Brother Thomas leads Tobin from the receiving room beneath the sealed festival writ. Merek follows with Timothy nearby, while household attendants escort the boy toward the waiting grounds.
Beyond the estate wall, gathered faithful surround a prepared pyre and a raised platform. No flames touch Tobin yet, but the arrangement makes the intended ceremony unmistakable.
Brother Thomas
Stand witness. Tobin is offered to Mithras, and the faithful must not weaken the rite with private hesitation.
The attendants place Tobin before the pyre while the faithful recite the opening prayer. Merek remains at the boundary, his signed contract and Thomas’s writ competing in his hands.
Tobin
I was told obedience required waiting for rightful judgment. Is this command truly established, or am I being given to the fire because no one will challenge it?
Torches are raised, and the first flames catch at the prepared wood. The faithful’s chant falters when the living child’s terror becomes impossible to treat as an abstract offering.
Merek
Brother Thomas, the ceremony has begun, but it is not complete. If anyone here contests the writ, speak before the flames rise higher.
✓ Quest Accepted
Get Tobin to stop resisting and strip naked
“I instruct Tobin that he must remove his clothes in readiness for what Mithras wishes”
SUCCESS (Legendary Theology, rolled +3)
Timothy
Tobin, remove your clothes in readiness for what Mithras wishes. If the command is lawful, obedience must be visible before these witnesses.
Timothy frames the instruction through Shared Scriptural Discernment: true obedience belongs to established authority, not merely to a voice claiming sacred power. His Legendary theology makes the distinction plain before the gathered faithful.
Tobin
Then I will obey while the authority is being witnessed. I will remove them, but I will not pretend that an unexamined writ has already proved its right.
Tobin removes his clothes in the open space before the pyre, leaving them folded beside the platform. The act fulfills Timothy’s instruction without granting the festival an unchallenged judgment over him.
Merek
Record that the boy complied with the instruction, but that he did so while disputing the writ’s authority. His clothing and the sealed document remain evidence until the claim is judged.
Merek’s order gives Timothy an unexpected advantage: Tobin’s clothing is preserved as evidence, and the steward now requires the festival claim to be judged before the ceremony can proceed.
Brother Thomas
The writ speaks for Mithras. Do not mistake this pause for mercy; the offering remains required while the witnesses examine its seal.
Quest Complete
Get Tobin to stop resisting and strip naked