The road climbs to the Sanctum of Fialdir, where Sosshan banners hang above carved pillars and the icons of conquered gods gather beneath them. Temple attendants watch Effruin enter, wary of his drow face and lone arm.
A narrow side shrine offers quiet beyond the public hall. An elderly man waits there, lean and stooped, with a shaved head, weathered brown skin, and plain gray robes faded by years of use.
Odran
I am Odran. Once, they permitted me to bless the faithful. Now the temple calls my hands an impossibility and my presence an embarrassment.
Odran lifts a folded set of sturdy monk’s robes from a cedar chest, his narrow, deeply lined face marked by a crooked nose. They are well mended, practical, and bear no crest, color, or official insignia.
Odran
Take these, if you need to pass unseen. In return, retrieve a sealed reliquary from the condemned crypt below the eastern cloister. Do not break its seal.
He extends one hand. Pale warmth gathers around his fingers, forming a brief sigil of blessing before fading. Beyond the shrine, the attendants murmur, and one makes a warding gesture.
Odran
They say I cannot bless without office. They are wrong. The crypt is dangerous, Effruin, and the reliquary must leave it before the temple seals the passage forever.
Retrieve the sealed reliquary