Paladin's Pledge/Plot Details

< Paladin's Pledge
Paladin's Pledge - Part 1
Lulutsu: Oh-ho, don't tell me you're a gladiator, too. I dare say you're itching to join our tourney. Am I right, or am I right? Well then, I daresay what I'm about to tell you will bring you one step closer to making your dream come true...

Lulutsu: Apparently─and remember, you heard this first from me─the Sultansworn elites are sharing the secret skills and training of paladins! Incredible, I know.

Lulutsu: The Sultansworn have an exclusive monopoly on the instruction of paladin skills. Once upon a time, if you weren't one of those officer-track elites then you had no chance to learn the arts. And competition to get to the top was very fierce indeed, let me tell you.

Lulutsu: But anyone who joined had to swear an oath of fealty to the Ul'dahn sultanate. Which meant no more adventuring, no more derring-do, and no more Coliseum─just languishing about in the palace all day polishing plate mail.

Lulutsu: That's why this news is so big. Now anyone with a bit of commitment can learn the skills of a paladin, and no memorizing the Fifty-Five Commandments of the Sworn or any other nonsense, either.

Lulutsu: This is a golden─no, a platinum opportunity that comes but once in a lucky adventurer's lifetime. Let this slip through your fingers and regret will be your just deserts. So what do you say?

(Refuse)

Lulutsu: Ah, a crying shame and what's more, a pity. How I would have loved to have seen a paladin stand bold and tall in the Coliseum. Imagine the crowds! It would have been a spectacle for the ages.

(Accept)

Lulutsu: Of course you say yes─it's the only possible choice. To think that the Coliseum will be graced by a mighty paladin! I can see the crowds now, feel the stands tremble with their bloodthirsty roars, hear the tinkle of countless coins tumbling into our coffers...

Lulutsu: We must find a suitable adversary! Someone mean, someone rotten, someone powerful... But listen to me, I'm getting ahead of myself. First things first, yes?

Lulutsu: You need to go to the Royal Promenade, in Ul'dah's Hustings Strip. Find the captain of the Sultansworn elites─Jenlyns is his name─and tell him how you're just dying to become a paladin.

Paladin's Pledge - Part 2
Jenlyns: Yes, I am Jenlyns, member of the Sultansworn elite and servant to the Ul'dahn sultanate. Unless my instincts deceive me, you have come to inquire about training as a paladin. If so, I would have your name, good sir.

Jenlyns: ...<Name>? A fine name. I bid you welcome, and salute your noble resolve. But if you aspire to paladinhood, you should understand what it means.

Jenlyns: A paladin swears allegiance to the sultanate. A paladin shall be the sword and shield of the sultanate. A paladin defends the people of the realm.

Jenlyns: Sellswords and gladiators and others of their ilk wield their blades for themselves, but a paladin serves the greater good. Do you understand me?

Jenlyns: The battle arts that the paladin learns have been held secret, nurtured, and perfected within the ranks of the Sultansworn elite for nigh on these six hundred years.

Jenlyns: As you well know, of all those sworn to protect the sultanate─the soldiers, the mounted guards, and knights─we are the elite of the elite. Our conviction unwavering, our hearts true, our sword skills without peer.

Jenlyns: But the glory of the Sultansworn... Well, much of it is buried in the past now. Our brotherhood grows smaller by the year, we are a shadow of what we once were, and the sultana turns to sellswords to defend her palace.

Jenlyns: All this, because of one traitor─no, because of a blot of dishonor left by one who shall not be named... And because of him, we have been forced to seek the help of able-bodied adventurers.

Jenlyns: And here you are. We shall instruct you in the paladin military arts. You will not be inducted into the Sultansworn, but serve as a free paladin.However, first you will show us that both your sword and heart have mettle, and you are worthy of the honor.

Jenlyns: In western Thanalan is a travelers' way station called the Coffer & Coffin. Undead monsters prowl the lands to the south. Find them, defeat them, and return with proof of your deed.

Jenlyns: Now, would-be paladin, show me the mettle in your heart and steel in your blade!

Paladin's Pledge - Part 3
???: If you are in this place, searching for the undead, then you must be a petitioner seeking the secrets of the paladin arts.

Solkzagyl: But make no mistake. Simply learning paladin swordplay does not make you a paladin─nor less the armor you wear, or the status you claim.

Solkzagyl: I am just another aging free paladin, but you would do well to heed my counsel. Strike off the shackles that bind your spirit, lift the visor that blinds, and find the true path of the paladin.

Solkzagyl: Here, you will be returning to the captain, yes? Then give him this crystal.

Solkzagyl: The way you use that sword reminds me of a man I used to know...

Solkzagyl: Mine eyes may be old, but they can see the truth well enough. Be a paladin strong and true. Devote yourself to the way and become a beacon of light.

Paladin's Pledge - Part 4
Jenlyns: Yes, that's what I needed. Proof that you have defeated the undead. You have shown that your heart is true and your sword has mettle. Now, without further ado, let me teach you your first skills.

Jenlyns: There, it is done. You are an attentive pupil─you will soon be able to put your skills to use. Remember, you are a paladin now, and custodian of traditions ancient and noble.

Jenlyns: A free paladin has no master. Instead he travels all lands, and in every place takes up the cause of the unarmed and defenseless. You swear fealty not to a lord, but to yourself─you are nobility amongst adventurers.

Jenlyns: You have taken your first steps on a new path, and you have earned the right to bear this, the Soul of the Paladin. Upon its surface are carved the deeds of paladins of eras past. He who bears it commands the respect of all knights of honor.

Jenlyns: Bahamut's fang! You already possess the crystal? And you say it was given to you by an unknown free paladin, who told you to hand it to me?

Jenlyns: Curse him, he has made a mockery of the trial. That crystal you bear is indeed the Soul of the Paladin. But it is disgraced, impure. It was stolen from the Sultansworn.

Jenlyns: The man who gave you this soul is the very traitor whom I have been seeking these many moons.

Jenlyns: He is an oathbreaker who bent the knee to the Ul'dahn sultanate and who swore allegiance to the Sultansworn, but then single-handedly sullied our name, and trampled it underfoot until it was lost, perhaps forever. How dare he give counsel on honor, on the paladin way...!?

Jenlyns: Give me that soul. It is polluted and I must dispose of it. When you come to wield your sword as a paladin, the only soul you may wear is that which is bestowed by a captain of the Sultansworn.

Jenlyns: That traitor is no Sultansworn, still less a captain. By giving you a soul, he insulted not only the brotherhood, but you, too.

Jenlyns: Perhaps an adventurer like yourself finds our rules quaint, even a nuisance in these troubled times. But through reigns long and short, our forebears in the Sultansworn have preserved its rituals and traditions, and we are duty-bound to uphold them─even if men and women within our own ranks scorn them as relics.

Jenlyns: It has been my fate to be named captain of the Sultansworn in these troubled times. But I have bent my knee to the sultana and sworn fealty, and I am bound to my duty. What choice do I have, but to fight to restore our honor and name?

Jenlyns: You wield a skilled blade, and more importantly, you have met the traitor face-to-face. Your great task as a paladin will be to help me bring him to justice.

Jenlyns: You must ready yourself, marshal your resources, and hone your skills until the time comes when you are able to discharge your duty. The journey will be long, but you are a paladin now, and honor binds you as surely as an oath.