01[23:52] <DMM> Johnathan sits in the crook of a building, not close to the main streets. His tongue is acrid, and mind awash with the sudden realisation that not every good that people believe in is equal.
01[23:52] <DMM> Nirliq has gone after Dario, whose retreating back and firm forward gait have not relented since he spoke to Johnathan of what is right for the many. That Johnathan's naivete might hurt those that trust him.
01[23:52] <DMM> The night is dark, but dawn is only a toll away. The stars are receding, and with them the cold of the deep night. The first few people of the day are emerging into the street. The bakers, and the butchers, whose livelihoods depend on breaking the covenant of darkness.
01[23:52] <DMM> Whose good is greatest?
01[23:53] <DMM> What is the right thing to do?
01[23:53] <DMM> What does /Johnathan/ do?
[23:54] <~Paladin_Johnathan> 14gimme a sec.
[23:59] <~Paladin_Johnathan> 14Okay.
Session Time: Thu Oct 26 00:00:00 2017
[00:00] <~Paladin_Johnathan> 14So. Johnathan is going to, after a long moment in thought, first off, begin to trail the way they left, rushing to find them. I mean, quite literally, rushing to find them.
[00:01] <~Paladin_Johnathan> 14It's important to note, I feel, that he does not really know this place that well, so all he has right now is tracing the way they took and hoping for the best - but there's other options if that gives no finding.
01[00:02] <DMM> The noise of the morning is yet small, but builds as he runs. A few people turn to look at him as he does.
01[00:03] <DMM> Roll Local, or Survival.
01[00:03] <DMM> They weren't moving quickly.
[00:03] <~Paladin_Johnathan> 1d20+5
01[00:03] <DMM> But you still don't know where they went.
[00:04] <~Paladin_Johnathan> 14A good roll. I should note that although he doesn't know the way around - he did just spend the night trailing the area. He would, at the very least, know where some places are.
[00:04] <~Paladin_Johnathan> 14Or at least have a faint memory of the layout.
01[00:06] <DMM> You pursue through the streets, trying desperately to think of where they might go. Dario sought immediacy. To spread the word, and tell the city. You know that there is a square near the centre of the city, and that you aren't far. You run, desperately. But the streets are filling, and the people slow to start their day. The carts and vendors slower still, and more importantly in your way.
01[00:06] <DMM> Roll Acrobatics, or Local, or Intimidate.
[00:08] <~Paladin_Johnathan> Acro.
01[00:10] <DMM> You dodge the people, and jump what carts you can. Some pedestrians waylay you by walking in your path, and skirting past them proves difficult. A gap opens, and you dash through. The leap over a cart catches a foot, and you roll across the city street, righting yourself out of it as quickly as you can. There are shouts from vendors and citizens as you go, and stock is ruined, but you keep moving in spite of them.
[00:11] <~Paladin_Johnathan> 14"I-I'm sorry! I'll pay back everything!"
06[00:11] * ~Paladin_Johnathan 14shouts back as he continues to run.
01[00:12] <DMM> Through the quickly-thickening crowds, you spot a flash of white -- the robes of your brothers. The square opens ahead of you, and they step into it. The fountain at the centre flows clear, water catching the light as the sun comes over the edge of Mount Potentia and casts long shadows of the canals over the square.
01[00:13] <DMM> They're just ahead of you.
01[00:13] <DMM> What do you do?
[00:16] <~Paladin_Johnathan> 14Run ahead, possibly pull one of them back by the shoulder if I can - but I don't shout. I simply try to speak quietly, not draw attention to us. "Dario!"
01[00:18] <DMM> He turns suddenly, fist raised, as you grab him by the houlder, but lowers it, looking... intense is the only word. Intensely at you. The emotions are cloudy and unreadable, and his face speaks of resolution and his body language conviction.
01[00:18] <DMM> Nirliq continues looking upset, and has in his hands tightly-held his holy symbol of your order. He looks at you, eyes hooded.
01[00:19] <DMM> Dario: "What? What could you possibly have else to tell me?"
06[00:21] * ~Paladin_Johnathan 14gives a shuddered sigh. He looks as though he hasn't slept or straightened himself out at *all*. He speaks in sharp whispers. "Please. Dario. I know I ask you too much, but I *beg* of you, there's far, far too damn much at stake for this to happen. I will do *anything* and work to do *anything* to make sure this information does not spread into the city."
01[00:23] <DMM> He stares at you for a long moment.
