Orlen is the apprentice to a scribe in the city Oberius and is visiting the town of his birth so that his master Innis can complete a deal for a package of texts that need to be copied. Innis, having left the boy to fend for himself, told him the name of another scribe in town that was in need of an assistant for the day. Orlen takes fifteen coppers so that he can pay for a meal and a place to stay after his day's work, but is assaulted by three apprentices to the local blacksmith. Losing his coins, he is beset by guards and attempts to get arrested to at least sleep in the jail.
Instead, the guards decide to dump him into the section of town overrun by the undead seven years ago. In the dim light of the evening, he finds an abandoned cathedral. When he finally thinks he can settle down in peace, the blacksmith boy show up again, the guards having let them through to both "teach him a lesson" and retrieve him before he dies; the boys are attacked by the resident ulgathri, an undead maggot-like hulk that crawls on human ribs and makes more dead.
Orlen escapes below the church, a Temple of the Sun, and finds a chamber where a half-completed demon summoning has taken place and lain fallow for seven years. As undead come from above and below and the ulgathri comes searching for him, he finishes the incantation; the blood he spilled on the floor and the human waste he accrued being beaten in the gutters serving as the last pieces of required materials to bring the demon into the world. It drives off the hungry dead and the monster, and Orlen faints.
He awakens to the demon, who introduces itself as Alarieth, The Emerald Dusk at the Blood-Soaked Gate, The Vulture of Souls, and The Devourer of Flayed Hopes. It explains that he is its master now. Feeling confident, he asks the bird-like pile of biomechanics and unearthly mannerisms if it could look more human; it responds by taking the form of a priestess in a tapestry, albeit imperfect and obviously non-human. It asks to be fed, and requests human innards.
Having none, Orlen remembers that demons feed on holy relics, much like they did during the first incursion of demons a thousand years ago. Seeking out the reliquary, he finds the hand of the pictured priestess, Shirya, who rebuked the lich-king Lerimas, a worn broadsword, and a purple robe. The demon devours the hand, taking on a much more human appearance, that of Shirya, albeit with hair and eyes of a metallic gold color. He names her Dusk, shortening her longer name and avoiding using her first name, which might be easily recognized by the followers of lore. Taking the sword and robe, Orlen reunites with his master, who is taken aback by the demon.
Once out of town, he beats Orlen for summoning the demon. Dusk, on the other hand runs Innis through before cutting into his ribs. Orlen orders her to stop, even though she's already killed him, and orders her never to kill again unless he orders her to. She agrees, and he goes to sleep.
Upon awakening, Orlen decides he can't go back to Oberius, and instead sets out for Trovogia, the central city, in order to seek out its library. The pair travel through the forest to a small hamlet, where they sell what remains of Innis' things. They are warned not to pass through the mountains, for a demonic sorcerer dwells in one of the old keeps up there.
They need to pass through anyway, and they encounter an old man retrieving water from a stream who introduces himself and Tharin. They talk for awhile, and he traps Dusk inside a circle meant to protect against fiends before spiriting Orlen away. Dusk simply waits several hours for the spell to fade, and draws her sword. Tharin takes Orlen to his tower, a crumbling castle on a cliff side facing the valley where Trovogia waits.
He tells Orlen that people only summon demons for power, and until he finds out what sort of power the demon gave him, he will not let him go. He wants whatever power he got from the keeper of the Blood-Soaked Gate, and is willing to torture him to get it. Dusk tracks down the old wizard, coming upon his citadel, and cajoles the imp she finds into showing her where in the ruined keep he has Orlen.
Upon finding him, the wizard rebukes her almost instantly again, but she tightens her grip on the sword, hissing about being summoned to protect him. She wonders openly what kind of world this is if a boy summons a demon just to get a good night's sleep, and proclaims her intent to slay anyone who hurts the master. She attacks and breaks the legs the wizard, asking Orlen if she can kill this man. He nods, and she does, the imp cheering her on. When the wizard asks the imp why he helped her, he states that he was summoned to give him power, not keep him alive. The imp vanishes, along with Tharin's soul. Orlen orders Dusk to start calling him by his name and not "Master."
The pair arrive in Trovogia, and they set up an inn room. The keeper warns them about a killer stalking the streets at night, and they agree to be careful. Upon visiting the market, and purchasing actual clothing for Dusk, Orlen is targeted by a pickpocket, but Dusk fails to catch the thief in time. She vows to return the money to him by any means necessary. That night, as Orlen sleeps, Dusk runs into the dark city.
