A party of 18 adventurers find themselves in a bit of a moral quandary.
The townsfolk complain about bizarre livestock mutilations. The village elders bicker about whether the mutilations are the work of a malicious prankster or a monster living in the wilds. The party become involved when the most recent mutilation raises the stakes dramatically: a child has been found murdered, the body badly ruined. The villagers need this problem solved quickly. The adventurers are hired to investigate. Upon successful completion of the quest, their reward shall be 1,800 pieces of gold — 100 pieces each.
The party follows the trail to a distraught woodsman in a cabin beyond the fields. The woodsman admits to the mutilations, but swears innocence, blaming his actions on a terrible curse. He periodically transforms into a werewolf with an insatiable hunger for slaughter, and cannot control his actions while in that state. He has known about his condition since winter, and has been visiting the village only for necessities. He is traumatized to learn he has slain a child. If the village gets hold of him, he will surely be found guilty of murder and hanged. He swears to the party he will pack his meager belongings and head off into the wilds, living off the land and staying far from civilization, if they agree to let him go.
But there’s a slight wrinkle. Under the effects of a zone of truth spell, the woodsman is discovered to be lying. He has two daughters living in the village, whom he is loath to be apart from. His intent to leave is genuine, but he plans to continue sparse visits to the village to see them, believing he can manage his violent episodes and cause no further harm.
The decision before the party is this: let the woodsman go and run the risk his curse management plan fails, or bring him back to the village, collect their reward and leave the poor woodsman to hang.
The lawful good druidess argues to let the man go. She recognizes the laws of nature, in all their primal beauty, and the woodsman’s curse is a perversion of those laws. The child’s death is tragic, but manufacturing a second death in no way pays for the first. The only reasonable course, she says, is to seek a cure for the woodsman’s ailment, thereby preventing further unnatural loss of life.
The lawful good paladin angrily insists letting the man go is not an option. While the circumstances are tragic, the fact remains he broke the laws of the village where he trades. The paladin intends bring the woodsman back in irons and submit him to the town’s justice, but concedes to advocate against execution, even using his portion of the reward money to that end.
The neutral good bard had been leaning toward letting the man go until casting zone of truth. Now that he knows the woodsman will return to the village from time to time, there’s really no way to prevent future murders except to bring the criminal to justice. The continued loss of life is simply unacceptable. Perhaps if the woodsman had not lied about his intentions…
The neutral good dwarf couldn’t give two figs about the man’s intentions. There’s a malignant force in these woods transforming people into werewolves. The woodsman is an asset in locating the source of his curse; if he is executed the party loses their primary lead until the next murder. He argues the party has a duty to this woodsman, the village, and the slain child to find the creature or magic ultimately responsible for the violence and destroy it.
The chaotic good half-elf has a habit of amusing himself by disagreeing with his dwarf companion, just as a matter of course. In this case, he points out that while the woodsman may have acted under magical duress, he is still ultimately responsible for his own actions. The woodsman valued his desire to be near his daughters over a child’s life. The village deserves to know the truth and each villager has just as much right to weigh the woodsman’s priorities as the woodsman himself does.
The chaotic good ranger doesn’t think the half-elf’s result is fair. Yes, an individual should weigh his own responsibilities against other people who may be hurt, but an angry mob can’t be counted on to act rationally. The woodsman at least has the excuse of being magically compelled. If delivered to the village he will become the victim of a different kind of bloodlust, which the ranger wants no part of.
The lawful neutral dragonborn wants to calm the discussion down and just stick to the facts. The village has laws. The law was broken. The punishment is hanging. That’s the end of it as far as she’s concerned. What’s left to discuss?
The lawful neutral monk is surprised, as she had the same reasoning but arrived at the opposite conclusion. Respect of law must be observed, but in this case, the woodsman very pointedly didn’t break any laws. He acted under compulsion of a magical curse which, as of now, is ill-understood. To kill him for actions outside of his control isn’t justice, but murder unto itself.
The true neutral barbarian doesn’t care one way or the other. The way he sees it, the party will either agree to bring the woodsman in, or let him go, and whatever happens is what was going to happen.
The true neutral necromancer likewise remains silent for now. Only about half of his companions have spoken their piece, and so far it looks like the opinions are evenly split. If it appears one point of view is going to overwhelm the other, he’ll speak up to make sure everyone’s thoughts are given due consideration and that the dissenters aren’t bullied into submission.
The chaotic neutral half-orc flipped a coin. It came up heads. He therefore argues loudly and boisterously that they bring the woodsman in and see him hanged.
The chaotic neutral artificer argues, equally loudly and boisterously, to let the woodsman go. He doesn’t actually care what happens, but arguing for the woodsman’s release ties the conversation back up, and the more discordance and bickering amongst his companions, the happier he is. He’ll change his mind later if it looks like things are swinging the other way.
The lawful evil cleric agrees with the paladin and the dragonborn: a law was broken, and the penalty is fair. She sees the situation as an opportunity to cast the village’s church in a negative light by insisting their worship of pagan gods is what caused the curse in the first place. Which, for all she knows, is true!
The lawful evil warlock wants to join the dwarf in searching for the source of the curse, but they need the woodsman alive to do that. If the village is willing to pay them each 100 gold to bring the murderer to justice, the warlock imagines he could negotiate double or even triple once the town learns of the much more insidious threat!
The neutral evil assassin has done the very simple math. If they bring the woodsman in, they each get 100 gold. If they don’t, they don’t. That’s all the information he needs to seal the woodsman’s fate.
The neutral evil wizard sees the 100 gold reward as a pittance compared to the fascinating fel magic that’s obviously in play. She wants the woodsman alive so she can study his case, potentially identifying the curse and perhaps bending it to her own ends.
The chaotic evil battlemaster doesn’t share the wizard’s love of money. He only loves bloodshed. The sight of the child’s mangled corpse excited him, and the prospect of a violent public execution excites him further. He argues to bring the man in, secretly hoping the mysterious curse creates more werewolves and perpetuates the cycle of death.
The chaotic evil tiefling votes to release the man, but doesn’t explain why. Her plan is to sneak away from camp that night, track the woodsman down, and offer him this ultimatum: pay her 100 pieces of gold every month, or she will reveal him to the village. If he refuses, she can always drag him in herself and claim the whole 1,800. Either way her payout is larger than it otherwise would be.
Unfortunately, while everyone is discussing the pros and cons, the woodsman escapes out a back window. The party takes a short rest, spends some hit dice, and the chase begins anew!
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