hearing you talk about his fate, the prisoner turns whiter each time. finally, it seems to be too much for him. With tears forming in his eyes, he begins to talk. Slowly at first, with quite a few pauses in between, but gaining more resolve to confess as he speaks.
"Please Magistrate, I repent the sins in which i took part, helping these others defile this holy place. i was but ahumble soldierfrom the Northern Border Territories, when they took me prisoner in a raid and led me from the enlightened path the spirits of my ancestors had set before me. We came from the shadowlands, travelling here via an ancient stone arch. Longying, the baoren, called it the Pathways of Nightly Whispers and it brought us and another group here in but a few days, instead of weaks, unnoticed. We parted ways with the other group, led by a human named Wang Xueshi (selfstyled "the Bloodwarrior"). they went to the areas around the provincial capital, while we traveld towards the coast, seeking these stones [ooc: he nods in the direction of the stones you found with the baoren]. Longying said they would contain the spiritual essence of this and other places, which he planned to sacrifice to his Master ind the Eternal Shadow. before we came here, we had visited two other shrines, one not far from the entrance to the Pathways, the other one about a day's travel distant from here. There, Longying also aquired these stones.In the name of the spirits of my ancestors, The glowing stone is from the last site, while the other one he already has used in sonme dark ritual or another during the last storm. As far as i know, he hadn't managed to get the stone from this site before you arrived. The jade pieces are only meant for those who have served the Eternal Shadow for some time, protecting them on their tripps into the deepest parts of the shadowlands where they meet their masters for the first time. Without thhe jade, i was told, the powers of the Eternal Shadow yould warp one's very soul." he bends his head, his gaze directed on the floor before him. "i beg forgiveness for my sins and await the judgement i deserve. i shamed my family, my ancesters and the empire."