Telvar stood before the narrow cave opening. The moment of truth was at hand. He'd been told that the legendary Sage of the Ascension would most likely be in a cave like this in these desolate mountains. His heart raced as he sensed his Destiny before him. After a life of quests and adventures and battles he'd achieved enough renown and personal skills that there was virtually no chance the Sage would deny him the great Prize; the Robe of the Overlord and the authority over all peoples that went with it.
He had not achieved his status as the greatest adventurer of the age alone of course. His loyal companions were invaluable. There was Gronnick the Mighty; the one man in the lands who could best him in a straight non-magical fight. Gronnick was none too bright and very limited in his magical skills but he was stronger than any other man Telvar had ever met. He also had courage and loyalty in abundance.
And how could he have escaped the many dangers laid for adventurers in caverns and towers and even in towns without Zek? Zek, whose miserable youth in the streets of the great city of Tonn gave her the skills of a thief that were now turned to greater purposes. She'd prevented Telvar's death on a hundred occasions by sensing traps and ambushes and by striking down foes from the shadows.
Perhaps the most valuable member of Telvar's group was Parlon. She was a master of healing magics who had even brought Telvar back from death after a battle with a dragon, though not without great risk to her own life. Parlon was a quiet and seemingly timid woman, but Telvar knew from many battles that she had great courage and knew from many nights that she had a great deal of hidden passion.
With this group Telvar overcome every challenge he'd faced, and with them he would claim his destiny from the Sage. He walked into the cave. After a short passage they were in a large room that was lit by no visible source. A mist gathered in the center of the room, coalescing into the form of a beautiful white-haired woman clothed in a flowing toga that didn't hide the beauty of her form.
"I am Sara, the Sage of the Ascension and the destined Consort of the Overlord," she said.
"Hot damn!" Telvar thought, "Power and a gorgeous babe!" The quest was definitely worth it. He noticed Parlon looking down, sadly. He figured she shouldn't be that concerned; who says the Overlord can't have both a Consort and a mistress? He still wanted Parlon at his side and occasionally in his bed even with Sara as his Consort. He figured he owed Parlon that.
Sara spoke again, breaking Telvar's reverie. "You are Telvar, son of Rias the goldsmith and Mara the scribe. You have come to claim the Robe of the Overlord, the authority of the Overlord, and the Consort of the Overlord. I shall ask you about some of your exploits so I might assess your worthiness. Are you prepared?" Telvar nodded to affirm his readiness.
"Very well then. Early in your career you cleared the Caverns of Kolob of their Kobold population. Tell me about this."
Telvar had to think a bit to remember that adventure. "The Caverns of Kolob, oh yes!" he said. "We had heard from some villagers that there was a band of Kobolds living there. They told us that some of their children had vanished and that they'd probably been captured and eaten by the Kobolds. The villagers lived in fear of these monsters. So despite being inexperienced, we went into the caves to rid the land of them. There were dozens and dozens of the little creatures, but despite being outnumbered we were victorious!" Telvar smiled, remembering that victory.
"So, how many Kobolds did you take prisoner?" Sara asked.
"None, of course. They were child eating Kobolds!" Telvar said.
"You slew an entire underground village of Kobolds, men and women and children, because some villagers said that they had lost two children in the last year," Sara said. "Did it occur to you that the children might have been eaten by wolves, or that the villagers had never even seen a Kobold, or that a community of 275 Kobolds would need to eat a lot more than just two children a year? Or were you blinded by the villager's stories of a vast treasure that was in the caves?"
"This isn't going well," Telvar thought. "Well...we were young, and everybody knows Kobolds are evil. Killing them off and getting their treasure that they'd probably stolen seemed like a good idea."
"The Kobolds lived off their mushroom gardens and beetle herds, and had accumulated their treasure over centuries of occasional trade. But as you say, you were young and ill-informed. Tell me about your battle with the vampire Lord Walas," the Sage said.
Ah! An easy one! Telvar knew this would be favorable to him. "Well," he began, "we were traveling through the Dark Mountains and came across a moderate sized town. It seemed peaceful enough, but we noticed that many of the women of the town had what looked like bite-marks on their necks. I checked an old book I'd acquired and determined that these were the marks left by a feeding vampire. When we asked the women about the marks, they said that they were from their "tribute of blood" to Lord Walas. We set out for his castle on the mountain overlooking the town. Zek managed to get us into the castle and past the booby traps. We faced an army of rats, and even a wolf pack, before we got to Walas' inner chambers. A sliding wall left me to fight Lord Walas by myself, but with the right battle magics on my sword and a bit of skill I put that vampire in his final grave and freed the town of Walas from any more blood tributes!"
"And what reward did you get from the townsfolk?", Sara asked.
"We didn't go back to the town. We found a hidden treasure room, and one of the magical items there was a portal that would instantly take us to the city that was our original destination. I figured that the townsfolk would learn soon enough that Lord Walas was dead, and we wanted to save some travel time," Telvar said.
"Yes, Lord Walas had quite a treasure accumulated. You and Gronnick acquired magic armor from that horde, correct?" Sara asked.
Telvar nodded. "Yes, with that treasure we were able go on to greater adventures."
