As the group moves deeper past the sarcophagus room, Alexis glances back at Ca’armine and Rask.
“Help me understand something. You wanted an honorable death for that hyena thing. But the bugbears, we slit their throats. What’s the difference?”
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Rask looks to Ca’armine for his response.
Ca’armine nods, muses a moment, and then says, “That is a good question, one I’ve been thinking about. Knowing we are going to kill these creatures anyway, that killing them is necessary, how do we do that the best way?”
“Though strange to us, it seems they are all sentient creatures. I suggested combat for that reason, for the gnoll. Later when we had not one but several bugbears that needed to be dispatched, I did not stop their execution.”
“None of these creatures stood a chance to survive the encounter, all of them were malicious, evil, and bent on our destruction and so they needed to be killed. Was it more merciful to let the gnoll have the illusion that he might escape his doom, before killing him? I don’t think it was, now that we’re talking about it.”
“What say you, fellows? Does mercy best guide our hand with execution– or with single combat?”
Having moved, such that everyone was included in the conversation, Alexis looks between his companions. None of them seem to want to answer the question, or seem to be showing deference regarding morality.
Alexis looks back at Ca’armine.
“I think we were hoping, as our spiritual and moral center, you could give us the answer to this quandary.”
Alexis waits, interested in the answer.
Ca’armine promises his fellows that he will contemplate. When this comes up again, he tells Alexis, again, that he needs time.
A couple of days into the party’s campout, he re-initiates the conversation over dinner. “Alexis, you asked me some days ago, to explain what I believe to be the right way to dispatch enemies who we have defeated in battle, or taken without a battle, who are essentially helpless.”
“Clearly the path most consistent with good, is to release the foe. Take away their weapons and let them run away. However, this is not always acceptably safe. If an enemy’s escape will lead to a greater attack upon us, for example, or alert the foe to our progress toward a goal, then the situation requires that we eliminate that threat.”
“Death is inevitable for all living creatures. Raiden, a soldier, knows that killing one’s enemies is part of war. It is not an evil act, to kill your enemy when your survival is at stake, and when the death of an enemy is required to keep your party safe, or to proceed forward to a Raiden-inspired goal, a goal that serves the forces of good, there is no sin.”
“The mistake in my mind, is thinking that one avoids the task of choosing the right action, by remaining in denial about the inevitability of death. For example, if you defeat an enemy deep in an underground cave, then tie them up so they cannot follow, you may thnk that action is good– after all, you did not kill the enemy! But indeed it is not good, because the enemy is still almost certain to perish, but instead of a quick and merciful death, he will starve or die of thirst or from festering wounds.”
“The fight with the gnoll was not the right action, upon reflection. Though we intended the gnoll to have a fighting chance, that was folly– Rask is so much more powerful than a gnoll soldier, he would have to strip off his armor and fight unarmed, and even still he would almost certainly kill the gnoll without much delay. The gnoll may have believed he was escaping, but in truth he died in terror as Rask inevitably overpowered him.”
“Upon reflection and prayer, I say this: if the enemy cannot be let go, without risk to our party, to our divinely inspired goals, or to the defenseless humans in the vicinity, the most humane approach is to administer the coup de grace and send the foe’s spirit to Hood.”
He nods. He looks about at his comrades. “Raiden’s will.”
Alexis leans back. A slow nod, once, twice. The tension in his jaw releases. He presses his lips together, the corner lifting just slightly. His eyes hold for a moment longer, then drop away. He reaches up, adjusts the brim of his hat, and turns toward the hallway.
Rask nods in grim agreement.