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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Elder-Basilisk" data-source="post: 2181467" data-attributes="member: 3146">Hmmm. I was thinking it was still close enough to blackmail myself, but only because of the "help me defeat the evil x [by giving me mcguffin Y]" part of it. That is no longer offering him the opportunity to preserve his reputation by becoming worthy of it but rather asking him to do something for you in return for the more generous treatment. As for the rest of it, though, I don't see that any character, exalted or otherwise would have a duty or an obligation to protect the shady merchant's reputation. If the guards tell that he was involved in illegal stuff, they're doing they're jobs. If the character tells, he's doing his civic duty. The proposed deal (absent the questionable part--it's probably legitimate for an exalted character to ask for it afterward, but not while in the process of giving him a chance to clean up his act because that would be (at least implied) quid pro quo for the preservation of his reputation) is not a lawful one, but I don't think that precludes it from being a good or exalted one. "I'm here to give you a chance to reform before the law gets its hands on you; reform and there's no need for the law to get involved--otherwise, I'll let things take their course" seems to be in the D&D tradition of neutral or chaotic good (in as much as there is anything coherent in the law/chaos axis).That said, another possibility (I'm not certain it would work for exalted characters) would be to find something he values more than the mcguffin, buy it, and use that as leverage--somewhat similar to the way the Count of Monte Cristo used his money to ruin his enemies fortunes. If you hold enough of his debts to exceed his liquid assets, and can call them all in, you're pretty likely to get the mcguffin. If you did it right, it would be perfectly legal, but it's still not nice. In order to make it acceptable for an exalted character, you would probably have to make sure that, unlike the Count, you actually want the assets/debts that you are buying and that you can work it out as a business deal that has a purpose other than hurting the merchant if he doesn't acceed to your wishes. That way, you wouldn't just be doing it to gain power over him or to hurt him, both of which might be precluded as exclusive motivations by exalted status. (If they're excluded as primary motivations, you're pretty much hosed).</blockquote>

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