Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Harmor 07-23-04, 06:02 AM	Sorry for the long story, but I thought you might want to know the full background before I asked you to help me with my quagmire: I made a Dwarven Defender/Cleric who was LN and worshiped Moradin (a LG dwarven god). My character should had died but was transported to another dimension. There a mage wanted me to help save his world...so he would 'capture' adventurers right before they would had died and teleported them there to help him. With nothing to loose I agreed and started helping him and his cause, with the promiss that he would return me to my world when the evil was removed from his. Several campaign years later we (several other adventures from different dimensions), think we vanquished the evil, but actually just spread it to my own dimension. So I'm now back in my dimension (Forgotten Realms) and am hunting down this evil who decided to enter this dimension though the Underdark. My companions and I attempted to fight this new evil here, but I found myself being tempted by evil. Unbenowst to me I myself was becoming evil and was corrupted. Always justifying my actions I thought I was always doing things for good, but was infact helping evil. An evil dwarven god Laduguer lured and baited me, apparently, and I succumed to his evil. However, he tested my new faith by placing a curse on me til such time I proved worthy. Shaving my beard and turning a new leaf I now was even more greedy and lusted for power and riches, moreso than I had previously (my party always said I played Lawful Greedy pretty well). During a fight in the Underdark the rest of the party was thrown though a portal to the etherial plane and I was stuck in the Underdark to fend for myself. An apparition of my cousin led me away from danger. Though some kind of emotional link I suddently had an overwelming desire to find a hammer hidden somewhere in Undermountain. With the vision of the hammer firmly planted in my mind and this apparition of my cousin guiding me toward's my destination. I didn't understand why this hammer was so important, but apparently no matter where I am I must find this hammer. Making several assalts I dispached many foes was but overwelmed by their numbers and flew away with a Fly potion I found. After several encounters I finally tried to rest, but during my rest I was interrupted by pack a rats, one of which was intelligent and spoke to me though my mind. I was starving because of an 8 Strength (was cursed). Since I was only able to carry my weapons and armor and had no food for several days I killed the rat before it had a chance to finish its conversation. Apparently this rat was a very special rat, or perhaps something more than it appeared. Later I realized that I angered a god as this was his pet emminsary or something. When I woke up I remembered having a dream seeing myself sleeping and these diminutive rat men removing my items in retribution for killing their prince or king or someone very important to them. When I woke up I found that it really happened!!! With only my armor a silver ring I found on a dead orc and a pair of boots looted in the room I slept in I woke to find myself sleeping on a comfortable bed of straw, 4 waterskins and a weeks worth of rations in a sack laying next to me. Also in the room was a lantern burning brightly near the entrance. (Lesson 1: Never sleep in Underdark without a guard...) Looking around franticly I saw scrawled on the wall in chalk (my chalk that I had in a pouch no less), was some dwarven letters, but difficult to read. Making a successful Desipher Script check against DC 15 I was able to decern the cryptic message that basically said: "You killed our king. Thanks for all the loot. Good luck. Oh, look under your bed." I immediately searched the straw bed and found a golden ring with three horns. Ingraved on the inside of the ring was a word. With a DC 20 Decipher Script I determined that the word was from an ancient dwarven dialect. Curious I put the ring on and uttered the ancient dwarven word. My GM asked me what I was thinking as I said it and I said: I'm scared right now. I want out of this place and wished I was home safe. BAM. Next thing I know I'm standing on an altar overlooking the corpse of my kin's Mountain Dwarf temple. This was the temple that I worshiped when I was an acolyte serving Moradin. I made a spot check and rolled a natural 20. I noticed the hammer in the hands of the corpse was fake. Turning around I saw several guards who immediately took me into custody. Later that day I was speaking to my former headmaster who cast Zone of Truth and then proceeded to interrogate me. I kept as much as I could away from him, but soon was telling him every childhood story I remembered. Somewhere during that lengthy interrogation I told him that I was on a quest to find a hammer. I realized that the vision of the hammer that I was questing for looked awefuly familiar to the fake hammer on the king's corpse in the temple. My former headmaster cured me of my curse. In our campaign if your god is good you can't cast benificial spells on someone who is evil. I was evil but he was still able to cast Remove Curse and Heal on me. I later realized that he thought he cast the spell, but infact the rat's god who was trying to punish Laduguer removed the curse!!! I put two and two together and realized that the king's hammer was stolen and was held in a stronghold of orcs in Underdark. And that apparently I was the only one who knew the exact whereabouts. I also realized that the rat's god must had given me this ring and allowed me travel back to my old temple eventhough I was in the middle of Underdark (because of high level magic you shouldn't be able to teleport in Underdark). I also then realized that the rat's god was trying to do a number on my new evil god, Laduguer, by having me transported here, trying to get me to convert or fall from my new god's faith. I never promised them that I would return the hammer nor did they ask, but I told them that I knew where it was. What also was weird was why they didn't kill me because I was now evil worshiping an evil god. I realized that my new found ring must be hiding my alignment somehow from my former headmaster and all the paladins there. I think they assumed that I would quest for the hammer and bring it back, but really I want the hammer for myself. Also I believe, though dreams, that the evil god I serve wants me to use it to serve him, which is why I think the apparition of my cousin that led me towards the hammer (and must had given be a geas), was conjured by Laduguer. Only the prince and the regent (my headmaster), know that hammer on the king's corpse is a fake. My headmaster said that I would return in 101 days with the hammer. End of Story Start of conflict Ok here's where I'm suck. 1. Do I return the hammer to my former headmaster ....a. There's a chance that I might shift alignments ....b. If I shift alignments towards good then I might be able to Atone for my fall from Moradin. ....c. There's a small chance that I might be able to serve Moradin again, but gods generally don't like fickleness. ....d. I would be rewards greatly my the regent, I'm sure. 2. Take the hammer for myself and use it to serve Laduguer, my new evil god I serve. ....a. Laduguer cursed me and is making my life difficult (I have to make a DC 25 Will save when attempting to give away money or gems and cursed me with an 8 Strength and 9 Constitution). ....b. Laduguer gave me the power to cast spells higher than I able to cast from scrolls, eventhough I don't meet their requirements ....c. Laduguer, though dreams, promised more power if I retrieved the hammer. ....d. I had dreams of the hammer being very powerful and felling my opponents in one blow. What do you think I should do?
