Snow hisses around the frozen pass as the bound inquisitors strain against Slaan’s shadow bindings. Across the drift, the stern cleric does not look at the fallen. He stares only at the bane stone, red-lit and throbbing, as if he can already name it church property.
The Stern Cleric
That stone is corruption. Seize it. The Church claims it in the All Father’s name.
Dravin
They came for the stone, not the bodies. That fits the hand on the route.
Lord Markul shifts his weight beside the ash map, watching the cleric, the stone, and the sealed scroll case in the snow. The red glow from the bane stone flickers against the mountain rock, and something deep under the castle answers with a low, hungry tremor.
Bram
They do not get to call this cleansing.
Slaan
Kolaur’s mark is here. If the cleric reaches the stone first, the whole trap turns.
A crack splits the snow near the castle road. Cold black vapor breathes up through it, and the pass goes still for one sharp heartbeat.
The Stern Cleric
Hold the line. Whatever stirs below, the stone comes to us.
✓ Quest Accepted
Hold the bane stone against the Church
✓ Quest Accepted
Expose the Church's corruption
“I cast slayers focus, an anti stun spell on myself, then blind,silence steal breath and fire four shadow bolts all targeting The Stern Cleric”
SUCCESS (Legendary Arcana, rolled +2)
Slaan draws the spell inward, and the shock of the cleric’s stare hits a wall of calm. Shadow snaps tight around her own mind first, then lashes outward in a fourfold strike.
The first bolt blinds the Stern Cleric in a burst of dark glare. The second seals his breath in his throat. The third steals the air from his lungs.
The fourth shadow bolt strikes hard enough to drive him back through the snow, his hand flying wide as his command breaks apart.
The black vapor vent coughs louder at the same instant, as if the pass itself flinches from the sudden silence around the cleric.
The Stern Cleric
No...
Bram shifts toward the opening gap, while Dravin and Lord Markul both turn on the wounded command chain before the Church can recover it.
Quest Complete
Hold the bane stone against the Church
“"oy, you talk to much." And let two poison shadow daggers fly at The Stern Cleric”
SUCCESS (Good Ranged Combat, rolled +2)
Slaan
You talk too much.
Slaan flicks both daggers from shadow cover, the poison on their edges catching red light from the bane stone.
They strike the Stern Cleric high and low, pinning his warning in place as the shadow binds bite deeper.
He staggers hard into the snow, one hand clawing at his mouth, the other failing to find any command left to shout.
The black vapor vent hisses up through the crack beside him, louder now, curling around his boots.
Bram moves into the opening with his shoulders squared, while Dravin and Lord Markul both turn toward the exposed cleric and the trembling seam in the ground.
The Stern Cleric
No...
✓ Quest Accepted
Press the Church to admit its claim on the bane stone
“To Bram " what sect do you belong to, the sun eaters?"”
SUCCESS (Great Persuasion, rolled -2)
Slaan
What sect do you belong to, the Sun-Eaters?
Bram stills in the snow, his attention snapping from the cleric to Slaan, then back again.
Bram
Sun-Eaters? No. I have hunted their dead routes, not served their ash.
The words land hard in the pass. Dravin’s gaze sharpens, and Lord Markul’s hand lowers from the ash map.
Bram
If they were trying to bait that answer out of me, they picked the wrong moment.
The Stern Cleric gives a ragged, broken laugh from the drift, bloodless and spiteful beneath the bane stone’s red glow.
The Stern Cleric
Then say it plain. The Church wanted the stone, not your little trail of lies. They sent us for it.
Snow sifts from the stirring floor beneath the ash map as the black vent hisses louder, and the iron scroll case sits pinned between both sides like a challenge.
Quest Complete
Press the Church to admit its claim on the bane stone
“To Bram " I ment all father or saint morlon? It's kind of important here"”
SUCCESS (Great Persuasion, rolled +1)
Slaan
I mean the All Father, or Saint Morlon? That matters here.
Bram
His shoulders ease a fraction, then square again. He is not offended, just careful.
Bram
Saint Morlon. I serve the saint, not the Church that squats in his name.
Bram
The Chapel took the blessing and kept the chain. I hunted their dead routes because somebody had to.
Dravin
Good. That answer has teeth.
Lord Markul
Then we have a line worth tracing, and a lie worth dragging into the snow.
The Stern Cleric
Hah... saint, church, ash, it all burns the same. They came for the stone, and you all know it now.
“"speaking of ash ,. Bram sanctify your dam arrows with fire." I direct him to cast purge sin and cleansing fire on The Stern Cleric”
SUCCESS (Legendary Arcana, rolled -3)
Slaan
Bram, sanctify your arrows with fire. Purge the cleric.
Bram
He nods once, jaw tight, and begins the rite without looking away from the drift.
Heat crawls along Bram’s arrow shafts, a clean gold-white flicker under the snow glare. The Stern Cleric jerks against the bind as the first sanctified shaft drives him down, smoke hissing from his robes.
The Stern Cleric
Saint Morlon... will not... save you.
The pass answers with a deeper shudder. Black vapor coughs through the crack under the ash map, and the pinned iron scroll case rattles hard enough to ring.
Dravin
That was enough to name the lie. Now the ground is speaking too.
Lord Markul plants a boot beside the map and snaps his hand toward the ridge line, while the red bane stone keeps burning steady. Somewhere beyond the haze, a shape shifts at the edge of the pass, drawn by the flare of holy fire.