After tracking the thief for some time, she encounters a man who calls himself Myosir, son of Arun, and a paladin of the Fist of Valor. He attacks her, and she asks him why he is wasting his time with her, and he replies that a demon must be behind the murders. She rightly claims to know nothing about them; she's after a pickpocket who stole something from her summoner. He laughs, but their battle is cut short by a scream.
He rushes off, and Dusk uses the opportunity to escape. In the morning, the pair go out again, this time heading to the library. Upon discovering Orlen needs identification papers to enter, he heads for the city hall to go about getting them. Once there, he fills out all the proper forms before discovering the thief had taken all of his money. He sighs and heads back to the inn. Along the way, the pair see Myosir and another young man, and he expresses surprise that Dusk's master is a small boy. He chides the boy for trafficking with fiends, but he rebukes the paladin by telling him to leave Dusk alone. Too surprised to fight back, he keeps walking, dragging his squire along with him
That night, Dusk leaves again, encountering the paladin once more. She shows annoyance, and explains that since they discovered that the thief had taken all their money, it's paramount they find the thief before the third day at the inn is up. He tells her about another murder, and that he's not alone this time. He introduces her to Theodis, and the three have a short battle before another scream is heard from the direction of the inn.
Panicked, Dusk runs back to the inn, only to find Orlen being carried off by another demon. She attacks immediately, being thrown away like garbage. The demon wonders aloud what a crow is doing here, and the paladin arrives with ally in tow. She begs him to help save Orlen from Azhudugu, the Plague Who Walks in Stone, Devourer of Youth's Flesh, and Seeker of the Broken Citadel, and all three attack.
Dusk receives a vicious pounding, throwing herself in without a care for her safety, all he while screaming for Azhudugu to put Orlen down. He eventually complies when the paladins become too much of an annoyance to him, and she covers Orlen with her body. She charges forward, and all three meet in the center. The demon is slain, and Dusk collapses.
Orlen asks Myosir what was happening, and he simply shakes his head and replies that it's probably none of his concern before walking away. The squire warns Orlen to keep that demon on a tight leash, and this is the master's way of saying thank you.
The next morning, the innkeeper delivers a bag of gold to the pair, saying that a man in armor had come by and delivered it; finding a note in the bag, the pair go to meet Myosir at a local restaurant. When they do, he is alone. He asks Orlen what commands he had given Dusk, and when he comes to the part about not killing, he stops the boy. He explains there was another murder last night, but it was perpetrated by a broadsword.
Both are shocked, however, it certainly wasn't Dusk's blade. She's too sloppy, and he's even surprised she can wield the blade carried by Accrus, and that maybe it was because she devoured Shirya's hand to get her human form. Orlen agrees. Myosir asks why that demon had called her a crow; she replies that she was the bird that sat atop the Blood-Soaked Gate, not its keeper. Vulture would have been a more apt term, really a nobody in the Abyssal hierarchy. Orlen immediately explains the situation.
He remarks that it's not only odd that there was a demon being summoned in a church of the sun, but also that it was such a low-ranking demon it didn't even register on the ranking scale. He asks Dusk why she felt it necessary to go out on repeated nights to find the thief. She responds she was summoned to protect Orlen, and Myosir says that certainly doesn't sound like it's part of the deal and something she did on her own, the same with him seeing her pick up a child's toy to return it the day at the market. Dusk replies that she just wanted the noise to stop.
The trio leave the restaurant in the evening, the sun casting its last rays, and they are stopped on the road by a quartet of women wearing black leather and the etched symbol of the sun god. They draw swords and call for the one who summoned the demon. Orlen steps forward, but Dusk puts out an arm to stop him.
Dusk asks who would carry symbols of the sun god and yet dress in black while prowling at night, attacking young boys. The women identify themselves as the Shadow Guard of the Setting Sun, and Myosir asks what that could be. The leader states that it's none of his concern and attacks Dusk. The four seem to be well-versed in Dusk's capabilities, and easily outpace her in any field. When she changes into the humanoid form she first took, they can easily keep pace and more. Dusk is beaten once more into the dirt, though when Myosir attacks and orders his squire to defend the boy and Dusk, however, the women seem less than excited and quite surprised.
