Editing Glory Exultation (section)

==Yanseldra==
The rest of the approach to the tower was uneventful. When the party came within sight, they could see that the tower had no visible gates, doors, or windows. However, standing stoically in front of the tower was the archangel Yanseldra. She bore a look of resigned sadness and her visibly wounded left wing steadily dripped blood onto the ground below.

The party approached cautiously and found Yanseldra to be resolute but non-threatening. She denied the party access to the tower, as her duty was to guard it. She said, "(quote about the terms of her compulsion--thank you Josh for posting here)". The Companions attempted to question her about how to fulfill those terms, but she was unable or unwilling to clarify. She declined to let the party spill their own blood in an attempt to free her, saying "I have seen enough pain." When [[Nigel StoneVault|Nigel]] cut himself anyway, she merely winced. Turning to him, she prompted, "Consider why you are here..."

The Companions withdrew a respectful distance to discuss their options. When that debate began to solidify around the unpleasant possibility that the Companions must attack and slay Yanseldra, it was surprisingly Regina who casts an ''augury'' using a gold coin. The near-instant response was ''woe'', indicating that such a course would be a very, VERY bad idea. {Mechanics note: Josh later revealed that Yanseldra's Challenge Rating was a minimum of 30...} Upon further consideration, Nigel concluded that when the paladin order fought and slew the heavenly host, it represented a betrayal that binds Yanseldra, the sole survivor, to this place.

Knowing his family's long history of paladinhood, Nigel approached Yanseldra and learned that it was in fact his own grandfather who wounded her. Bending to a knee, he humbly apologized for his grandfather's actions and, by extension, the betrayal by the entire order. He requested her forgiveness. Yanseldra silently extended her wounded wing towards him, and Nigel lay hands upon her, healing the wound. Eyes closed, she let out a supernatural sigh of relief, then sprang straight up into the air, her wings snapping open loudly, and flew upwards until lost in the sun. A single feather drifted down through the still air until caught by a misty-eyed Nigel.

At the time, no one stopped to reflect on the fact that Nigel's grandfather ''wounded an archangel with a +1 sword''. Nigel's grandfather, it can apparently be safely said, was a bad-ass.