The Cathedral Falls Behind Them

The cathedral did not remain stable once the trial ended. As the ruined holy place began to collapse, Paulus Levius pushed aside a bookcase and revealed a service tunnel. It was an undignified exit for a sacred site, but that suited the truth of the place. The cathedral had always been part shrine, part business, part machinery, and part escape route. The party followed him out. Behind them, the corrupted devotional system of Paulus Levius fell into ruin, or at least became inaccessible again. The offerings, confessionals, relic displays, shame bells, wish ledgers, sentries, and guardian trial all folded into the collapse of a place that had turned faith into commerce for too long. They emerged onto a shoreline in the Lonely Islands. Nearby, the original void-scroll portal still hung open and shaking, waiting with all the wrong energy of something that had not finished being dangerous. Paulus Levius returned to spiritual form and went back toward the ruins. The dungeon was over. The consequences were waiting on the beach.