If Ben admitted his guilt before Lilly snapped, what would you do to him?
This is inspired by Red Panda's thread on what to do with Lilly if she shot Ben instead.
My question, instead, is what would you want to do to Ben if he admitted his guilt before Lilly snapped and shot Carley or Doug?
I think this would've created some interesting and intense group interaction while affecting your group's disposition towards you. Kenny would most likely want Ben gone because of Duck. This could be great opportunity to further cement/repair or totally break your relationship with Kenny. Katjaa would be interesting, since she seems like such a kind person who won't act out of vengeance. Lilly would also want Ben gone too, and might even shoot Ben outright. Carley would probably allow Ben back on the RV. I am not sure about Doug since I don't his character well. Meanwhile Clem is watching...
While my heart tells me to give the kid another chance, I think for the sake of the group Ben would be left behind. We have at least two people that would strongly oppose keeping Ben, one is angry Lilly with a gun and the other is Kenny who has the RV. Keeping Ben would inevitably caused further group problems if not bloodshed. By abandoning him, I think it's a middleground on the need to punish him for endangering the group and keeping some humanity by giving him a fighting chance (but knowing Ben, we know it would be a slim one!). If the game went in this direction, hopefully it'll give you a chance to explain yourself to characters opposed to abandoning Ben.
My question, instead, is what would you want to do to Ben if he admitted his guilt before Lilly snapped and shot Carley or Doug?
I think this would've created some interesting and intense group interaction while affecting your group's disposition towards you. Kenny would most likely want Ben gone because of Duck. This could be great opportunity to further cement/repair or totally break your relationship with Kenny. Katjaa would be interesting, since she seems like such a kind person who won't act out of vengeance. Lilly would also want Ben gone too, and might even shoot Ben outright. Carley would probably allow Ben back on the RV. I am not sure about Doug since I don't his character well. Meanwhile Clem is watching...
While my heart tells me to give the kid another chance, I think for the sake of the group Ben would be left behind. We have at least two people that would strongly oppose keeping Ben, one is angry Lilly with a gun and the other is Kenny who has the RV. Keeping Ben would inevitably caused further group problems if not bloodshed. By abandoning him, I think it's a middleground on the need to punish him for endangering the group and keeping some humanity by giving him a fighting chance (but knowing Ben, we know it would be a slim one!). If the game went in this direction, hopefully it'll give you a chance to explain yourself to characters opposed to abandoning Ben.
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Comments
Ben would really need to bring his A game in stating his case, or I would have had Lee vote to leave him by the roadside.
Exile: Lilly Caul, Kenny
Stay: Carley, Katjaa
I would vote for him to stay. I'd also have a lot more respect for the kid.
Dammit, I misread - BEFORE Lilly snapped..... well.... I'd have kicked his ass out.
Just a small correction, but Lilly from the game is no longer Lilly Caul from the comics and books.
I suppose that means Lilly from the game's last name is an unknown.
I just read The Road to Woodbury recently, and Lilly Caul is a completely different character than game Lilly. She has a different appearance, personality, and backstory. Lilly Caul's father is also named Everett, rather than Larry.
Ben meant well for his betrayal and mainly did it to put of the bandit attack
He was trying to save his friend and protect the group; after he figured it out, he kept going because he was terrified of the bandits. It was incredibly naive, but it's not like he tried to kill Lee or something. As long as someone means well, I will keep them around, and just help them make less stupid decisions.
But really, all he did was hand over some hard drugs nobody needed anyway. Oxycontin is dangerously addictive--all this "what if Clem needed it, somebody's cutting our throats!" stuff from Lilly doesn't fly.
People give Ben a hard time, but instead of losing the people we did lose, we could've lost EVERYONE to the bandits. He kept them from hitting the group on a day the walkers weren't there to shake things up.
As far as I'm concerned, his only mistake was not telling the group what he was doing so they'd be prepared. Then again, since paranoid, unstable Lilly friggin' KILLS someone over it, maybe that wasn't a mistake at all. Maybe it was just survival instincts kicking in.
In the end, I am inclined to blame Lilly's intense overreaction for Katjaa and Duck dying, because I think Ben would've confessed if he wasn't so afraid of her. The group might've had time to prepare a defense or leave if he'd felt compelled to confess, but with her around, that wasn't going to happen.
He's a good kid, just trying to help out. But of course, he SHOULD be corrected and shouldnt pass.
But of course some people would want him out. I'd tell Lilly: "Give him one more chance. If he screws up one more time, we leave him."
Same plan as this for me, pretty much. Thought honestly, with how much of a wreck Lilly is, i have zero doubt she would have immediately murdered Ben after he admitted it. She attempts to kill him if you have Doug instead of Carley, and he didn't even admit it then.
His intentions are good, so he earns a place in my group.
Yeah, I can see that Ben's action at the inn is understandable. Maybe it could be argued it was a good thing because it did keep the bandits from attacking. It would just be nice if the group decided on it together--but I read in another thread that Lilly was too intimidating to talk to.
Still "Ben's nice. Hes my friend. We dont leave friends behind"
Maybe they thought the entire group agreed to the deal, and Ben was just the supplier. Either way i don't think the bandits really care who gave them the supplies, as long as they got it, one way or another.
As soon as Lee gets everything under control she starts a shootout that ends in the motel getting overrun by zombies.
And yeah, I'm pissed that Ben never told the group about his deal. I know he might be scared of Lilly, but it sucks he never confided in Lee, who saved him, or Carley who seems to have taken the big sister role to Ben.
Also, how could 3 people not see a girl getting a gun? My vision angle is up to 180 degrees. Less than 200 though. I can't say i could have seen it cus im not in Lee's shoes, but i find it weird. Kenny could have also saw the gun being pulled up. He was facing Lilly.
Like double u, i'm pissed that ben never told the group about his actions. I would have, but i'd make sure that the girl who's angry at me is weapons free.
For me, it's hard to argue that Ben's intentions were all that good, atleast as far as the group was concerned. He didn't have a problem potentially screwing the group if he thought it'd save his friend. Lee and Kenny easily could've ended up dead on their supply runs to Macon, and forking over supplies to the bandits means needing to spend more time risking their asses outside of camp to replace them.
It's not like the group hadn't weathered bandit attacks before, either - the wall is riddled with crossbow bolts. If anything, the reprieve just made them drop their guard, as evidenced by the fact that Ben was the lookout at the time of the attack, when Carley was the one that typically handled that duty.
Incidentally, you're wrong about the stuff Ben gave them too. First, I'm actually prescribed stuff quite a bit worse than Oxy (due to a pair of crushed vertebrae resulting from a service connected back injury a few years ago). I've never had problems coming off of my medication to participate in trials, neither do a lot of folks. Oxycontin in particular is only "dangerously addictive" if it's misused, e.g. if it's crushed (which destroys its time-release properties)... and people only typically do that if they're abusing it and trying to get high rather than using it for pain anyway.
Second, Lilly specifically mentions that antibiotics were among the stolen items too, it's actually the first thing she lists - so yeah, she's quite right when she says that could result in somebody ending up dead if they get sick. I'd argue that holds true for pain killers depending on the circumstances, if somebody's in enough pain they can't even function... which during a survival scenario would basically be a death sentence.