[00:23] <~Paladin_Johnathan> 14"I will find us healers. I'll speak with the Court of Builders. I - I have spots up high, I - I *personally* know many people, and I will work *tirelessly* to fix this - I cannot stand by and I *will* make this right."
01[00:24] <DMM> He glances aside, and exhales. Then he looks back up at you.
01[00:24] <DMM> Dario: "Brother. This is more important. There is /nothing/ more important than the future. More than all the people in Bleakwall. This is all of the people in the city. I swore my oath to live for their future and safety, and I swore my oath to die for it. Step aside."
[00:26] <~Paladin_Johnathan> 14"You are *not* saving the people of this city! You are throwing* *away* their future! If this happens, there will be hell to pay! Not from me - from others! It'll tear everything apart! There is *far* more to this than I've told you, and there is a *goddamned* good reason for my secrecy..."
01[00:27] <DMM> Dario: "These people deserve a world that cares about them enough to tell them the truth. For the good of everyone. I will not tell you to move again."
[00:27] <~Paladin_Johnathan> 14"Because I have sworn, just as you did, to protect them! Just as my father did, just as his father did, just as me and all of my companions did - and I would *damn* well not have it thrown away like this - not for want of a loose tongue, of a breaking of my trust between you. Please. For the love of god."
[00:28] <~Paladin_Johnathan> 14"I will tell you everything. There is... so much more than you realize. And if you speak a word of it, this-"
[00:28] <~Paladin_Johnathan> 14He holds his hands out.
[00:28] <~Paladin_Johnathan> 14"This city is damned."
[00:28] <~Paladin_Johnathan> 14"That is a *promise*. I do not threaten. I hold no ill will against anyone in this city - I will damn well make sure to stands as it burns within dragonfire."
[00:28] <~Paladin_Johnathan> 14"But you are throwing them away."
[00:29] <~Paladin_Johnathan> 14"And I cannot let that happen. Please. Stand back."
01[00:29] <DMM> Dario: "There's more that we haven't been told? That we don't /deserve/ to know? I am not throwing them away. All you do is prove that you -- and THEY," he points up to the keep, "do not respect us enough to be truthful."
01[00:29] <DMM> He pushes past you.
[00:30] <~Paladin_Johnathan> 14"Dario-! Damnit!"
[00:30] <~Paladin_Johnathan> 14Question!
[00:30] <~Paladin_Johnathan> 14About the oath.
01[00:30] <DMM> Yes?
[00:31] <~Paladin_Johnathan> 14If there is someone wounded and in dire threat of dying, one would probably and absolutely stop what they are doing to help them, right?
01[00:32] <DMM> Tricky. Depends how "greater good" it is.
01[00:32] <DMM> But it's reasonably likely that they would help.
[00:35] <~Paladin_Johnathan> 14"Dario-" I'm going to pull him back again by the shoulder. "I can't stand by and watch you throw us into chaos. Your words will beget death. Terror. And horror. You *will* kill thousands."
[00:37] <~Paladin_Johnathan> 14"And I will not let *my* own word, the one I shared with you, be the one that begets the death of hundreds more. My devotion is too damn strong to let that happen - and I will *not* idly stand by as you besmirth my name, or our oaths."
[00:37] <~Paladin_Johnathan> 14I draw my blade.
[00:37] <~Paladin_Johnathan> 14And cut my wrist.
01[00:40] <DMM> The needle of your rapier pierces through the skin easily, and blood pumps out. So quickly. The sudden surrealness of what you've done settles across the square, and onlookers gasp.
01[00:40] <DMM> As the mood shifts in the centre, so too does Dario's expression. For the first time, his turbulent emotions settle and the clouds lift to reveal a singular face. Disappointment.
06[00:40] * ~Paladin_Johnathan 14continues to stare at Dario even as his skin immediately pales, and he begins to falter and fall in posture.
[00:41] <~Paladin_Johnathan> 14"Please. More blood will spill than this. You have to stop. Please."
[00:41] <~Paladin_Johnathan> 14"If my word is what begets death and terror in the lands, than I have failed."
[00:41] <~Paladin_Johnathan> 14"And your word will spread only more blood on the concrete."
01[00:42] <DMM> Dario shakes his head as Nirliq flinches at your blood's spill. "This is why we travel together... brother. Nirliq. See to the boy."
01[00:42] <DMM> Nirliq looks despondently between the two of you.
01[00:43] <DMM> But channels to the best of his ability.
01[00:43] <DMM> Nirliq breaks his quiet.
01[00:43] <DMM> "Brothers. Please."
01[00:43] <DMM> And Dario doesn't look back.
01[00:43] <DMM> Nirliq whispers as he does what he can for you. "Please stop."
