A1j. The Saint's Judgment
Location: Hot Spring
Characters: The Scarlet Saint
Leaving an Offering
If the players leave an offering for The Scarlet Saint:
If the offering carries little effort or care, the berries upon the vines dim, and the coal veins along the wall smolder like embers, indicating the Saint’s displeasure.
If the offering carries meaningful effort or care, the berries upon the vines glow brighter, and the coal veins along the walls shimmer with glints of silver and gold, indicating the Saint’s satisfaction. The bowl in the Saint’s arch then magically fills and overflows with a warm, sweet-smelling, reddish-purple liquid—spiced mulled wine—that flows down into the pool below. A player who drinks the wine is cured of the Curse of Coal.
Ringing the Bells
If a player brings the bell three times, its clear chimes ring across the cavern. The lights of the non-red berries wink out a moment later, plunging the chamber into a deep, scarlet light.
The water in the pool begins to boil and churn, the steam that rises from its surface forming a humanoid shape: tall, slender, and lanky, wearing a wool-lined coat the color of blood on snow, with glowing red eyes that burn beneath the shadows of its hood.
If the players bullied or harmed the fey of the lodge, but left or brought a meaningful offering for the Saint, it briefly considers their offering, the temperature abruptly plunging to freezing.
“You have some manners,” the Saint observes, “yet you display no care for your lessers. None would survive the dark nights of winter alongside your wretched souls.”
The Saint promises to lift The Curse of Coal only if the players first depart the lodge and woods—never to return. “Abide my mercy, and live to suffer another day,” the Saint intones, “but know that if you return to my woods, the morn shall find your remains buried in the snow.”
If the players do so, and remain true to their word, when they pass the boundaries of the wood, they are wracked with coughing fits, expelling coal dust in clouds of smoke. When their fits end, the Curse of Coal is lifted.
If the players refuse to depart, the Saintsummons two lodge lantern wisps and attacks. If the players defeat the Saint, the Curse of Coal is lifted—but the players cough coal-dust for the rest of their lives.