The leader calls for the "sisters" to give it up for now. They escape; Orlen asks why she didn't fly away, and she replies that she's not been able to change into that old shape since running into the wizard. Myosir grumbles that he doesn't know what was going on with that, but if there's something about the churches he doesn't know, the Order of the Rosy Cross of Truth should know, but if the pair is going to seek them out, to be careful, for they hunt demons and thaumaturges.
Before that, however, Myosir expresses his desire for the pair to travel into the north for three weeks, to the side of Mount Osteff, where a crumbling castle waits. If the pair enter the castle, and Dusk can still carry the sword she wields, then they can count on his aid whenever they need it, and he would owe his squire 5 gold pieces. Orlen thanks him and heads for the library with Dusk in tow.
Orlen discovers that while large, the library is painfully silent on demons and occult sorceries, and simply turns in the textbooks he had gathered from his master's corpse. The pair leave, making their preparations to exit the city. Dusk asks to go to the restaurant again; she wants another lasagna. Orlen agrees. As they approach the exit, they are met by Myosin and his squire; he mentions that the roads are dangerous, and hands Orlen a short sword, saying it's from his personal collection and he's going to want it back. The pair leave the city.
Wandering the wilderness for several days, Orlen instructs Dusk in the basic rudiments of survival and the life cycles of various plants. Still confused, she muses about forests of jagged obsidian, fields of rusted fishhook trees, and diamond dust that forms the morning mists.
On the second day, the pair is set upon by bandits. Dusk transforms into her humanoid shape to combat them; a few run away, and she defeats the other two. Sarcastic clapping follows. The girls from the other day approach them, saying that Dusk has revealed her true form to them again. They attacks, one by one, and Dusk manages to defeat the first two, but is forced into a run after the third. She picks up Orlen, and manages to keep away from them in the trees.
They at last arrive in the village Fullerton, and must immediately aid the townsfolk, for many of their buildings are on fire. Orlen joins a bucket brigade and orders Dusk to rescue the people trapped inside, and she's no stranger to fire. She does so, rescuing seven children and a husband and wife, not to mention the town's priest of the law. After the crisis, he thanks them and invites the strangers to the church.
He asks the boy why he's traveling with a dead priestess, and Orlen admits that she's a demon. Surprised, he asks the boy why she helped. He explains that he summoned her by accident, and really just to protect him, and the priest laughs a bit. Orlen spills his guts about Myosir's advice, and the priest continues to laugh until tears overtake him. He apologizes after calming down, saying that he'd never heard of a demon, even such a weak one, summoned to get its master a good night's sleep and managed to make allies of a paladin. Orlen replies that he believes strongly that Dusk has a good heart; she even does good things when not ordered to do them. He jokingly asks the boy how good a sleep he gets after she's done, and when Orlen expresses confusion, drops the subject.
Orlen asks if he knows anything about the Order of the Rosy Cross. The priest's demeanor changes only subtly, still jovial, but more serious. He asks how the boy knew, and he brings up Myosir again; he needs to ask a member of the Order about the Shadow Guard of the Setting Sun. The priest admits he knows nothing, but says he is a member of the Green Cross, one of the sects of the Order. Orlen asks about the Shining Light, and the priest admits something strange is going on within it.
He explains a tale he heard when he was in training, about a town overrun with demons and acts of lust, depravity, and murder, where the people were wanton with both blood and sex. They fed n the organs of travelers and their own human waste. In the center of it all, they had found a demon masquerading as a priest of the Shining Light, and a temple of the sun untouched by the madness all around it.
He continues, explaining other strangeness with the church. They hear of Burgis, who called out to the sun to send him a sunfly swarm to destroy a vampire that slew his family, but was rebuffed. Orlen wonders at this, and the priest also tells them of the Inquisitor's Bracers, a holy relic of the Shining Light, which can harm the undead, created during the war on the borders seven years ago. Many sets were crafted, out of the hair of celestial beings and leather of ghouls. They raced with the energy of the light, which harms the dead and heals the living; in that time, undead could disguise themselves as the living, so the only way to root them out was to use positive energy. Orlen states that this seems like a good idea. The priest asks him why they would make the relic so that you had to literally strike the suspected dead with a sword and hope the flow of positive energy healed your target if he was not an undead monster.
He tells them of another relic, the sun shard, of which a large number were made, that can literally fire blinding, burning rays of the sun at a victim, hot enough to burn flesh. For a deity of healing and inherent goodness, there were many questions among the Cyan Cross about the true aim of the temple of the sun. He tells them to watch out for the church in the future, both his and the sun. The priest excuses them, and the pair leave the church to wander around the town.
