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When The Party Debates On Saving Or Murdering An Evil Princess
Hi everyone.
All Things DnD is back with another story.
Sometimes the debate on whether or not to save a princess can be a little bit more complicated
than what fairytales would have you believe.
After listening to the story you will have to tell us if you agree with the Warlock’s
logic or not.
And please tell us about the time your party struggled to agree on what the “right”
choice was.
The focus of this story is the lizardfolk fey warlock, a human druid, a goblin artificer
and myself playing a homebrew living armor fighter.
We were traveling through the countryside of an evil empire when we encountered a stage
coach being attacked by bandits.
We defeated the bandits as the last coach guard bleeds out, he mutters a faint thank
you and dies.
A large symbol emblazoned on the side of the coach catches our eye.
It happens to be the symbol of the evil empire dukedom.
We throw open the door to the stagecoach to find the next princess to the empire sitting
there wide eyed and pale faced.
A collective “what” is shared.
The party steps away for a moment to discuss.
The fey warlock leans in and said, “Okay, so as far as I see it we have two options,
stab her and make it look like a bandi-
“Why would we stab her!?”
The druid interrupted.
“Would you agree that princesses and people in similar situations that are political pawns
are effectively in a situation where they’re forced to endure incredibly strict lessons.
Daily lessons that border on torture by instructors so they dont do anything shameful as queen
and make their house look bad?”
The warlock explained.
“I guess…”
“And,” the warlock continued, “would you agree that people born into noble houses
as political pawns are effectively indoctrinated into a mind-set where self preservation and
actually thinking for themselves is discouraged?”
“Oh no...I see where you’re going with this.”
“So if we end her life quickly not only will we be putting her out of her misery,
but we will also harm the evil empire slightly.”
He said matter-of-factly.
“But we could just take her away from this life,” the druid argued.
“But what if she still holds those values and betrays us later!?
Also she probably doesn't know how to do anything that could be useful to us and would be dead
weight.”
“BUT WE CAN'T JUST KILL HER!”
The druid shouted.
Probably loud enough for the princess hiding in the stagecoach to hear.
The warlock and druid are too busy arguing to notice me walk over and give her a warm
blanket before checking to see if she has any wounds.
A single grateful tear runs down her cheek.
She apparently COULD hear the whole, “murder her” debate going on.
The warlock’s player facepalmed.
“Yeah, I say we dont kill her.”
I said.
The warlock groaned, “Fine but i'm not using any of my gold or food on her.”
A few sessions later she has one level in fighter and the Warlock goes back on his word
and spends some money to buy her a handaxe.
After “saving” the princess who we are calling, Sera, because that’s her name.
We arrive at an independently governed town.
Since our arrival Sera has become incredibly distant to the whole party.
In an attempt to get her to warm up to the group I was told to train her to be a fighter.
We decided on fighter because, “teaching someone swish, swish, stab, stab, is a lot
faster than teaching them magic.”
We stay in the town for a few days and decide to look for work.
Pinned to a job board is a low CR hunting quest for training and posted conveniently
right next to it is a reward for anyone who can find information about people disappearing
in the night.
Definitely bait by the DM.
We decide not to take any chances and keep our goblin artificer who runs around in a
miniature mech on watch that night at the inn.
In the middle of the night someone enters quietly through the window.
They don’t notice the artificer because his mech isn't powered on.
In a whir of cogs and a blast of pistons the artificer’s mech powers on and he pummels
the intruder.
Before we can interrogate him we hear rustling in the bushes and see a figure run.
We make a split second decision for the artificer to stay behind and watch Sera and the prisoner
and we chase the figure sprinting away.
Looming over the prisoner the artificer’s face splits into a grin, “Listen lad, the
lady over there joined our company a few days ago and I would hate to make a bad impression
on her.”
A small gout of flame spits out of the end of his flamethrower.
The prisoner barked out a laugh, “You idiots, you’re friends are going to our imperial
sponsored raid camp.
There are dozens of us and we were trained by the empire.
Your friends don't stand a chance.”
Out of character we realize we’re running into an enemy camp full of trained bandits
and one of our tanks and AOE damage dealers is missing.
We are right on the bandit’s heels as he enters the large cave that is the bandit’s
camp.
He starts shouting wildly and around 25 bandits with weapons drawn begin to surround us.
They don’t waste any time and we are rolling initiative.
The artificer knocks out the prisoner and gives Sera one of his prototype rocket launchers
before running full speed after us.
The fighting is getting brutal.
We are cutting down bandits but there are still too many of them.
I go down after taking too much damage.
Around half the bandits remain standing.
The artificer arrives and begins roasting the enemies taking care not to kill any of
the kidnapped city folk.
With the tides beginning to turn the bandit leader rushes to a large cage draped in a
heavy cloth.
The party is busy taking out the remaining bandits and the warlock misses the bandit
leader with an eldritch blast.
The DM grins suspiciously.
The bandit leader opens the cage and tries to run away but he only manages to take three
steps before a chimera bursts out of the cage and tears him in half.
We try to fight it but a few rounds in the warlock is forced to retreat carrying me.
With three people left in the cave, the artificer says they should retreat one by one.
The DM grins again.
The other two manage to escape the cave before the chimera blocks the exit preventing the
artificer from following them out.
“Well hell.
I guess I'm taking you with me,” the artificer said without a hint of remorse.
He readies a punch action for when the chimera enters melee range.
The chimera’s are burning with hatred as it stalks forward.
Its claws dig into the stone and it surges forward fangs bared, mouth wide.
The artificer begins to roll for his punch before the DM interrupts.
“In mid lunge the chimera is rocked by an explosion with enough force to send it flying
across the cave.
The smell of burnt hair and spilled blood fill the cave.”
Sera stands beside the artificer, her face a mixture of shock and awe.
Tendrils of thick smoke drift out of the end of the prototype rocket launcher in her hands.
The artificer immediately finishes off the chimera.
They save the kidnapped townsfolk and return to the town with the party’s new fighter.
We collect the reward and use most of it at the tavern celebrating our victory.
The artificer says she can keep the rocket launcher.
And just like that what may have just been a corpse on the side of the road has now saved
the party’s life.
I guess the warlock was wrong after all.
And to think the Warlock wanted to stab her!
I really enjoyed what the DM did with the development of Sera.
It really shows how a good DM can improv something as simple as a waylaid princess into something
awesome.
Please let us know what you think and comment below!
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