What’s this? An overture from the fallen? Some manner of olive branch? A blindly hopeful appeal from a warrior of light to the dark lady of all his long nights yearning, torn in an agony of conflict? Well yeah, pretty much.

After their long, strange courtship — from heartbreak and betrayal to reconciliation and demonic ritual — Handbook-World’s most star-crossed lovers are at last getting a little plot development! And if it’s been hard on them, you can rest assured it’s been equally tough on yours truly. Figuring out how Paladin and Necromancer could ever make it work has been quite the dilemma. Like Snowflake in today’s comic, I’ve found myself playing pander to my characters. How to move forward without betraying either one? Was tragedy inevitable, or could we hope for some sliver of a happy ending? And so, faced with a seemingly irreconcilable conflict, I resorted to asking our Quest-Givers for aid. Last month’s Patreon poll reads as follows:

Paladin is at a rough place in life. Hopelessly in love with Necromancer, exiled from his party, and unable to square his Lawful Stupid alignment with a morally gray world, he is badly in need of direction. How should he try and dig himself out of this funk? 

I won’t give the game away, but suffice it to say that the next few pages will make the peoples’ will plain.

In the meantime, I find myself intrigued by Necromancer’s internal monologue. I mean, her whole-ass character arc has been about avenging herself on the man who scorned her. She seems to take great pleasure in messing him about, and shows no signs of easing up on raising the dead. But then again, you don’t devote yourself to a life of revenge without some strong emotion. And there’s always that tell-tale hover text from the Tropic of Evil arc to consider. Could it be that, just maybe, Necromancer wants to make this thing work every bit as badly as our golden boy? I’ll let the checkbox speak for itself.

What about the rest of you guys though? Have you ever agonized over a character decision? Did you betray your master? Turn against your decadent nation? Maybe you gave up your paladinhood for personal reasons, or told your warlock patron to take a hike? Whatever that difficult moment, tell us how you ultimately resolved the hard decision down in the comments!

 

THIS COMIC SUCKS! IT NEEDS MORE [INSERT OPINION HERE] Is your favorite class missing from the Handbook of Heroes? Maybe you want to see more dragonborn or aarakocra? Then check out the “Quest Giver” reward level over on the The Handbook of Heroes Patreon. You’ll become part of the monthly vote to see which elements get featured in the comic next!