I'm presently struggling with the whole Rayic Gethras/Edwin scenario here.
I'm not playing a paladin in my current game, but I do have questions regarding how the choices you are given will affect your virtue, especially in the case of a paladin.
Even if you take the option to resort to less horrific means than "murder and torture" when speaking to Edwin, when you go to confront Gethras in his home, he basically asks you to deceive Edwin by returning the signet ring and pretending that he is dead.
This is where I find a problem. A paladin cannot -- or rather, SHOULD not -- lie, or agree to any form of deception, even if it is to circumvent an evil act such as murder. Surely there can be additional diallogues such as "I will need your signet ring, but I cannot promise anything," or something to that effect? As I see it currently, either option ends with a virtue hit, because both options (killing Gethras or lying to Edwin) are evil as far as a paladin's code of honor goes. I could be wrong, of course, but...it was worth asking.
Perhaps the easier solution would be to prevent Edwin from going hostile if you outright decline to perform this task? An alternative task, maybe?