Chapter 1: The Niliphy supreme church of Lathander

The young girl slowly shuffled between the crowded street, gingerly passing through the congested market square. Her face was youthful and radiated a sense of purity and innocence - she was not older than 20, further amplified by the pristine white priestly robe and the golden pastoral staff she was holding. She was Roselie Tressel, an adventurer cleric and a devout worshiper of the goddess of birth and renewal Lathander.

She was currently traveling alone in the largest city of the empire - the capital city Niliphy of the Niliphian empire - and she knew exactly where she was heading. Deep in the pocket of her tunic was a well kept envelope made of expensive scented paper. An invitation letter from the supreme church of Lathander in Niliphy. 

Passing through multiple large buildings built of marble and glass, Roselie found herself standing before a large stone staircase leading up to a gigantic building. The little cleric girl was taken aback, no matter how many times she saw the supreme church. 

The grandiosity of it somehow made her unable to breathe for a moment.

There were multiple grand white stone pillars erected from the ground to the ceiling, supporting a massive dome made of weathered copper. On top of the dome raised a tall metal pole with a golden construction depicting the holy symbol of goddess Lathander - a road traveling into a sunrise. Behind the main dome was two smaller domes with similar design, the only difference was there were two stone angel statues spreading their wings and bowing their heads to the holy symbol. 

The supreme church was a sight to behold, and not any ordinary citizen or unaffiliated individual could gain access to the building. The building was the headquarters for any and all servants of Lathander - those who were directly serving and protecting the Cycle. It was a place of training, researching and religious communication. In other words, this church was the closest physical location to the goddess of birth and renewal one could ever get.

Roselie Tressel climbed the stairs and approached the giant imposing pair of stone doors and took out her envelope. She showed the wax seal of the envelope to the guarding squires, paladin-to-be, as Roselie would call them, and the squires nodded to her before one turned a metal wheel next to the door. The intricate mechanism used to open and close the door was designed with multiple long chains and pulleys, hidden inside the stonework of the church. Roselie walked into the church, nodded hello to nuns and clerics on her way in, trying her best not to let out her excitement and anxiety. The air inside the church was refreshingly cool, scented with a mixture of smell, consisting of wax candles, burning herbs and incense. Above the large and tall ceiling was a large painting, depicting the Grand War of the Gods in the Fatal Era hundreds of thousands of years ago. Multiple brass grand chandeliers emitted a holy glow onto the painting and the church below. The cleric girl approached the far end of the room, where multiple individuals of importance were locked in a heated discussion under a large marble statue depicting the goddess Lathander. 

Roselie saw 4 familiar faces among the 5 people there, 3 were adventuring clerics similar to her and the head bishop of the supreme church. The unfamiliar face belonged to a dwarf with a long gray beard, donning a silver armor with purple silk pieces decorated with a symbol of an upright flaming sword - the holy symbol of Tempus - the god of war. He, or she (Roselie didn't know what gender the dwarf was at the moment, as all dwarven individuals had beards) was the one who noticed Roselie approaching first and loudly announced "Finally, there she is, Bishop."

Eh? Roselie jolted and halted her advance. Do they mean… me?

The Bishop looked at Roselie with a proud gaze and presented her with a gentle smile. He fixed his black robe and motioned for the clerics and the dwarf to step aside and beckoned Roselie forth.

Roselie cautiously approached him. 

With another gentle smile, the Bishop opened:

"Roselie, my child. We have heard of your good deeds from the Serepike guild. You have been busy these days, haven't you?"

"Oh… yes, Bishop!" The cleric girl nodded, her cheeks slightly flushed from the recognition.

"And you were the first among your generation of clerics who were promoted to the rank of Silver, thanks to your hard work. I would like to represent the church to congratulate you, child."

"Yes! Thank you Bishop, I'm still not worthy of your praise!" Roselie blushed and lowered her head

"Oh, now! Don't be like that. Lady Lathander would be glad if you accepted your well-deserved recognition as a devoted servant of the Cycle." The Bishop smiled and made a small wave gesture  "Well, that's enough dilly-dally, let us get to our main agenda today, Roselie Tressel, the adventurer cleric."

"Your reward for reaching the rank of Silver and successfully carrying out the order of the supreme church will be a promotion." 

Roselie's eyes opened wide - she didn't know there was a reward. And a promotion, no less. This was a grand reward not any cleric could get easily. For a second, she wondered if she was too young for the rank, but she reassured herself that the church's decision was final and had greater goals than she could ever hope to understand. All for the purpose of the Cycle.

"You will now serve Lady Lathander as an ArchDeacon, Roselie Tressel. Please step forward into her holy light."

Archdeacon. The fifth most powerful rank in the hierarchy of the churches in the world.

Archdeacons were allowed to freely operate their orders away from the supreme church, some would continue to spread the teaching of their goddess to faraway lands, some would settle down at a frontier town and found a new church there for fellow worshipers to experience the love of their goddess in unknown lands. Headmaster Roath of the Lathander church in Serepike was an example that Roselie could remember on the top of her head.

Roselie took three steps forward and bathed herself in the natural sunlight that came through the holy symbol of Lathander above the statue and kneeled down. On the floor, an intricate ritual circle was drawn on with chalk, depicting life and death, of the Sea of Souls and of the servants of the Warden. The Bishop retrieved a beautifully crafted staff, made of silver and gold from the clerics. The staff had the holy symbol of Lathander on top, alongside with a sharpened blade making an effective spear if need be. There were 3 golden rings hung on the holy symbol that created a pure ringing sound every time the staff was moved. He uncorked a bottle of holy water and poured half on the staff and the other half onto Roselie's clasped hands.

