Greenfield
Adventurer
Things went right for our party today. Our DM laid out a nasty challenge, and after a little thought about the situation, my character smiled and was fine with it, to the chagrin of the DM.
Some details are probably in order:
Our cmpaign goal is currently to preserve civilization, specifically the Roman Empire, from enemies who would destroy it. Part of their plan involved a world-spanning curse that covers the sy wit an ashen cloud, blocking the sun.
We discovered, through an oddly casual conversation with a goddess at the gateway to the Egyptian afterlife, that the enemy was an Illuminan cabal (Races of Destiny). They were having a contest of sorts to see who could take over the world. In practice, each member of team was working to tear down one or more of the great empires, and replace it with something of their own. We were also told that a man named Calvinus, who was general of the armies of Rome, was working for them.
Now the general was highly placed, and was the heir apparent to the current emperor. Our word that a foreign goddess had said he was a traitor would have simply gotten us killed.
So one of the things we learned as this adventure began was that the Emperor was missing. We tried Scrying on him, even though we were certain that it had been tried already. Sure enough, we got nothing, Now this was actually reassuring. If he'd been dead we reasoned that the Scry would either show his remains, or his spirit in the next life. Something was blocking the Scry, and that meant there was something to hide.
When we reached the city itself we heard that the traitorous general was trying to have himself declared to be the new Caesar. The Senate had balked, feeling that he was moving too quickly, and rather abruptly the Senate was missing a lot of people. That was a mistake, because with so many seats empty there weren't enough members present to confirm him. He needs to wait for their replacements.
And here's where our reaction confounded the DM: While my character had approved of the previous emperor, the feeling was not universal in our group. But my character reasoned that if the Illumian now controlled a puppet Caesar, he wouldn't be trying to tear down the Empire. Instead, he now had a vested interest in preserving and strengthening it. Moreover, he knew who the other Illumians in the cabal were, a bit of information the previous leader had lacked.
Our loyalty, and our mission, had always been for the empire, not whichever emperor currently sat on the throne.
This left our DM with the odd challenge of trying to find a way to make the situation one we'd want to change.
So how would you handle such a situation, as either the DM or as a player. What do you do when something suddenly turns out right?
Some details are probably in order:
Our cmpaign goal is currently to preserve civilization, specifically the Roman Empire, from enemies who would destroy it. Part of their plan involved a world-spanning curse that covers the sy wit an ashen cloud, blocking the sun.
We discovered, through an oddly casual conversation with a goddess at the gateway to the Egyptian afterlife, that the enemy was an Illuminan cabal (Races of Destiny). They were having a contest of sorts to see who could take over the world. In practice, each member of team was working to tear down one or more of the great empires, and replace it with something of their own. We were also told that a man named Calvinus, who was general of the armies of Rome, was working for them.
Now the general was highly placed, and was the heir apparent to the current emperor. Our word that a foreign goddess had said he was a traitor would have simply gotten us killed.
So one of the things we learned as this adventure began was that the Emperor was missing. We tried Scrying on him, even though we were certain that it had been tried already. Sure enough, we got nothing, Now this was actually reassuring. If he'd been dead we reasoned that the Scry would either show his remains, or his spirit in the next life. Something was blocking the Scry, and that meant there was something to hide.
When we reached the city itself we heard that the traitorous general was trying to have himself declared to be the new Caesar. The Senate had balked, feeling that he was moving too quickly, and rather abruptly the Senate was missing a lot of people. That was a mistake, because with so many seats empty there weren't enough members present to confirm him. He needs to wait for their replacements.
And here's where our reaction confounded the DM: While my character had approved of the previous emperor, the feeling was not universal in our group. But my character reasoned that if the Illumian now controlled a puppet Caesar, he wouldn't be trying to tear down the Empire. Instead, he now had a vested interest in preserving and strengthening it. Moreover, he knew who the other Illumians in the cabal were, a bit of information the previous leader had lacked.
Our loyalty, and our mission, had always been for the empire, not whichever emperor currently sat on the throne.
This left our DM with the odd challenge of trying to find a way to make the situation one we'd want to change.
So how would you handle such a situation, as either the DM or as a player. What do you do when something suddenly turns out right?
