A Matter of Faith

A Matter of Faith is a quest in Second Undead Book.

## Background

After defeating Soryena, the Alderas and allied camps in the area and now almost all Elves are pledging their allegiance to Pentiss and accepts her as their new leader of the Sisterhood, the group of Ornasion, Sister Pentiss and Haran'tel-kazor spotted Mistress Quiraness fleeing in the tunnels behind the main base. They decided to end the Mistress and her rebellious attitude, once and for all.

## Opening

They entered the tunnels and set up a base, but Pentiss says that the former Mistress was not the only enemy on the area, as she gathered the last of her forces in the area, and along the way, they must fight a lot of creatures inhabiting the area, and also, 2 groups of Cave Orcs have established a base there. They must either fight their way through all of them, or Pentiss has another idea: which is to mine as much Black Lotus as they could for Quiraness and her forces to be bombed with overdose. Ornasion do not have time for that, but Pentiss says it is just a suggestion.

## Quest

### Main Quest:

* Destroy the base of the Aldera Family (Red). OR:
* Harvest 25,000 Lumber and create the Peacemaker.

Description: Quiraness has delayed the plans of Aridon long enough. It is time to put her down for good. The former leader of the Dark Elves has gathered her last followers and hides in her refuge. Ornasion can either crush her with brute force - or unleash a massive amount of Black Lotus to incapacitate Quiraness' forces without having to fighting them.

### Side Quest:

* Find and kill the Ancient Sludge creature.

Description: The cave is filled with filthy sludge creatures who dare to stand between Ornasion and his goal. Pentiss has reported a massive sludge is hiding somewhere in the cave, suggesting that Ornasion could kill it if he wanted to. However, the Ejara Nexus would probably be interested in capturing this fine specimen if left alive.

## The Battle

The trio of Sister Pentiss, Ornasion and Haran'tel-kazor built up a strong and fortified defense around the base, then they commanded their Lumberjacks to harvest Lumber from the large mushrooms on the cave, and also Black Lotus coexisting with them for the weapon. Meanwhile, the trio also built up a sizeable attack force to deal with the Sludges, Cave Orcs and Mistress Quiraness' followers. Luckily for them, the 3 enemies are also fighting each other, which the Undead can easily exploit for their ends.

The trio and their forces then killed Sludges hiding behind the forest cover then repelled another Sludge/Cave Orc/Dark Elf attack, then focused on building up a bottleneck on the path towards the base. Then, they took care of the Sludges on the way, then rebuilding lost troops.

There are 2 large Cave Orc bases in 2 separate areas. When they attack one of them, the Cave Orcs sees the Undead as challenges for their faith towards the God who sent them there, but they attacked and crushed the first one nonetheless. Then, they built up a base on the ruins, and more Lumber for harvest. Then, they focused on the second one after replenishing their ranks and repelling another attack. Then, they attack the other Orc base, the base's leader pleading to let them join their ranks, but the Dreadlord did not care for a bit. After a battle, they crushed the Orcs and built another base on the ruins.

Then, they built up a defensive line on the front of the fortress, taking care that they not aggro the Dark Elves holed up inside the impenetrable fortress. Then, the trio ignored the Ancient Sludge Creature, or took care of it. Latter, they will get strong weapons, but lost a chance to use Sludges for future use. Former, the Rohir Nexus will take care of the Sludge later on. Then, the trio had a choice: besiege the main Dark Elf fort, or hold the line before the quota of 25,000 Lumber and enough Black Lotus will be harvested. If the 25,000 Lumber was finished, Ornasion commenced the construction of the Peacemaker.

The trio and their force held the line against the desperate attempt by Quiraness to attack the base. When the construction of the Peacemaker was finished, the Black Lotus bomb was released. Or, Ornasion just used massive crushing force to assault the Dark Elf positions, without relying upon Sister Pentiss's weapon.

## Aftermath

Depending on your choices, should you besiege the Aldera base, Ornasion will rejoice at the downfall of Quiraness.

Should you use the Peacemaker, most of Quiraness' forces are dead, the rest, comatose due to Black Lotus overdose. Ornasion sees the effect of the drug killing the enemies like they saw, vowing that he will flay Pentiss for deliberately hiding her intent. Haran says why the Dark Elves consume the Black Lotus, which the Dreadlord says that mortals are fools, Haran tells him to go to Pentiss.

Sister Pentiss corners Mistress Quiraness, reduced to a state of euphoria due to Black Lotus overdose. The duo arrived in the area, after she says that she plans to send her to Soryena until she find another use to her. The Dreadlord confronted Pentiss for her deception. But she brushes his accusations, saying that she does what he commands her to do. She says that if she do not do the deed, Ornasion will kill all of her people, and reanimate them. While her actions can do them good, by using the corpses as their forces, and the other as their slaves. Ornasion warned her that if she withheld another info, he will find another person to serve the Divine One. The new Mistress apologized. Then the Dreadlord commanded Haran to follow Pentiss to obtain the artifact that Aridon wants, then leaves. Haran goes with Pentiss to the chamber.

