"There are other sorts of undead things, and woken shadows, and imps, and tainted beasts or sometimes people."

"I think there are - probably creatures that match some of those descriptions. We have demons for sure. So, I guess those would count as 'dark things.' But they don't show up very often and angels will tend to take care of them when they do."

"We have no angels. Just us paladins."

"Oh. Well. Um. You were doing a pretty good job from what I saw?"

"Thank you."

"You're welcome. Iiii would probably just spend all of my time screaming in a higher pitch than I should be capable of, when facing down creatures of the dark."

"Well, the service isn't for everyone, certainly."

"My sister would probably be good at it."

"There is more to it than killing zombies," says Kaja, "but perhaps."

"Maybe just the killing zombies part. Since I don't know what else your job entails?"

"Griffins take a fair amount of maintenance - so do all the other possible mounts - and Ragnar's my sole responsibility. I have church duties and have to keep my vows and between missions there is training and prayer and reflection."

"What are the vows, if you don't mind me asking?"

"It's not a secret. In the order of the Winter Light we take vows of obedience, chastity, piety, and service, while we're active."

"... Well. Nevermind the paladin bit for my sister, she would be - bad at most of those."

"Like I said, not for everyone."

"It depends on the things."

"Well, I'm - mostly asking because if I am going to be stuck here until I can figure out how to get home, I might as well try and figure out a way to - aim my magic to try and stop the dark things from appearing."

"Well, I recommend starting by not using it to make or summon any, since sometimes mages bring them about."

"... How would making them or summoning them help in any way?"

"You might have to ask a mage who has done it," says Kaja.

"Okay, well, I don't know how to either make them or summon them, so, good news, even if I wanted to, I couldn't manage it without a lot of work. I was thinking more like - why do they happen, and is there a way to stop it from happening?"

"When it isn't mages, they sometimes arise or intrude on their own."

"Under what conditions? Do you know?"

"When I find dark things I am generally focused on killing them and not on the details of how they got there. So, only vaguely."