Ashes of the Faithful

Your vision fades as the final blow rips aprt the ghostly image of the former Champion of Sarenrae

  The sounds of the chapel — drains away until you hear nothing but the faint ringing of your own heartbeat. The air grows cold, and then colder still, until your breath crystallizes into shards of frost.
A faint, sorrowful voice echoes in the darkness: “Justinia… forgive me…” The weight of grief drags you down making your limbs feel heavy and sluggish, pulling your spirit from your body. Your feet find phantom stone beneath you as the world reforms aroun you, but this time you are all alone.   You now stand in a warped, dreamlike Numerian countryside, almost identical to the illusion you previouly experiened, the colors muted and wrong, as if drained by sorrow. Ahead, a small farmstead burns, its flames unnaturally still, frozen in time.

As you slowly gain control of your faculities you notice shapes move within the flames, raiders made of shadow and smoke, their features blurred and eyeless. At the edge of the field, a young woman screams silently, you remeber that her name is Justinia and it feels like you have known her all your life. She reached for you as she’s dragged into the blaze.



Skill Challenge

You feel Aldronard’s desperate guilt bleed into your soul. You can attempt to “interfere” with the memory, but this isn’t real — success soothes the haunt, while failure intensifies it.   Goal: Reconnect Aldronard’s spirit with reality. Alternatively trying to find out what's true.   One success/failure   Potentially skills to use, each will provide slightly different information and follow-up.   Religion (DC 27): Invoke Sarenrae’s mercy to remind him this is only a memory.   Diplomacy (DC 27): Speak to Aldronard within the vision, urging him to let go of guilt.   Perception (DC 25): Spot Justinia in the fire, and potentially find some of her memories from the "real" incident.    

Sama I think can identify with the feelings of guilt and remorse over the past, and so he will plead with Aldronard, to understand that the past cannot be changed but the future can, and to honour the memory of love means to make the future better and brighter for all.

Diplomacy roll : 21 then Sama used a benny, for a roll of 27     The embers of the burning farm collapse inward like ash in the wind. You stand now in a cold chamber of stone, remenisant of the temple you encountered the spirit in in the real world, a single shaft of gray light falling across a table. On it rests a sealed letter, the parchment dark with age. Beside it, a goblet of wine spilled on the floor, staining the stones like dried blood.   The spectral spirit of Aldronard appears infront of you, his armor loosened, his hair disheveled, staring at the letter with trembling hands. His face is hollow and pale, broken not by battle, but by the weight of words.   As you watch, the letter unseals itself, words forming in flame across the air:   “She is dead. You were not there to save her. You abandoned her for your holy war. Her blood is on your hands.”   The face of the spirit contorts in pain, clutching at his chest. His voice is a hoarse whisper:   “If I had been there… she might still live…”         Religion (DC 25 (27)): Call out the letter as a poisoned lie, unworthy of truth in Sarenrae’s light.   Society (DC 23 (25)): Recognize the letter’s bitterness as a father’s grief, not objective truth, and explain it. Occultism (DC 25 (27)): Expose the letter as a metaphysical echo caused by his grief a haunt given false weight by his torment.
(All the difficulties have been lowered by 2 due to the great reasoning in the first part)  

Aldronard, all choices have consequnces this is an unavoidable gift given to us mortals by the gods in exchange for our souls. Your goddess loves you as she loved Justinia, but she requires an honourable man to take up arms in defense of the good of all in her care, the needs of the many outweigh the desires of the one. You did the right thing despite the cost and sacrifice it asked of you.

Religion roll of 20   The words burn hotter, branding themselves into Aldronard’s flesh. He screams, and the chamber shakes violently.   (You take 5d6 mental damage and become frightened 1)     The letter bursts into cinders, and the floor splits beneath you. You’re standing now atop the highest tower of the fort, clouds boiling black around you. Below, the battlefield stretches endlessly — soldiers march towards the Worldwound in a tide of shadow, their cries a dirge.   At the tower’s edge stands Aldronard, his armour shattered, his will broken, the letter clutched in his hand. His face is a mask of despair.   He turns to you, voice breaking:   “There’s nothing left for me. No god. No love. There's no reason. Only the fall.” He steps toward the edge, The Abyss yawning below.     Diplomacy (DC 29): Appeal to his love for Justinia — her memory needs him to endure, not throw himself away.   Religion (DC 27): Invoke Sarenrae’s teaching of second chances, urging him toward redemption.
Intimidation (DC 28): Command him as a knight — his oath binds him still, and he can not forsake it. Athletics (DC 27): Physically grab his arm, holding him back from the edge.
 

Aldronard, this is why we fight, why we struggle. We serve the gods to save the world for the people and places we love. Without our victory there will be no people and no place to stand, no love to be had, no hope. The goddess awaits to raise you up and reunite you with your love, do not fall into despair, but give in to mercy!

Diplomacy (big fingers crossed here!)   29! Wooooo!!!!   The Abyss below shrink to nothing. The broken tower dissolves into sunlight. Aldronard drops the letter, his knees buckling. He whispers, for the first time with clarity:   “Perhaps… I can still be saved…” His form flickers, but instead of vanishing in rage, it steadies into something fragile, a ghost no longer fully chained and fueled by despair.     You arrive back in the Chapel. it's like no time has passed.   (More successes = Aldronard grows weaker and more redeemable. More failures = Aldronard grows angrier and harder to banish.)