A moral dilemma amidst ice and snow--what would you have done?

[Ogrork the Mighty]

What's a party of adventurers doing listening to some kid? They should just pat him on the head and get on with doing the stuff adventurers do.

 

[ZuulMoG]

Bah! Everyone here is too complicated. Our group would cast some buffs and attack the wolves, ending triumphant and victorious amongst piles of dead bad guys.

LLLLLLLLLLLLLLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOOOYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!

:rotfl:

Well, any party I was in would immediately hear my snarky reply that the stupid vitlings (more like witlings) ought to realize that the Cold Ones are the winter wolves' meal ticket, and the ww's could probably deal the the CO's anytime, but prefer easy meals. Tell the boy that, watch his eyes widen, then lead him to a vantage point where we can prove that assertion, bring the proof back to his village, ally with the witlings, and wipe out the ww's and the co's.

 

[Kid Charlemagne]

If I were among those players, with bards and illusionists involved, I would try to fake the kid's death. Make it look like the Wolf was killed by the party AFTER it killed the boy. Use the illusionist to make it look good, and use the bard to tell the story. The question that needs answering is How do the Wolves know the sacrifice has been given?

 

[TheAuldGrump]

Bah! Everyone here is too complicated. Our group would cast some buffs and attack the wolves, ending triumphant and victorious amongst piles of dead bad guys.

Followed by one of the wolves asking 'Who was that guy, and why was he yelling about the justice of Pelor? (Burp!)'*

The Auld Grump

*If you consider being left a brown pile in the snow 'triumphant and victorious', otherwise you would just call it a TPK.

 

[FreeTheSlaves]

I suspect that even an oversized level 6 party would be demolished by 20+ winter wolves and whatever survived would definitely be carved up by investigating predators.

 

[Pielorinho]

I dunno: with some decent tactics, if the party can fight the WWs a bit at a time, it seems perfectly plausible they could win. Resist Energy on everyone, illusions of Walls of Fire to divide the WWs into bite-sized units, fireballs, and fighters to mop up: it might very well be possible.

Once they're dead, take the WW heads to a place that you know some vitlings will visit; when they arrive, explain to them (via the boy) that:
1) The winter wolves will no longer protect them from the cold ones
2) because you're much mightier than the WWs are,
3) but that you demand the vitlings' assistance in wiping out the cold ones now,
4) and the vitlings' last sacrifice, this little boy, will be sacrificed to you instead of to the WWs.

Enlist the village in killing the cold ones. Create a peace treaty between them and your own people. Take the little boy back to town and have him raised in the church of pelor. Break for lunch.

Daniel

 

[FreeTheSlaves]

I dunno: with some decent tactics, if the party can fight the WWs a bit at a time, it seems perfectly plausible they could win.

Yeah but the WW have decent intelligence & skills even if they lack magic - too much to chance.

 

[monboesen]

I'd say it entirely depends on the players perception of the campaign world so far.

If they (obviously not a common situation by the responses so far) are acustomed to the fact that they can't win all fights or deal with all situations they are in a pickle.

For the group as presented my guess would have been that they were spilt between taking the boy with them (Deacon, Luis and Rurik) or leaving him behind (the other three). They might have ended with leaving him behind reasoning that they had no way of protecting him in the long run (they are on a dangerous adventure after all) and that he actually expressed the determination to sacrifice himself for his village.

The real evil dm plan is of course that the winter wolfs and the cold ones are working together and each sacrifice ends up as new cold one. In effect biding their time until they reach the strength to wipe out the village.

 

[yennico]

I dunno: with some decent tactics, if the party can fight the WWs a bit at a time, it seems perfectly plausible they could win. Resist Energy on everyone, illusions of Walls of Fire to divide the WWs into bite-sized units, fireballs, and fighters to mop up: it might very well be possible.

Once they're dead, take the WW heads to a place that you know some vitlings will visit; when they arrive, explain to them (via the boy) that:
1) The winter wolves will no longer protect them from the cold ones
2) because you're much mightier than the WWs are,
3) but that you demand the vitlings' assistance in wiping out the cold ones now,
4) and the vitlings' last sacrifice, this little boy, will be sacrificed to you instead of to the WWs.

Enlist the village in killing the cold ones. Create a peace treaty between them and your own people. Take the little boy back to town and have him raised in the church of pelor. Break for lunch.

Daniel

I totally agree.

 

[cmanos]

I would consider my alignment. In a party mostly full of chaotics and neutrals, one would need to evaluate the the many over the few. I could actually see a paladin chiding the child for running from duty , and taking him to the wolves directly. The chaotics on the other hand would value freedom and would definitely be in a moral quandry.

What I would do is approach the Winter King and try to hammer out a different treaty. It would give me time to evaluate the protection of the wolves to see if they actually are keeping the Cold Ones at bay or if they are using the vitlings and the Cold Ones are actually being klept at bay by another force. If they wolves are in fact keeping the Cold Ones at bay, I would put that power into the hands of the vitlings to protect themselves instead of paying protection from another species.

Very interesting quandry. I would guess they turned the kid over to the wolves.