Jojo sighs. "You're probably right... I'm still going to give them some gold, in case it helps. There's a lot of gold here."

He scoops some gold into a pouch.

Deekin joins Garrus in looking through the treasure.

They find a Belt of Physical Perfection, which Jojo and Garrus have a brief but intense staring contest over before Garrus reluctantly admits that he already has one of a lower tier. They also find a quiver that generates arrows of holy light, which delights Garrus enough that he stops sulking about the belt, a Ring of Freedom, which Jojo lays claim to immediately, and a Ring of Telekinesis.

"Deekin like telekinesis, if nobody else want. Great utility value."

"I'm full up on rings, enjoy. Teekay's great."

Deekin slips the ring onto his finger and starts shifting treasure into the Bag of Holding with an invisible hand. This speeds up the process immensely, and soon enough they're ready to leave the temple.

Off to determine if the problem with the villagers is liquidity.

Cordigan is waiting for them outside the temple, looking anxious. When he sees them exit, he lights up. "You've slain the priests?"

"Yup, and the dracolich."

His eyes widen. "Then their god was real? And you killed it? Well I'm certainly glad I helped you as much as I did, I certainly am, though as much as I did was only as much as I could and that wasn't much at all..."

"Eh, it did the trick, thanks."

"In that case then you're welcome, entirely welcome, though I doubt there's any more I can give you, any more than what I've already given you."

"That's fine, we're holding up. Guys, should we park here, get some sleep, or should we head out?"

"Resting here sounds like a good idea, in case we run into trouble on the way back."

"You got anything hotel-flavored?"

Cordigan shakes his head. "There's plenty of abandoned houses, though, plenty - I'll show you to one, it'd be no trouble at all."

"Thanks."

He leads them, as promised, to an abandoned house.

Jojo stops him from scurrying off. "You can all go in if you'd prefer," he says to the others, "I'd like to get Cordigan's opinion on the matter of what would be the most effective way to help his people."

"I'll be curious to hear about that later but don't think I'd add anything to the asking, have fun."

They go in, minus Jojo.

Jojo comes in after a while. "When we return to Lith My'athar, I'm going to request that the Seer send some forces to escort the villagers to the city.  Cordigan says with a day or so of advance warning the villagers can uproot themselves, and they'd be easy prey staying here without a protector. And when the Valsharess is defeated, the Eilistraeeans will take the former slaves back to the surface with them."

"Cool."

Their rest is uneventful, as is the trip back to Lith My'athar. Even Deekin is silent for most of it, apart from a few muttered notes to his quill.

"I think I leveled again but this time whatever weird thing I'm leveling in only got me sorcerer casting. Again."

"Huh," Deekin says. "Belmarniss notice any other effects, or just spellcasting?"

"Effective caster level boosts for both every time - the times I get only sorcerer casting it seems to boost caster level by more for sorcerer spells but I don't have a clock to check. Uh, other than that nah."

"Huh!" Deekin repeats. "Levels be weird. Deekin pretty sure Deekin doing something weird with levels, sometimes Deekin feel like Deekin should have gained level but no new spells or slots anywhere to be found. Also Deekin able to breathe ice as of pretty recently, but not do that much with it so far except for cool beverages."

"Well, having a cool beverage on a hot day is nice."