The heavy stone doors of the Temple of the Infinite Paths groan shut, sealing the city’s cacophony outside. Arion stands in the center of the hall, his host’s body shivering as teal sparks lash out from the sheathed sword. From the deep gloom behind the altar, a tall, robed figure steps forward. His eyes burn with golden light, fixing Arion with a gaze that feels like a physical weight.
High Priest Valerius
A parasite wrapped in stolen skin, carrying a vessel of ancient rot. You are far from the void you so carelessly tore open, little phantom.
Arion Touvengard
This one smells of the stars and old divinity. He does not fear the blade. He hungers for it.
Arion Touvengard
I am no parasite. I am the wall that holds back the dark. Step aside, priest, or watch your sanctuary become a tomb.
High Priest Valerius
Your arrogance echoes through the ages, Arion. The Council of Eight has been waiting for your sword to return home, but not to save this world. To be consumed by it.
Quest Complete
Get purified at a temple
New Gift: Hard-Won Insight
+ Scene Quest Added
Survive the High Priest's confrontation
“"The fact that your eyes see me as one of the void tells me thrre is more darkness clinging to my form" Arion turns to the high priest, "Are your sure your act of purification was successful?"”
SUCCESS (Legendary Willpower, rolled +2)
Arion Touvengard
The fact that your eyes see me as one of the void tells me there is more darkness clinging to my form than you care to admit.
The host pivots with a sudden, fluid grace, his teal-eyed gaze narrowing at the High Priest. The violet energy within the blade flares, turning the surrounding shadows into sharp, jagged silhouettes.
Arion Touvengard
Are you sure your act of purification was successful, Valerius? Or are you merely trying to convince yourself that the rot you smell isn't radiating from your own altar?
Arion Touvengard
He is hiding something. The golden light in his eyes flickers like a dying candle. He expects me to strike out in fear, not to peel back his own deception.
High Priest Valerius
Your tongue is as sharp as the steel you are bound to, creature. But a mirror reflects only what stands before it. If you see darkness in my temple, you see only the reflection of your own wretched existence.
Valerius raises a hand, and the air around the altar begins to hum with an oppressive, discordant frequency.
“Arion looks around the room attempting to find any lurking interlopers.”
SUCCESS (Mediocre Perception, rolled +2)
Arion Touvengard
The static in the air tastes like ozone and stale incense. Valerius is arrogant, but he is also jittery. He isn't acting alone.
Arion’s gaze darts past the priest, his vision piercing the oppressive hum that thickens the air. Behind the heavy velvet tapestries flanking the altar, the unnatural stillness of the temple is betrayed by the rhythmic, shallow breath of someone hiding in the shadows.
Arion Touvengard
You rely on ghosts to fight your battles, Valerius. Tell me, do your hidden guests share your certainty that I am the one meant to be sacrificed today?
Arion Touvengard
There. A glint of polished metal behind the pillar. An assassin, waiting for the signal to strike while the priest holds my focus.
High Priest Valerius
Your perception is a curse, not a virtue. It only serves to make your inevitable end more agonizing.
With a sharp flick of Valerius’s wrist, the violet energy surrounding the altar lashes out like a whip, forcing Arion to brace himself against the encroaching tide of magic.
“"What foul promises did you recieve from beyond to turn away from the infinite path Valerious? You were once a devout priest, now I find you civerting with the very shadows your swore to defeat."”
SUCCESS (Legendary Willpower, rolled +2)
Arion Touvengard
What foul promises did you receive from beyond to turn away from the infinite path, Valerius? You were once a devout priest, now I find you cavorting with the very shadows you swore to defeat.
The accusation cuts deeper than steel. Valerius staggers, the violet whip of magic flickering and thinning as his concentration wavers. The temple floor trembles, the spiderweb cracks across the altar glowing with a sickly, reactive light.
Arion Touvengard
He is shaken. The weight of his own betrayal is a blade I can turn against him. I need to keep him off balance before the hidden assassin finds their mark.
High Priest Valerius
You know nothing of the void! The path you guarded was a prison! We chose survival, Arion! We chose to stop the shattering, even if it meant becoming the shards ourselves!
The priest thrusts his hand forward, his face twisted in a mask of manic desperation. The violet energy flares, not at Arion, but inward, ripping the fabric of the altar apart to release a concentrated, blinding beam of eldritch force.
“Forcing forth magic and directing into valerious, Ariond pushes out the dark energy whitin the priest searing away the corrupt energy with the power forged to keep the darkness at bay. "Valerious, I came here fke purification, but it seems it wasnt I who was in need of it but you yourself, use this brief respit to seize the light and cleanse yourself of the dark entity you foolishly let control you."”
SUCCESS (Superb Arcana, rolled +0)
Arion Touvengard
You mistake a cage for a shield, Priest. You reach for the void, yet you are the one who is hollow.
Arion slams his palm into the air between them. Teal light erupts from the blade in his grip, lashing out like a cleansing tide. The eldritch violet beam shatters into harmless embers upon contact with Arion's aura. The energy surges forward, surging into Valerius like a sudden gale of purifying wind.
Arion Touvengard
The dark rot inside him... it is fragile. I can feel the tether he has to that outer entity burning away.
High Priest Valerius
No! It promised... it promised me everything!
Valerius screams as the violet veins beneath his skin turn incandescent white, then vanish. He falls to his knees, his hands clawing at his chest as the stolen power leaves him, leaving his eyes wide and vacant. The assassin behind the tapestry freezes, the blade trembling in a gloved grip, caught between retreat and murder.
Quest Complete
Survive the High Priest's confrontation