You're alone. So Tolman's... You didn't go to the Crematorium?
No, of course you didn't, this isn't your fight. I'm sorry. It was wrong of me to put that on you, to ask you to risk your life for someone you don't even know.
Don't worry. I'll work something out. I always do.
I don't mean to sound ungrateful but we've no time for talk. Tolman was out here with me and now... you found him? Where?
Oh my God... Tolman.
Wraeclast takes everything from us... My family, we always keep something from those we've lost. A silly tradition, yet we hold on to what we can, especially here. Please, if... I don't know why you would... but if you are in the Crematorium again, could you find Tolman's bracelet for me? It would mean a great deal.
No, you go on ahead. I'll meet you back at the encampment, later... we'll talk some more then. Just for now, I need to be alone.
You're alone. So Tolman's... You didn't go to the Crematorium?
No, of course you didn't, this isn't your fight. I'm sorry. It was wrong of me to put that on you, to ask you to risk your life for someone you don't even know.
Don't worry. I'll work something out. I always do.
Poor Tolman. I made this bracelet for him... when he first arrived here. Idiot said he'd never take it off. I called him a liar. He didn't, though. Not once.
Those keys unlock the gates to the sewers. Tolman found them... figured that in the worst of times people will hide their wealth in the worst of places.
We were never game to test his theory, not with the Undying down there. But you're strong... stronger than any of us here. I don't think you need to fear the dark.
Halfway across the world and yet the tie between Vinia and I endures. That was Piety's real name back in Theopolis, before her rise to greatness.
Vinia sold her thaumaturgy in the day, her body at night. Sought after, she was. Enough so to become one of my best buyers.
But money never meant much to Vinia. No, she was striving for something better... nobler. Used to tell me that "Life needn't be this hard. It's time you all realised that."
Wherever he is, I'm sure Tolman knows what you've done. I know you didn't do it for him, or for me. It doesn't matter. Piety's reign of cruelty is over. Thank you.
Vinia was arrested for 'Consorting with the Unholy' and condemned to the pyre. This was before the banishments.
Dominus shared a last supper with her, heard her confession. Most think Vinia earned Dominus' patronage on her back. I don't. Vinia gave Dominus her 'better life' and got a new name in return.
You can count on one thing: Piety's grand future won't include the likes of you, me, or Tolman.
You find a high enough spot and you can see the Lunaris Temple over the river, at the western edge of the city.
Since the Blackguards arrived, the clouds above that temple have been stained with the blackest of smoke. You can see it sometimes, when the westerly blows. It stinks worse than death.
Gravicius dined with us once. This was before my father's gambling debts caught up with him. I dined with him again, in Theopolis prison, the night before my exile. He wasn't so polite that time...
Thank you. That's one memory I can now put to rest.
On the fall of the Empire, the historians are deathly silent. After the Purity Rebellion, the Kingdom of Kaom blockaded Oriath, preventing any trade or correspondence with the mainland. It's said that Kaom planned to invade.
Only when the Karui retreated did Oriath get any news from Wraeclast, but by that time there wasn't really anyone left to tell the tale.
I know, so strange that stone and metal should move and live as you and I.
Still, I read that Chitus' sculptors used to soften their materials with 'thaumetic sulphite', a by-product of gem refining. It's the only connection that I can fathom between the cataclysm and the living sculptures of Sarn.
Chitus thought that the Gemling was the pinnacle of human progress. "These glorious gems have brought us within spitting distance of godhood", he once said.
The High Templar at the time, Voll of Thebrus, thought they were a perversion. He wanted the Empire made pure, "cleansed of the stain of thaumaturgy". You look at Sarn and tell me which one you think was right.
And while you're out there, look out for monkeys. No, not those bloody monkeys from Phrecia. These ones are painted on the walls. I think you'll find them enlightening.