Three weeks have passed since the Whispering Crags. In a damp grove near Rhineford, Surazal stands before the kneeling Paladin, while dead leaves cling to black mud and old incense hangs in the air.
His staff taps once against the earth. The grimoire opens, and a thin ring of ash and violet frost crawls around the Paladin's boots.
The Paladin
His light feels wrong... yet it answers my shame.
Surazal threads necrotic power through the circle, not to kill, but to prise open the man's fear and bind it into shape.
The Paladin
If this is corruption, then end it quickly. If it is truth, I want to hear it.
Surazal
Take the power. Kneel to it, and serve me as death serves the grave.
The grove shivers. Dark residue gathers at the Paladin's breastplate seams, and his holy glow gutters instead of flaring.
The Voice
Yes. That wound can be made into a door.
✓ Quest Accepted
Turn the Paladin into a servant of death
“"you said you realize their wrongdoings then accept this power and help me fix it many are dead and unable to come back but if we work together we may be able to change everything"”
SUCCESS (Legendary Persuasion, rolled -2)
Surazal
You see what they have done. Take this power, kneel to it, and stand with me. We cannot bring the dead back, but together we can still change what remains.
The Paladin
Change... after all this blood, after the lies, can there still be a path that is not slaughter?
The ash ring tightens in a pale shiver. The Paladin lowers his chin, and the dark residue on his breastplate spreads in thin, branching lines.
The Voice
He understands the shape of his wound. Press it, and it opens.
The Paladin
Then teach me. If this is death, I will not let the Order choose its face for me.
Surazal feeds a careful thread of necrotic force through the circle. The Paladin exhales, and the holy glow at his throat gutters into a cold, dark pulse. The cost lands at once, a fine crack of blood at his lower lip, and the incense in the grove stings harsher in the wet air.
The Paladin
I am listening, Surazal. Tell me what to do with the shame they left me.
Quest Complete
Turn the Paladin into a servant of death