## Interlude: Orders of the Watcher

Pentiss and her most devout loyalists went with the duo to the surface, where Aridon accepted the artifact, and accepts her pledge, discarding the female nature of the Divine One, and replaced it with utmost loyalty to Aridon alone. The Watcher allowed her to establish Lenira Nexus, with her loyalists mixed in with Undead.

Aridon welcomed the duo of Haran and Ornasion, thanking them for retrieving the artifact and adding the Dark Elves on their forces. Ornasion asked what is the artifact for. Aridon says the Scepter of Death was created by the God of Death. The Scepter's power was death itself, making whoever enters Dead Mountain to die at contact of the spell. Ornasion asked why not he used it earlier, the Watcher replied that it was no need to and the mortals are fearful of entering the Mountain, as all of those who entered never returned, and he manipulated the mortals to ignore a cursed mountain. And mysterious deaths would raise counterproductive and suspicious results. Rahandir Drakeskull says that Demons have built bases in Dead Mountain, the spell is relevant right now, which the Watcher agreed. The Dreadlord asks them that if the Lenira Nexus be attacked and turned into an actual Undead Nexus, Aridon declined, as he never told them to extinguish all life, which the Dreadlord says that the Dark Elves are schemers who are addicted to plants who cared nothing but themselves, and can think of serving Aridon is unprofitable in the long run. The Watcher assured him that despite the Dark Elves are scheming against themselves, betraying him is not an option.

Ornasion asked about if the Dark Elves are his followers, how about the Elves in the Elven Kingdom who not worshiped him. The Watcher says that the Elves there are descendants from the Dark counterparts, outcasts when he sealed the Dark counterparts and let them alone in the forests, erasing the heritage they have in exchange. Haran asked why Aridon sealed the Dark Elves, the Watcher says to prevent the Dark Elves from enslaving other races in his name. And the Dreadlord says that the Cave Orcs has entered the underground. Aridon says that he was wondered how the Orcs entered the tunnels. He sealed the tunnels, never allowing creatures to leave, but the Orcs accomplished there, without his intentions. Krom the Immortal says that the "creatures" are annoying, but seeing them worship Aridon indirectly is interesting. The Watcher says that he will not help them survive, had he known. The Orcs saw the Undead as a challenge, and they imitate what Dark Elves did. Aridon then declared that the Cave Orcs are weakened enough to be irrelevant.

Then he commanded orders: he commanded Rahandir Drakeskull to obtain the Mask of Illusions, one of the artifacts on Toranite capital, where the rebellious Korras Retka are besieging. He commanded him to take Sister Pentiss, Fleshtearer and Sir Edoarus the Executioner to obtain it. Rahandir obliged, while commenting about the internal conflict the Humans are doing, and Krom commenting about the arrival of the Golden Guard made the fracture worse. Aridon says that he will give Rahandir the Rohir Nexus to persuade the locals to give what they want, in exchange of assistance, and also saying that they can even betray the Mage Guild in Toran in desperation. And the Watcher says to watch Gardon Bloodclaw closely, and look at the magics he uses. He then commanded Ornasion and Queen Keera to infiltrate the eastern Elven Kingdom, who are Demon worshipers who will try to sabotage the Human defensive efforts, as the success will cause the Human defense to fall. He never wants it to succeed. Ornasion says that Kersidar planned to do it, and he was happy to derail it, and Saphira Whisperwind will assist him later. Then commanded Krom to take the Skeleton Legion to the Mountains of Salria, to halt the Demon planning to open up another front in the area. That ends their meeting. Haran and Ornasion complimented each other, until their next meeting.

## True Story

* The Unyielding of Scarec Nexus from the previous chapter appears in this chapter, regardless of your side quest choices.
* Killing the Ancient Sludge Creature will now please Scarec Nexus, instead of just giving you items. And Sludge Nightmare appears as a playable character.
* The Main Quest now only mentions the use of Peacemaker as canon.
* Only the Peacemaker ending is available regardless of what you do with Quiraness' base, though doing the latter will yield some valuable tomes.
* Leadership Bonis for Undead are available in this mission, except Pentiss's, as she was focused on building the Peacemaker.
* Ornasion gives more context when criticizing Aridon's decision of imprisoning and sparing the Dark Elves, with Aridon defending his own.
* Krom the Immortal now admires the Cave Orcs' tenacity instead of being annoyed with them. He was also received orders to bring the Scarec and Rohir Nexus explicitly instead of only the Skeleton Legion.
* Haran'tel-kazor's parting farewell to Ornasion is somehow toned to be more friendly.