This looks like Jojo's personal business and Belmarniss will leave him to it!

Jojo shakes himself. "I... you took the Sleeping Man's ring. Why."

"...I came here when Nasher's mob killed me. All I had was the rope around my neck, and a goal. If I was to burn in Hell, my pyre would light the way. Your ideals had touched me."

Her fist clenches. "I worked the quarry for a year, carved myself a panoply from the ice. I went to the Sensei, and she looked into her angel's dreams to tell me Mephistopheles' weakness. But that wasn't enough. No mortal could face an archdevil. I took the ring. I quested for the Knower of Places. I asked her where I could find the power that would let me defeat him."

"She sent me back here. Told me to raise an army of the dead. And so I did. I didn't even tell them my name, only that I sought to depose the Lord of the Eighth. They followed me. I confronted him, army at my back, and he smiled. I asked why. He told me - the truth."

Angry tears brim in her eyes. "And I faltered. He scattered my forces while I tried to reckon with what he told me. Then, he told me - 'go, little half-soul, and lose yourself to the ice. It is the ending your story has always had.'"

"...what did he tell you, that made you falter like that?"

"Four words. 'You never loved him.'"

"...Fenthick? You - I saw you with him. You were happy."

"You don't need to be in love for life to be sweet. I never loved Fenthick. I loved Neverwinter. But - when they killed Fenthick, I killed Neverwinter. For the love of a man I did not love, I burned the city I did. I destroyed myself. Everything that I was - everything that I could have been - I burned on the altar of my lost love. But I never loved him."

"Aribeth..."

"What, hero? Here I stand. What do you say to the woman you killed?"

"It doesn't matter."

Aribeth blinks. "What?"

"You betrayed the city you loved. I don't care if you did it because they killed the man you loved, or because they killed an innocent who you only thought you liked, or because you had a fucking temper tantrum - you made a mistake. Your job isn't to excuse yourself. It's to make things better. You don't have to worship Tyr anymore. Maybe you're soured on the concept of justice. Hell, you don't have to be a paladin again. Just - do the work. Make things right. In the depths of Hell, be better."

She looks - stunned.

Then she tears up again. "In the depths of Hell... perhaps that's enough. Perhaps that's what it takes. Then... on my blade and on my soul, I swear to make things right. I swear to redeem myself - I swear to be true - I swear, though I am condemned, that I will be better."

There's a burst of energy, and her sword starts glowing with holy light. She looks at it, sheaths it at her hip, and pulls Jojo into a hug.

...Belmarniss's first reaction to that is honestly to check that Deekin is taking notes because that was really too poem-perfect, but also: awww.

Deekin is absolutely taking notes. Fortunately it turns out a semi-physical quill doesn't scratch audibly against the semi-physical page, so the moment remains intact.

Eventually Jojo exits the hug. "Do you want to come with us?" he asks hesitantly.

"No, Jojo," she says. "I think - I think I am not yet ready to face him again. I'm going to try to improve things here."

She slips the ring off her finger and hands it to him. "Here. It will light your way to the Knower of Places."

"Good luck with, uh, improving things," Belmarniss murmurs.

She smiles ruefully. "I'll need it. But - I raised an army once, and destroyed a city. Maybe I can make this one worth living in."

"Deekin think crushing cities and making good cities be different skillsets," Deekin points out cautiously.

"I do also have civil administration experience," Aribeth clarifies. "Having been Neverwinter's Seneschal for several years."

"Oh, good. No further objections from Deekin."

"We will try to fix the thing where somebody else is raising an army."

"Indeed. I wish you the best of luck on your journey."

"Thanks."

On with the journey, then.