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[GreatWyrmGold]

"I am sorry to have...taken your spot. May I ask what this spot and your name are? My name is Phiali, incidentally."

(I was thinking more "tribe" than "civilization," but this woman is a good start.)

[TCM]

"Excuse me miss, have you seen Gezerim of recent?"

Elizas asks the woman he sees.

[Harry Baldman]

"I am sorry to have...taken your spot. May I ask what this spot and your name are? My name is Phiali, incidentally."

(I was thinking more "tribe" than "civilization," but this woman is a good start.)

She looks to be struggling with certain words, attempting to explain them through vague gestures first.

"This is my... camping spot. I live here when I do not... hunt. I am... Zarah."

"Excuse me miss, have you seen Gezerim of recent?"

Elizas asks the woman he sees.

[Woman helpfulness roll: 1-->3]

The woman looks at you like a frightened animal, then makes a run for it down the hall.

That is quite unusual.

[GreatWyrmGold]

"Hello, Zarah. I am sorry to have intruded. Might I offer to make my presence welcome with a bit of a story to make your day more interesting?"

[Harry Baldman]

"Hello, Zarah. I am sorry to have intruded. Might I offer to make my presence welcome with a bit of a story to make your day more interesting?"

She shrugs.

"Speak, and I shall listen."

[GreatWyrmGold]

Tell her a tale which truthfully conveys the events of my life from that fateful battle to when I thrice escaped the temple's wrath. Make sure to tell it honestly and as if it happened to some imaginary person.

"What do you think about the story? There's a little more you can hear, if you wish..."

[Harry Baldman]

Turn 37 - Story Time Again

Gronok thanks the man for showing some actual faith for once, unlike some of these ungrateful godless individuals, then inquires about a possible exit for himself and his one true disciple.

"Well, I'm sure that an exit is around here someplace. That is, unless they have completely changed the layout, which, considering that I have been down there for more than twenty years, is not unlikely. Things get bricked up, you know. I suppose I could try to lead you somewhere. I might not have forgotten everything but mind-numbing boredom, terrible food and searing agony in my time in the dungeon."
 
"Then lead me you shall! Onward!"

The speaker takes Gronok down a somewhat different route than the one the others presumably took, though they do not get very far until they stop in a certain hallway.

"That's unusual."

"What?"

"The floor from here on in is covered in some sort of black liquid. Very, very strange."

* * * * *

Elizas walks up to the woman, intent on obtaining an answer on the whereabouts of his kind host.

"Excuse me miss, have you seen Gezerim of recent?"

[Woman helpfulness roll: 1-->3]

The woman looks at him like a frightened animal, then makes a run for it down the hall. That is quite strange, he must say.

* * * * *

Phiali, not deterred by the woman's lack of politeness, attempts to begin a heartfelt, honest communique with her.

"I am sorry to have...taken your spot. May I ask what this spot and your name are? My name is Phiali, incidentally."

"This is my... camping spot. I live here when I do not... hunt. I am... Zarah," she says, struggling with words at certain points and resorting to odd hand gestures.

"Hello, Zarah. I am sorry to have intruded. Might I offer to make my presence welcome with a bit of a story to make your day more interesting?"

Zarah's expression does not change even the slightest bit, and she shrugs.

"Speak, and I shall listen."

"You see, it is a tale of certain stormy events of a certain person's life."

[Phiali storytelling roll: 6-->4+1]

"It all started in a land far to the southeast, a land of vast jungles quite unlike these forests of Tezelom. It was a land consumed by war, hatred and terror, and it was the birthplace of the hero of this tale."

He then expounds upon his origins in great detail, describing the land he was born in with the utmost honesty and attention to detail, providing vast amounts of information in a straightforward, easily digestible and hard-hitting manner very much like a bard would certainly not. Whatever the case, Zarah seems to be paying attention.

"... and it was in that oasis that the man heard the voice of God. The voice guided him, told him of the True Teachings..."

Once he starts getting into the whole prophecy thing, the woman starts to become really intrigued. Though when Phiali gets to the temple bits, she starts to become slightly perplexed.

"... and then the man, having refused the old man's abhorrent offer, tackled him to the ground and made an escape in the resulting confusion, diverting the last few guards with promises he had absolutely no intention to fulfill. And I have it on good authority that he roams this area to this very day."

"So, what do you think about the story?"

"I am glad I do not... know this man. He sounds very... strange. Following... spirits is not... wise, as they are..."

She snaps her fingers a few times in the air while she tries to remember the word she's looking for.

"... fickle, yes... fickle. They lead you... astray. Powerful spirits especially."

"There's a little more you can hear, if you wish..."

"Proceed. I am... curious."

Well, that's good, he supposes. Even though she did call him strange and question the divinity of the one true deity.

