Dripping her blood into the stone basin before Shar's statue, Charlotte successfully began her Night Judge assessment in the guise of a follower of Shar.
The first assessment was exceedingly simple. Shar's Steady Trial required her followers to traverse a dungeon under the gaze of True Seeing Eyes, retrieve the key from the labyrinth, unlock the gate, and claim the Shadow Gem on Shar's statue.
Charlotte readily accepted the challenge. The young lady cast a standard Greater Invisibility spell on herself, followed by Haste. Combined with Misty Step, these let her easily slip through the network of gazes formed by the many True Seeing Eyes and quietly advance toward the finish through the dark dungeon.
The young lady had not explained to Eleanor why she insisted on attending the Night Judges' gathering, infiltrating the Church of Shar's revelry, or taking the assessment to join their ranks.
This made Charlotte seem rather willful. Though that suited the sorcerer young lady's usual character, it would undoubtedly leave a poor impression on Eleanor, who had accompanied her.
Charlotte insisted because she had never forgotten the people who had taken her from her fishing village as a child and tried to extract the power of her bloodline for some ritual. Their leader had dressed exactly like a Night Judge!
It was a secret Charlotte had only ever shared with her best friend Alusair and her dear little brother Aaron.
The sorcerer young lady had always been proud at heart. She wanted to uncover the truth herself.
Where did my bloodline come from? Who are my birth parents? Why did the Night Judges want to extract my bloodline? What exactly were they trying to do with the divine power within me?
Charlotte believed she would find the answers in Shar's temple.
Crouching down, Charlotte began