[h3]The Lumenflower Garden, Upper Cathedral Ward, high above western Yharnam[/h3]
Again Harold let out a merry, grandfatherly laugh. “My, my, so respectful this batch of Hunters has turned out to be. Don't worry, you can talk to me and ask me questions; I won't mind. Being vicar is just a responsibility to my charges, and it should never make me unapproachable to them.”

He crossed his arms. “Ah, but yes, these questions... I suppose it would make most sense to start with Farren's question and go over what Paleblood is in the first place? Obviously it is still being researched and much of what we know is difficult to explain in terms a layman would understand, but I will try my best for your sake.
Imagine, if you will, a fishing pole.” As he spoke, he uncrossed his arms and mimed holding such an implement in front of him. “Allegorically that fishing pole is your Hunter's Dream, and humans like yourselves are the fish. Paleblood, then, is like a hook that one might eat but won't cut you until the line begins to go taut. Once it does, however, it will continue to piece deeper into the flesh and tear through it the longer you struggle, unaware of the force above the water trying to pull you to it. Left to your own devices, just swimming along wherever the current takes you and enduring what is happening to you, that hook eventually kills you. By making you Hunters, we essentially gave you the strength to fight the current, slacken the line and even leap from the water to witness what force has snared you.”
He threw his arms wide and smiled. “You see, Paleblood is not truly a disease, it is the Dream trying to call you to it, but we humans are normally too weak to answer the call. Even now you, Ophelia and Gerlinde, still have the metaphorical hook buried in your flesh, and are still attached to that fishing line. Even now you cannot escape the Dream. Only the Dream itself, or whatever force governs who is and is not bound to it, can release you from its grip.”
Lowering his arms, he continued: “False Paleblood, as you call it, is an attempt to devise a way to hook whoever we want. We create a new hook and line and hope it attaches to the fishing rod. In your case, Farren and Torquil, it did. Though the weather changing when you go there... that hardly sounds like a significant downside to attaining immortality, does it?”