They spend two days in town before the priest visits them at the inn. He mentions that he has heard rumor of a demon two days north in the hills. At first, they are reluctant to look into it, but he mentions that the demon inhabits a ruined town at the edge of a cliff, using the temple of the sun there as its base. The two agree to seek it out.
They travel into the snow, and Dusk asks about it, getting a lesson in the properties of water and high altitudes on temperatures. They play around in it for a bit before being confronted by one of the women of the Shadow Guard again. She attacks, but Dusk manages to pull through, and they leave her unconscious in the snow, wounds bound. They make haste to the city.
The demon is there, and Dusk identifies it as Ashbariel, Keeper of the Blood-Soaked Gate, Devourer of False Prophecies, and Enemy of Justice. He is little more than a skin-like cloak whose hood is rimmed with blunt teeth. He chides his vulture for hooking up with a human, and she'd better hurry up and corrupt him. That hand she devoured is having more of an effect on her persona than he likes. Get rid of the human, and he'll help her take it out. Dusk tells him that he won't lay a finger on this human. A voice tells them that such behavior is odd for a demon. The leader of the Shadow Guard group steps out, dressed in black leather.
The woman identifies herself as Brigitte, a warrior of the Shadow Guard of the Setting Sun, and that she's trying to preserve the true face of the Shining Light. Orlen asks why, and she says that things like demons and celestials are changed by faith, and that is all that the boy needs to know. He looks at Dusk, who merely draws her sword. The demon takes out the book used to summon Dusk, telling the boy it's careless to lose his things, leaving them lying out in the open like that.
Brigitte informs Orlen that when they got to the cathedral, the reliquary had been raided and the book stolen, and they had thought perhaps another priest had summoned Alarieth. Dusk calls out to Brigitte and asks that if she slays this demon, she'll come clean about what's really going on. Brigitte agrees, and the demon laughs and shreds the book. He beckons the vulture to attack Orlen. Brigitte guards Orlen, saying that with the book gone, the binding spell has been ended.
Brigitte says that everything had started when some priests had tried to reform a group of demons. It didn't work, and the priests were corrupted in the end, or else slain by the demons once their binding books were destroyed. She laments that she's going to die up here, slain by two demons, and Orlen commands Dusk to attack the other demon.
Dusk points her sword at Orlen and attacks the demon. He asks her why, and she says simply that since eating lasagna, the taste of innards isn't all that appetizing anymore, that walking a single day and seeing so many different things rather than one flat plain is a joy, and that palying in the snow is better than being sliced by an obsidian forest. The Abyss just isn't going to cut it anymore, and she questions if she'll be sad when she finally has to return.
She transforms into her humanoid shape, and the pair of them go at it. Brigitte, not content to just stand and watch, takes a few shots with her crossbow. In the end, the demon is slain, and the escarpment begins to crumble. Orlen scrambles to safety, but Brigitte falls. Dusk makes a leap to save her, and the pair fall, Dusk exploding into her wings and black carapace, snatching up Brigitte in her talons and slowing her fall to a safe speed.
She beats on the ground, a bit before standing. Met by Orlen and a now-human Dusk, she wonders aloud how the boy did what the priests could not. She explains that some hundred years ago, the priests of the Shining Light embarked on a campaign to slowly worm away at the Abyss. They summoned and bound demons and attempted to teach them morality; it failed. The demons just had no concept of morality at all, something that eventually seemed like freedom to the priests. They became corrupted. Some of the priests destroyed the books on purpose, and she mentions that she lied about them being slain. Rather, they joined with the demons.
When her group had first encountered Dusk, they thought that they were seeing the Shirya, corrupted by a fiend, even though that couldn't be. She says that she think Dusk ate Shirya's hand, and Orlen nods. Brigitte continues, explaining that the corrupted priests and the demons became nearly impossible to find, so the church founded the Shadow Guard of the Setting Sun to root out corruption before it could get too far. Lately, her team has found the corruption runs deeper than anyone had thought. The priests have spread to small towns and even large cities, slowly bringing worshippers of the Shining Light to acts of depravity and madness. Their goal is nothing short of transformation of the Shining Light itself into a faith of murder and anarchy.
