The third day after the battle at the Lake of Rot, in a shack outside the church on the edge of Aeonia Swamp in Caelid.
The pink mist was much thinner here, but its cloying, rotten scent still lingered. A few rot fungi grew sparsely around the shack, and several gravestones stood crooked in the mud, making the place look especially desolate.
Tarnished arrived at the shack alone. He had taken off his armor and wore only simple traveling clothes. He carried no weapons-at least, none that could be seen.
He knocked on the door.
An aged but gentle voice came from within. "Come in."
He pushed the door open and entered. The interior was entirely different from the world outside. The shabby wooden hut had been kept clean and tidy. Shelves in the corner were filled with scrolls and ancient books, while a weak fire burned in the fireplace, driving away the damp. An old man in a hooded, dark red robe sat at a desk, studying a stone tablet.
"Sage Gowry?" Tarnished asked.
The old man raised his head and smiled kindly. "Indeed. You are... ah, I've heard of you. The new lord of Stormveil."
Tarnished stepped closer and carefully examined this "sage." Gowry's appearance was flawless: the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes, his slightly stooped back, the calluses on his hands from years of leafing through books. Even the presence he gave off was nothing more than an ordinary old man's faint vitality.
"I have a favor to ask." Tarnished got straight to the point, taking the Gold Needle, broken in two, from inside his clothes and setting it on the desk.
Gowry's gaze instantly fixed on the Gold Needle. It lasted only a moment, but Tarnished caught it-a flash of greed in those cloudy