#54 Return of the Missioner
Back in the days of the Society of the Sanguine Rose, Brother Pirren of the Tree-Lawn was one of the key figures in the missionary arm of the organisation. Such was his zeal to proselytise, Barfunweltz seemed to him to be too small a parish for his Lord. And so he approached the False Apostle offering to spread his message far beyond the borders of Shyish, let alone Barfunweltz.
The False Apostle agreed, but told him he must travel alone, the better to prove his faith. Brother Pirren asked where in the Mortal Realms he should start his mission, and his Lord insisted, without hesitation, "Chamon first." And so Brother Pirren set off on his missionary journey.
But beyond the range of the False Apostle's projected delusion, the message of the Sanguine Rose was universally met with disbelief, derision and often violent opposition. Yet Pirren believed he saw signs of the Rose wherever he went: In Chamon, he discovered a black rock containing veins of white metal which formed the shape of a rose. In Ghur he was carried across a sea on a floating stone (or possibly the back of some sea creature). In Ghyran, he was convinced that even the forest creatures sat and listened to his teaching. Yet none were persuaded by his message.
Finally, the Missioner returned, dejected and without a single convert. But worse was to come: for the day of his return was the Day of Tribulation - the very day of the False Apostle's betrayal and fall! Finding his Lord fallen and the Gravewalkers ruthlessly persecuting the members of the Sanguine Society, he immediately turned tail and fled Barfunweltz.
Driven mad by remorse for the failure of his mission, guilt for his cowardly flight, and despair at the fate of his beloved Apostle, the Missioner first tried to drown his sorrows. When this failed, he turned to prayer, asceticism and the intense study of the False Apostle's writings. Just like the Hermit, he there discovered the secrets of necromancy and fell into the darkness of that fell art. Deeper and deeper he delved until he lost all semblance of sanity. Eventually, incorporating his ascetic rites into his death magic, he strapped a brazier to his head and heaped burning coals upon it. Even as this killed his mortal body, his spirit gained the dark enlightenment he sought.
And so, many years after the False Apostle's fall, the Missioner has finally resolved to return to Barfunweltz: a liche-lord, utterly devoted to the Way of the Rose, his hopeless ambition somehow to find redemption for his many failures.
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