A dark man in archery glasses steps out from under the trees and excuses himself. He openly muses about what the Shining Light has been up to, creating secret orders and not telling the Order of the Rosy Cross. She tells him that it's not the concern of law-worshippers. He flashes a black holy symbol and mentions that the Shining Light isn't the only faith to have secret orders devoted to protecting all that is good. He introduces himself and Rebelu Three-Daggers, member of the Hellknife of the Black Cross.
Brigitte replies that there's no such thing as the Black Cross; he replies by telling that's all well and good, because the Shadow Guard of the Setting Sun doesn't exist, either, chiding her on the excessively flowery name of her organization. At any rate, it seems odd that someone would specifically summon a demon like that and set it free, unless something was up with Dusk that was more than just a thorn in the enemy's side.
Brigitte, obviously upset, but still willing to try to trust him, states that the boy's faith has changed the nature of the demon, if only a small amount, for she still registers as a fiendish being. Orlen interjects, wanting to bring the conversation back to corrupt priests, and asks how they're still getting powers even if they've betrayed their faith. The man responds that it's a possibility they don't think they have, and so they still get them. If not, demons certainly can grant powers to those that ask for them, otherwise no one would summon demons.
The four of them agree to keep what has been said here quiet while researching the current Shining Light, passing information to one another. They leave and Orlen wonders where they can go now. Dusk mentions that Myosir had talked about the old citadel they were to enter together, and Orlen agrees. Traveling west, they search the towns for records of the crumbling castle and eventually find it nestled in a forest.
Upon entering, Orlen takes note of the skeletons lying about. The inner chambers are trapped, and the place is obviously the sign of an old battle, while not ancient, is still enough in the past to have cobwebs grow over the bones and skulls to become weak and brittle, while others have crumbled to dust. When they enter the throne room, Orlen recognizes the insignia there as being the sign of the Fane, the Bandit Lord. He was slain by a warrior named Accrus and his army some sixty years ago. A skeleton sits on the throne, the cloth behind it torn as if by a blade.
Dusk inserts the sword through the ribs of the skeleton into the tear, and experiences the battle through the eyes of a tall man, and the combat between he and a living man who ends up collapsed on the throne and run through with the blade. The sword begins to shimmer as if reflecting sunlight, and she clenches her teeth as the weapon burns her skin, but only for a moment. As the dull glow fades, she pulls the sword free, saying that she thinks she knows what Myosir wanted. Orlen nods, and says they should probably stay the night in one of the towers.
In the morning, they head off to the southeast, seeking to return to Trovogia to meet with Myosir again. They arrive in town, and seek him out, finding him slightly buzzed at a local bar, where he asks them what's been going on. Orlen explains the events of the last four weeks or so, and Myosir seems a bit surprised. He asks if Dusk is still carrying that same sword, and she presents the weapon to him. Even more surprised, he tells them their next task is to penetrate Mulgarth, hall of the dwarven lords, also now a ruin, abandoned due to the instability of the mountain it is built within, and plunge the tip of the blade into the heart of the volcano there.
He aims to help the pair from now on, and even gives them a pair of horses to make their travel easier. Dusk turns down the horse, but gladly accepts on for Orlen, making it easier for him to walk. At the same time, he tells them to be careful, for there's rumors of a demon along the way. Orlen says he could just take the road without the demon, but Myosir brings up that if they don't, it won't ever get slain.
They agree to take that path. The pair leave again for the mountains to the north, and come across a region of the forest dotted with damaged and destroyed trees. They run into a man in black leather and the symbol of the sun, and they greet him as a member of the Shadow Guard of the Setting Sun. Surprised, he remarks that a woman with golden hair and eyes must be a child of celestials sent to help him. He decides to test her ability to do so and attacks. When a girl in the forest attacks Orlen, he calls for help, and they immediately set out to find him.
The two of them encounter a demon, and Dusk changes form to fight it. Suddenly excited, the man gleefully begins trying to trip up Dusk so that at least one of the demons kills the other, stating that the boy is a thaumaturgist and is next. Dusk realizes what is about to transpire, and dashes off into the forest with Orlen in her arms. She splits up with him, and they promise to meet again at Mulgarth.
The Shadow Guard tracks her down, and they fight until Dusk is pressed into a corner. She swaps to her flying shape and escapes, leaving the warrior cold. Flying a circle around the region, she heads south and lands a good distance away before rocketing off over the ground toward the city of Mulgarth. Once there, she reunites with Orlen after two days.
