Dane the Penitent: How a Paladin Treats Failure

... Dane the Penitent is a particularly noteworthy case. Long had he been known for his daring, and risky assaults on enemy positions ever since the Third War. Such carelessness however, did his commanders (and he) overlook, as they often brought crushing victory by his own blessed hands. In short, he had thought that because he felt the Light's strength, then surely his strategies were incomparable.
This was evidently not the case, however. On a fateful assault onto Tarren Mill, one surviving footman describes it as thus:
'... After morning prayers we assembled on the road. Sir Dane's fervor was toxic, his [charisma] undeniable, and thus we were all but compelled to follow him. Even as their dead ranks seemed to many times outnumber our own (Dane had said we were to be a distraction force), our collective heartbeat only grew stronger. Right into the foe did we charge- right into a slaughter. Dane [himself was] untouched by the sword, but the rest of us were not so lucky. I still remember as the screams turned from battlecries to that of panic. The only reason Dane and I live is from the arrival of the [main] army's knights. Damn him.'
After this humiliating defeat, Dane the Penitent took leave, but did not return home. Indeed, for forty days and forty nights did he wander, each day for every man he failed, and each night for the Light itself he did fail. Some would say aimlessly, that he had simply lost his mind, but his squire insists on numerous occasions that it was with purpose, that this was a spiritual reconstitution, for his body was weak as the result of a shattered spirit, and thus the soul needed to be strengthened through prayer.
Dane himself does not talk of this time, stating that his mind in his self-imposed exile is for 'only him, and the Light'. One thing that is certain, however, is on his return he was renewed, and some might say stronger than before. For instance, during his tactically sound defense of Southshore...
Brother Asmodel, on Dane the Penitent: How a Paladin treats failure, page 64
Category:Diocese Arguments
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