Spoiler: MP Tracker (click to show/hide)

Gronok: 0 MP
Phiali: 0 MP
Elizas: 3 MP
Sejena: 0 MP
Shashari: 5 MP

[Xantalos]

Toss something aside from me or my follower in experimentally. A bit of dust on the floor, a pebble, whatever.

[GreatWyrmGold]

"After this man left the temple, he searched for more people to talk to about his god. After a day or two, he met a woman who informed him that he had taken her spot. Upon meeting her, he apologized for the transgression and offered to tell her a story. Quite thankfully and politely, she agreed. So the man told her his own life story, leading up to the point where he told the woman his life story. Then he offered to speak of the god who made it all possible to the woman; the rest of the story is not yet written."

Phiali took a brief pause to take a sip of water and catch a few breaths.

"Would you be interested in hearing more of this god?"

[Harry Baldman]

"After this man left the temple, he searched for more people to talk to about his god. After a day or two, he met a woman who informed him that he had taken her spot. Upon meeting her, he apologized for the transgression and offered to tell her a story. Quite thankfully and politely, she agreed. So the man told her his own life story, leading up to the point where he told the woman his life story. Then he offered to speak of the god who made it all possible to the woman; the rest of the story is not yet written."

Phiali took a brief pause to take a sip of water and catch a few breaths.

"Would you be interested in hearing more of this god?"

Zarah makes a somewhat disapproving motion with her head.

"You should not listen to spirits. They can only bring evil if... obeyed. Their... motives are... unknowable. Their ways are mysterious. Best to steer clear of them."

[TCM]

"Wait, I shall not harm you! I only wish to ask you something!"

Elizas pursues the running woman.

[GreatWyrmGold]

Phiali thought for a moment, pondering how to consider. What proof had he that the God was more than a mere spirit, and more importantly, more trustworthy? Not helping matters is that Phiali's home culture had little closely resembling the types of spirits he had learned existed in the mythology of these northern lands, being enigmatic but inescapably honest and honorable.

"...Think of a god, spirit, wakyambi or whatever as merely a human capable of things no man or woman can. When a man with power--be he a father, lord, elder, any leader--interacts with his subordinate--child, vassal, subject--the interactions benefit both. That is how the God works--the God's worshipers gain divine boons for their work in the God's name. Even if one assumes the being to be untrustworthy, only false servants who try to steal boons they neither earned nor deserve need fear the God's treachery, as it is in the God's own interests to keep other followers well."

[Harry Baldman]

Phiali thought for a moment, pondering how to consider. What proof had he that the God was more than a mere spirit, and more importantly, more trustworthy? Not helping matters is that Phiali's home culture had little closely resembling the types of spirits he had learned existed in the mythology of these northern lands, being enigmatic but inescapably honest and honorable.

"...Think of a god, spirit, wakyambi or whatever as merely a human capable of things no man or woman can. When a man with power--be he a father, lord, elder, any leader--interacts with his subordinate--child, vassal, subject--the interactions benefit both. That is how the God works--the God's worshipers gain divine boons for their work in the God's name. Even if one assumes the being to be untrustworthy, only false servants who try to steal boons they neither earned nor deserve need fear the God's treachery, as it is in the God's own interests to keep other followers well."

"But how do you know that the spirit, how did you say, benefits? Maybe it is not a good spirit, but a bad one. A spirit that only exists to... abuse and mislead people for its own... amusement, laughing in the deep groves as you think it to be your... guardian?"

She looks at the nearby tree, picking away at its bark with her rough hands.

"Or maybe it laughs as you hurt other people at its behest and spread pain to people? Spirits are unknowable and unreliable, so I do not try to know them or even think to rely on them. It is unwise."

[GreatWyrmGold]

"If the God was such a malicious creature, why was I saved? Not once, nor twice, but many times. Why is it that the God would command me to nonviolence if it was the God's purpose to spread strife? The only possibilities are that the God is as benevolent as claimed, or that the benevolence is an act so pervasive that the God may be treated as such, for the God's actions are and will be those of a benevolent being."

[Harry Baldman]

"If the God was such a malicious creature, why was I saved? Not once, nor twice, but many times. Why is it that the God would command me to nonviolence if it was the God's purpose to spread strife? The only possibilities are that the God is as benevolent as claimed, or that the benevolence is an act so pervasive that the God may be treated as such, for the God's actions are and will be those of a benevolent being."

"To ask 'why' of a spirit is foolish. Why spirits do things, only the spirits themselves know. They are old and patient, they know things we do not. Perhaps the spirit seeks to spread strife of a different sort, a much more... insidious form that consumes the minds of the many rather than the flesh of the few. You may merely be its tool of madness, necessarily unknowing to perform your purpose in its scheme. If the spirit were to tell you something different than before the next day, yet still grant strange... providence in your favor, would you not still trust its words?"