Chapter 3.5: The Temple of Merikka

Aanbo approaches the door, where Lyrel - who is keeping watch in the doorway - sees him and nods.

"It was something we did long ago, when we were young and rebellious. What better way to rebel than to reject the goddess?" the watchman sighs, his face still pressed into the floorboards. He groans a little as he tries to shift to a less-painful position: an impossibility. "We saw the error of our ways long ago, of course. "Now we all serve Her, and of course She is happy to have us work for the greater good. We're not the ones going around killing dogs and invading holy ground."

Aanbo only caught the tail end of this conversation, but he can tell that the watchman is lying in some aspect of his story. The fervor in his voice reminds the dwarf too much of Jonbon to be taken credulously.

While Eugenios slips comfortably into his bad cop routine, Chase exits and fetches first one wolf corpse and then the other. Dumping them on the floor, he stands as an imposing figure, covered in blood. Aanbo moves from companion to companion, whispering to each that the only obvious way into the Temple is through the door. Arya, relieved to focus on something other than incipient torture, nods her understanding. A bit less than an hour remains before dawn. The watchman wheezes, pressed into the floor.

Stationed at the door, Lyrel nods to the elf as he announces his intent to watch the entrances/exits. The wizard, having raised the possibility of a geas, turns over the nature of such magic compulsions in her mind. She knows that people under a geas cannot act against the commands of the caster, but she's not sure what could end a geas. The caster can stop a geas voluntarily, but would killing the caster also break the geas? She's not sure. Could there be other magic that produces a similar effect?

Morton leaves and finds a twisted, overgrown bush to hide behind. The grounds would have been lovely at one time in the past, but they've been badly neglected despite all the tools that Aanbo found in the other outbuildings. From his crouched position, Morton can easily see both the gate in the wall and the door in the Temple.

For overcoming the forces guarding the Temple when it's closed at night, each character in the party gains 20 XP.

Gasping through the pain, his voice muffled by being pressed into the floor, the watchman keeps talking. "Strong or weak, high or low, She treats us all as equals. How else would I be treated the same as a rich innkeeper, a priest in charge of a flock, or an important foreigner with fierce eyes? There's room for all of you, too! She'd welcome you with open arms! We all would!"

"Slavery??!" The watchman is clearly offended at Ember's objection. "We all choose to love Her willingly! No one regrets their decision, right?" There is a chorus of grunting assent, muffled by sodden gags. It's clear that these people cannot recognize how they've been controlled, no matter how much evidence is presented to them. It's becoming clear to everyone what Lyrel has already understood: no amount of talking is going to change their minds. "Slavery? The idea is ridiculous. She brings freedom!"

"Ahh..." He sighs with relief when Eugenios removes his pressing hand. "Goddess...?" The watchman is clearly confused by the gnome's questions. "Oh, you must mean Merikka." He says the deity's name with clear derision. "Nobody cares about Merikka once they meet Her. She's so much better than some god. I forget sometimes how it is for people like you, who haven't met Her. Names are unimportant, trivial compared to the closeness you feel when you become one with Her. Gods are far away, but She is here and now, as real as you or me. She asks, merges, blends, gets to know you inside and out, closer than anyone you've ever known. Do you know what it feels like to be completely known, and accepted?" He giggles. "You will! Everyone will come to love Her eventually!"

It doesn't take much insight for Eugenios to realize that the man doesn't actually know "Her" name, and that he's not bothered by that ignorance.