Sara agreed, "It was a major turning point in your career; you made a name for yourself when you showed up in Tonn with artifacts people had only heard about in stories. But didn't you ever wonder what happened to the town of Walas?"
"I suppose that they were free to get on with their own lives without being oppressed by an evil vampire overlord," Telvar said.
"Not exactly," Sara said. "Lord Walas had been the rightful lord of the land before he became a vampire, and he continued in that role afterward. He had managed to keep thieves and raiders away from the town by his command of the creatures of the night, and took only reasonable taxes and some blood from the unmarried women of the town in return. The women considered it an honor to feed the Lord, and rather enjoyed it. Lord Walas never killed any of his subjects except for the usual punishments for heinous crimes. After you killed him, the raiders came and destroyed the village. They killed all the men after they valiantly tried to fight them off and they carried off the women to be sold as slaves or to serve them."
"I...well...the villagers never told us. We just figured that the vampire was a monster draining the life out of the townsfolk," Telvar stammered.
"And there was all that lovely gold distracting you, too. But of course almost everyone believes vampires to be absolute evil and sometimes they are right. You did show great courage in defeating Lord Walas, for whatever reasons. Tell me about your last adventure, with the dragon," Sara said.
Telvar's confidence was shaken, but this time they surely were in the right. They had been told of the evil of this dragon, after all. "We were asked by Count Lorn to free his lands of the dragon Zoraxax. We tracked him to his lair and defeated him in a great battle. I nearly died...no, actually I did die in that battle. If Gronnick and Zek had not struck final killing blows right at that moment, and had Parlon not risked her own life by casting a dangerous Resurrection spell, I would not be here today. But we saved a lot of lives by killing that dragon, and the Count was grateful for that."
"And the Count rewarded you with the dragon's horde, didn't he? In fact he promised you that reward before you accepted this task," Sara noted.
"Yes, he did. But we rid the land of an evil and we knew that this was an evil!" Telvar said. "You only knew that because he told you that. Unfortunately, Zoraxax was in fact the defender of the common people who gave him offerings of food. His horde was gained from thieves and attacking armies and oppressive rulers. He was the friend of the peasants, and would have interfered in Count Lorn's plans to raise taxes, seize peasant women for his harem, and other oppressive acts."
Telvar sat down dejectedly. "So it seems that I have been wrong every time. But I tried to do the right thing. Didn't I?" he asked.
"Well...no," Sara said. "You tried to justify your actions in each case by claiming to fight evil, but in reality you were seeking glory and treasure. Even when you went up against Lord Walas, you sought the glory of killing a mighty vampire as opposed to freeing the townsfolk.
"You are spoken of as a hero. And by the standards of the travelling minstrels you probably are. But a true Hero is driven by a concern for the greater good of others, and is self-sacrificing. I see little evidence that you are a Hero of that kind. You seek wealth, and power. You wish to be Overlord out of a desire for Power rather than to uphold the greater good.
"There is one in your group who is closer to this ideal. While she failed to steer you from actions that she suspected were wrong, she is driven by love and was willing to die in order to save you. I wish for Parlon to stay with me, and learn."
Telvar was surprised, and he saw that Zek and Gronnick were also. Parlon stepped forward shyly to join the Sage. The Sage dissolved into mist, and coalesced again in the form of a handsome young man. Parlon looked back at Telvar, who could not meet her gaze. She embraced the Sage and both disappeared in a burst of light.
"Uhhh, gee boss, does this mean you don't get to rule the world?" Gronnick asked.
"Pretty much," Telvar acknowledged.
"What a rip-off!" Zek grumbled.
"Oh, who wants all that responsibility anyway? Let's head to the nearest town to celebrate Parlon's good fortune," Telvar said. Life goes on, after all. And maybe Zek will comfort me this evening, he thought, smiling.
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I was somewhat inspired to write the above by all the fuss about baseball player Cal Ripkin beating Lou Gehrig's record for not missing a ball game. Some folk proclaimed him to be a hero. While I will acknowledge that he accomplished a great feat, I don't see it as "heroic". Essentially he just never missed a day of work. I also note that Lou Gehrig set his record while suffering from a disabling disease that eventually killed him; Mr. Ripkin is pretty much in perfect health.
"Hero" is perhaps an overused term. People's heroes are sports figures or actors or musicians. What is heroic about those endeavours? Not much, really. Even people who take great risks to accomplish some feat like climbing a mountain or flying experimental aircraft or travelling in space aren't exactly "heroes"; certainly they are brave but there usually isn't that bit of sacrifice for others that seems to me to be true heroism.
How heroic are our PCs in our various RPG campaigns? Often we see characters that are "super-heroes"; they may be fighting for good and for others but they really aren't risking their lives. Heroism also involves a willingness to take a risk for that greater good. The high level party that cleans out a nest of low level thieves certainly serves the greater good but they risk nothing. Of course as often as not a party is out for profit, rather than the greater good.
How do we have "heroic" PCs? Assuming that we actually want them, of course. Assess a situation to determine that we're actually on the side of good. Be willing to take risks. And be willing to sacrifice our (player character) selves for the greater good. This doesn't mean that we play suicidally, but that our PCs at some points act to benefit others and for higher purposes.