They start out. The road follows the river for four days until the rivers turns off to the east. The road is relatively peaceful.
The main road continues to the east, but Alzar is going south. Lastion and his ghoul run into trouble on the fourth day, they land smack into three centaurs, who automatically start firing arrows at them. Alzar orders Lastion to flee back to the wagons and jumps out. He orders Megala to fly up so he can see the area, and jumps off, telling the others to stay here for a bit. They do, and Alzar runs in.
The Centaurs kill one ghoul (not Lastion). Lastion is arrowed for 6 damage 9/15.
Alzar sends Dryshik and Megala to the area to give him more info. He also gives Lastion some commands on where to go to meet him.
In three rounds, Alzar will meet Lastion. The Centaurs get three rounds of shots off. They hit four times and deal1d6 each time. Will the Centaurs kill Lastion? They easily do. Lastion dies.
With his familiar dead, Alzar suddenly stops. He makes a system shock roll. Failure means he is stunned for 1d6 hours, success means nothing. He rolls a 4 and makes it. He is pissed.
Alzar finds the Centaurs checking Lastion’s body and he casts Sleep. One falls asleep and the other two nock arrows and look for him. He has Megala and Dryshik fly through the trees to distract them. He readies another Sleep spell. They both fall asleep. Alzar smiles.
It’s hard to tie a Centaur up. He starts a fire. After a bit, he is sure he’s got it, and he ties them up. And then wakes them all up. He’s gagged them of course, just in case any are spellcasters. He lets them sit for a few minutes and gets a few sticks nice and hot. Megala and Dryshik are around.
“Would you like to know why you anger me? Would you like to know why people who pretend to be “good” annoy me so? Let me tell you a story. A griffon is trying to stay alive, and it does what it has to. It kills a horse and eats it. Is the griffon evil? Or is it just hungry? It’s just a predator. None of you would call it evil.”
“But a ghoul? Oh that’s different somehow. A wraith? A wight? All different. Some of your kind would shed a tear at the passing of a griffon. But a ghoul is “Evil,” isn’t it? Ghouls go out and kill to eat. They don’t torture their prey. They don’t prolong its death. They don’t have any moral choices, they just hunger, so they eat.”
“Did you ever stop to ask yourself if the ghouls you just killed were killers? Would you like to know the last time Lastion even killed an intelligent creature? It was more than six months ago. Lastion and the other ghoul have been feeding off animals, just like your griffon, or your wolf, or your wolverine. Did you stop and try to negotiate with it? Did you stop to see if it was a danger to anyone in your woods? Did you stop to think, in any way shape or form?
“This is why I detest those who claim to be doing things for good. You don’t care if you are right, or wrong. You don’t think about acts before you take them. You kill two ghouls because you think you are making things better, you think you are making this safer. But Lastion has spent the last year with me, killing goblins, orcs, and other evil creatures. Did you care? No you didn’t. Your kind never does. You don’t think, you just believe and act. You never stop to question what next. You never stop to ask about the orc children that you left parentless.
“You see, I don’t have to worry about that. I don’t have any pretention at all. I will kill a creature because it is in my way, or because I want the experience or because I want the items it has, or I am hungry. I never kill a creature because in my own demented head I have somehow justified to myself that it makes the world a better place. What kind of an ego you must have!
“So, you know that I not good, like you. I never will be. I think things through, and I make actions for selfish reasons without lying to myself about why. So, understand this. This is not some sort of lesson for you to live by and take home with you and try to understand. That would be what a good person would do. I am not going to give you an opportunity to learn from your mistakes. And that’s because, unlike those you have slain, I
am evil.”
Alzar takes the hot sticks from the fire and begins to penetrate the Centaur’s flesh. He pins down each of the Centaurs’ six limbs to the ground with ember sticks. He opens up his three flasks of oil and smears it on each of their main bodies, but not limbs. He searches their bodies and finds 50 gold and takes it. Then he grabs their weapons and inspects them to see if any are magical. He casts Detect magic, and nothing the Centaurs have glows.
Alzar casts ESP. “Oh, and btw, where is your village? And how many of you are there? Thanks for your help. “
He stands up, and says, “So, here’s to making the world a better place.” He flings a burning brand onto each of the Centaurs, and they light up.
425 XP + 42.5 for 468 total.
Current XP 22136