"I don't know. I think there's some, at higher levels, with the sort of complicated stuff we're getting into. Abadar has part of himself in Osirion, right, reading policy papers and listening to debates and all that - I don't think the gods make arrangements with a specific destiny in mind, but I expect they know what tools are available to them."

"Yeah, all right. It does seem a little odd to be sitting yourself in the heavenly toolbox when your own very god receives his worryingly literal mail in Axis but I suppose the philosophy could hang together."

"Good needs the help more, frankly."

"I don't disagree."

"Well, it's good to have you aboard. We'll see you in the morning?"

"See you."

She takes her leave. She's back at dawn all dressed up for an adventure.

And they can flying-carpet out of Sothis and on north. Hagan lets his snake hang out of his sleeve and watch the horizon. Takes the mask off once they're well clear of Sothis. 

"What's the deal with the mask?"

"When I was very young I ran into the man who is now the Grand Vizier Of Internal Affairs picking his nose. I immediately backed away, but he turned around, and saw me. My face is etched in his memory, and his in mine; I will always recall the chilling hatred with which he looked at me before I vanished into the crowd. I am the only one who knows his shameful secret, and if he ever sees me again he'll surely have me killed."

"I like how you have a lever attached to you which reads 'pull for a funny story'. How long before you start doing repeats?"

"As a ninth level ranger I get three a day and can't come up with new ones until the next dawn."

She cackles.

"Saint Hadassah, over there," he says, and points.

"Heck of a place to live out the rest of your days. How are its stats?"

"Eighty-eight percent success rate, which is below average, but they get all the hard cases. People who were randomly assigned here versus somewhere else do six percent better here."

"Good on them, that's barely worse than the national rate including all its unsupervised randos."

"And their population is starting more than half evil and more than half chaotic. Our friend the Dread Dagger was of course both."

"Do people ever wind up here being neither? Some neutral good person puttering along and winding up in a confusing legal pickle, gets a not very sympathetic judge..."

"I don't know of a law outright prohibiting that - and, of course, most peoples' alignment isn't knowable - but women's monasteries are expensive, they don't pay for their costs in labor, and the intent is that people only get assigned there if it's needed to save them."

"I wonder what they do all day. I suppose I'm here specifically to ask some questions."

"Feel free to do sociology research while you're there."

"Do I need a particular credential to go talk to her or is being female enough?"

"Should be enough. I'd be more sure if it didn't seem probable you'll run into some racism."

"Lemme see your list of questions."