Raven Queen Cleric - Roleplay Problem

[Deodatus]

Hi,
first of all, greetings, I am new to the forums .

I started playing D&D4e a couple of month ago in a group of 6 players and one DM, so far it has been a blast. I was familiar with the D&D universe and did not want to play some kind of cliche character, like a pelor cleric or something like that. So I chose to go with a Raven Queen Cleric, adding a dark touch to my leader and allowing me to play a character that has dark sides to him.

Now my interpretation of the Raven Queen is that pretty much anything goes, as long as you dont create undead or fiddle with the souls of the dead. This concept worked pretty good so far, as a good natured party would naturally stay away from such things. Up until now.

Yesterday our wizard found the Helm of the Seven Deaths as a campaign reward (an item that allows you to capture souls of slain enemies and use these souls later to trigger some powers). He jokingly mentioned his need for souls before and my character regareded to it as that, jokes or bragging. Now at the moment my priest is still blissfully unaware of the powers of this helmet, but once he knows, its going to be a tough decision how to react.

So after this rather long explanation, here is my question to you guys. Can you think of any elegant RP ways to handle this without bringing major conflict to the party? I really dont want to create inner party tensions, but I dont want to betray the beliefs of my character either.
Swapping the character out of the party would also be an option, since this is the end of a campaign, but I kinda think this is the cheap way out.

 

[Quickleaf]

[MENTION=6688284]Deodatus[/MENTION]
Hi and welcome to ENWorld!

Well if your campaign is ending then there's no problem with some serious inter-party conflict, could be fun.

If, for whatever reason, that's off the table, say you've been watching your fellow PC for some time and that the helm is a final test of whether he is an enemy of the Raven Queen. So the souls get diverted for a while, shaken up, and misused (but ultimately they "go home"... right?). Worse things happen. Then if you want to convince him to destroy the helm or send him to see the RQ after the campaign, go for it.

As a last resort you could always pray for the soul of your foolish friend (and pass the DM a note that you'll bring munchies if he/she bestows a curse on the owner of the helm). :saint:

 

[Deodatus]

The campgaign (Defenders of Harkenwold) has already ended.
Yes at the moment I would really not like to engage in an inner party conflict, as the group is rather new and I have no clue what that would do the group. I also should add that my character survived the complete wipeout of a village as a kid. Why was the village wiped out? Some powerhungry lord wanted to extend is life by tapping into the soul powers of the villagers.... That made me ultimatly join the Raven Queens Club.

So as I see it my choices are:
1.) Being ignorant of the powers of the helm. (that can only work for a while I guess)
2.) Being ok with a little soul dabbling. (Seeing my background story... that'd be hard to explain.)
3.) Engaging the wizard about it as soon as I find out.. which would probably result in either his or my character leaving the group or potentially die.
4.) Letting my character leave the group now, therefore avoiding the whole conflict at all (this would be heavy metagaming I guess).

 

[fba827]

You left out a choice:
5) Play Hardball
"We should find the means to destroy this helm. And if you continue to use it and steal (or delay) the souls meant for the Raven Queen's domain, I can not grant you her boons due to the blasphemy until you cease" (i.e. no healing word or bless etc for that specific PC until he stops using the helm ;-) )

 

[GSHamster]

6) Offer to help the wizard obtain another (more powerful?) item if he gives you the helm to destroy and free the trapped souls.

 

[mneme]

I like choice #5. It avoids -direct- intraparty conflict, but shows that your character is saddened by your ally's choice to blaspheme, even if he is serving good causes and fighting evil while he does so.

Try to get him to seek prayer, guidance -- if the GM is willing to play along, maybe it will turn out the Raven Queen has an opinion on the matter that matches neither character's views.

Question, though, you say the campaign has ended. Does this mean no more play? If so, why isn't the point moot?

 

[Deodatus]

I am bit confused with the semantics here, maybe what I wanted to say is: our current adventure ended, but the campaign will go on. (if the campaing is all adventures over the life time of an character).

So far I think #5 is really cool and can possibly be combined with #6.

 

[Rechan]

I am bit confused with the semantics here, maybe what I wanted to say is: our current adventure ended, but the campaign will go on. (if the campaing is all adventures over the life time of an character).

Yes, you have it right:

Adventure: We go to clean out this dungeon.

Campaign: We go clean out this dungeon, then take the kidnapped princess back to her father, then go to slay the dragon, and then take out the guy who was behind it all. Then we stop playing those characters.

I like #6 a lot.

 

[Raith5]

I like options 5 or 6. I think it is really hard reconcile the Raven Queen's code with things that divert souls from their proper resting place. That said you dont have to be confrontational about - you may have to bide your time. After all the Raven Queen is the goddess of fate as well...

 

[S'mon]

I think you should tell the DM about your issue, so he's not blindsided.