>>5427535>>5427449“I require no blessing,” you acknowledge. “Nor can I demand one. You, who could smite me with a touch… A thought… And who I owe a debt already… I yield to your unending and ever-ending might.”
“A poetic prayer,” Death notes. “I have heard it before. But you are not done, are you, mortal?”
“I ask for no boon, no respite,” you reaffirm, standing up even as you keep your gaze respectfully lowered. “But these caves… Know that they will be sanctified. In the name of the Dark Gods… Of Death Amoral and All-Consuming… And the elves of this place shall serve as a priesthood to the natural order of things which you rule as Maintainer Below!”
When Death says nothing for a time, you dare to look up… And you find a cloaked, elderly figure, with scaly skin sloughing off a curiously hybrid face, eyes hollow and dark, clad in black robes. No more fierce bone-horror, but simply… Age Incarnate, a gentler end.
“You know,” the Lord of Endings says, “I never understood your mother’s piety either. Why do you feeble and fleeting things worship gods at all? The dark elves seem to have the right idea, to me… And yet, when you feel this faith in us, your little sparks catch such a fire that even I hesitate to suffocate the flame.”
For a moment—a brief, shining moment—you think your faith will be rewarded with the boon you declines, a token gesture from this most-distant of dark deities. But no, his only gift is to turn, leaving you unblessed, but also not cursed; unharmed, alone.
“Good luck,” the Reaper of Life says, before you awaken from your torpor.
“It is time,” Ivno says, acknowledging your awakening.
“I wish you would bring me, Dragonborn,” Olu sighs, as you don your snug, Drow-crafted leather, chitin, and silk.
Karz just watches you curiously, making no comment on this expedition but plainly interested in your purpose, and your renewed posture of religious importance.
The Novice pointedly avoids you, huffing when she must acknowledge your presence; she does not wish you well, or ill, seeming to consider this entire enterprise another of your foolish flights of fancy.
(Flights which are usually quite fruitful, you both must logically acknowledge.)
The closest she gets to demonstrating any care is suggesting you take the Junior Novice, 'to get the blasted creature out from underfoot.'
Do you?
>Yes, the dragon-dogbold can serve as a hunting-hound>No, you don't want him under YOUR foot either>You actually want to bring someone else... [who?] 