RRG 07-23-04, 12:42 PM	Well, if this hammer is so powerful, why do you not use it to serve yourself? If it IS so powerful, then it's not like any cronies of the good or evil dwarf gods will be able to stop you, especially if you can fell them in one blow. You get the honor of serving none but yourself, take all the gold you earn for yourself, perhaps take over some duergar kingdom in the underdark.. what could stop you? You're LE after all, and if they have the power to break out of a deal, they'll do it in a heartbeat.
Harmor 07-23-04, 01:54 PM	I'm not sure that this hammer is "so powerful". I don't even use hammers, I use a flail (Weapon spec and focus because I use it to trip). From the description the hammer is some kind of Dwarven Thrower. Possibly even an intelligent item. But if this is some type of hammer of Moradin wouldn't it probably also be Holy and thus not allow me to wield it? That I don't know. If it is then I would probably ransom it back...but not sure about that because they (Moradin followers), would probably just try to kill me and my god would probably want me to keep it away from them. My god promised that I would be able to use it, but I don't trust him and think that he's baiting me again. I guess I can make the decision once I get the hammer.
RRG 07-24-04, 02:44 PM	Yeah, the whole you being a flail-user sorta changes things. If it is an intelligent item, then it probably would fight back against people trying to use it who aren't going to help it's cause, which may be serving Moradin. No use forging a kingdom when you aren't good with that weapon AND it's fighting back against you. I guess it's now a matter of how much you trust your god. If you think he's going to betray you, then you may as well betray him and give it back to Moradin's followers. But if you can find out HOW this hammer would help you gain more power, then you can always stab your god in the back later and set yourself up for more power in the way of gold and such. And I wouldn't worry about it being holy. If it were, then why would Moradin's followers have sent you after it?
Harmor 07-24-04, 04:50 PM	I'm affraid of defying my evil god...he did put a curse on me that reduced by strength and constition by 10!!! Surprisingly a cleric of Moradin cured me of it. Or possibly the rat's god? I'm not sure.
Harmor 07-24-04, 05:12 PM	Oh, guess what I found out by accident. My evil god granted me the ability to cast spells without the requisite ability score from scrolls. I cast Slay Living (http://www.systemreferencedocuments.org/35/theraven_stephenh/spells/Slay_Living.html) on a Hextor paladin from a scroll, but I only have a Wisdom of 12. I should had only been able to cast level 2 spells from scrolls... Not sure if this ability is conditional, is allowed against holy types (i.e. clerics and paladins my god hates), or a certain school of magic (i.e. Necromancy or spells with the [Death] descriptor). I would like to go back to serving Mordin and become LN again if possible because of the following: 1) I spontaniously cast cure spells and 2) I would gel better with the rest of the party. My party has everyone good or neutral except a NE mage. This NE mage is my friend and we have adventured together for years. He said, many times, that he's the only person on this world that he trusts and both of us have saved each other's lives several times. I don't think I can shield my aligment as well as he has since I only recently became evil (was LN until events changed me to evil several game months ago while in Underdark). LOL...this stituation is funny because I never in my D&D carrier had such a conflict. I guess my GM is doing pretty good.
RRG 07-24-04, 09:01 PM	Hmm.... so now you can cast spells much more powerful than you should be able to from scrolls... you should expirement with your newfound ability. Just out of curiosity, this evil god, do you know what domains he grants? If one of them happens to be death, you ability to cast spells like slay living from a scroll may just be a perk that his followers recieve, but if not, then I'd lean towards the idea that you can hit pretty much anyone that doesn't follow your evil god. Also, try getting scrolls of cure spells. If you can cast those on party members, then you may not really have to worry about being a cleric of Moradin if you can already cast healing spells, and spontaneous casting of cure spells isn't exactly an ability to give up the chance of a massive amount of power for.
