Pine dies by the assassin's hand. He finds himself in blackness. He can see himself, but sort of not at the same time. He knows he has died, but not where he is or what is going on. He reaches out to Myrkul, however when he does he can see the three spirits there, but then another power takes ahold of him, and he appears in a library.
There is a man there at a desk, reading a book. He appears old, with a long flowing beard, but Pine doesn't know enough about religion to guess who it is.
Pine doesn't interrupt him from his reading, knowing that he was brought here, and whatever power this person has, it is best not to try their patience. He looks at the books around him instead, seeing books of many different languages, many he has no idea what they are. The text appears to blur and become distorted the more he looks at them.
Eventually the figure closes the book and sets it aside, commenting on how Pine has quite a lot of patience and asks his name. Wary of giving his full name, he says it is Pine, which is both true, but not the whole truth. Names have power, as he just found out very pointedly from the assassin, and if this is a god, as he assumes, then they would already know his name.
Jergal introduces himself to Pine, gives a brief comment on how he once gave his power to the Three, but then they died, and he has once more become somewhat interested in the goings on than before. He asks what Pine thinks the Three want from him.
"They want my service."
Jergal agrees "No doubt they do."
Jergal gives some history of the power that Pine now holds with the amulet, how it was a fragment of a dead god cast out into the world.
Jergal states his interest in the mortal realm once more, and wants to make a deal with Pine.
[Note: I can't remember specifics of the offer because even at the time it was muddled in my mind]
I think he specifically intimated that Pine would likely be a servant or even a slave to the Three. The general gist of the conversation I think was that Jergal wanted Pine to go to the Mere of Dead Men and see what was going on there, in exchange for what he had been offered before, being reborn etc. Pine was very hesitant, because he had already made a deal with the Three, his path had already been set, and Jergal seems to be trying to usurp that plan. Pine didn't know whether this god was actually a full god any more, any more than the Three were, and he wasn't comfortable going back on something he had agreed to do.
To Pine, he has been following the guidance of the Three all his life, and this smacks too much of interpersonal drama and betrayal, and he doesn't like that at all. He doesn't like politics and no matter if he ends up a servant/slave to the Three, they found him first, helped him first, and that is important to Pine.
Jergal would then try and sweeten the deal, saying that he could still do what the Three wanted, getting the essence of the dragon, etc, but then to report back to Jergal on their plans or something? Can't quite remember. He still wanted him to go to the Mere of Dead Men afterwards though.
Despite this, Pine still denies the offer, no matter if he ends up properly dead afterwards. He is very driven about his decided path and decision. He doesn't want to do anything that could be seen as betrayal. He is not power hungry or looking for the best deal. He is always pretty calm and steady about things, especially death. Even though he is in the presence of a God, and he is very respectful of that, he honours his word, and so would not take the offer, even on vague terms.
Jergal then acknowledges this, and sends him to the rest of the group, with all his belongings etc, himself altered fundamentally to a different race (a reborn), with everything except Zatharius' head. His fur is now snow white without any spots, only darker smudges of fur around his eyes reminiscent of the skull. His eyes are scarlet now, he doesn't need to eat, breathe, sleep etc. To a regular person he still looks like a tabaxi, but to another tabaxi he is very off.
He hears in his head: "Lose your life again and you will pass on."