Phew! I would thank God for you my friend, if that weren't too on the nose. I felt for sure that this time it was my turn to depart our world.
Kitava's cultists surrounded Lani and I a while back... We split up and I lead a distraction so she could make best her escape. Funny, I really should have considered my own plan for evasion once I'd allowed her hers...
In any case, it is good to see you again, exile. Let us talk more in a safer space. I shall meet you back at the docks.
You look at me with suspicious eyes... Yes, I know you have your apprehensions about me and my new indwelling spirit. But if it helps a little, I feel Innocence stirring inside me, awakening with an odd sense of... gratitude towards you.
It was, after all, your bite that returned him to humility, allowed the scales to drop from his eyes.
While they had me trapped, I heard those cultists' mad gibberings. Their words were akin to that of the Wraeclast cannibals, nonsensical sentences accompanied by the most unsettling of cackles. I fear that they have indulged too deeply into Kitava's famed habit and caught the laughing plague that so often accompanies men and women who choose to engage in the consumption of human flesh.
As I'm sure you've noticed, that damnable god, Kitava no longer resides on the rooftops as last you were here. No, the monster has acclimatised himself to Theopolis. He has set up quite the banqueting table for himself. It appears he believes he has a lot of... consumption to catch up on. Best I can tell, his new residence lies through the ravaged Oriath Square and past the canals, now the feeding troughs...
Heed my warning friend, tread lightly through that area, for those cultists are out and about, once more, actively seeking food for Kitava to devour...
I wouldn't blame you for being curious about the god now dwelling within me. In truth, I'm honoured to have been chosen to be Innocence's vessel. You may hear this and think I sound like a pious Templar fool, but it is hard to remain an unbeliever when the gods walk around you, and indeed one, sleeps inside you.
No need to fear however, our poor purity god surely regrets the actions of his past. I can't see him, but I can feel his spirit, wounded and cowering somewhere inside me. At night, I hear him whimpering over his wounds - I must say, you hurt him good! But, as much as I feel his pain, I also feel a budding newness in his heart, he is growing again and relearning the compassion for humanity that he had long since lost.
The Chamber of Innocence is exactly where you left it, though cultists and vandals may have had their way with it since last you visited. Innocence himself no longer cares for the place, in fact, I feel a pained revulsion for it, hence why I cannot go myself. But I'm certain you are more than capable of forging a path through that broken temple once again.
If you are to go wandering the city in its current state, be careful where you step. Kitava's cultists are constantly on the prowl, actively seeking food for their god. What's worse, the passage to Kitava's feast is blocked off by two large black gates. We call them 'Kitava's Horns' and they are utterly impenetrable to the motions of man.
There is but one way in which we can reach Kitava and deprive him of his eternal meal. The Staff of Avarius lies somewhere amongst the rubble of the Chamber of Innocence, still billowing with holy power. If you were to find it and return it to me, I believe the power in the staff will act as power enough to break through the horned gates.
I fear I have not been entirely honest with you, my friend.
While it is true that this staff can forge a path for us through Kitava's Horns, it has the ability to revitalise Innocence into waking fully, and that is where the staff's true power resides.
In this act, I will become his host in the fullest sense, and together he and his brother Sin will be able to ally with you against the forces of darkness.
I bid you farewell, Exile, for where my spirit is set to travel, there is no return. Win this battle. Defeat Kitava. Free our people.
Back when the cultists took control of the city, the very ground itself shook as if pained by some dark abomination. The gnarled horns of Kitava erupted from the earth, like spiraling pillars of corruption, weaving together a barrier impeding travellers from moving through the city.