There are six ranks to paladin orders: Grand Master, Master, Templar, Standard Bearer, Knight and Squire. Each level in the Church of the Seven Roses had a color of rose on them at all times. From the top down there were black, pink, orange, yellow, ivory and white. Every member also carried a red rose on them regardless of rank. It was pretty nice. The cleric that did so was named Father Joy. A nun was also there. Her name was Greta. There was a quest to join up with them. We had to go plant some potted roses in the forest. All of us went to the bank. Daniel and I put our gold in the bank. It had a 1% interest rate. Daniel and Abel went to the manor to wait for us while we were questing. I accepted the quest and we went out to the forest. The area we needed to go was a clearing near the center of the forest. It was pretty and peaceful. I was not in any false sense of security. There was a small plot of land where there were several red roses. "This is the place we need to plant the roses." I said to them. They nodded and we got off our horses and got to work planting.
With Chien, Chat, and myself as guards, Leon planted his roses. I was next. The comfort men then went together. When they did so, several wolves surrounded us. It is very clear that this was for anyone who wanted to join up with them. It was easy enough for us to repel them with how strong we all were. There were several waves of them. When they were done spawning and we killed them all, a harsh breeze swept through the clearing. The rose petal were ripped from the flower and swirled around the air. A nymph appeared behind us and all the red petals formed a silver blade with an ornate red hilt. "Thank you for believing in me and proving your strength. It was very enjoyable to see. Kneel so that I may dub thee paladins of the Church of the Seven Roses. As you can clearly see, I am Red. I am the least, yet most loved of my sisters." There was nothing much to say. This was an avatar of one of the deities of the church. I knelt on the ground and the others did as well. We were knighted and then Red disappeared. We made our way back to the city quietly.
Getting back to the city, we stopped at a sign post that had a series of maps. Seeing the maps expanded my internal map in the menu. The city map was fully updated. I also had a better idea on the relative positions on all the settlements in Sacrilmon. Something that caught my eye were the six forts in the country. There were forts spread all over the map for the Players. If they wanted to form factions and kingdoms of their own, they would need some territory. If a Player held a fort, city and village to themselves, they could declare themself a petty king. From there, they could name their kingdom and go to war with other powers. That was not my personal intention however. If I did all that, it would be too much trouble. With our lowered status as a minor cult, we could make the Church of the Seven Roses a serious military power in this country. While the other religions have a definite head start, the game was still new enough that not many Players had settled in Sacrilmon, if visited at all. Taking several forts for the church was not too impossible. That was my new goal.
As it currently stood, two of the forts were outposts held by the army of the country. Three were held by bandits. The final was taken by Church of the Dragon's Flame. I needed to return to the church. When we got there, they ran to us. "Did you see her!?" the nun asked. I nodded. They led us to the back and gave us our outfits. The order were green knights instead of white knights. Therefore, the outfit was a leafy green padded tunic and some white trim. There were ceremonial longswords with carved wooden hilts. We wore them and they were pretty stylish. Leon said "This isn't as good as our old armor, but I'm happy we are on an honest path." Chien nodded and said "I was sure you would try to convince us to join some bandits on the side of the road or something." "That didn't even cross my mind. I would have beat the shit out of him if he did." Chat dismissed. "That's a good idea. A group like us should clear all those bandit forts for the Church." Father Joy and Sister Greta were skeptical at that. "Don't feel you need to. We are too small to hold one. Let alone three." he said.
