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Message: <blockquote data-quote="the Jester" data-source="post: 4437750" data-attributes="member: 1210">Ooh, I am going to go waaay back to the early 90s for two. Both involve pc deaths. I was a player in one of the events, dm for another; but for the record, even in the Thorn story, I was the regular dm, but was playing while a guest dm ran our group through a series of adventures in his campaign (the party had been plane shifted to his world, and our campaigns were very closely linked together).Interestingly, Thorn's Tale also led directly to the Tragedy of Egypt and Carrion.Thorn's Tale: [sblock]The first one involved a pc who was a specialty priest of a god of humor and eccentricity and rebirth. This pc- Thorn, by name- was totally devoted, but because of the party's actions, they had  put his god (Carella) at the top of the hit-list of the Big Bad Evil God that the bad guys were trying to release. This BBEGod was strong enough to overwhelm pretty much all the other gods without trying, and Carella was gonna be first. At one point, when the party transitioned into another plane to fight against the BBEGod and his servants where they were closest to breaking him free, we got handed a deck of many things. Thorn, as a chaotic neutral character, took a bunch of cards, one of which was "change alignment or be judged."This was back in the days where "or be judged" was not defined, mind you. For the first time, I saw a pc choose judgment. The dm and pc went into the other room for a long few moments, then came back. We didn't know it at the time, but the gods' judgment had involved implanting a priest of Tesseract into Thorn's mind. Tesseract was the god of space itself, planar gates and portals, etc. Very weird and abstract. One of the powers its priests got was the ability to create extradimensional spaces, and the priest had done that- inside Thorn's head. Well, when Thorn drew the "small keep" card, it appeared inside his head, too, in that extradimensional space. Funny, but useless- or so we thought.  Fast forward about four game sessions. Things were looking grim. The party was storming the stronghold of the Necromancer, who was the main servant summoner-lich of the BBEGod (summoners adapted from Palladium; circle magic, basically). We were in trouble; we could fight his Knights of Remorse and his death knight and lich lackeys, but the Necromancer was going to be untouchable because of his circle protections.Then Thorn heard a voice in his head. It was Carella, telling him that she was sorry- and good-bye.The player's eyes widened, and the most profound look of acceptance came over him- this fellow was perhaps the best roleplayer I have ever had the pleasure to dm for or play beside. He just nodded.The extradimensional space was suddenly dispelled, and a small keep exploded out of his head, destroying the Necromancer's citadel as it intersected with it. Thanks to his sacrifice, the Necromancer's wards and defenses were destroyed. As it was, we barely managed to defeat him, and we lost several pcs in the battle. But we won!This led to its own problems, though; the Tragedy of Egypt and Carrion arose from our rewards...[/sblock]The Tragedy of Egypt and Carrion: [sblock]Egypt and Carrion were two members of the party that defeated the Necromancer in Thorn's Tale, above. Once they had done so, they were given boons by the gods, and they were allowed to ask for what they wished.Egypt was a ranger, fiery and bold. She was vivacious and full of life. Carrion was a priest of Nerull, the Reaper, the grim god of death. Nerull's priests were sworn to extinguish all life in the end, even their own. They were forbidden to accept healing, even to save their lives. When their time came, they were expected to go. Strangely, Egypt and Carrion were lovers. They loved each other deeply, and so when the time came to ask for a boon, Egypt asked to bear Carrion's child, knowing that he would be irretrievably lost to her at some point. This boon was granted, and Egypt and Carrion took a vacation far away from the rest of the party. They camped out in the middle of nowhere for a few weeks, enjoying each others' company.One day, towards the end of their vacation, Carrion walked up to Egypt. "Egypt," he said, "I love you." And then he drew his scythe and attacked her, trying to kill her.She cried out in surprise. She drew her weapons to defend herself, but did not want to harm her lover. "What are you doing?" she cried, but he would not answer, pressing her relentlessly until she began to fight back- but she would only strike the most minimal blows, while he brought her closer and closer to death.Finally, he threw down his weapon. "Kill me!" he roared. Utterly confused, she broke down into tears. "No!" she cried. "Why? I don't understand! Why are you doing this?"Carrion's eyes smoldered. "Don't you see?" he groaned. "I have no choice! You have asked me to commit the ultimate sin. To give life. I must kill you, so that does not happen. Or you must kill me.""No!""There is no other choice," Carrion said. "It is too late to avoid the sin. You are already pregnant. You must kill me to save our child."She wept. She argued. But he could not be swayed. It was the only way.She killed him, her lover, her love, the father of her child. She killed him. It was the only way.[/sblock]</blockquote>

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