'd only just realised that leaving her hand there was the source of the pain that'd been shooting up that arm the last hour. She let go of the agiel, and moved her hand to twine her fingers with Surreal's instead.

"No," she said softly, shifting to press her arm against Surreal's. Which was as close as she could get to clinging while they still had an audience. "You'd have figured out a way around the deal in the first place. Probably involving stabbing Rahl."

That was a remarkably pleasant and soothing mental image, considering.

Kaylin Neya

"Stabbing him probably wouldn't work, but a contact poison would have at least made him extremely uncomfortable," Surreal replied, pretending to think about it. "The deal probably wouldn't have even been offered - I have this habit of pissing off males with more cock than sense."

"I've noticed." Cara managed a smile despite herself. "Especially when they try ordering you about."

And that was just Sadi, who was perfectly pleasant compared to Darken Rahl.

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

Still want to be a Hero?, Thursday, 3rd Period

Sign In - SwtbaH [04]

Listen to Cara - SwtbaH [04]

Discussion : Taking the deal. - SwtbaH [04]

Discussion : Day One Kill? - SwtbaH [04]

Discussion : The Cure - SwtbaH [04]

Discussion : Day Two Kill? - SwtbaH [04]

Discussion : A New Deal. - SwtbaH [04]

Discussion : Day Three Kill? - SwtbaH [04]

Discussion : So that happened... - SwtbaH [04]

Talk to Cara or Surreal - SwtbaH [04]

OOC - SwtbaH [04]

Re: Sign In - SwtbaH [04]

Re: Discussion : Taking the deal. - SwtbaH [04]

Re: Discussion : Taking the deal. - SwtbaH [04]

Re: Sign In - SwtbaH [04]

Re: Discussion : Taking the deal. - SwtbaH [04]

Re: Discussion : Day One Kill? - SwtbaH [04]

Re: Discussion : The Cure - SwtbaH [04]

Re: Discussion : Taking the deal. - SwtbaH [04]

Re: Discussion : The Cure - SwtbaH [04]

Re: Discussion : Taking the deal. - SwtbaH [04]

Re: Discussion : Taking the deal. - SwtbaH [04]

Re: Sign In - SwtbaH [04]

Re: Discussion : Taking the deal. - SwtbaH [04]

Re: Discussion : Taking the deal. - SwtbaH [04]

Re: Discussion : Taking the deal. - SwtbaH [04]

Re: Discussion : Taking the deal. - SwtbaH [04]

Re: Discussion : Taking the deal. - SwtbaH [04]

Re: Discussion : Day One Kill? - SwtbaH [04]

Re: Sign In - SwtbaH [04]

Re: Discussion : Day One Kill? - SwtbaH [04]

Re: Discussion : Taking the deal. - SwtbaH [04]

Re: Discussion : Taking the deal. - SwtbaH [04]

Re: Discussion : Taking the deal. - SwtbaH [04]

Re: Discussion : Taking the deal. - SwtbaH [04]

Re: Discussion : Day One Kill? - SwtbaH [04]

Re: Talk to Cara or Surreal - SwtbaH [04]

Re: Talk to Cara or Surreal - SwtbaH [04]

Re: Sign In - SwtbaH [04]

Re: Talk to Cara or Surreal - SwtbaH [04]

Re: Sign In - SwtbaH [04]

Re: Talk to Cara or Surreal - SwtbaH [04]

Re: Talk to Cara or Surreal - SwtbaH [04]