Eshiel the Paladin

A character I played many years ago in a D&D campaign, Eshiel was a paladin. Two examples from his brief but glorious career:

The party was traveling through uninhabited lands, when we heard the cries of a woman in distress.
Uninhabited lands, note. We all knew it was a lamia or similar monster, something which would use false distress cries to lure travelers to their doom.So the party planned to bypass this and keep moving on...except Eshiel.

Eshiel: "I'm going to go investigate."
Party: "It's obviously a trap!"
Eshiel: "Yes, of course. Well, it could be a legitimate cry for help, in which case I ought to respond. Or it could be something evil which preys on travelers. In which case, I ought to respond."
Party: "...But we want to avoid it, not fight it!"
Eshiel: "I said I am going. I'm not trying to make anyone else come with me."
Party: "But if you go alone, you'll get killed."
Eshiel: "So? That's my god's problem, not mine."

The rest of the party, somewhat in a daze, found themselves following Eshiel to investigate. And of course it was a trap, but we wiped out the monsters handily.


Later on, we found ourselves facing a monster who could shoot magic missiles every turn and was tearing the party up. Eshiel was badly wounded but still on his feet. The elf was down and close to death. The monster launched another magic missile to finish the elf. Magic missiles are guaranteed to hit, which meant the elf was doomed--except Eshiel stepped in front of the elf and cast his last healing spell to keep the elf from dying, and took the magic missile hit himself. And died from it. But the elf insisted the party carry Eshiel's body back to civilization, and established a shrine in his honor.