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Heroes unite! There are ne'er-do-wells afoot! A maiden cries for help in a distant tower! Brutish thugs harass the fair citizenry of the land! You have been chosen by a higher power to fight these evils and restore peace and light to our world, and so you shall. Be it by blade, magic, arrow or raw cunning, these villains shall never see their wicked machinations come to fruition, and you will be the hand of justice that ensures this!

And when it is all done, when all the maidens have been rescued and all the gangs sent to their new barred homes, your job will be complete...or will it? Surely there is more out there, more malicious entities that cannot be redeemed, that seek only to destroy and maim. Of course there are, you simply have not come across them yet. But you will be ready, always vigilant.

It is your mission. You will destroy evil wherever you find it, and little does the average peasant know, there is evil under every rock and around every corner! The simple folk must be protected at all costs. You are their hero, after all, their savior, their one true hope. Whether they understand your actions or the measures you must take or not, you shall defend them against evil.

You know best, of course.
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[h3][i]Contest Rules[/i][/h3]
1. For this contest, the focus shall be on a person or peoples of great prestige "going bad", for lack of a better term. Be it a great hero chosen by the gods or a mere "man of the people", I want you to show how exactly one can go too far in performing their duties. Maybe they're just egocentric, perhaps they've always been a bit of a blood knight, it is up to the writer how they wish to show their characters' descent into what they hate the most. 

2. Feel free to write from the perspective of an outsider observing the main cast's actions. Explain what the average person might think about seeing someone they held so highly fall so low.

3. Your heroes must, yes, perform some very unheroic things during the story. But, try to show their thought process. Surely they still believe that they are doing the right thing, they just don't know the true impact of their actions.

4. Please keep entries under 2000 words.

As a bonus objective: If you wish, you can build up your heroes around specific vices; lust, greed, pride, etc. Again, more of a bonus, not a requirement for a complete entry.

[h3][i]Grounds for disqualification[/i][/h3]
1. Plagiarism.

2. Your entry having no clear connection to the prompt.

3. Gratuitous violence or gore.
 
4. No explicit sex scenes. Fade to black is fine.

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The deadline for RPGC #23 shall be [b]Wednesday, May 8th[/b]. Please post all entries in this thread, and direct all questions and feedback to my PM box or the associated Discussion thread, and I will gladly answer them.

Please hold off all votes and critiques until the proper thread has been erected for this prompt.