Meanwhile, Orlen escapes into the forest and runs across an old hermit, who talks to him at great length about Mulgarth itself. The city had been overrun with vampires and other foul creatures beneath the surface, where dark elves lurked. Accrus had come ther after a long journey and promised to help the dwarves fight back the evil, if only they would temper his blade. They did so in the volcano's maw, but even then, when the battle was won, there was no victory. The dwarves were forced to abandon their kingdom due to the closeness of the volcano itself, which has since gone dormant. He and his companion would have to reawaken it if they are to dip the blade of Accrus in the magma.
When they meet again, Orlen gives Dusk the information, and the pair enter the caves. They fight their way past a small army of undead, and encounter the dormant caldera, which has since half-swallowed the city ruins with frozen magma flows. Making their way to the center, they fight a few more undead spawned by the lava ashes, and in the very center, the bones of a dwarven smith rest half-buried. His soul has not left, and begs to be released. Working into the night, Orlen chips away the bones until at last he is freed. He introduces himself as Ralgot, one of the ancient heroes that traveled with Accrus. He tells them where in the citadel to find one of the old mining picks before vanishing.
Orlen retrieves the last pick that is not rusted or broken, now only a pick with no shaft. Touching the pick to the stone reveals a magical ability to tunnel through the rock, and Dusk bores a hole straight through to the magma. The sword begins to warm in her hand, and as the lava bubbles up from below, she thrusts the blade within, the weapon glowing white before fading once more.
They leave the dwarven city as it crumbles to dust and is swallowed by the volcano reborn. Entering the wilderness, they run across Brigitte again, who beckons them to follow her to a nearby town. Once in town, they head for a restaurant owned by one of Brigitte's allies. They ask her what she's found out about the summonings and the corruption in the temple of the sun.
She explains that it seems to go even deeper than that. Either they have already succeeded, or something is very wrong. The presence of two beings of the Shining Light, contradictory, yet unable to notice one another, seems to be occurring. Rebelu arrives and states that's not what he found, as there are more than just two sides to this whole mess. He introduces Brimstone Jackson, who tells them of a sect of the temple of the sun who sees their god as burning away weakness and even culling of the weak.
He states that it's a man named Rosario that seems to be the source of the trouble. The only problem is that, while he seems to traffic with demons, he stills remains just a lowly priest, and the town to which he assigned is still a normal town with all the problems of a normal town. Orlen responds that their research has indicated that the problem has been going on long before even Brigitte thinks it has; apparently it's been a long term goal of certain fiends to slowly corrupt believers, and only recently have they been able to get a foothold in the world, perhaps due to the wars a hundred years ago. Any number of churches could be so corrupted.
The group prepares to assault Rosario with the blessing of the Shadow Guard and the Black Cross, gathering a few allies to march into the town. They do so, and quickly discover the town overrun with demons and lesser fiends. The army creates a break through point for the party to advance, and they break into the main church, where they meet Rosario. He greets them and welcomes them to the church, and begins extolling the virtues of freedom and anarchy.
Tired of the monologue, Dusk lunges at him, talking about accommodating other beings. Rosario snatches her up by the neck and tosses her, sending her fifteen feet through the air. Dusk stands again, hissing. She attacks him again with the sword, and he knocks the blade out of her hand. She transforms into her bird-shape, and the pair begin an earnest attack. He changes shape himself, a massive pile of biomechanics and talons, and begins tearing her apart. Needing more power, she pushes herself as far as possible. Orlen screams that he has faith in her; with the gatekeeper dead, she can take that power as long as anyone new hasn't been assigned to it. Realizing the truth in his words, she finds a hidden reserve of strength and shapeshifts, towering into the air, losing her wings and gaining wicked talons and an oversized maw.
After a close fight, Dusk and Orlen are on the ropes when Brigitte and Rebelu Three-Daggers arrive with Myosir in tow. Together, the four of them bring down Rosario and Orlen destroys the tome containing his name; he laughs and questions them, asking them if they think he's the only one. There are, after all, a hundred or more religions and sects. Dusk's sword beings to glow, and Brigitte mentions that the final task of the warrior Accrus before his death was the slaying of a demon king. Dusk picks up the blade, and the nearby priests express wonder and surprise that she can still pick it up, even as the glow fades.
In the aftermath, the temple of the sun thanks them for all their work, and, while fractured, the rest of the corrupt priests will be easy to root out now that there is no one hiding their activities and the clergy knows what to look for. They ask what Dusk and Orlen will do now, and Dusk assures them that they'll find something to keep them busy in the world.