"Lady Lathander, Warden of the Cycle, Observer of Life and Death, Protector of souls, please bear witness of your child, who gave her all to you and the Cycle. Please grant unto her your power, grant her strength and guide her on the right path to fulfill the order of the Cycle…"

The Bishop held the staff straight and raised it above his head while slowly walking around the kneeling and praying Roselie. He chanted a long prayer to his goddess and finally stopped and gazed unto Roselie's.

"Raise, child. Raise and open your eyes. Open your hands to receive the blessing from Lady Lathander."

Roselie followed the order and was given the intricately made staff to hold. It was heavy, and the metal was icy cold. But it felt right. It felt perfect in her hands. It was neither too heavy nor too long, as if it was made for her and her only. The three golden rings made a loud sound when she held the staff straight as the Bishop smiled.

"Congratulations, child. You are now an ArchDeacon. How are you feeling?"

"I… I'm… very thankful for the opportunity to serve Lady Lathander even more. I will keep up my faith and my servitude and bring her teaching and blessing to those who need it."

"Good. Take care of the staff, will you? You can leave your old staff behind for an apprentice."

"Yes, I will do that!"

Roselie smiled without reserve. A cold sweat rolled down her slender back as she held the staff close to her body. As she thought about approaching her fellow clerics to say hello, the Bishop continued.

"Roselie, the church has an urgent task for you, if you will?"

"Oh… Yes, of course Bishop!" 

The Bishop gazed over at the dwarf, who was patiently leaning against one of the stone pillars observing Roslie's promotion ritual. "Tob?"

"Yes, yes." The dwarf said, now Roselie could ascertain the dwarf as a male thanks to his deeper and rougher voice "Hey Lathander worshiping lass, come 'ere, will you?"

"Now. I woulda say a word of congrats to you, but we don't 'ave much time. My name is Tob of the Firebarrel family, and I am a paladin of Lord Tempus. Nice to meetcha, Roselie lass."

Roselie shook the large hand of Tob and nodded "Yes, sir Tob. It seems that you have a mission for me?"

"I was 'oping you could join me for an investigation, Roselie lass. Undead, mainly."

Roselie nodded for Tob to continue. Tob brushed his fingers through his beard and slightly closed his eyes, as if attempting to remember something.

"Listen 'ere, lass. About two weeks ago, many settlements around the Kummel Marora canyon were attacked by 'ordes of undead, many of them showing signs of carrying out specific yet unknown orders. The Tempus church in the region sent out two slayer groups to take care of the issue around the mining towns, and they did. Yet, the undead continued to raze the land, and it seemed that there was a leader among them. My brother-in-arms Krogen reported that there was an undead of sorts wearing a vestment with the holy symbol of Lathander and carrying a staff with the same symbol."

"What?..." Roselie frowned. An undead wearing and carrying the holy symbol of Lady Lathander? Roselie had never heard of such a story before. Most undead would stay as far away from any holy symbol as they could, especially the holy symbol of Lathander - the Warden of the Cycle, which the undead were directly opposing. 

Without a cleric to channel divinity to the symbol, the undead would not be turned or destroyed - that Roselie understood, but the holy symbol was also divine in nature and would irritate any undead willingly touching it. "Is this true? Or did a cleric fell in battle and was raised as an undead, so the equipment stayed on?"

"That… is surprisingly reasonable… oi lass, you got a point there. But we still don't have much information, so I was sent over 'ere to ask for a representative to help me investigate. What do you say, lass?"

"I… um…" She looked over to the Bishop, who was listening in to their discussion. He nodded and whispered "Believe in yourself, child. Lathander be with you." before leaving.

"Currently, my party is not with me. But if you have enough manpower, I believe I could help out."

"Fantastic, lass! Alright, get your belongings ready, we are leaving on horse wagon in an hour. The more time we spent not slaying these undead, the more innocents 'armed."

Roselie looked after the dwarf in armor leaving the church as she frowned again. She was happy that she got promoted to the rank of ArchDeacon in the church, yet she could not help but felt worried for the task ahead. 

It was clear that whatever donning the holy symbol of Lathander was related to the undead incident, and that could only spell problems. 

But her adventurer instinct kicked in and she listed out consumables and items that she needed.

What would Elluin prepare for this adventure I wonder… She would bring arrows, plenty of arrows, and maybe traps to slow down the undead.

Charlie? He's smart, so he would prepare something creative. And some good food.

Harrison? He wouldn't need much except potions and sword oil.

She replenished her items at the church's provisional chest as she took 5 bottles of holy water, three spare rosaries and two bottles of concentrated alcohol. The holy water as well as the rosary were necessary for thwarting undead and evil creatures alike, but the alcohol was purely chosen from Roselie's experience. 

She had learned from Charlie the ranger that with an alcohol bottle, she could craft a makeshift fire bomb, and undead were weak to fire damage. She stocked up on some rations and drinks and quickly wrote a letter to let her party know that she would be traveling to Krummel Marora for a personal quest so that they could find her later if something were to happen. 

She handed the letter to the guild before traveling with Tob the paladin on a wagon out of the capital city Niliphy. It was not ironic, but unfortunate to say the least, that when Roselie finally got to the capital city, she had to leave it soon later.