CeresOfTerra 07-25-04, 12:25 AM	Pawn for the gods? Odds are, you don't have a choice.
Harmor 07-25-04, 03:02 AM	Originally posted by CeresOfTerra Pawn for the gods? Odds are, you don't have a choice. Haha...I'll keep you updated. As for what domains, I have the Magic and Dwarf domains. The Magic domain allows me to cast spells from scrolls and use spell-activated items, like wands, rods and staves, like a wizard half my cleric level. The Dwarf domain gives me the Great Fortitude feat, which might I add was very useful when fighting a Demilich on the Negative Energy plane (I grappled one and had to make a DC 36 Fortitude save...and made it!!!)
Harmor 07-25-04, 03:37 AM	Oh...for those who are curious as to some of the events that led me to my new evil status here are some of the events. We found ourselves in an evil temple of Laduguer. I spotted several invisible guardians near an altar. So as to not provoke them I went to a statue of Laduguer and placed a gem in its hand and gave paise to him (making a successful Knowledge (Religion) DC 20 check). The guardians did not attack and we continued to the city. I convinced myself that fighting these guardians wasn't what we wanted to do since we wanted passage though the strine to the city. While in the evil Underdark city we needed to pay a toll for a ship to Skullport. A lich was the sole oarsman. Rather than money the lich demanded a humanoid heart less than an hour old. I proceeded to the local slave market and purchaced four slaves. I unbound the strongest of the slaves, a elven ranger type from the surface above, and told him that I would free him if he retrieved the hearts from the other three. He did so another of my companions and I traveled on the boat. A good rogue in our party refused to take this form of travel and found other means to get to Skullport. I sold the spare heart to a goblin for a 300gp sapphire gem. I thought it was more important to get to Skullport as the least cost possible than to pay a mage 4,000gp to transport each of us. In Skullport I disguised myself as a death cleric using death shrouds not to draw any undo attention to the Moradin motif I had eteched in my armor. I went around intimiating anyone who took any notice of me and killed a man who saw threw my disguise. I found a gem in his pocket. I thought it was more important that I continue my mission and not be revealed by anyone because there were people who were trying to find me at the time. Running low on healing supplies I let the evil mage in our party convince me (rolled a '1' on a Sense Motive check), that a dwarven paladin in Skullport was killing "innocent" orcs. I proceeded to help kill him in exchange for a Wand of Cure Serious Wounds and a 5000gp diamond that a cleric of Grummish rewarded us with. He was killing 'innocent' orcs. I didn't necessarily want to kill him, but he died when a drow archer attacked him after he fell unconcious. I helped open a portal to the Negative Energy plane and left it open in the middle of Skullport. I then helped my friend the mage obtain a Book of Vile Darkness from an evil outsider. The NE mage in our party convinced me that it was important for me to help him get this item. He was my friend so I agreed. I looted a paralyzed party member's coin purse and several items (there were several gems he had), and left him for dead - we were fighting an evil mage and his cohorts. I then convinced the party to withdraw without our paralyzed companion. I couldn't carry him from danger so I looted him thinking that his items and money could at least help the rest of, well actually me. Soon after that last insident my aligment was shifted from LN to LE and found that my prayers where no longer being answered by Moradin, but Laduguer. I didn't realize I was evil until a good cleric in our party tried to heal me and his spell failed. In our campaign a good cleric can only heal good or neutral aligned people. A neutral cleric can heal anyone. An evil cleric can only heal neutral or evil aligned people. The reason for this is because a good god won't necessarily help someone who is inheriently evil, however there are some rare exceptions.
RRG 07-25-04, 11:37 AM	Hmm... well, you mentioned that your wisdom was a 12, lower than a cleric would normally have.... so I guess your character, if naturally greedy, would be able to act that way. But I DEFINETLY see where the shift in the evil alignment came from. I guess the thing is, if you switch back to worshipping Moradin, how will you not end up in this situation again? For right now, you can survive as an evil character until you get the hammer by pretending to still be a cleric of Moradin. Moradin won't be happy with you, but you'll have an evil god and a powerful hammer with you, so there's not much anyone can do. And it won't be hard to pretend to be a cleric of moradin, since you know all the necessary rituals to pose as a cleric, and to avoid the situation of the party knowing your evil from failed cure spells is to simply cure yourself. You got a staff of cure serious wounds out of that, didn't you?
Harmor 07-25-04, 04:13 PM	With a 183 hit points I'm always the one needing healing. I always us ALL my healing on myself. One encounter I took 238 points of damage...thank god for Divine Vigor.
Ranthanas 07-25-04, 05:16 PM	I'm confused. An obviously high level cleric with a Wis of 12? I'd go for the God that treats you best.
ShadowRanger 07-25-04, 07:10 PM	You are evil. Your actions were undeniable so, forcing the ranger to kill helpless people for his freedom made you evil just from that, having said that I would not want to serve Ladgur, the guy messed with you by cursing you, not someone I want to follow. I don't like following someone who weakens you as part of his faith. Can Moradin forgive you? Perhaps but it will not be easy (but that could be fun in that alone), though that issue of a Paladin is pretty big.