01[00:44] <DMM> And tears join your blood on the cobbles.
06[00:45] * ~Paladin_Johnathan 14begins to whisper again, vision fading. "H-He- he can't... he can't- do this!"
01[00:45] <DMM> Dario doesn't turn back, and approaches the fountain in the centre of the square as Nirliq attends to your wounds.
06[00:48] * ~Paladin_Johnathan 14grips at Nirliq's robes as he loses conciousness, the blood across his wrist staining his white robes. "*Please*. Do *something*."
01[00:49] <DMM> I would like to clarify that Nirliq is literally capable of keeping you conscious.
01[00:49] <DMM> As he is an actual channel-using cleric
[00:50] <~Paladin_Johnathan> 14Ah, well, damn, there goes that dramatic effect.
[00:50] <~Paladin_Johnathan> 14Still.
[00:50] <~Paladin_Johnathan> 14I imagine losing all that blood won't be good for you.
01[00:50] <DMM> Probably not.
01[00:51] <DMM> But yeah. You're currently clutching at the person who's keeping you fairly comfortably alive because it's what he does and you watched him do for the entire night while Dario climbs up the fountain and prepares to make his announcement.
01[00:51] <DMM> I'm kind of being obscenely lenient here, so I'll need final action in the next minute.
[00:52] <~Paladin_Johnathan> 14I detect evil.
01[00:52] <DMM> None.
[00:52] <~Paladin_Johnathan> 14I really don't know what the fuck to do. I'll spend a hero point for advice.
[00:54] <~Paladin_Johnathan> 14I tried. I offered help for the city. I offered to tell more. I offered my own fucking life to show how sure I am in this.
[00:54] <~Paladin_Johnathan> 14And nothing's keeping.
01[00:54] <DMM> Well let's review.
[00:54] <~Paladin_Johnathan> 14Nothing's sticking.
01[00:55] <DMM> He's obviously aware that this will cause upheaval, and that people will die. Because he has demonstrated he does not have the political awareness of a root vegetable. And yet he is still doing it.
01[00:56] <DMM> He has outlined his oaths.
[00:57] <~Paladin_Johnathan> 14He wants to protect the people of the city. He believes that the current rulers are not fit to rule - but Roan has recovered greatly since he's returned.
[00:57] <~Paladin_Johnathan> 14He doesn't know that though.
01[00:57] <DMM> I don't really know what else to tell you. He's shown what he's willing to do to protect people.
[00:57] <~Paladin_Johnathan> 14I'll have to show him that what he's doing is not going to protect anyone.
[00:58] <~Paladin_Johnathan> 14I have no proof whatsoever.
[00:58] <~Paladin_Johnathan> 14But I have an audience with those who can.
01[00:58] <DMM> Stop.
[00:59] <~Paladin_Johnathan> 14Yeah?
[00:59] <~Paladin_Johnathan> 14All I'm thinking of is offer him to speak with Roan.
01[01:00] <DMM> He ignores you. You're grasping and out of relevant ideas, and I've waited a while for anything relevant. He makes his speech to the square. I'm sorry.
[01:00] <~Paladin_Johnathan> 14But if that's not going to work, I don't know what else will - I've given him information beyond what he needed to know, and he's ill prepared to realize what he's letting loose.
[01:00] <~Paladin_Johnathan> 14I really am.
[01:02] <~Paladin_Johnathan> 14I need to go. I really do need to go.
01[01:02] <DMM> Alright. We're done here anyway.
[01:02] <~Paladin_Johnathan> 14But I'm fucking trying, I've outlined everything I can to him, and I failed. I'll give up the hero point.
[01:03] <~Paladin_Johnathan> 14Unless I literally attack him, but that's...
[01:03] <~Paladin_Johnathan> 14That's fucking no.
[01:03] <~Paladin_Johnathan> 14I can't do that.
[01:03] <~Paladin_Johnathan> 14I thought of knocking him off with the shout, but in public? Like that?
01[01:03] <DMM> Okay.
01[01:04] <DMM> As I said, dude. It's over.
01[01:04] <DMM> I'm sorry, but that was more than long enough..
[01:04] <~Paladin_Johnathan> 14At least tell me I made a good effort, here. I'd hate to know I just blew it entirely.
[01:04] <~Paladin_Johnathan> 14But I'm fine with failing.
01[01:05] <DMM> You tried various things, and none of them worked. There was a solution, and you didn't get it. If it was because it wouldn't be in-character, that's fine.
01[01:05] <DMM> I'm not going to go into it.